Recipes

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Why these Recipes are Gluten-Free

I have some rather difficult-to-deal-with food allergies. I can't eat corn, wheat, and sesame, which significantly impacts my ability to eat at restaurants and eat pre-packaged foods. As a result I've been cooking the vast majority of the food that I eat since I was diagnosed with these food allergies in 2012. The linked recipes were made so that I can eat them; sometimes this means that I use an ingredient that is a bit unusual (for instance, tamari instead of soy sauce because soy sauce has wheat in it), and it often means that I use replacement ingredients. When you see something like "flour" or "starch" in a recipe, it is one of the Allergy-Safe Ingredient Replacements I've listed elsewhere. If you don't know what an ingredient is, check that link for a glossary.

In short: all of these recipes have been created with gluten-free, corn-free replacements for foods that contain those allergens, and should therefore work well if you attempt them with g-free flours.

This is not a "health" thing as in "I prefer to eat g-free because it is 'healthy,'" it is a "health" thing as in "if I eat gluten I get migraines, I don't absorb nutrients, and horrible things happen in my guts." I do not recommend that anyone eat a g-free diet unless it is medically necessary; if it is possible for you to eat wheat then that is likely a more affordable and more nutritious option.

How this page is Organized

This probably doesn't look like the kind of cookbook you're used to; this is going to be an ongoing work in progress. This page is divided into two main sections:

• Standard recipes, which is unlabeled at the top of the page and starts with "Main Dishes." This section is organized by meal type in categories like "soups" and "desserts."
• Low-spoon foods, which has its own jump-to heading and is made up of recipes that require minimal effort.

These are different types of recipes. The standard recipes are things that you might consider serving to guests or bringing along to a potluck. The low-spoon foods are things that you might eat on your own or with your housemates as a simple, low-effort way to get nutrients into your body. Hash and Eggs is something that my spouse and I cook for each other for dinner frequently, but we wouldn't make it as a dinner for guests. Many of the low-spoon foods will rely on pre-packaged foods like box-mix macaroni and cheese, frozen rice, or frozen vegetables. Low-spoon foods are less "recipes" and more suggestions for how people who have difficulty cooking might find a tasty way to feed themselves without outputting significant effort.

Resources Before you Start Cooking

• How to Keep a Basic Pantry
• Kitchen Tools
• Mis en Place
• Getting the Most out of your Freezer
• Clean as You Go

Difficulty Ratings

Because I've been cooking so much for so long, I am a very competent home cook. I recognize that many people are not, and that people have wildly variable skill levels. As such I have rated these recipes by this Cooking Confidence Scale. The numbers beside each recipe rate the difficulty of preparing the dish on levels from 0-5 and a section at the start of each recipe will explain why the recipe received its rating.

Why is the link red?

Blue links are complete recipes or recipes that are being updated, red links are recipes that I have tested and have written down in real life but have not yet gotten to transcribing. If you see a red link anywhere on this site think of it as an item on my to-do list. If a recipe that you want has a link in red, you may want to see if I've published it on Tumblr (@but-i-eated-it is my recipe blog).

Main Dishes

Meat Dishes

• Meatloaf
• Baked Chicken and Rice
• Beef Stroganoff
• Pork Chops
• Curry Chicken Salad
• Potato Chili Chicken
• Air Fryer Tilapia
• Lasagna
• Pot Roast

Vegetarian or Vegan Dishes

• Pan-fried Tofu
• Frittata Template
• Deep-Fried Tofu
• Curry Chickpea Salad
• Oven-Baked Macaroni and Cheese

Soups

• Soup Template
• Chicken Marsala Soup
• Wet Dog Chicken (this is a somewhat creamy chicken and rice soup with mushrooms that is named for a family joke)
• Pumpkin Sausage Soup
• Chicken and Rice Soup
• Pot Pie Soup
• Beef Stew
• French Onion Soup
• Onion and Potato Soup
• Vegetable Soup (same base can be used with potatoes, rice, or noodles)
• Spoonie Soup (basic instructions for a variety of soups for people who might have difficulty cooking)

Side Dishes

Salads

• Red Cabbage
• Potato Salad
• Cucumber Tomato Salad

Starches

• Mashed Potatoes
• Fried Rice
• Spanish Rice
• Dressing

Vegetables

• Fried Mushrooms
• Pan-cooked Squash
• Garlic Butter Green Beans
• Creamed Pearl Onions
• Pan-cooked Spinach and Onion
• Buttered Asparagus
• Steamed Artichokes
• Baked Garlic Broccoli

Bread-like foods

Quickbreads

• Morning Glory Muffins
• Lemon Poppy-Seed Muffins
• Scones
• Lentil Flatbread
• Microwave Gluten-Free Sandwich Bread

Slow Breads

• Cast Iron Naan

Multi-Purpose Basics

• Crumb Mixture for Breading
• Hummus
• Gravy Template
• Marinade Template
• Simple Stock

Low Spoon Foods

These are not really recipes that you'd necessarily serve to other people, more like suggestions for how to feed yourself if you're very low on energy.

Below are some guidelines for how I think of the kinds of foods that I'm making and some examples of what foods are in each category.

It is important to note that all food is food. There is no inherently "good food" or "bad food"; the only "bad food" is food that you are allergic to or that will make you ill. It is better to eat ice cream straight from the container or a sleeve of crackers or just a banana than it is to not eat.

0 Spoons

"I barely have the energy or motivation to eat something but I know that I should, I cannot cook or prepare anything and would find it difficult to open multiple packages; I do not have dishes available and do not want to generate more dishes to clean." Think about foods that you like that fit into this category and keep them around.

• Can of vienna sausages
• Dry cereal
• Yogurt
• Ice cream right from the container
• Granola bars or meal bars
• Cookies
• Crackers
• Chips
• String Cheese
• Fruit
• Pre-made hummus
• Unheated leftovers
• Peanut butter

1 Spoon

"I may or may not be hungry but I need to eat; I have the energy for heating one thing or combining simple ingredients and may have a dish or two available."

• Instant soup cups
• Ready Mac
• Oatmeal
• Oatmeal with a spoonful of seed/nut butter added
• Canned soup
• Spread sandwich (hummus sandwich, peanut butter and jelly sandwich - a sandwich that only requires spreading ingredients)
• Reheated leftovers
• Bagged salad
• Toast
• TV Dinners or other prepared meals like frozen pizzas

You can also make awesome one-spoon meals by combining zero-spoon foods. Have an apple AND string cheese. Add peanut butter and banana to your yogurt. Eat hummus with tortilla chips. My favorite one-spoon meal is honey-flavored yogurt with sliced banana and a spoonful of peanut butter.

2 Spoon

"I can stand for a few minutes to prepare something simple, or can combine multiple pre-made ingredients relatively easily."

• Sandwich (mixing up a "salad"-type sandwich from tuna or chicken or chickpeas, preparing a sandwich with deli meats and spreads, making a fried egg or grilled cheese sandwich)
• Fried eggs
• Blank-and-Eggs (Scrambled eggs plus something else - canned hash and eggs, toast and eggs, scrambled eggs with cheese and diced ham, scrambled eggs and pasta sauce)
• Mac and Cheese with frozen broccoli added
• Ramen
• Pre-made-rice and beans (using parboiled, leftover, or frozen rice - heat up canned beans and rice, add salsa - optionally add sour cream and frozen broccoli)
• Pasta with pre-made sauce
• Boxed potato pancakes
• Frozen hamburger patty
• Grilled tofu

Blank-and-eggs is one of my go-to meals. I can't even begin to tell you how many times I ate toast and scrambled eggs in 2020. More recently this has been fried eggs over easy and rice with a sweet-and-spicy sauce

Low-Spoon Plus Leftovers

"I've got little energy for cooking, but I have some prepared dishes that I can combine or add to to make a decent meal."

I often find that it's very easy to feed myself even when I have little to no energy because there are a few things that I can keep around as cheaters - my primary example for this is rice. I've got a rice cooker and I'm not afraid to use it. I'll make a big pot of rice to go with a dinner that I'm cooking, and for the rest of the week I'll eat it with fried eggs, or add some pasta sauce to it, or can mix in some frozen vegetables and cheese. You can use pre-made foods or leftovers to elevate a lower-spoon meal into something more nourishing or filling. For me, these are largely starches that I can add stuff to. Some good options are:

• Rice - Add anything to rice that you want rice goes with everything. Stir in some hummus, eat it with a can of beans, add some butter and garlic powder, mix in frozen creamed spinach, eat it with alfredo sauce, mix in some honey mustard. Rice fucking rules.
• Mashed Potatoes - Great for eating with curry if you don't have rice, tasty with pasta sauce, and filling on their own OR great as a side for another low-spoon food. One of my favorite comfort meals, no matter how many spoons I've got, is mashed potatoes with a turkey patty and frozen peas. It's just a bonus that it's extremely easy to eat if I've got leftover mashed potatoes.
• Baked Potatoes - add a can of chili. Add broccoli and cheese. Add some leftover bacon and some sour cream. Add beans and cheese. Add leftover chicken and pasta sauce. Baked potatoes are really versatile.
• Canned Beans - I find that adding salsa and a vegetable to canned beans pretty much makes it a meal for me.