For those dealing with different multiple food allergies it their family like I am, I thought it might be useful to show and example of a fairly simple meal that provides what each person needs. Our whole family is gluten and sugar free. On top of that, I cannot tolerate salicylates or high-carbs, and my daughter cannot tolerate amines and glutamates. Since we all don't need to avoid ALL three of those all the time, sometimes it's nice to have as much variety as possible while still meeting the different needs.

This recipe would be nice with chicken too. The Phillipino guys my husband works with told him that duck will taste better and be more tender if it's boiled first, before other stages of cooking. He mentioned this to me without any further details, so I guessed. This recipe turned out really well, using 7 duck breasts from our own ducks which we slaughtered and froze a wee while ago. The meat was much more tender done this way, than the duck I did previously without pre-boiling.

Ingredients:
8 portions of duck - either a whole duck cut up, or breasts or other parts of your choice.
1/2 cup rice flour
Salt
25g butter or duck fat
250g smoked bacon, chopped
250g mushrooms, wiped and halved
250g baby onions, peeled
600ml chicken stock
1 tsp dried herbs (I used chives, thyme would be good too), or a few sprigs of fresh thyme, left whole.

Method:
1) Place duck portions in a pot, cover with water, and bring to the boil then simmer until cooked through, about 10 mins for breasts. Lift pieces out with tongs and place on a plate to cool down and dry off.
2) Pat chicken portions dry, place in a bowl with half of the flour and toss to coat. Optional: fry the pieces in the frying pan first until browned all over, then transfer to casserole dish before frying bacon etc as follows...
3) Melt butter or fat in a frying pan, cook bacon, mushroom and onions for 5 minutes, then transfer to casserole dish with a slotted spoon
4) Stir remaining flour into pan juices and cook one minute. Remove from the heat and whisk in stock, adding slowly at first and whisking until smooth. Place back on heat, bring to the boil, and simmer, stirring, until thickened - about 2-3 minutes. If using dried herbs, stir into sauce. Pour over the duck, bacon, onions and mushrooms in the casserole dish.
5) If using fresh thyme sprigs, add to the casserole dish. Cover and cook 180C (350F) for one hour. Remove thyme sprigs.  

This basic casserole or stew recipe is a modified version of the one I've used for the past 26 years. It can be made with any meat, from beef or lamb to chicken, rabbit, deer, duck or other game. It can be cooked on the stove, in the oven, or in a slow cooker, and most of the ingredients can be varied to suit. Once you understand the method and basic ingredients, the rest is up to you!

Basic Ingredients:
1 kg of meat - use anything you like - excellent for cheap cuts of stewing meat - diced
2 onions, diced
2-3 cloves garlic, crushed and finely diced
Vegetables - 2-3 sliced or diced carrots and 2-3 stalks diced celery, or other
1 tsp dried rosemary or 1 TBSP fresh rosemary, finely chopped
1 tsp salt
2 tsp soy sauce (optional)
1 jar or 400g can of diced tomatoes
300 ml home made stock or water
Rice or corn flour to thicken

Method:
Oven - place all ingredients except in large oven-proof casserole dish with a well-fitting lid. Don't worry if it seems like there isn't a lot of liquid - as the casserole begins to cook, more fluid will come from the meat and veges. Bake at 180C (350F) for 1.5-2 hours, stirring once or twice during cooking.
Stove-top - (least recommended) - heat a little oil in a pot, add garlic and onions and cook until softened. Add meat and brown, then add remaining ingredients except flour. Cover and simmer for 1 - 1.5 hours, stirring occasionally and adding more liquid if needed.
Slow cooker - place all ingredients except flour in slow cooker and cook on low all day, or high for 5-6 hours
ALL: near the end of cooking, mix approx. 3 TBSP flour with enough water to make a runny mix, and stir into casserole. Cook a little longer to thicken.

Variations:
* If you don't have any stock available, add 2-3 TBSP tomato paste for extra flavour
* If using a gamey meat such as venison, wild pork or duck, add 2 TBSP vinegar to the mix - this tenderises the meat and removes the gamey flavour but isn't noticeable in the finished casserole
* Chunks of potato or kumera may also be added. The potato soaks up stock and tastes great.
* Vary herbs and seasonings to suit
* Use beef stock with red meats, and chickens stock with whiter meats

This cheap, tasty and healthy meal is based on a Trim Healthy Mama recipe. I wasn't entirely sure what my family would think, as they're not lentil fans, but they all loved it and came back for more and declared "I could keep the recipe for this one" which is high praise indeed. :-) This recipe is designed to cook all day in the crockpot, so soak the grains the night before, then set it up first thing in the morning.

Ingredients: (for about 8 people) This is what I used but it's a flexible recipe - season and add things as desired.
750g Chana Dahl (a yellow lentil) - soaked overnight in a large bowl of water with 1/2 tsp baking soda, then drained
10 cups water and/or chicken stock. I used 2 cups strong chicken stock and the rest water, as that's what I had
2 diced onions
3-4 stalks celery, diced
Sea salt (be generous with this if you don't have Braggs)
Dried onion flakes or onion powder
Braggs or Tamari sauce
Tumeric powder
Left over diced cooked chicken
1 bunch spinach

Method:
Put soaked, drained grain in a large crockpot with the water/stock. Stock gives a better flavour than plain water.
Add diced onions and celery.
Add rest of ingredients except chicken and spinach.
Simmer all day in the crockpot.
1 hour or so before serving, add the chicken and chopped spinach, which will wilt nicely.
Serve alone, or with suitable crackers or toast. It really doesn't need anything else though, as it's very filling.

A tasty gravy is always a nice accompaniment to a roast, but purchased gravy mixes are generally full of nasty ingredients such as preservatives, MSG etc, not to mention gluten products. I've made my own gravy from scratch for years, and it's very easy. The key thing with the way I do it though is this: when roasting meats - chicken, lamb, beef etc, I do it in a covered roasting dish, to prevent the fats splattering the oven, causing smoke and mess I have to clean up. This results in fats and juices from the meat being trapped in the dish, which leads to a more tender meat, but also presents the perfect opportunity to make gravy. However, if I wish to brown the roast at the end of cooking, I drain off this liquid into a pot first to make the gravy. Or if I don't have pan drippings, then I might make the gravy with home-made stocks which I keep in the freezer (these are made by simply boiling chicken frames or suitable bones in water with some salt for 2 or so hours). My daughter made gravy last night, and below is how she did it. You can vary this quite a bit - gravy is basically a flour mixed with a fat, with fluid, seasonings and flavouring added. Similar to making white sauce, but this time it's a gravy so stocks are used instead of milk.

Ingredients
1. About 2 cups fluid from cooking the chicken
2. A sprinkling of herbs (we used dried chives and oregano)
3. ¼ cup rice flour - top the measuring cup with water, and mix in the flour until smooth
4. Extra water if needed
5. A splash of soya sauce
6. Salt to taste
Method
1. Mix everything together in a pot.
2. Cook over low to medium heat, stirring frequently, until cooked and thickened. If mix is too thick, add more water.

Ingredients:
150g boneless chicken per person (I used 600g for the four of us home that night)
2 TBSP coconut oil and 3 TBSP olive oil
2-3 cloves minced garlic (plus optional 2 TBSP fresh minced ginger)
Bags of frozen stir-fry veges (I used about 1 1/2 bags)
1/3 cup soy/tamari sauce
2 cups chicken stock
3 TBSP rice flour or other thickener
Method:
Cut up chicken into chunks and set aside. Heat coconut oil and 1 TBSP olive oil in large skillet over med/high temp.
Add garlic and ginger (if using) and cook for about 1 minute.
Add chicken chunks and cook 4-5 minutes, stirring until they brown.
Add extra oil if needed, and stir-fry vege mix, and cook until softened (about 5-10 mins), stirring frequently.
Add soy/tamari sauce (I used a mixture) and mix thoroughly
In a separate bowl, whisk rice flour into chicken stock, then pour into pan, and continue to stir and cook until sauce thickens, which will happen quickly.
Serve!

Super quick and tasty - perfect for the nights when you get home and need a fast dinner! (Sorry, forgot to take a photo, but it looked really pretty! Make it yourself and find out :-)).