gluten and dairy free meals!

Alright guys, remember the other day when I said I was going to stop eating dairy but I was going to maybe cheat a little and have some gluten? My stomach is saying otherwise. For the past couple weeks I've been going through every day feeling like theres something in my stomach ripping me apart, and I really need to get back on the "diet" train. I know Tuesday's post was about dieting too, so sorry. But anyway, I have exactly two weeks from today before I'm in Montana (thank goodness) and I'm going to really try to have no dairy or gluten within those two weeks. So today I thought I would share some of my favorite gluten-free and dairy-free recipes. Well, they're not really recipes. But they're meals that're both gluten and dairy free, so there ya go. They're all really yummy, so even if you don't have restrictions in your diet you should totally give it a try!

Breakfast-
Gluten-free pancakes- I'm pretty hesitant to try gluten-free versions of things that typically have gluten in them. I'm not a big fan of gluten-free breads or cookies or any of that stuff. BUT I did try gluten free pancakes thought and loved them. My favorite mix is this one, but I've tried others and they're generally all the same. It's nice for a little treat or when everyone else wants pancakes- just make them gluten free and no one will even notice!

Oatmeal- Oatmeal is probably my favorite breakfast. It's quick and easy, and there are so many ways to make it. You can use water, but I prefer making mine with either vanilla soy or lactose free milk. I love blueberries and honey in mine. But you can put any fruit, honey, or cinnamon in it and its delish!

Eggs- Also a favorite because its so easy. I love to cook up some potatoes and turkey sausage with peppers and onions and then throw an egg on top. So good! But really there's a lot of flexibility with eggs and you can make them however and with whatever you want. You can have a cup of fruit or potatoes instead of toast and its still just as good!

Smoothies- I like to make smoothies to bring to class with me in the morning. My favorite is super simple- strawberries, banana, ice, and orange juice. If you can have dairy then yogurt is really yummy in smoothies, too. But really you can throw any fruits and liquid in a blender and it'll probably taste good.

Bacon- Bacon is gluten free and dairy free. Put it on everything.

Lunch-
Salad- I love making a simple salad with mixed greens, a hardboiled egg, almond slices, dried cranberries, and sunflower seeds with Brianna's french vinaigrette. That's my shit. And yes, I use that dressing because it's my name. No shame

Breadless Sandwich- Uh what? I know that sounds awful, but a little plate of lunch meat, hummus, veggies, and a hardboiled egg is kind of like eating a sandwich without the bread. I mean not really, but I didn't know what else to call that.

Tuna and peppers- This one might sound weird. But it delish. I love making tuna salad and then cutting up a bell pepper to eat it on. Try it. You won't be disappointed.

I'm not really good at eating lunch. Usually I'll eat leftovers from dinner or just have some fruit between breakfast and dinner because depending on my schedule, I eat either a late breakfast or an early dinner.

Dinner- (my favorite because there are so many options)
Quinoa stuffed peppers- You know I love this one. So good! You can see my "recipe" here.

Quinoa pasta- This one's another favorite. It tastes just like regular spaghetti. Plus you can mix it up. Sometimes I make a garlic infused olive oil and use that + spinach and broccoli and mix it up with the pasta. Or you can make pesto, regular spaghetti, or if you can have dairy you can make alfredo! Pasta is such an easy dinner and quinoa pasta is so good for you!

Chicken + rice + veggies- Simple. I like to just cook my chicken in a pan, but you can bake it too. My favorite is a stir fry-type dinner with peppers, squash, zucchini, onions, garlic, and broccoli with chicken over rice. So yummy. But there are so many ways to mix it up with the veggies and chicken that this is probably the dinner I make the most.

Turkey burgers- Or regular burgers but I like turkey better than beef. I usually just make a turkey patty (no bun) and then cook up some veggies to have with it. The burgers are good if you cook them with some soy sauce or just some salt / pepper / garlic powder

Dessert- 

For dessert I usually either have chocolate (yolo) or cereal. Which sounds lame. But apple cinnamon chex are gluten free and super yummy, so there's that.

What're your favorite meals?

quinoa stuffed peppers

Super quick- I made it to the final three for "Most Inspirational" and "Best Link Party" so I would love if you could go vote for me here!

Okay, most of you know that I'm gluten and dairy free (most of the time). I've been trying really hard to stick to this diet, and I've really only cheated a few times. My biggest challenge is finding new recipes. My options are pretty limited, and a lot of the things I would normally eat have been cut out of my diet. Like if I can't have ice cream and quesadillas and grilled cheese what am I supposed to do? My roommates and I have been experimenting with quinoa though, and so today I wanted to share my "recipe" (I use that term very loosely) for some super yummy quinoa stuffed peppers.

YUM, right?

Here's what you need:
We used green peppers, but you can really use any kind you like. But obviously you need peppers to make quinoa stuffed peppers. And quinoa. You'll need that too. Okay, moving on.
You can really mix anything in there, but we used chicken, zucchini, and squash. But feel free to get a little crazy with some extra mix-ins.

First things first- cook the quinoa and the chicken. We use about a cup of quinoa and prepare it according to the instructions on the box. We sauté some garlic and onion in a little olive oil, and then add the chicken to the pan with some salt n peppa until its almost fully cooked.

Once the chicken is almost done, we add the veggies. It looks something like this and smells like heaven…but not as good as In-N-Out smells.

Yum Yum Yum. Once that's all cooked and ready, I mix it in with the quinoa and fill the peppers with the mix. Then you just pop them in the oven at 350 for like ten (fifteen?) minutes and voilà!

Its a super easy and super healthy dinner, and it's also really yummy if you add some cheese (that's what my roommates tell me) So let me know if you give it a try or if you have any other yummy GF/DF recipes!

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