Back to School Lunch Inspiration [Gluten Free]

I pack a lot of lunches.

Even when I'm not at school, I bring a brown bag lunch with me to work rather than eating out. It saves money, is healthier, and is easier to be gluten free. I have to get creative when I only work six and a half hours at one place, and only get one 10 minute break to inhale food!

Back to School Lunch Inspiration

I’m back to school, and I try to pack myself a lunch the night before to save time in the morning. I sometimes get bored of sandwiches. I like using bento boxes to pack my lunch in.

Gluten-Free Chicken Salad Three Ways

Chicken salad is so refreshing in summer. It’s also quick and easy to make, and very versatile. You can serve chicken salad as lettuce wraps, spread it on sandwiches, or dip it with chips and crackers.

We don’t measure our basic chicken salad recipe. We throw in a dollop of this and a handful of that.

Speedy Gluten Free Stuffing

With Thanksgiving just around the corner, I thought I'd share my gluten-free stuffing recipe. It does not take long to throw together as long as you have gluten-free bread.

This was a life-saver if I needed a last-minute meal.

Early on in my gluten-free journey, I had some awkward moments where I realized I could not eat the main meal due to a hidden source of gluten.

Problems Only Gluten Free People Understand Continued

In case you missed it here's Part 1.

You are annoyed at hidden sources of gluten.

Why does soy sauce have wheat in it? Why do Campbell’s soups have wheat in them, and why do people put canned soup concentrate in casseroles?

Problems Only Gluten Free People Understand

You can’t eat normal bread and baked goods.
You don't need to be reminded of the odd flavors and textures.

Some of My Favorite Gluten Free Breads

I've tried a lot of gluten free breads, some of which crumbled and others of which resembled cardboard, but found a few I like. My favorite store-bought bread is Canyon Bakehouse's Cinnamon Raisin bread, followed by their other flavors like seven grain, which you can sometimes find at Meijer. 2021 UPDATE: several years later and I'm still loving Canyon Bakehouse! (Udi's is OK. Past non-favorites include Rudi's and Food for Life brand bread... if you need a way to use up some dry, unappetizing bread, check out this recipe for French Toast Strata, aka Breakfast Casserole or this recipe for speedy stuffing.)

Oat Baguette Bread {Gluten Free, Allergy Friendly}

I found this recipe for soft and chewy oat baguette bread on Stephanie's Hope For Healing blog. My mom modified it (surprise, surprise) but this time it was not to reduce the sugar, or make it gluten-free because all of Stephanie's recipes are gf, dairy free, soy free, and refined sugar free "as much as possible" according to her bio. Instead, we had to change the recipe because we could not find psyllium husk powder. What is psyllium husk powder? It is the husk of the psyllium ground into powder, silly. Actually, it makes a great thickener. My mom decided to try chia seeds instead.
We had never used chia seeds before, but we had heard them compared to flax seeds, and even used in the place of pectin in refrigerator jam! Generally, we use xanthan gum or potato starch for thickening.

chia seeds

Anyway, I'm sure you all want to know how to make this quick, non-rising, gluten free, dairy free, sugar free bread which does not have eggs, soy, nuts, or yeast either!

D.C. Gluten Free

The primary focuses of this blog are eating gluten free, and writing, so I am going to combine the two and write about how I ate gluten free in Washington, D.C. I am also going to cover sights we saw, and things I wish I knew beforehand, and generally compile helpful tidbits from books, guides, maps, and websites I used.

We traveled to D.C. on Sunday, and got in to our hotel late in the evening. We stayed in Alexandria, Virginia (not to be confused with Arlington, VA, which is just to the north of Alexandria.)

On Monday, we took advantage of the free shuttle to the Van Dorn Street Metro. Several nearby hotels offer this service to their patrons.

French Toast Strata, or Breakfast Casserole {Gluten Free}

How many times has this happened to you: you try out a new type of gluten free bread, and it flops. It tastes funny. It’s dry. It crumbles. You think to yourself, Now what am I going to do? That bread was expensive, and I’ve got to somehow choke it down, because I can’t let it go to waste!

You could just toast the bread in the toaster before you eat it, because all gluten free breads taste better toasted. It makes them moister somehow. Or, better yet, you could make French toast with the bread. But, when you have a whole loaf of unpleasant bread, the best thing to do is to make French toast strata in a 9x13 pan, and use it up in one fell swoop!

We love to make this dish the night before a big weekend, and/or when we have company so we don’t have to take time to make breakfast, we just have to bake breakfast.

(For more ways to save dry bread, try this stuffing recipe. If you are still looking for truly good gluten free bread, checkout some of the brands I've tried here.)

Ingredients:

(1) ~1 pound loaf of gluten free bread

(1) 8 ounce package of cream cheese, thawed to room temperature

6 Tablespoons melted butter
2 ½ cups milk

¼ cup maple syrup

8 eggs

1 Tablespoon vanilla