Ingredient: Salt and pepper

Chicken with Preserved Lemons and Green Olives

There are, by my count, a zillion ways to make this dish, but all are essentially braised chicken with preserved lemons and green olives…and a fantastic sauce to be soaked up by gluten-free pasta or rice. Modify the flavors as your mood strikes, adjusting spices to evoke dishes from Morocco to Spain.

Larb, or Ground Meat Lettuce Cups

While you may not have heard of larb by that name, you are likely familiar with the variation known as “lettuce cups”. Lettuce cups often feature Chinese flavors while larb tends to be spicier, with flavors of Thailand and Laos.

This ground meat dish features lime juice, fish sauce, chiles, and herbs. You can use any type of ground meat, though chicken seems to be the most traditional. Serve in lettuce cups and make a little extra sauce for spooning over the completed dish if you’d like.

Once interesting ingredient in this dish is ground toasted rice. It can be optional, but the rice powder adds a bit of crunchiness that is surprising, so I suggest going for it. You can toast the rice on the stove, but I prefer the oven method because it’s less hands-on — I do all the other meal prep while the rice is browning away!

Pizza with Chopped Artichoke Hearts, Basil, and Olive Oil

When you’re gluten-free, chances are you can’t take advantage of take-out pizza anymore. Luckily, making pizza at home is fast and easy. Using a gluten-free pizza dough mix makes it even easier. Yes, if you’re so inclined, you can make your own GF mix, but I find having a stash of mix in the cupboard makes my life easier.

Since going gluten-free, I don’t eat a lot of breads, so I don’t keep a lot of GF flours on hand. I rely on a well-stocked pantry for those days when I throw my menu aside and hope there’s something to eat in the house!

Most recipes for pizza are pretty standard: crust topped with sauce, cheese, and meat and veggies. This recipe is a bit different in that in features a this layer of olive oil instead of heavier sauce. This light pizza is perfect in the summer — and if you want to grill it, go ahead. Just make sure your crust is about 1/3-inch thick, and make sure you watch carefully to prevent burning anything!

Twice-Baked Potatoes

Twice baked potatoes are a fun way to make our friend the potato something special. If you use a microwave to cook the potatoes, this comes together pretty quickly on a weeknight.

The key to twice baked potatoes is what you do with your mashed potato filling (plus, well, that sprinkling of cheese on the top of the potatoes). You can go as basic as salt, pepper, and butter. Or you can fancy your potatoes up with Greek yogurt or sour cream. Whatever strikes your tastebuds.

Sausage and Quinoa Stuffed Squash

Pure Fall (or any season) yumminess! I find butternut squash adds a lovely sweetness, while the sausage adds fat and salt and flavor. The quinoa gives the dish body, and the spinach, well, how can you go wrong with spinach? I toss in a little ricotta for extra flavor. It’s all good.

This works equally well with acorn squash. If you are going with butternut squash, make sure it is relatively symmetric. A very large head and small tail will cook at different levels, leaving the the tail done long before the big part of the squash is done. This leads to an especially tender tail — meaning you have to be extra careful when scooping out the flesh.

Grilled Polenta

What is the saying? Man cannot live on rice and potatoes alone? Hmm, maybe that’s not it, but I do love rice and potatoes. Still, in the interest of reducing monotony, it’s good to introduce new things into my repertoire.

Truthfully, I love polenta. It’s one of those flexible foods that goes with so many things…and it’s so fast and easy to prepare. I like mine with just salt and butter, but have friends who swear a couple of dashes of Tabasco make it heavenly.

While I am sure others have terrific ideas for polenta (now I’m wondering how it would do as a stuffing in a chicken breast…someday), I have two simple go-to preparations: basic (cooked on the stove) and grilled. I’ve heard tell of people making basic polenta in the oven, but it seems like more work than it’s worth to me (correct me if I’m wrong!). If you want to serve this as a side dish, stop at Step 3.