Need Meal Ideas

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mom2Grace

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I have overnight guests coming soon and I want to plan our dinner. I have a lot of good recipes that I like to make but some diet restrictions and “don’t likes” are making it hard for me to come up with something special from the way I usually cook.

Here are our restrictions:
No Gluten (me)
Low Sodium

Here are our “don’t likes”:
pasta
rice (could be OK, but not something guest would pick)
beans
spicy

Oops, forgot to add what dh doesn’t like:
beef
anything with more than a tiny bit of “bad” fats

Any full meal ideas? Crock pot cooking might be nice to have things ready without a lot of fuss at meal time.
 
My general non-pasta or rice meal plan involves potatoes–either sweet or regular, boiled or baked. If your husband wants to reduce “bad” fats I suppose that gravy is out 🙂

Sweet potatoes work really well with pork chops, roast, or ham. Squash is another great alternative starch, and we’re just entering squash season.

A pork roast can be done in the crock pot, sweet potatoes thrown in the oven or in with the roast, and some veggies (maybe something fresh from the last of the farmers markets?) sauteed on the stove. Adding some slivered almonds to green beans is a great way to dress them up for company.

You could probably do either chicken or pork “pot roast” style in the crock pot as well–put the meat on the bottom, then potatoes, carrots, and onions, (optional) add a package of your favorite soup seasoning, and a can of chicken or veggie broth.

I haven’t done much with chicken in the crock pot, but since it will come out quite tender I would probably use boneless chicken breasts if I wasn’t working from a specific recipe.
 
mom2Grace said:
Here are our restrictions:
No Gluten (me)
Low Sodium
Click to expand...
Rice Flour with a little Xanthan Gum can be used as a wheat substitute for gluten allergies, and the application can work on virtually any food that uses wheat as an ingredient.
 
Chicken Tacos. The way that we make them would fit your criteria. We bake or boil chicken breasts, shred with two forks, sprinkle with some salt and pepper. Take some corn tortillas and fry them until just crisp, but still bendable, and drain on paper towels. Serve with shredded lettuce, cheese, tomatoes, sour cream, and salsa. People can add what they want with them. If they don’t like rice and beans, you can have salad or fresh fruit as a side.
 
I know it is getting colder but with all the allergies and dislike. I would sprinkle some italian seasoning on the chicken, then brush on some italian dressing cook in the oven, then slice it and put in a salad. Like a chicken ceaser salad, or a regular salad. Either way it could make everyone happy.
 
kage_ar said:
Baked chicken with roasted potatoes, a green veg and a salad.
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Even better if you go Greek with it and make the chicken and potatoes with lots of lemon, a little garlic and a little oregano. That’s not too spicy, is it?

Betsy
 
Thank you for your ideas. You reminded me of some things I’ve made that turned out very good, but I had forgotten about them. Maybe I will do baked chicken and roasted potatoes. I have a very good roasted potato recipe with balsamic vinegar and rosemary, but how should I do the chicken? I make good plain drumsticks/thighs but maybe that’s messy with the bones. I also have a warm german potato salad recipe that I could make ahead and warm in the micro before dinner. Finally I’m starting to think. It’s just not my preferred “style” of cooking but I can do it. Usually I make labor intensive
“ethnic” meals but I’ve finally learned that it’s just not the way to go for having company with my children underfoot as well.
 
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