I give in! Please give me some ideas for food that fits in with these criteria...

[robino]

1. Family friendly
2. No pork products (we're in the Middle East, fairly tricky to get hold of)
3. Gluten free
4. No lamb (this is obviously a fab criteria for the Middle East)
5. Preferably chicken without bones...

Arghh. My father and my stepmum are about to turn up for a two week visit. He is a coeliac (obviously unavoidable!) and she doesn't like lots of things. I'm trying to do my shopping list.

I have chicken breasts in the freezer (stocked up when I saw them as they are fairly rare here) for SM when we eat lamb. We will BBQ sometimes so that's ok, we will eat out sometimes not that SM will like what is available!. I'm fairly sure she won't like chickpeas (another staple!) and I don't know where she stands on fish. It's no wonder that my dad, who loves his food, gets all giddy when he spends time with us!

I just need some ideas so that I have the means to throw them together when we're busy, kids are hungry, we've been out all day. Maybe I should just nominate them to cook...

Spaghetti, chilli, sausage casserole, salad nicoise, jacket spuds, rissotto, chicken curry and rice,
We lived in Oman, I did occasionally use beef sausages, not often though, they were rank.

Do you have a slow cooker at all? Will they eat vegetarian? Will they eat spices/curry's etc. Can you get/will they eat other meats?

Chicken, mushroom and rice one pot

Rinse 250gm basmatti rice in a seive and leave to drain. Heat oil in a pan and add 1 large chopped onion, fry until soft. Stir in 2tbsp chopped fresh rosemary or 1 tsp dried and 250gm of mushrooms (chestnut or similar if you can get them but any will do.) Add the rice, stir to coat in oil. Then add 2 chopped red peppers, tin of chopped tomatoes,500ml vegatable stock, chopped up chicken breasts, season with pepper. Bring to the boil, give it a stir, pop the lid on and reduce heat, cook until rice has absorbed the stock and is tender, serve in bowls.

That's one recipe to start. Just make sure the stock cube is gluten free. Will be back later with some more.

Do you have a mincer?

Which ME country are you in? What are the supermarkets like. I am in the UAE and we have Lulu, Carrefour, Spinneys, Abela, Waitrose and have just had a Spa open up. We also have an organic healthfood shop. I can generally ind the some GF products in them. If you can get GF flour to make pastry then there a couple of pies you can make.

Chicken, cheese and brocolli pie.
Preheat oven to gas mark 6 (sorry don't know electric)
Pop a medium head of brocolli in a pan and bring to the boil and then turn off and leave in pot and fry off 250gm chicken breasts and chop into chunks.
Make pastry and wrap in clingflm and pop in the fridge.
Melt 25gm marg/butter in a pan, add 2 tblsp of GF flour, add 1pint milk, then Stir in 100gm strong cheddar like cheese (I use Bega Tasty here.)
Put chicken and brocolli in a dish and pour on the sauce.
Roll out pastry (GF pastry can be odd and I tend to just put it between 2 sheets of cling fim and just press it out flat and then put it on top of the dish.)
Oven cook for 30-40 mins.

Any filling left can be made into pasties and frozen or had for lunch/supper.

Sorry for all the questions but keep thinking of them as I am doing my housework.

Philly (or similar), chicken and leek pie.

Preheat oven to gas mark 6.
Make pastry, wrap and fridge.
Cook 250gm chicken in a little oil in a pan and chop into chunks and set aside.
Add teasp of butter to the pan and soften 3 large chopped leeks, add a tblsp flour and cook, stirring all the time for about 2 mins.
Stir in 250ml of chicken or veg stock (check it is GF) and simmer for 5 min until slightly thickened.
Add philly and stir until melted. Add a dash of water if too thick.
Return chicken to the pan and add some herbs.
Spoon into an oven proof dish and top with pastry and cook for 30-40 mins.

Serve pies with veg and mash/potatoes.

All recipes serve 5/6 ish.

Can you get polenta? Add gf stock and cheese and cut into chips once set, then cook in the oven for 25 mins, delicious.

Chicken marinated in prunes, garlic and honey with cous cous.

Aubergine parmigiana

Potato wedges with chilli

Pilaf

I think the key thing is where in the ME are you? some countries are better than others for resources and ingredients.
WRT to the gluten free, could your visitor bring some supplies with him?

You lot are good!

I'm in Doha. I think we should be fine on the gf front; I handily live next to one of the best supermarkets for that! It's more SM's requirements that will do me in!

I often do slow cooker meals so I can dish up sfraight away after late kid's activities
. Invariably they involve meat on the bone!

nicoise salad a good idea, looks like we'll be eating a lot of pasta.

Frittata with a lovely salad.

Teryaki chicken with rice (or rice noodles). Even nicer if you velvet the chicken first. (My kids love, love, love this).

Being in Doha I am assuming it's going to be hot. What about chilled soups like gazpacho, vichyssoise, etc?

You could throw together some nice salads with beans (tinned), quinoa, millet, seeds nuts etc.

Buckwheat pancakes (make in advance), rice noodles, corn wraps, polenta, fishcakes or meatballs (freeze ahead).
There's nothing worse than trying to cater for a fussy eater especially when you are surrounded by lovely local produce (get her some harissa ).

There are some tasty recipes on the Coeliac UK website that the whole family can eat and enjoy.

If there is any way you can get hold of Quorn bacon, you could try this (made it last week with Quorn for a veggie friend, was lovely), or you could omit the bacon altogether - can easily be varied by chucking in different ingredients according to your Stepmum's foibles, and is quick to make:

www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/2818/ovenbaked-risotto-

If you do try it, in my experince it takes more like 25 minutes to cook, and it's nice with some garlic added with the onions. Also I add more than 50g of cheese, but often cheddar rather than Parmesan, and it's still great.

She won't eat meat on the bone? Is she a child? How odd. Can you just cook normal meat on the bone dishes and cut hers up for her?

DH won't eat meat on the bone. It is Very Annoying.

Quorn is not gluten free.

Chicken thighs in red wine (or grape juice depending where you are).

Chicken curry.

Egg and chips.

Chicken kebab.

Shepherd's pie can be done with turkey mince, not sure about chicken, it might work.

Beans on toast.

Baked potatoes with appropriate fillings

I don't meat on the bone and I'm an adult. Urgh. Cutting it off the bone not good enough either.

I used to live in oman and remember the beef sausages - they really were rank! And the bacon that used to taste of fish...

"Cutting it off the bone not good enough either."

Isn't all boneless meat cut off a bone? Unless there are some weird GM boneless animals I don't know about?

Cous cous and pasta contain gluten!

Obviously it is possible to get GF pasta - I see you are near a good supermarket, but maybe DF could bring out some of his preferred products, with him.

Quinoa might be a good substitute for cous cous.

Chicken Caesar salad is a favourite in our family in the summer. You could make GF croutons.

Good point One - wings, ribs, drumsticks, chicken thighs are a no go, anything else is fine. Makes no sense and I am trying VERY hard not to pass my wierdness onto my kids!

BBQ was a success last night and she even liked the arabic sausages. Surprisingly she aso likes shellfish and lots of fish.

However, tonight I will have tired hungry children after gym so it's slow cooker beef atew, mash and greens!