Gluten-Free Lunches and Dinners: Beef

Goals:
1) To incorporate more Iron and B12 into my diet.
2) To look forward to lunch/dinner time.
3) To be full after lunch/dinner time.

Outcome:
* SUCCESS!

One of my fears in going gluten free was always being hungry.  No bread or pasta to fill me up.  How would I manage?!  Another fear was lack of taste.  The prospect of no sauces or pre-mixed seasonings made my taste buds well up with tears.  Lastly, I feared the constant concern of my Korean co-teacher, who seems to think it is impossible to be full from a meal unless meat and rice are heartily present.  (Even sandwiches are seen as just a snack by her... not that I'm eating many of those these days.)

Here are a few of the various beef dishes I've tried and enjoyed:

Thinly sliced beef marinated in balsalmic vinegar and pineapple juice, brown rice, broccoli, cooked carrots, raisins (so flavorful!), mushrooms, apples, and broccoli.  Started off, of course, with the ever present basis of garlic, pepper, and olive oil in the bottom of my frying pan.

(I realized afterwards that various types of vinegar are contested among experts in whether or not they are safe for Celiacs.  It is hard to say how it went over with my tummy, as it was still early on in the gluten-free expiremnt.)

I had purchased two servings worth of beef, so I made a separate dinner dish.  I wanted to eat the beef up quickly before it went bad, but I also wanted some variety in flavors and textures.  My dinners tend to be lighter nowadays, as my breakfasts and lunches are loaded meals.  So for this dinner, I stuffed a red bell pepper with spicy green peppers, beef, and rice, and topped it all off with some Russian cheese I found at the foreign food market.  Unfortunately, this caused some stomach problem.  Some processed cheeses aren't guaranteed safe for Celiacs, and I learned this the hard way.  The dish was both tasty and SPICYYYYY!  I ended up having three glasses of milk to finish it all off.  I guess I didn't need the whole green pepper...

Here is a meal comprised of brown rice, broccoli, sesame leaves, red lettuce, lentils, onions, tomatoes, mushrooms, and a few left over scraps of beef.  This made for a filling lunch - typically I can only eat half of whatever I bring at lunch, and have the rest some time around 3 or 4.  Granted, I'm also eating fruit, nuts, and whatever else I've packed to round it all off.

And last but not least, in an attempt to mix things up and satisfying my sweet tooth a bit more, I added some kiwis, tomatoes, and apples to my frying pan when sauteing up this thin beef steak.  Set on a bed of greens and served with rice (hidden somewhere beneath it all), it turned into a dish I would have paid for at a restaurant!