23 month old daughter has Celiac disease, and we do pretty well with her diet...but it's getting so boring. I want to find snacks, breakfast and lunch items, etc, to add to her diet.
For breakfast, it's either GF rice krispies, a GF waffle with peanut butter, or GF toast with peanut butter.
For lunch, it's tuna. I can't feed her tuna every day!!! (Of course, she has sides...fruit, veggies, yogurt, cheese...) Just looking for more "main dish" ideas.
Supper we've got...healthy, whole food meals that she will eat. No problems there.
I guess I am particularly stressed right now because she was enjoying danimal smoothies (a treat...once a week, maybe) and she started having really bad reactions...come to find out that while the ingredients are gluten free, the process to stabilize flavors apparently is not (?!?!) so I've ditched them. I am mad at myself for assuming they were GF just by reading the ingredients...my husband is mad at me for "messing up"...
I'm just afraid to feed her ANYTHING that isn't a whole food anymore because even if it appears gluten free, it may not be. Oh, I'm just upset tonight and rambling.
So...ideas for snacks, lunches, and breakfasts? Thanks.
Thanks so far for the helpful hints. I guess I'm upset (tonight, for now...) because we've been gluten free (both her and I...I'm still nursing) for over a year and it's been going so well...I trust my ability to decide if something is safe...and just when I find a nice treat she likes (the danimals) that APPEARS to be gluten free, I find out that it's not because of some process...even though the ingredients listed are gluten free. Tricky.
I do use the Tinkyada noodles, but we can only do so much...they are good, though. I also get Annie's GF Mac and Cheese, but there again, that's not something to serve frequently.
Again, thanks...I appreciate all your ideas!!!
I love this foodie blog for gluten-free. This lady has a passion for gf cooking!
http://glutenfreegirl.com/
Blessings!
PM me - I have a friend whose daughter has celiac, and is symptom-free for 10 years. She's got this thing figured out. You can also supplement with gluten-free nourishing shakes that you can turn into smoothies if you want, with whatever extras she wants (fruit, etc.) - makes it varied. You could add the yogurt to these or serve it separately.
You could do other butters - almond, hazelnut etc. We've got some recipes that can help.
Ramble away, it's hard, one of my granddaughters has Celiac disease as well.
For breakfast she has:
~ scrambled eggs and chunks of melon or banana
~ GF rice cereal with sliced fruit
~ Chex cereals - Honey Nut, Chocolate, Cinnamon, Rice & Corn Chex are all GF, any of those with sliced fruit
~ GF cereal over yogurt (I've always liked cereal over yogurt and she loves it this way)
~ GF Waffles or toast with Nutella
~ fruit and yogurt
Chicken, meat, and fish as well as beans are gluten-free sources of protein so we try to get those into her lunches as well as her dinners.
For lunches
~ rice pasta with peas and tomato sauce or grated cheese.
~ ground beef with rice, sweet potatoes as a side
~ chunks of chicken breast and vegetable soup made with quinoa
~ GF chicken nuggets or fish sticks and veggies
~ whatever you served for dinner the night before, if it works for dinner leftovers will work for lunch...meat loaf, pot roast, roast chicken...
Snacks
~ make your own smoothies with fruit, milk, yogurt and ice, just blend them up
~ Chex cereals - Honey Nut, Chocolate, Cinnamon, Rice & Corn Chex are all GF, we mix them up together for her alone so she has a special snack.
~ CHEETOS, yes, both Crunchy and Puffed are a sometimes treat
~ Fritos, also a sometime treat
~ Rice cakes with cream cheese and sliced strawberries
This site helped a lot with meal ideas and even packed lunch ideas:
http://www.gluten-free-diet-help.com/gluten-free-cooking....
as did this site...it gave us ideas and options we didn't know we had, and while gluten free foods tend to be more expensive we've found some of the items here in regular supermarkets and Walmart:
http://www.glutenfreely.com/ourstore/for-kids
Hi,
at this point, I really don't want to stress you out, but there is information out there about feeding children too much tuna.
I hear you, that it is a mainstay of your child's very restrictive diet, and is otherwise very nutritious. But I'm going to suggest you may want to do research into how much tuna you can safely have in your sweetie's diet without increasing her chances of mercury toxicity.
I love tuna, and feed it to my children also. What I read as a new mama, was to limit it to no more than so-much-per-week. The information out there now is probably more up to date, so I'm not going to try and tell you what I "think" is correct, when I don't know for sure. :)
Good luck!
t
This does sound stressful, I feel you! A good friend of mine has Celiac's as well so a lot I've learned from her. She didn't find out until later in life and then realized both her kids have it too! So don't feel bad!
Blue Diamond makes really good nut crackers that are gluten free. You can find them in the cracker aisle at the grocery store or in the "health food" section too. I would think they are probably fine for a 2 y/o, my 2 y/o eats whole nuts with no problems (I always supervise of course) but in the crackers they are mostly ground up with some smaller pieces I think still visible. Also, almost all the varities of Chex cereal are GF and very tasty! They are good for snacks or meals. My kids will eat dry cereal as a snack often.
Cottage cheese is a good snack or meal. It's healthy and has lots of protein. That sucks about the Danimals! Ugh, just when you think you're onto something! ;) You could also do smoothies and just use a plain or vanilla yogurt, although you should probably do online research before venturing into more yogurt! Eggs are another quick and easy protein. My 2 y/o will eat hard boiled eggs all the time and maybe you can get her to eat scrambled or something too.
Corn tortillas are a good idea too, you can make all kinds of things with them, but be careful about sour cream b/c some are not GF.
Will she eat potatoes? Those are hearty and can be an easy meal with some cheese and veggies on the side.
Good luck, I'm sure it's stressful!
My daughter and I eat gluten free. Eating whole foods is a good idea all around. Here are some other things you can try:
Rice crackers and those rice puff things. You can throw a cold cut on top or a little cheese, apple sauce, jam or whatever.
Popcorn.
corn tortillas including the crisp preformed ones. Fill with ground turkey, cheese, lettuce. tomatoes, salsa. Or use the flat ones for tostadas.
Rice Pasta. Some brands are better than others, some fall apart. I like Trader Joes and Tinyada Brands.
Rice and meat, sushi, rice biryani (curried rice with stir fried vegies) with cashews or a little chicken.
There are lots of gluten free mixes at the grocery and health food stores. If you can't find them there, try amazon.com. My daughter likes the pancake and brownie mixes. I have a good birthday cake recipe that is milk and wheat free. pm me if you'd like me to send it.
Some things I make by substituting rice flour for wheat: corn bread, brownies, banana bread, muffins.
Check out an Asian market or the ethnic section of your supermarket. There are noodles available that are made from rice or mung bean flour and they come in all shapes and sizes including these big flat round ones you can use to make eggrolls.
There are noodle bowls that cost about $1 that use rice noodles and all you have to do is add water. Sort of like "cup of noodles".
Potatoes, baked and stuffed, fried, microwaved and smooshed with butter, hash browns, potato chips, baked potato chips, sweet potato fries (frozen in a bag at Costco).
Canned chicken, beef or salmon instead of tuna. Plop it on a gluten free cracker or toast.
It gets easier, in time this will become second nature. Alot of it is trial and error, and sometimes you will just find it's easier to be boring and serve what you know is safe. PM me if you have any questions or want some recipes. Good luck.
For breakfast, what about quinoa as a hot cereal? Some of the GF pancake mixes can be used to make crepes, then roll them around sliced fruit.
For lunch, you could try using beans, edamame, or leftover chicken as the protein.
you should check out 'Eat Like A Dinosaur' by the Paleo Parents (they also have an awesome website at www.paleoparents.com with a lot of great recipes on there).
My good friend has two celiac kids and runs a daycare out of her home. The biggest thing she tells me is you cannot trust anything that has been manufactured - period. The ONLY thing gluten-free is whole foods which is how we should all eat anyways. Believe it or not, there are a lot of cookbooks out there that have whole food snacks and cooking. I would start there.
Good luck!
I found this link for you, i don't know if it will help, but it does seem like it has lots of ideas. Good Luck :)
http://www.livestrong.com/article/218857-gluten-free-snac...
Instead of Danimals yogurt, just keep plain yogurt and then add a little scoop of fruit preserves before serving.
I love the Bette Hagman cookbook "The Gluten Free Gourmet Cooks Fast and Healthy". So many gluten free products (has to be labeled "gluten-free" for you to be sure) are expensive so we make most stuff. Hagman's cookbook has mixes that you can have sitting on the shelf ready to go. Here are the mixes I keep ready to go:
GF Flour Mix (basis for many of the others)
GF Pancake Mix
GF Buttermilk Biscuit Mix
Dream Pastry Mix
I also make GF bread in my bread machine. I don't have any of the fancy ones listed in most publications and I have never had a problem.
We love using rice noodles, the kind you buy in the oriental section of the grocery store. We make most of our pasta dishes with those, they are very versatile. You can even fry them in oil and they puff up...fun for kids.
Popcorn made in pan (I would not trust microwave popcorn because of any additives) is a great snack.
Make soup from scratch. You can make stock from scratch and freeze it for use later.
You are correct about processed food. To really trust it, it has to say gluten-free. Best to make stuff from scratch using whole food ingredients that you control. Harder but way cheaper and safer.
