This Week's Menu - It's Been a While!

It's been quite a while since I shared a weekly menu... mostly because our menus don't vary all that much, especially in warmer months!! They should... but a certain husband tends to want pretty much the same meals every week! lol!

I've also been doing a lot of shopping at ALDI lately to help keep our budget inline and it's just easier to stick with familiar foods that we know we enjoy!

"Shopping" the pantry -- this was another trick I used this week. I checked what types of products we had at home as I was writing my grocery list to make sure I didn't buy anything that we already had. Our grocery budget this week was $60.00. With tax I spent $59.01! It's always a win to come in under budget!

Also, we generally don't stick to specific days for meals. It gives us the opportunity to make whatever meal we're hungry for that night.

This Week's Menu: 

• Tacos -- Hubs wants tacos a lot during the summer. We will make them with ground beef, lettuce, avocados, and shredded cheese. PS... instead of adding a taco seasoning mix to the ground beef (which often can have gluten in it) we just season the beef to taste with cumin, garlic, oregano, and chili powder and thicken it with about a teaspoon of cornstarch and 1/4 cup of water. Hubs eats his taco fillings in the actual corn taco shells, while I generally make a taco salad and just crumble a shell on top.

• Chicken Stir-Fry -- I use a package of frozen stir-fry veggies and then add additional fresh veggies that we have in the fridge. I use 1 1/2 large chicken breasts for our stir fry and we're able to get 4 meals out of it. We serve it over white rice. 

• Cheeseburger Pizza -- I've been trying to stay away from tomato-based foods, because in general tomatoes and I just don't get along. So a few weeks ago we tried a "cheeseburger" pizza using a gluten-free pizza crust mix we found at ALDI (boy I wish they would keep those mixes in stock!). We used homemade thousand island dressing as the "base" for our pizza, and then loaded it up with browned ground beef, mushrooms, green peppers, red onions, shredded cheese, and a drizzle of yellow mustard. LOVED it!! May be my favorite pizza now!

• Pinto Beans -- Not really a summer meal, but still one of my super frugal favorites because you can just add soaked pinto beans to the crock pot, add whatever seasonings you like, cover with water, and voila... when you get home, instant dinner! And you can cook them to death and they're still edible! I love them topped with caramelized onions! 

• Cheryl's Lentil Dal & Roasted Cauliflower -- another "meatless" meal option that I like to have on hand, it's quick and easy for a weeknight meal and it's pure comfort food! Just as an FYI, you can roast frozen cauliflower too! It works great and is super tasty! 

• Tuna or Salmon Melts -- Basically just canned tuna or salmon mixed with a little mayo, relish, salt, pepper, and mustard and placed on GF toast, topped with a slice of cheese and put under the broiler to melt. Quick, easy, and a good hot weather dinner! 

• Chicken Caesar Salad -- My dad's awesome ceasar salad topped with grilled chicken! A perfect summer meal! 

• Beef Stroganoff -- I haven't made this recipe in years, but had a big craving for it last week! I will make it using gluten-free wide noodles from Schar, beef broth, sour cream, mushrooms, red wine, and various seasonings... And I need to remember to pull out the beef from the freezer! 

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Share your menu at Org Junkie's Menu Plan Mondays: 

Also check out the wonderful gluten-free menu swap!!
This week hosted at Celiac Family: 

Store Sales + Store Coupons = Getting the Most Bang for your Buck at Food Lion

I do most of my shopping these days at Food Lion in Greenville, NC. It isn't fancy. It isn't organic (most of it anyway), but it's healthy, real, and affordable food and I'm usually able to stay within my weekly $50 food budget for the two of us. 

This budget generally ONLY includes food and sometimes things like dish soap or toothpaste. I buy MOST of our other household items in bulk for super cheap from Amazon once every few months. The last time we bought toilet paper and paper towels was in December.  I also buy all of our cat food online through Amazon, again because I can get it in bulk, get it deeply discounted or at least for a comparative price, AND it's delivered. 

One way I'm able to stay within my $50 budget is buy ONLY shopping the store sales and store brands. There are a few items that are rarely on sale (like butter, eggs, and/or organic milk), but generally at least half of what I buy is on sale. Each week I check out the online sales paper for our local store. 

• Money-Saving Shopping Tip: GET to KNOW your favorite store's websites! They often have special coupons available (often customized JUST for you and your shopping habits), they ALWAYS have their current sales flyer available. They also often have great custimization tools to create your own shopping lists that can be emailed to you or your smart phone or just printed for your convenience. You can check out all of the store's coupon policies along with all the details of any current store promotions. I have become a HUGE fan of Food Lion's customer website, it has helped me tremendously each week to create my shopping list and stay within my budget. (And NO, they have NOT paid me to say that or review their store, I've just been shopping there for years, and I'm a loyal customer!) 

I create a shopping list just from the items in the flyer and then I create a weekly menu from those store sale items. Sometimes the menu isn't very exciting... but it's nearly ALWAYS healthy, real, unprocessed foods. 

Here is a breakdown of the items I bought this week (highlighted items were not on sale, just store-brand regular priced items): 

• 2 boxes Honey Nut Cheerios (on sale with MVP card = 2 for $3.98)
• 1 box Corn Chex cereal (had a .50 off coupon ON my store MVP card, that I found on the food lion website = $2.99)
• 2 small cans of tomato sauce (.64)
• 1 bag dried lentils (1.39)
• 2 cans green beans, 1 can corn, 1 can sweet peas (on sale with MVP = $1.68)
• 1 pound ground beef (on MVP sale for $3.35)
• 2 turkey drumsticks ($3.07)
• 2 whole chickens (on sale for .99/ lb. = $10.79)
• 1 head cauliflower ($2.99)
• 3 pounds sweet potatoes ($2.52)
• 1 bunch celery (on MVP sale, $1.29)
• 3 pounds yellow onions (on MVP sale, $1.79)
• 1 pound asparagus (on MVP sale, $3.77)
• 1 green pepper (.89)
• 1 pound carrots (.79)
• 1 package sliced mushrooms (on MVP sale, $1.69)
• 1 package (2 cups) shredded mozzarella cheese ($2.49)
• 1/2 gallon organic milk ($3.59)
• 2 dozen medium eggs ($2.09 per package = $4.18)
• 1 pound butter ($2.97)
• 1 package paper plates (on MVP sale, $1.99)

TOTAL with store coupons & store sales = $54.10

So it turns out with this trip, it was about half MVP store sale items and half store-brand lower priced items. My goal every week is to try to make sure to buy as many REAL food items as possible and very few processed items for the best prices I can find. Right now, I don't focus on organic foods. When we have the money for them, I definitely go for organic, but I think overall if you have a tight budget and can simply focus on whole foods, you're still doing pretty darn well! 

Cheryl's lentil dal, roast cauliflower, and baked sweet potatoes

We will use the food from this trip combined with the food in our pantry and freezer to make some of the following meals: 

• Roast chicken with lemon and artichokes or asparagus (see recipe below!)
• Cheryl's lentil dal (I used the regular lentils I found instead of red lentils, it worked fine!), with roasted cauliflower and baked sweet potatoes
• Breakfast for dinner = eggs, bacon (from freezer stash), and gluten-free pancakes
• Homemade gluten-free pizza (pg. 104, The Everything Gluten-Free Baking Cookbook) with toppings of browned ground beef, green peppers, onions, homemade tomato sauce, and mozzarella. 
• Hamburger gravy made with remaining browned ground beef, celery, and onions and served over gluten-free, low glycemic biscuits or GF almond bread toast
• Homemade pulled turkey barbecue and homemade coleslaw (with cabbage from last week's shopping trip)
• Mushroom & Asparagus Omelettes with sliced oranges from last week's shopping trip

Slow cooked roast chicken with artichokes and lemon - see recipe from my slow cooker cookbook below!

Recipe shared courtesy of Carrie S. Forbes (myself), author of "The Everything GF Slow Cooker Cookbook"

Do you have a favorite store that you shop at consistently? 

What's your favorite thing about the store? 

Bread, Broth, and a Menu

It's become a tradition on Sundays to bake bread. We've been pinching pennies for several months to get our budget back in order and as much as I love Udi's... it's too expensive right now. So I pulled out the old bread machine and started cracking out a loaf on Sundays. We use it basically for sandwiches one night a week and sometimes as toast in the morning. I realize those of you who follow this blog are wondering why in the world I'm eating sandwiches when I'm supposed to be following a paleo diet.

Balance... I've realized it's very hard for me to follow an extremely strict diet for the long term. It tends to set me up for failure to say I'm not going to eat an entire food group forever and then when it happens that I eat carbs, I go WAY overboard. It works well for me short term, but not long term. So right now, we're just focusing on balance and healthy choices. I don't eat carbs at every meal, and when I do eat them, I eat small portion and get on with my life. So no need to get all tangled up in paleo politics and food judgement.

This bread is Elizabeth Barbone's recipe. I make it dairy-free by using blanched almond flour in place of the dry milk powder and it works beautifully. I make the loaf in our old "Breadman" bread machine on the quick setting and it takes about 75 minutes total. We let the bread cool completely and then I slice it and freeze it. We get about 14 slices from this loaf.

With a tight budget comes ways we can stretch our food dollar. I realized last week I had a small center cut of a beef shank in the freezer. The entire package was less than a pound which included the big shank bone in the center. I asked friends on facebook what in the world to do with such a small cut of beef and many suggested making a soup stock.

This led me to remember my grandmother making "stew beef" (which is different than beef stew... basically an even more frugal version of the stew!) So I looked around and found this recipe which intrigued me. This sounded a lot like the dish my grandmother used to make. I recalculated the recipe to make the dish with only 1 pound of beef and I made my own homemade version of onion soup mix since I didn't have any.

I put the beef, onions, water, and homemade onion soup mix in the slow cooker over night. It worked great! It made just enough for about 3 servings (the pared down version) and the next day I served the broth with Cappello's grain-free, gluten-free gnocchi they had sent me for a review. It was a really delicious combination. I'll definitely make this again!

My boys: from bottom to top - Charlie, Whiskey Jack, and Max

Because we're on such a strict budget right now, I decided to go ahead and make up a menu for the rest of the month using what we have in the fridge, freezer, and pantry. So here's what we're having. The best thing about menus like this is that it basically gives you ideas for what you have in your pantry for the next few weeks. You can re-arrange and change the menus to whatever days work best for you. I also based this menu heavily off my ideas for a "yearly" menu that I shared a few weeks ago.

The (remainder of this) MONTH'S Menu!

• Monday Jan 20 - Cheryl's celery in chestnut sauce (as a soup) with leftover turkey
• Tuesday Jan 21- Roast chicken (from slow cooker cookbook!), baked sweet potatoes, sauteed zucchini
• Wednesday Jan 22- ground beef taco salads with tomatoes, lettuce, avocados
• Thursday Jan 23 - deli turkey and bacon sandwiches with sliced apples
• Friday Jan 24 - pan-seared pork chops with sauteed peppers & mushrooms, served with quinoa or rice OR LEFTOVERS 
• Saturday Jan 25 - homemade pizza, using Luce's gluten-free buckwheat artisan bread as the crust
• Sunday Jan 26 - FAMILY MEAL: spiral ham (from the freezer), green beans, sweet potatoes, sauteed kale, deviled eggs
• Monday Jan 27 - LEFTOVERS or venison (no - tomatoes) chili (we leave out the tomatoes as I'm sensitive to them in large quantities) 
• Tuesday Jan 28 - black-eyed peas with leftover ham soup in slow cooker cookbook (will add kale or swiss chard to soup as well)
• Wednesday Jan 29 - breakfast for dinner: bacon, eggs, grits or pancakes, fresh fruit
• Thursday Jan 30 - nomato sauce  over almond flour pasta with a salad
• Friday Jan 31 - deli turkey and bacon sandwiches with sliced apples or LEFTOVERS
• Saturday FEB 1 - FAMILY MEAL: bunless gluten-free hotdogs with homemade baked beans and broccoli salad
• ALL LUNCHES: leftovers, always make sure to have enough for the next day
• ALL BREAKFASTS: scrambled eggs and sausage, oatmeal with pecans and pumpkin seeds (premade, just take to work), turkey bacon and almond flour pancakes. 

My oldest girl: Mollie, don't mess with this chick!

Max with my other girl: Maya... they are snuggle buddies! 

A gluten-free weekly menu template for 365 days

BIG BIG BIG THANK YOU TO my sweet friend Jaime who kept my blog post open when it first went live (and therefore had a copy of the text) after I accidentally deleted it via my smarty-pants phone, which is obviously still smarter than I am! THANK YOU JAIME!!! You rock star You!

Okay... back to our regular programming...Let's try this again, shall we? 

Right before the holidays I upgraded to a smarty-pants phone. Something I had avoided for years mostly because I didn't want a more expensive cell phone bill. I knew I would love the ease and versatility of a smart phone, I just hated the thought of spending so much money on a device that I rarely, if ever, would actually use for phone calls. I actually avoid most of those at all costs!

But, as I suspected, I love the phone. Now, I barely spend any time on my netbook. Which can be a problem when you enjoy writing and online journaling.

Soon after getting the phone I discovered blogger had an app, so I had to try it. I'm hoping it will give me the opportunity to blog more often in 2014. Granted the posts may be short and sweet and with a few less pictures and even more grammatical errors (you're welcome!)

And since simplicity is one of my favorite things, it might just work swimmingly!

Over December I started getting really serious about making a weekly menu and being as frugal with our finances as possible. Actually, the frugality started a few months prior... but now groceries are getting into the act full swing as well as everything else!

At any rate, I realized that creating a menu every single week can be overwhelming to me...so after reading a few blogs and books on frugality I realized I could make one weekly menu that we could basically follow all year long. Flexibility is key. Foods can always be rotated and changed...but just think: the entirety of 2014 menus in one go! For me it has been such a huge weight off my shoulders.

As you will see below it's really just a template for creating easy meals any day of the week.

Simply come up with 8 - 15 of your favorite meals that you make really well and that your family loves and create different variations that be used in rotating weeks. I'm going to write more about this method in the weeks to come, but here is our basic template we've been using the past few weeks.

A Gluten-Free Weekly Menu Template for 365 Days:

- Sunday: roast or casserole or large amount of protein to use with several meals + green veggie.. [ie - roast chicken & green beans]

- Monday: soup [in cold months] or salad [in warm months] + gf bread or starch

- Tuesday: international [spaghetti, lasagne, tacos, stir fry, curries, etc...]

- Wednesday: tuna salad or salmon cakes or other easy fish entree + veggies + starch [bread or crackers for salad/sandwiches]

- Thursday: breakfast for dinner [oatmeal, fruit, eggs, bacon, sausage]

- Friday: FREE SPACE FRIDAY

- Saturday: leftovers or burgers/hotdogs or homemade pizza or quiche.

What's on your menu this week?

This Week's Gluten-Free Menu: Back to a Plan

Okay, admittedly it has been MONTHS... really MONTHS since I stuck a menu plan. It's so easy to get out of the habit... and then it kills our grocery budget when we do!

So it's time to get back in the habit. The meals we have cooked over the past few weeks have been mostly pantry meals. I'm trying to clean out my freezer and our cabinets and rotate out foods that are getting close to date!

I'm going to continue that this week, although I probably will stop by the grocery store to pick up a few things like eggs and milk (almond for me, organic dairy for hubs). Our meals will also be very quick and easy, as life has been pretty hectic lately and I just haven't had time to create or make meals with tons of ingredients or that take a long time.

And as you probably know, this week has a couple of special days in it: Shrove Tuesday and Saint Valentine's Day. So I think we'll have gluten-free pancakes on Tuesday night and for Valentine's Day, M & I will just have a small meal at home followed by a glass of this chocolate wine! I saw it at the grocery store yesterday and had to pick it up! How perfect for Valentine's Day!

This Week's Gluten-Free Menu: 

• Monday - Italian Chicken Sausage served over gluten-free spaghetti with marinara sauce and green beans or a simple argula salad
• Tuesday - Shrove Tuesday: Gluten-Free Pancakes, Scrambled Eggs, Turkey Bacon 
• Wednesday - Carrot Apple Curry Soup (but will use butternut squash instead of carrots) and steamed broccoli
• Thursday - Valentine's Day: Light finger foods like bacon-wrapped dates, homemade hummus with tortilla chips, deviled eggs (hubs favorite!), maybe fresh veggies with ranch dressing, along with chocolates and chocolate wine! 
• Friday - Comforting Chicken and Rice soup from "The Everything Gluten-Free Slow Cooker Cookbook" pg. 120
• Saturday - Kale & Bacon Quiche with an easy fruit salad
• Sunday - Eggplant Lasagna -- my friend Betty made this for us a few months ago and it is SO good! We use zucchini instead of eggplant and I make my half without cheese. 

This Week's Menu - Beginning of December

December 2012 ALREADY.... 21 days until Christmas! How are you handling the stress of the holiday season? Make sure to check out the December Sanity Retreat 2012, begun by Cheryl Harris and hosted by several wonderful gluten-free bloggers. This past week's post was written by Valerie of City Life Eats. Iris of The Daily Dietribe also wrote a fantastic post about the event in which she shares her own personal goals for the month.

Do you make lots of cookies or candy for Christmas? Generally I don't, but I'm working on a new project so I hope to test a bunch of recipes in the next few weeks, and my plan to try out some new gluten-free Christmas cookies! What are your favorite kinds? The theme of the Gluten-Free Menu Swap this week is gluten-free christmas cookies, so share your favorites over at Lisa's blog "Extraordinary Life." She is hosting the menu swap today!

A few cookies I definitely want to make this year:

• Refrigerator Pinwheel Cookies
• Spritz Cookies
• No Bake Oatmeal Cookies

This Week's Menu: 

• Monday -- Big ol' batch of slow-cooker beef stew, this will probably last for 2-3 meals throughout the week. (Will freeze leftovers in portion size containers.) This beef stew was made with about 1 cup of frozen leftover beef stew from another batch  added to: 1 pound browned, grass-fed ground beef + 3 diced carrots, about 1 1/2 cups frozen lima beans, 1 large chopped sweet onion, 2 chopped potatoes (yes, it's a starch heavy stew... lol), and about 3-4 cups of beef broth + salt, pepper, and fresh garlic. All added to the slow cooked and cooked on low for about 9 hours. 

• Tuesday -- A big salad plate with mixed greens & raw veggies, shaved ham, poached eggs, with an oil & vinegar dressing. PS... GF Rice Chex make awesome croutons! 

• Wednesday -- I'm still in Thanksgiving mode, so I am going to slow cook turkey chops (thick slices of turkey breast) and serve with Cheryl's Celery in Chestnut sauce with steamed broccoli and my favorite apple-cranberry sauce on the side. 

• Thursday -- Dinner out since we have errands -- Hibachi stir fry with no sauces -or- leftover slow cooker beef stew!

• Friday -- Homemade GF pizza using this vegan pizza crust, it's a super easy, super crispy crust! I'm thinking of making a BBQ chicken pizza with caramelized onions. 

• Saturday -- Leftover slow cooker beef stew from Monday, as I'm having a gluten-free baking class that day. 

• Sunday-- We've made this crustless kale & bacon quiche from Jenna's Everything Blog at least 3 times and we love it so much we're making it again... really delicious and hearty meal! 

This Week's Menu -- Whole Life Nutrition Recipes

On Friday I had the pleasure of sharing about the current giveaway on Gingerlemongirl.com, 2 brand new, signed copies of  "Nourishing Meals" by Ali Segersten and Tom Malterre. There's only a few more days to enter to win a copy, so make sure you go and leave a comment ASAP!

We are actively trying to change the way we eat around here. While we've never really had a "bad" diet... we are truly trying to incorporate more whole foods and especially more vegetables and lots of  'em.

One area of cooking I have always been challenged in, is how to prepare a wide variety of fresh vegetables. I really want to learn how to make whole foods that my husband will truly enjoy. Granted it will take a bit of effort on his part as well... but he's willing... so now is the best time ever to learn!

My husband wants to lose a few pounds and while I also want to lose weight, more importantly I want to lower my cholesterol and triglyceride numbers. I've been battling those numbers for years and I truly need to get in control of my health. So right now, BEFORE the holidays I'm pledging to do that.

I'll still enjoy holiday treats, but it means in the days before and after I'm going to actively try to eat as many healthy, whole foods meals as possible.

For this weeks' menu in celebration of Ali & Tom's awesome cookbook, I'm making recipes from their website. Feel free to click through to the recipes and make them as well! Let me know what you think and how you are able to feed your family more whole foods.

Don't forget to enter to win a copy!

This Week's "Whole Life Nutrition Kitchen" Menu: 

• Monday: Butternut Squash, Beans, and Kale Soup

• Tuesday: Salmon & Quinoa Burgers served with yam and pecan casserole

• Wednesday: Asian Chicken Salad (we'll serve with Crunchmaster crackers)

• Thursday:  fried eggs over medium, served on Kale with carmelized onions, and going to attempt steamed, mashed cinnamon, nutmeg carrots

• Friday: Black Quinoa and Roasted Pumpkin Salad and steamed broccoli

• Saturday: leftovers

• Sunday: Fish Tacos with avocado, salsa, and cabbage

Breakfasts: leftovers mostly, possibly soaked oats, maybe scrambled eggs
Lunches: are always leftovers

This Week's Menu -- Back to the Grind

Spent nearly all last week near Jacksonville, Florida with my husband's sister Lisa and her family. It's the first time we've had the chance to visit her since she moved to Florida several years ago. And we had a blast.

Yet... it's time to head back to work tomorrow and life as "normal." Although, I was pretty okay with "life as normal" being traveling, eating delicious foods somebody else prepared, and pretending I didn't own an alarm clock. :-)

But as much as I love vacation, it's time to get back into a daily routine. And I know full well that overall I function much better on a routine.

So to jump right back into a routine I'll start with our weekly menu.

This Week's Menu: 

• Monday: Hawaiian Chicken (pg. 174 from the new cookbook!)  with steamed broccoli and baked sweet potatoes

• Tuesday: Breakfast for dinner -- scrambled eggs, fruit salad, some sort of vegetables... 

• Wednesday: Leftover vegetable beef stew, from the freezer

• Thursday: Asian-Inspired Turkey Breasts  (pg. 210 from the new cookbook) with almond green beans and steamed carrots

• Friday: Homemade taco salad night!! Using leftover ground beef & lentil taco filling from the freezer! 

• Saturday: slow cooked baked beans with millet bread 

• Sunday: sandwich night while I prepare a few meals for the next week! 

Breakfasts: mini omelets, soaked oats

Lunches: leftovers or turkey sandwiches with homemade applesauce (pg. 48 from the new cookbook!) 

This Week's Menu - From challenge to challenge

So this week came quickly, almost in a blur. I've been tirelessly working on promoting the book along with my full-time job. I am incredibly proud of the book. I worked really hard to create a unique resource that contains both healthy, whole foods (naturally gluten-free) slow cooker recipes, along with plenty of quick family and kid-friendly recipes as well.

Last week I stepped out of my comfort zone by doing a podcast interview with Elizabeth Barbone (sweetest lady in the entire world!), speaking to a local Kiwanis Club about the gluten-free diet and slow cooking, and then traveling over the weekend to visit my grandmother and driving nearly 600 miles completely by myself in  a little over 24 hours. (I know... I'm a wuss!) So I felt extremely challenged this week with public speaking, doing an interview, and than traveling quite a distance by myself. While I did a lot of that stuff on my own when I was in college, I've been nearly attached to the hip to my husband over the past 8 years... which has been awesome... but it was a healthy change to get a little independence under my belt over the past week!

I've been so thankful for the all the positive feedback on the book. I truly cannot thank all of you enough for testing recipes, for reading the book and giving comments, etc... it's been a great experience! And don't forget, you can still enter to win a signed copy of the book AND a brand new slow cooker!

Our meals this week will continue to be from the pantry & freezer. I didn't have time today to make any meals ahead of time, so I think I'm going to use the slow cooker to create 2 fish dishes in the evenings when I get home, along with a few other super easy-to-make meals.

This Week's Menu:

• Sunday -- Had to work, ate a GoPicnic gluten-free meal.
• Monday -- Herbed Tilapia Stew (from the cookbook, page 39, will take an hour and a half on high in a slow cooker!) served over brown rice.
• Tuesday -- 8TH ANNIVERSARY!! Off work and we will be spending the day going to a local corn maize, picking out pumpkins, and enjoying a fancy lunch or dinner out! 
• Wednesday -- Breakfast for dinner: yellow grits, scrambled eggs, turkey bacon, and cooked apples with cinnamon.
• Thursday --  Barbecue Chicken (from the cookbook, pg. 170 -- halving the recipe and cutting the chicken in small pieces, so it will cook faster!) with steamed broccoli and carrots. 
• Friday -- Ground Beef Ragout (from the cookbook, pg. 195) 
• Saturday -- Cookbook Party at home!! Will be making Turkey Meatballs with Tangy Apricot Sauce (pg. 181), Hot Chicken Buffalo Bites (pg.72), Cinnamon & Sugar Pecans (pg. 76), Slow Cooker Snack Mix (pg.77), Gluten-Free Corn Bread (pg. 46), Ham & Cheese Slow Cooker Omelet (pg. 51), Grandma's Green Beans (pg.92), Honey-Ginger Carrots (pg.217), and Blueberry Cobbler (pg. 272) -- If you're in the Eastern NC area and you'd like to stop by and try out all the goodies, please email me (gingerlemongirl at gmail dot com)! 

You can find a whole round up of gluten-free weekly menu plans at Celiac Family each week! 

For menus of all types, make sure to visit OrgJunkie.com! 

This Week's Menu -- Learning to Cook Fish

Heather of Celiac Family chose 'Fish' as the theme for this week's gluten-free menu swap and the timing couldn't be better. Several weeks ago I went to a gluten-free potluck and the host of the meal made fish. It dawned on me that I very, very rarely ever made fish at home... and I wasn't sure why, because I love fish!

Michael isn't as big a fan as I am... but in the past few weeks I've been including more fish in our diet. I'm learning how to use it and cook it. Fish (in my experience) can be a tricky thing to cook. And I think that's why we haven't eaten it more often. I've made quite a few "bad" fish meals in my time...

So a few buying tips I've learned in the past few weeks... that at least work for us:

• If buying fresh fish, buy it the day you plan to use it -- don't let it sit in the fridge for days, it will become "fishy." 
• If the fish is fresh it doesn't smell like "fish" -- it will have a slightly salty scent and even smell like the ocean.
• If using frozen fish -- defrost in the refrigerator overnight and use immediately -- the longer it sits, the more "fishy" it will become. 
• So the basic key to using fish -- fresh, fresh, fresh!! Don't let fish wait in the fridge for days whether fresh or frozen. 

If you're new to eating fish (or feeding those "new" to eating fish), start with "white" fish varieties that don't have a strong flavor like cod, whiting, tilapia, or flounder. 

An Easy Fish Recipe: 

A good place to start with fish? Bake them. Place fresh fish fillets on a greased cookie sheet with edges (to catch liquids). Sprinkle fish with sea salt and freshly ground pepper. Add a few sprigs of dill and lemon slices on each piece of fish. Drizzle lightly with olive oil and bake in a 350 degree oven for 12-16 minutes until fish flakes easily with a fork. Serve immediately with steamed broccoli or a salad. 

This Week's Menu: 

• Monday -- Breakfast for dinner: yellow grits, scrambled eggs, turkey bacon
• Tuesday -- Turkey barbecue with homemade coleslaw and baked beans
• Wednesday -- Baked whiting fish with steamed broccoli and brown rice. 
• Thursday -- Leftovers or out to eat
• Friday -- Traveling
• Saturday -- Pan-grilled steaks with baked sweet potatoes and garlicky sauteed zucchini
• Sunday -- Slow cooker roast chicken with lemon green beans & steamed carrots

Check out more gluten-free menus at Celiac Family's Gluten-Free Menu Swap. 

Check out hundreds of menus of all sorts at OrgJunkie.com.

This Week's Menu -- Pantry Slow Cooking

Pantry week! Simple foods, tons of slow cooked recipes, that's what on the menu this week!

This Week's Menu: 

• Sunday -- Kale and Bacon Quiche -- we tried this recipe and it was delicious! We may have added lots more bacon than called for. 
• Monday -- Chicken & Rice Soup (from the cookbook) 
• Tuesday -- Slow Cooker Cube Steak with sweet potatoes and green beans
• Wednesday -- Chicken Paprikash (from the cookbook) with sauteed kale and carrots
• Thursday -- sandwich night or out to eat (errands night!) 
• Friday -- Homemade Pizza or Ground Beef Taco Salads
• Saturday -- Beef Roast or a Roast Chicken (definitely putting the slow cooker to good use!) with mashed potatoes, gravy, and steamed broccoli

If I have time... 

• I've been wanting for weeks to make this green soup again... it's comforting and warm and just a great fall soup using fresh greens. 
• Soup, soup, soup... maybe it's because I've been feeling off this week... I would love to make a batch of Congee (A simple rice porridge) -- which can also be found in the new cookbook! Meanwhile you can make Gluten Free Gobsmacked's recipe! 
• Debating on a few recipes to try from three cookbooks I'm reviewing in the next few weeks (possible giveaways! hint!!) I'm having such a hard time figuring out what I want to make! The cookbooks? Whole Life Nutrition Kitchen's Nourishing Meals, Sarah Fragoso's Everyday Paleo Family Cookbook, and Tammy Credicott's Paleo Indulgences! Have you tried recipes from any of these?? Let me know!

This Week's Menu - Slow Cooking on Sundays

I just started a new series on the blog entitled, "How to be gluten-free on a TIGHT budget" on my first post, I shared a recent shopping trip. We spent $42.77. 

Here's what we got: 

I know, the english muffins are NOT gf... those are hubs -- he has breakfast
"McMuffin" sandwiches every day during the week.
Those waffles though definitely ARE GF and after the BOGO sale + a coupon
they were .89 a box! :-) 

The grocery items were what I needed to make the recipes on our meal plan for this week. I've gotten into the habit of cooking on Sunday nights or Monday nights (whichever is easiest) and I cook for the entire week: breakfasts, lunches, dinners, (and what I hope to incorporate this month) afternoon snacks. 

One of the keys to cooking everything one night a week is using my slow cookers. Newer slow cookers cook hotter and faster than older ones (especially on high heat), so I can cook as many meals as I have slow cookers and in 3-4 hours they are all cooked and ready for the week ahead. 

Most of the meals I made this week are from my upcoming slow cooker cookbook! 

This Week's Menu: 

Dinner & Leftovers for lunch each day: 

• Saturday (We had a family cookout!) -- grassfed burgers, french fries, broccoli salad, cooked apples, AWESOME GF brownies (from The Essential Gluten-Free Baking Guide, Pt. 2) and ice-cream
• Sunday -- Leftovers
• Monday -- Slow cooker swedish meatballs with gravy (pg. 71 from "The Everything Gluten-Free Slow Cooker Cookbook) & gluten-free toast served with a caesar salad
• Tuesday -- Skillet meal of sauteed yellow squash, onions, carrots, and sausage
• Wednesday -- Slow cooker barbecue chicken & white beans (pg. 245 from "The Everything Gluten-Free Slow Cooker Cookbook) served with green beans and sweet potatoes
• Thursday -- Slow cooker meal of sausage & spinach quinoa (pg. 253 from "The Everything Gluten-Free Slow Cooker Cookbook) served with a green salad
• Friday, Saturday, Sunday -- weekend cooking with friends! Happy Labor Day! 

Breakfasts:

• For Carrie -- soaked oatmeal (I'll post about this soon!) with dried cranberries, pumpkin seeds, and chia seeds + 1 fried egg and 1 slice bacon (made enough for each morning at work this week.) 
• For Michael -- a homemade "McMuffin" each morning -- made from one english muffin with a fried egg, 1 slice of turkey bacon, and 1 slice of cheese. He's hooked on these, but says he has a much better day when eating these than Poptarts... go figure.. lol

Check out hundreds of more menus at Org Junkie.
For specifically gluten-free menus, check out the roundup at Angela's Kitchen today!

2012 Raleigh Gluten-Free Expo & Weekly Menu

Yesterday, Sunday August 12th, I had the privilege of being a vendor at the FIRST Raleigh, NC Gluten/Allergen Free Expo! The event is coordinated by Nikki Everett of ECHO Event Solutions. I plan on sharing a post later this week with all of the highlights of the event, but I wanted to mention today that the event was just awesome!

Nikki did a fantastic job planning the event. It was in Cobblestone Hall in downtown Raleigh, NC. Honestly, I was a bit hesitant at the beginning, because as long as I've lived near the Raleigh area, I had never heard of Cobblestone Hall. But I was pleasantly surprised by the beauty of this little jewel in downtown Raleigh. The facility was beautiful, it was a great location, surprisingly there was parking in and around downtown that was pretty easy to find!

I had the pleasure of visiting many fellow gluten-free bloggers and friends and meeting a lot of people in the Triangle area who are new to being gluten-free. I received many hugs and smiles and loved meeting people who actually live in the same area I do. I can't wait to share about all the wonderful vendors and bloggers that I met there!

If you ever have an opportunity to attend a gluten-free expo near you, go! It's worth the money, you'll not only get endless amounts of delicious and safe gluten-free foods and beverages, you'll get a chance to meet a huge variety of people who share similar gluten-free struggles and yet celebrate their healthy gluten-free lifestyle!!

A used bookstore SCORE this weekend!!! I've been wanting a paper copy of
Well Fed for about 6 months! I couldn't believe it when I saw this used copy for $12!
Also, I almost bought a copy of Cake Wrecks a few weeks ago at a major
bookstore, but it was nearly $28 dollars... this used copy? SIX dollars!! 

Michael and I also spent the first part of the weekend travelling to Roanoke to see my Dad. The Star City was beautiful as always, and even though it was a very quick overnight trip, we had a REALLY good visit with my Dad. He's looking better every time we see him. He is facing months of recovery, so I know that at times he's frustrated with all the obstacles he faces in the next few months... but overall he just seemed to be in good spirits and I'm thankful we were able to go up and see him! Thank you all for continuing to ask about him and for constant thoughts and prayers.

I didn't have a lot of time to prepare a menu on Sunday. This will be a slight challenge, as we really need to "shop from the pantry and freezer" this week... so we're gonna get creative around here!

This Week's Menu

• Monday -- Leftover pork carnitas from dinner out on Sunday (would love to try to make them from scratch with this recipe) 
• Tuesday --  A hugely modified, gluten-freed version of this recipe for Moravian Chicken Pie -- I used a "Gillian's" wheat-free and gluten-free frozen pie crust, served with a romaine salad dressed simply with salt, pepper, oil, & raspberry balsamic vinegar
• Wednesday -- bunless ground beef burgers served on romaine lettuce with a side of steamed carrots
• Thursday -- slow braised lamb shanks served with baked sweet potatoes and creamed spinach 
• Friday -- out to dinner for a girl's night out with friends! Hubs will have to fend for himself! 
• Saturday -- leftover slow cooked beef stew from the freezer 

This Week's Menu - Kindle Cooking!

I never thought I'd say this.... but I am now the proud owner of a kindle. And I loooovvvvvvvveeeee it. I really didn't think I would love it. But I seriously loooovvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvveeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee it. I mean I really, really love it.  So far I've read three four books (I got it on Wednesday)... not listened to them... but actually READ them! I honestly haven't done that in years. Sad to say.

And on top of that.... I found a few super great deals on cookbooks I could download on my kindle... so another thing I never thought I'd do? I cooked from the kindle.

When I've actually had the time to do it in the past few months I've started cooking all of our meals on Sundays. My friend Angie has done this for ages and I've done it occasionally in the past few years... but now it's become the norm.

So Sunday while browsing through "Fix, Freeze, Feast" on my kindle -- which is actually more of a "freezer" cookbook, I found ideas for nearly all of our meals this week. It's become a running joke between my dietitian & I that ONE day soon (I've been saying that for probably a year now) we'll have a deep freezer... and it still hasn't happened (but it WILL! One day soon!).... so while I couldn't really take advantage of the freezer part of the recipes... it gave me great ideas for the week.

This Week's Menu: 

• Monday: Chicken Zucchini Casserole... I've been obsessed with this recipe ever since my friend Betty made it for Michael and I a few months ago when we went to visit. The casserole I made last night is a super altered version that includes chicken, rice, and no eggplant. I actually substitute zucchini for the eggplant when we have made it closer to the original directions. 

• Tuesday: Austrian Pork Goulash -- From Fix, Freeze, Feast served with steamed broccoli

• Wednesday: Simple Slow Cooker Beef Stew -- 1 pound stew beef, handful of baby carrots, half an onion roughly chopped, handful frozen peas, 2 chopped red potatoes, about 3 cups beef broth, salt & pepper... literally thrown into the slow cooker and cooked on low for 8 hours... 

• Thursday:  Chicken hash with red potatoes, green peppers, and onions  -- idea from Fix, Freeze, Feast

• Friday:  Mustard-Oregano Pork Chops -- From Fix, Freeze, Feast with garden peas & sauteed zucchini

Breakfasts: I made "regular" bagel sandwiches for hubs to take to work with him (this was cheaper than buying the frozen ones he really likes! lol) and for myself I used the same hash brown ingredients for the chicken hash above, but used eggs in place of the chicken for a breakfast hash for myself to take to work. 

Lunches: are leftovers! 

Desserts: fresh fruit... this has been my dessert of choice lately (we won't mention the fact that I ate nearly ALL of the grain-free, no-sugar-added chocolate cake -- that's a dangerous cake, especially when you add raspberry preserves on top!) my friend Heather gave me some ripe kiwi, which I haven't had in years so kiwi and peaches are my favorite this week!

Do you have a favorite kindle cookbook?? Please share! And so you're in the know... my slow cooker cookbook coming out this fall will be available for the kindle, nook, etc... so if you've become an e-cookbook lover, you'll be good to go! :-) 

Gluten Free Weekly Menu - Cooking for the week

I feel like a broken record in saying this... but life is busy and unpredictable right now. And honestly, it's too darn hot to cook... Over the past month I've been using a food service called Pure Foods Fresh Start to deliver gluten free meals to my house once a week and it's been awesome. I'll share more thoughts on this food service in a later post... but I missed a few weeks weeks in ordering so I've had to *gasp* actually cook the past few days.

And honestly... I'm a bit spoiled... I'm rather enjoying this whole NOT cooking thing... :-) But since I forgot to order, we had to do something for meals this week. I knew if I left it up to cooking once I got home every night it would probably not happen. Since we're trying to watch our budget and not go out to eat right now, I decided to simply cook all of our meals today. In 100 degree weather. I'm sure I'll appreciate the effort the rest of this week when all I have to do is heat our meals up in the microwave... but dang it was hot today...

I didn't use the oven. I cooked part of our meals in 2 slow cookers, part of them in the microwave, and I scrambled eggs for our breakfasts on the stove. I didn't do any shopping for these meals, I relied solely on what we had in the freezer, pantry, and fridge from weeks past.

I focused on cooking breakfasts that we could heat up at work and then making 4 meals. Three of the meals had 4 servings each. 1 meal had 2 servings. After cooking the meals I portioned them into correct serving sizes in plastic containers. We'll heat them on plates throughout the week and have meals we can take to work, or even use if we need to travel. All we'll need is a microwave to have hot, healthy, correctly portioned meals.  I used very simple seasoning and very simply prepared foods.

Because I used the slow cookers the prep time for all these meals was about 7 hours. That doesn't include washing all the dishes afterwards... but overall, I know it will save a lot of time for the rest of this week.

If I have time, I might make a blueberry cobbler this week! Yum!! 

This Week's Menu: 

Monday:

• Breakfast: Carrie's - 2 gluten free waffles, 2 links gf sausage, diced apple, Michael's - 2 scrambled eggs with cheese, 2 links of gf sausage
• Lunch: Remaining frozen meals we have from last week
• Dinner: 3 oz. BBQ Beef Short Ribs, 1/2 c. fresh sweet corn, 1 c. steamed broccoli

Tuesday:

• Breakfast: Carrie's - 2 gluten free waffles, 2 links sausage, diced apple, Michael's - a frozen breakfast sandwich
• Lunch: 3 oz. Slow Cooked Turkey, 1/2 c. diced sweet potatoes, 1 c. green beans
• Dinner: 3 oz. Spiral Ham slices, 1/2 c. diced sweet potatoes, 1 c. steamed broccoli 

Wednesday: 

• Breakfast: Carrie's - 2 scrambled eggs, 2 links sausage, diced apple, Michael's - 2 scrambled eggs with cheese, 2 links gf sausage
• Lunch: 3 oz. Spiral Ham slices, 1/2 c. diced sweet potatoes, 1 c. steamed broccoli 
• Dinner: 3 oz. Rotisserie Chicken, 1/2 c. fresh sweet corn, 1/2 c. peas & carrots

Thursday: 

• Breakfast:  Carrie's - 2 gluten free waffles, 2 links gf sausage, diced apple, Michael's - 2 scrambled eggs with cheese, 2 links of gf sausage
• Lunch: 3 oz. Rotisserie Chicken, 1/2 c. fresh sweet corn, 1/2 c. peas & carrots
• Dinner: Slow Cooked Turkey, 1/2 c. diced sweet potatoes, 1 c. green beans
• Delivery Day -- I'll receive 5 days worth of gluten free healthy meals for the next week from Pure Foods, Fresh Start today! Woohoo!!! 

Friday: 

• Breakfast: Carrie's - 1 c. cooked GF rolled oats with 2 tsp. brown sugar, 1/4 c. dried cranberries, 2 tbsp. sliced almonds, Michael's - 2 scrambled eggs with cheese, 2 links of gf sausage
• Lunch: Michael will have lunch at home, Carrie's - prepared meal from Pure Foods/ Fresh Start
• Dinner: Traveling to visit my Dad for the weekend, so dinner on the road... 

Update on My Daddy: 

I cannot thank you all enough for your thoughts and prayers about my Dad. Right now he is still in very critical condition. He is very slowly making small improvements and I'm thankful that my Daddy is a fighter. I know he wants to live. Right now he is still in a medically induced coma due to all of the equipment he is connected too, and because his body is so weak and needs to heal. He is currently still on a ventilator, continuous dialysis, and a left ventricle assist device (basically a machine that acts as the left ventricle for his heart.) He has a very long road ahead and I would truly appreciate your continued prayers and thoughts. (((((((hugs)))))))))) -- Carrie 

Gluten-Free Weekly Menu -- Memorial Day

It's Memorial Day Weekend and grills are firing up all over the US! However as most of you know, we're not big grillers around here. The old charcoal grill just doesn't get fired up around this little castle...

But that doesn't mean I can't make some killer barbecue ribs in the slow cooker. Slow cookers are speaking my language! Make sure to check back tomorrow for a classic barbecue spareribs recipe!

I'm actually carrying over several meals from last week to this week. We just ended up being way more busy than we planned last week.

Next weekend is the Charlotte NC Gluten-Free Expo 2012, so I have a lot of prep work to do including  making about 500-600 gluten-free chocolate chip cookies. My husband will be helping me pass out cookie samples, along with selling printed versions of my gluten-free baking 101 cookbook!I also hope to meet lots of gluten-free folks in the western part of North Carolina.  If you're in the Charlotte NC area, I hope you'll swing by the Gluten Free Expo next Saturday!

This Week's Menu

• Sunday -- Raid the fridge night (GF sandwiches, homemade chicken salad with carrot chips!)
• Monday -- Slow cooked barbecue spare ribs (recipe will be posted tomorrow!) with fresh sweet corn and homemade caesar salad. 
• Tuesday -- Gluten-free pizza with turkey pepperoni, green pepper, mushrooms, ground beef, and daiya cheese.
• Wednesday -- Breakfast for dinner: scrambled eggs, local sausage, cooked apples
• Thursday -- Mexican ground turkey stuffed green peppers (minus the corn in the recipe!) with sauteed zucchini
• Friday -- Gluten-free on the road

Gluten Free Weekly Menu -- Chocolate Chip Cookies

So I just read over at Celiac Family that the theme for this week's Gluten Free Menu Swap is CHOCOLATE.. uhh... I think I can handle that... how many ways can I add chocolate to this week's menu? :-P

Since chocolate is the menu theme, it gives me a perfect excuse to make a batch of Michael's favorite chocolate chip cookies. I might even make a batch of almond flour chocolate chip scones from The Almond Flour Cookbook by Elana Amsterdam. Hmm... what else could I do? I think I might make a quick 20 minute chili and add a little cocoa to the spices... cocoa and chili is such a crazy good combination!

This Week's Menu 5/20-5/26: 

• Sunday -- Sandwich night using Udi's bread, we weren't too hungry after a large breakfast/lunch 
• Monday -- Pan-grilled steaks with mushrooms and served over wilted spinach with cooked apples on the side
• Tuesday -- Barbecue chicken, quartered red potatoes, and green beans 
• Wednesday -- Ground turkey & zucchini one pot meal 
• Thursday -- Southwestern Salmon Burgers from "The Almond Flour Cookbook" pg. 53 by Elana Amsterdam w/ salad and/or sweet potato fries -OR- breakfast for dinner 
• Friday -- Quick gluten free pizza & salad
• Saturday -- A quick 20 minute chili recipe with added cocoa powder... I'll share the recipe soon if it turns out well! 

Make sure to check out more gluten free menus with the Gluten Free Menu Swap! This week hosted by Heather of Celiac Family. You can also get hundreds of menu ideas with the weekly menu share at OrgJunkie.com.

Stella & Dot Anabel Necklace -- my exercise goal reward this month!!

Exercise Plan 5/20 - 5/26: 

The plan I'm doing this month is to walk 28 miles total using Leslie Sansone walking DVD's. They are more challenging than they sound! Trust me! I already have 19 miles total so far this month! SO my goal for this week is 8 miles throughout the week. At the end of the month if I meet my goal, I'm going to treat myself to a piece of Stella & Dot jewelry. My friend Clara is now an independent stylist with Stella & Dot and I hope I can slowly build up a collection of pretty accessories as I meet my workout goals! 

GLG Disclosure: 

The Stella & Dot links above go directly to an online trunk show hosted by myself and my Stella & Dot Independent Stylist -- Ms. Clara Ogren. If jewelry is purchased via those links I will receive a small credit towards a "trunk show" gift and Ms. Ogren will receive a small commission. 
The opinions regarding Stella & Dot jewelry are my own and I did not receive compensation for this post.