Dinner help desperately needed!

stayawake

stayawake

New member
OKay. It's 4:30 here, and I have to find SOMETHING to feed my kids tonight. They have been crying and crying all day, and just generally a pain, and I am soooo close to loosing it and yelling at them. We've just recently had to put my son on a very narrow diet because his doctors believe he is celiac. On normal days like this I would order pizza - but I can't.

Can anyone think of ANYTHING a 2 and 4 year old might eat that is...

- gluten free
- all dairy free
- no potatoes, tomatoes, or spice

(canned soup almost all contains gluten, by the way, and we are out of gluten free bread which my son wouldn't touch anyway)


HELP!!!
 
I'm assuming you have some non-dairy margarine, like Earth Balance. So what about some 'buttery' rice with peas and carrots in it?

I'll keep thinking...
 
jennifer - thanks, that's the best I can think of at this time too. Maybe a simple meatloaf and rice and veggies. We've had rice and frozen veggies the last two nights (!) and I'm sure it's going to get old soon...
 
Do u have any local pizza shops? Maybe you could see if they have any gluton free, we have a local shop that does.
 
Hmm, would they do some sort of (non-spicy) taco - maybe corn tortillas and a little cheese (and maybe some browned ground beef or turkey).
 
yup - we can't do dairy (even lactose free) so tacos are pretty much meat and corn tortilla... and pizza we do have Pizza Pizza who has gluten free crust, but we have to avoid tomatos (so no sauce) and cheese is out (so basically bread with GF pepperoni on it) doesn't sound so appetizing!
Tonight we did mini meatloaf with frozen corn. That's it. And the kids wouldn't touch it because they've decided they don't like meatloaf. So I gave them each an apple after dinner (because Simon is already loosing weight so rapidly that making him go without dinner is kind of not an option...)
Oy. I totally feel like the worst mom EVER!
I need to find a dietician...
 
Oh, that has to be so hard! I know a friend with Celiac's... she had to completely overhaul her diet. I can only imagine how hard it would be for a little one who only eats a few things as it is.

Tasty Kitchen has a Gluten Free section if you are looking for new recipes. One is mine - "breaded" zucchini. The breading is just parm cheese, onion flakes, seasoning salt and pepper. You could make your own chicken fingers with it!

I have another really yummy chicken strip recipe that I use. Its really tasty and quick. It calls for ranch dressing (which might contain gluten), but I like using zesty italian dressing in place of it anyways.
 
yup - we can't do dairy (even lactose free) so tacos are pretty much meat and corn tortilla...
Click to expand...

oh, duh, now I see that you said dairy free. Guess I need to pay attention in class! You sound like you have the same restrictions my mom has -- she makes a LOT of things out of rice products, but I know how hard it can be to get kids to eat anything, let alone substituting for all those things.
 
I'm not sure what sort of budget you have, but this place offers a bunch of different GF/CF options. You'd still have to check for tomato/potato/spices you can't use, but it's a start maybe? Also, Cooking Allergy Free allows you to set up a profile where you can check off all allergens. Then the recipes on the site AND the ones you enter will give you flags for safe, questionable, and unsafe ingredients. That site came in extremely handy for me when our church had a missionary in the area who's allergic to beef, fish, nuts, wheat, dairy, and citrus. Seriously, love that site!
 
Can you do eggs? Do they have gluten free pancake mix? Breakfast for supper is popular with my girls. I have a limited understanding and knowledge of gluten-free diets, but my girls (5 and 3) like to eat 'picnic' suppers - we do veggies and lunch meats on a tray. Maybe something like that would be easy for a go-to everyday kind of meal.
 
You might check out the Food Allergy Survival Guide. It's a great cookbook. Some of the recipes are on the more creative side, but maybe that will help you not feel in a rut.

Could you make mini meatloaves with ground chicken and call them something else? Or what about meatballs instead of loaves. Kids sometime just need to see it differently.

We serve my dad brussels sprouts all the time - we just call them baby cabbages.
 
Thanks everyone SO much for the suggestions. : ) I have a pile of meatballs in the freezer - we've been doing that once or two times a week with corn pasta (tastes way better than rice...) and margarine.
I will be checking out all those websites - thanks!
 
stayawake said:
Thanks everyone SO much for the suggestions. : ) I have a pile of meatballs in the freezer - we've been doing that once or two times a week with corn pasta (tastes way better than rice...) and margarine.
I will be checking out all those websites - thanks!
Click to expand...

Corn pasta rocks! :thumbup:
 
I have a friend that is gluten intollerant and he eats a lot of beans, nuts, seeds, veggies and fruit.

What about soy/almond/rice substitutes for dairy? There are some very good ones (and some bad ones lol) out there for milk, cheese, cream cheese and yogurt!
 
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