My Go To Dinner Recipes (Dairy & Gluten Free) - Part 2

Back at the beginning of Covid, I shared a list of my favorite go-to recipes that I always reach for when looking for what to make. I have discovered quite a few amazing new recipes that I have added to my dinner rotation. Since Covid I have definitely been eating more at home so I have been able to try lots of new recipes. Just like the last posts all these recipes are easy to follow and can be modified to be gluten & dairy-free! 

Check out my original list here

1. Elevated Hamburger Helper // OMG I have made this at least three times and I love it because it has amazing flavor and is pretty easy to do. I had tried to make a goulash recipe a few months back and it did not turn out it was just too bland. This is the complete opposite of bland. I follow the recipe exactly and use the Jovial brown rice elbow pasta the recipe calls for. Since you are not boiling the pasta in water but instead you let the pasts soak up the beef broth I am afraid to use a different kind of GF pasta in case it would not work with this method. This step I think is key to it having lots of flavor. I usually add a little bit of non-dairy milk and for cheese, I use this Violife non-dairy cheese. 

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2. Bacon & Green Onion Chicken Breasts // This is not the healthiest meal in the book but it is SO easy to make and it takes little prep at all. I follow the recipe except I sub for dairy-free cream cheese (Tofutti or Kite Hill) and use the Violife vegan cheese. To make things even easier I found this fully cooked paleo bacon at Whole Foods so I don't even have to cook the bacon. I found it at the deli counter and have been buying it ever since. It is so much easier than having to cook bacon! When I make this chicken I serve it with potatoes and green beans or some other veggie. 

3. Enchiladas // This is right up there with the pasta recipe as far as this for sure being a favorite. I LOVE how these taste! There is so much flavor but they are not super spicy. The only downside to these is they do take a little bit of work to assemble so I can't make them on a night when I am crunched for time. For this recipe, I use these Trader Joes GF tortillas. They need to be big so you can't just use a corn tortilla. The key to using these GF tortillas is to run them underwater for a second and then microwave them for 5 seconds just to get them soft otherwise when you go to roll them they will crumble (I learned that the hard way on my first try). My favorite GF enchilada sauce is this one from Whole Foods or this one. If you are GF make sure to check the labels some sauces have wheat in them like the TJ one. The recipe calls for two cans but I only use one can of sauce. Then I use the Violife vegan cheese and Tofutti sour cream with some cilantro on top. I pair them with corn and rice because the enchilada itself only has meat in them (at least this is how I do them). 

4. PF Chang's Chicken Lettuce Wraps // I made these when my sister was in town and we thought they tasted really good. It is easy to make and we followed the recipe except we used coconut anions instead of soy sauce and didn't add the ginger. For the Hoisin sauce, we found this GF one at Whole Foods. 

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5. Crazy Easy Spaghetti & Meatballs // This requires no recipe and is SO easy to make when you don't feel like cooking. All I did was buy this chickpea pasta which has a little more protein, this sauce that tastes homemade, and these frozen meatballs. I can't tell you the last time I had meatballs because normally the frozen ones at the store are not gluten-free. I discovered these GF Target ones and they are SO GOOD. Like there is no need to even make homemade ones, especially with the Rao's sauce. 

 

6. Chicken & Mushroom Sauce // If I am being honest this recipe was not the easiest because I felt like it had more steps than it needed to. With that said the flavor on this mushroom sauce was amazing! I followed the recipe but used Bob's Red 1-1 gluten-free flour and oat milk instead of heavy cream. Since I was not using heavy creamy it took a little guessing to figure out how much corn starch to add to thicken it. I honestly just kept adding until it got thick. It almost tasted better the second night when I reheated it because the sauce was fully thickened. I paired it with this GF mushroom risotto from Whole Foods which has become my new favorite rice.  

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7. Honey Garlic Salmon // OMG this sweet garlic glaze is so freaking good. I picked up some fresh salmon the other week but didn't feel like doing my usual seafood seasoning. I found this simple sauce recipe online that I had everything for it and it turned out so good. The only thing I didn't add was the cayenne pepper. I paired it with a sweet potato and a veggie.