Ingredients:

• 1 lb gnocchi (check to make sure it’s dairy-free. some are, some aren’t)
• 1/2 lb ground meat (beef,  or buffalo)
• 1/2 lb  cremini mushrooms or shitake mushrooms cut into large chunks
• 3-4 sprigs whole green onions chopped, green parts separated from white parts
• 1-2 tbs chopped fresh parsley
• splash white wine
• salt & pepper to taste
• 1 tbs olive oil

Directions:

1. Put a pot of water on to boil (for the gnocchi).
2. Add olive oil and white parts of the green onions to a medium hot skillet, cook for about 1 minute.
3. Tear off chunks of the ground meat and compress into small balls using your hands, and place one-at-a-time in skillet. (These should be about the size of the gnocchis.)
4. Gently roll around or turn over the browning meat in the pan, so all sides cook evenly.
5. After about 5-7 of meat browning, add the chopped mushrooms.
6. Cook meat and mushrroms for about 3 minutes more, and then add the green parts of the green onions, the parsley, and white wine.
7. At this point, the water should be boiling, turn heat down to a very gentle boil and add the gnocchi.
8. Turn down  the skillet to low.
9. Remove the gnocchi from water, add to the skillet and gentle toss the dish.
10. Serve immediately.

Ingredients:

• 1 cup frozen peas
• small can of tuna
• parsley or sweet pea sprouts
• 1-2 tbs mayo (I use safflower mayo which is dairy free)
• 1 tbs brown mustard
• 1-2 cups pasta (macaroni shells, I like to use brown rice)
• lettuce or baby greens

Preparation:

• Boil some salted water. Add shells, spirals or macaroni pasta to it. (Cooking the pasta takes the longest).
• While pasta is cooking open and drain tuna. Mix the tuna with mayo, brown mustard, and chopped up parsley.
• Put frozen peas in a colander. Drain the cooked pasta on top of the peas to thaw them.
• Combine mayo+mustard+tuna with the pasta+peas and mix well.
• I like to serve this on a bed of lettuce or baby arugula while it’s still warm. This tastes best if it’s eaten immediately.

Dietary: Dairy-free, can be gluten-free
Servings: Serves 2 as a meal, easy to expand
Approximate Time: 15 minutes (mostly just waiting for the pasta to cook)

Check out the entire list of Quick & Easy Dairy-free Dinners.

This soup is made from a 12 bean soup (mix from Whole Foods), a little bit of ground beef, some sauteed veggies (carrots, onions, celery) and vegetable stock. It’s nice and thick. I freeze 1 or 2 person size portions in tupperwares and label them with the type of soup and the date.

The fries are Alexia yukon gold julienne fries with sea salt. I’m a sucker for fries, and these are super easy because you just take them out of the bag and bake them in the oven. I usually add a little extra salt (wink).

Check out the entire list of Quick & Easy Dairy-free Dinners.

One of my favorites is the Thai Coconut Soup (also called Tom Kha).
The soup is a coconut milk base with authentic Thai spices, including ginger root and lime leaf. (Amy’s has some magical way of putting one slice of ginger and one lime leaf in every can. Be sure to remove these after heating.) The soup also contains vegetables and tofu cubes.

Preparation:

• Shake the can a few times to unclump the coconut milk from the lid and bottom of the can.
• Open the can of soup into a small sauce pan and heat over medium flame.
• Add soft vegetables that don’t take a lot of time to cook such as fresh tomatoes chunks, cucumber slices, bell pepper slices, mushrooms or broccoli florets. You just want these to soften in the hot soup, not cook through, so no need to cook more than three or so minutes.
• Heat until steamy but not boiling.
• Remove the ginger slice and lime leaf.
• Top with sprouts and/or cilantro.

Dietary: Vegan
Spice: Has a little bit of heat, but definitely mild, rather than medium or hot.
Servings: Serves 1 as a meal, 2 as a side
Approximate Time: 8 minutes

• save money
• save time
• healthier (low saturated fat and calories)
• more nutritious (fresh ingredients, quality I get to select)
• organic (I like to eat organic when I can, and not many restaurants are able to offer that)

So to facilitate my quest, I’m putting together a list of these stand-by dinner options and sharing them with all you faithful readers. Here are some features:

Preparation: No microwave is required for any of these dishes. (I don’t have one!) All are heated on the stove-top or baked in the oven.
Ingredients: All recipes are dairy-free and many are vegan. (In case you haven’t noticed yet, I have a very low tolerance for dairy.) Most involve a generous amount of vegetables, either fresh or frozen.
Servings: Most are 1-2 servings. If you’re serving a family, you can double or triple as necessary.
Time: Quick & Easy means they should take a short time to cook, and require little preparation. Most take around 10 minutes to cook and just a few minutes to chop vegetables or assemble ingredients. All are under 20 minutes.
Fun: These dinners are interesting to me because most involve a dash of creativity and fresh ingredients. (They’re not just frozen dinners.)

This is my running list of my stand-by dinners. Click on a link to check out the recipe and details. (The ones that aren’t linked are coming soon!)

Quick & Easy Dairy-Free Dinners List:

1. Tom Kha Soup
2. Tuna Pasta
3. Soup and Fries
4. Pad Thai
5. Lemongrass & Chili Rice Noodle Soup
6. Bombay Potatoes
7. Gnocchi with Butternut Squash