If you are in a season of life where hours of meal preparation isn’t an option, you can still feed your family healthy, naturally gluten free hot meals as you gather together around the dinner table.
We have ten active kids who are big eaters, and also have a few dietary restrictions. In addition to that, I am passionate about feeding them food made from wholesome, whole food ingredients.
Although I enjoy trying new recipes, these are five favorites I return to again and again.
Beef Bowls
This “assemble your own” meal is a good one for evenings when I haven’t had a lot of prep time earlier in the day.
RICE: I put long grain brown rice in my instant pot to cook while working on the rest of the meal. For our family I add 4 cups of rice and 6 cups of water and set the instant pot to 15 minutes. Once it is done I typically let it sit until the rest of the meal is prepared. Every once in awhile my instant pot will say “burn” on the display screen, but each time I’ve opened it to find perfectly cooked, ready to eat rice, so maybe it’s just a strange quirk of my machine!
MEAT: After I start the rice I begin browning ground meat. Now this would be very simple if I had pre thawed my meat, but I find that I often make this meal without planning ahead, which means I’m cooking frozen ground beef! Thankfully, I’ve found an easy way to do this. I put the frozen chunk of meat into my dutch oven, add a cup of water, and put on the lid. I let the meat cook on medium while I do other things, and after a bit I come back and flip over the meat, scrape off any that has thawed, then put the lid on again. I do this every few minutes and by the time the meal is ready it is perfectly cooked.
TOPPINGS: The last step is to get out some toppings. Depending on what is in the refrigerator and how much prep time I have, this is different every time! Last night I chopped a raw onion as well as some green onion leaves from the garden and set those out in bowls. We have lettuce ready to eat in the garden too, so I chopped up some of that and put it in a bowl. I pulled jars of olives, salsa, pickled okra, and homemade taco sauce out of the refrigerator. I had some organic corn in the freezer that I quick thawed by putting it in a strainer and running hot water over it. We will often grate cheese or have some sour cream to put on the top, but we decided to go dairy free last night.
Since everyone in the family gets to assemble their own bowl (I help the youngest ones), you can set out just about any topping option and see what gets picked! Over time you’ll find what your family likes the best.
Blackstone Meal… Meat & Veggies
Now let me preface this by saying that you can do this on the stove without a problem, however I love my Blackstone! It sits on our porch right outside the kitchen and it makes meal prep and clean up super easy.
There are endless ideas for blackstone meals. I like to cook meat on one side and vegetables on the other. Since we butcher our own cows we have the luxury of lots of steak in the freezer, but you could use any type of meat, sprinkled with salt, pepper, and any other seasonings you like. I’ve found it best to heat up the blackstone surface, add a little bit of a healthy fat (we use lard from our pasture raised pigs) then lay the meat down. Getting a good sear on the meat before turning down the temperature helps to lock in flavor.
On the other side of the blackstone I will do the same process of heating the surface and adding a bit of fat, then I’ll make piles of veggies like sliced onions, peppers, squash, asparagus, even frozen veggies like broccoli will work well. Adding the vegetables in separate piles instead of all together helps me to make sure I don’t have one veggie that is still a little raw while another is getting burnt! If one cooks really fast I can temporarily take it off the blackstone and put it into a dish.
You can leave the veggies separate for serving or mix them all together at the end, as I often do. When the weather is nice I have my family bring their plates to the blackstone and fill them up there before sitting down at the table. It cuts down on serving dishes! You can have a pot of rice on the side if you want some extra filler.
Any seasonings will work with this grilled dinner, and I will often use coconut aminos as a “soy sauce” type flavoring as well.
Baked Potato Bar
For another simple, customizable meal I will pre-bake potatoes (or sweet potatoes!) and set them out with a variety of toppings to choose from. This is one of those “hurry and get some food on the table!” meals that we eat on days when we’ve been busy doing projects or have been out of the house. It just requires putting whole potatoes in the instant pot for 13 minutes on high pressure (or you could bake them in the oven), cooking some type of protein to go with them, and then setting out whatever toppings you like!
Although bacon bits are a traditional choice for topping potatoes, I prefer to use a heartier meat to fill up the family, something like shredded roast, seasoned ground meat, salmon, or chili. I also typically set out grated cheese or sour cream, cooked broccoli, and our fermented sauerkraut for the top. Don’t feel like you have to stop there, however! This is another meal where your family could surprise you and eat all kinds of interesting combinations. Any vegetables we currently have growing in the garden will be chopped up and added to the choices (and all of my kids enjoy fresh, chopped chives!) And if you have something in the refrigerator that needs to be eaten, set it out among the choices and see what happens!
“Throw it in the pot” Soup
Let’s begin by talking about soup in general. I’ve been perfecting through practice my soup making skills for years now and I’ll never stop! š It is a meal that can feed a crowd for cheap and use up a lot of random ingredients.
I always start my soups by sauteing chopped onions (you can also add carrots and celery for a tradidional base). I add some type of protein such as cubed meat, chicken pieces, ground beef or sausage, and throw in vegetables as well. If I’m in a hurry I will simply dump in a bag of frozen mixed veggies! Potatoes, peeled and cubed, are another great addition for filling bellies. For a tomato flavor mix in some tomato paste, or dump in a jar of tomato sauce. At the very end of cooking I’ll often add some of our fresh cream or another dairy option to give the soup a rich flavor. Of course, salt and pepper to taste, and also feel free to try out any savory herbs you have on hand.
It can be intimidating to cook without a recipe but it is an adventure I have come to really enjoy! Take sample tastes as you go along and keep adding things until it is a flavor you like.
Wild Rice Soup
The first time I made wild rice soup I full expected push back from my younger kids. After all, wild rice looks pretty strange floating in soup! However after the first obligatory bites were taken I was pleasantly surprised to hear “yum!” and “make this again!”
I made it with lots of nourishing ingredients and one splurge… cream cheese.
I start this soup in the morning by throwing one of our frozen whole chickens in a big pot of water and setting on the stove to simmer. Again, this is typically due to my lack of planning ahead when it comes to thawing meat! In the afternoon I pull out the chicken, pick off the meat, and put the bones back into the simmering pot. This will make a rich nutritious bone broth.
An hour before I plan to serve the soup I throw two cups of rinsed wild rice in the broth to cook (You may want to use less if you’re not making a giant pot of soup. It will swell slightly from its uncooked size so let that help you judge how much to use). I keep this soup very simple by just adding chopped onions and carrots, salt and and seasonings like garlic powder, oregano, etc, but you could add any other vegetables you prefer. Once the vegetables are tender I return the chicken to the pot and add a block of cream cheese. As it melts I use a wooden spoon to mash it against the side of the pot and help it integrate.
And that’s it! Serve and enjoy.
Slow Cooker Roast
Can I be honest? Although I appreciate the wisdom of searing your roast before cooking it, I rarely ever do so. Typically, I’m throwing the roast into the slow cooker and feeling very victorious that I had the foresight to thaw the thing out first! In spite of this, my roasts are tender and flavorful… the key is keeping them on low in the crock pot for a long time.
My easy slow cooker roast recipe is setting a roast into the slow cooker. Since we butcher our own beef I have my husband cut the roasts into pieces that are as large as I can fit! This makes plenty of food to feed our large family.
I mix up a cup or two of broth (use water if you’re really in a pinch), three spoonfuls of tomato paste, and a couple good squirts of coconut aminos. I pour this over the roast and sprinkle it with salt and pepper. Then I slice an onion and cover the roast with it for extra flavor.
This will cook alllllll day on low until I’m ready to serve it. I find that you can’t overcook a giant roast! It just gets more tender as the day goes on.
Since my roast fills the entire slow cooker I can’t add things like potatoes or carrots halfway through like many people do. I’ll typically cook potatoes in my instant pot (set them on the rack with a half cup of water in the bottom and set it for high pressure, 15 minutes). When they’re done I’ll either serve them as is or throw them in my mixer to turn into mashed potatoes with a good amount of grass fed butter, salt and garlic powder, and some fresh cream.
I’ll also pick a vegetable to serve (preferably something from the garden!) and set out our fermented sauerkraut as a side. This is something I encourage all of the family members to eat. Even just one small spoonful with your meal has amazing benefits for gut health.
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