Finally getting back into this...
I haven't really planned lunches out for specific days this week. I'm making some chicken broth in the next day or two, so I'll use some of the chicken to make some chicken salad. We'll have some pasta and peas for another day. Some avocado to go along with whatever else another day... And then there are leftovers. Etc, etc. Oh, another favorite of Aiden's is a "regular sandwich." The boy who doesn't really even like sandwiches... One day he said he wanted a "regular sandwich" for lunch. We weren't sure what in the heck he meant by that, so we went through a list of all the types we would normally offer him. He finally said yes to a turkey and cheese sandwich. What makes this so funny is that he NEVER eats turkey and cheese. So, it's not really "regular." Toddlers...
Camden's away visiting family over his track-out, so we're having some meals we like that he might (haha - he WOULD) normally complain about. ;) Here's what's on the menu this week.
Sunday
Lunch: Leftovers - Choose from taco soup or lasagna toss. Thanks to my friend, Becky, for sharing the lasagna toss recipe. It was a big hit, especially with Camden!
Dinner: cheese burgers on the grill, roasted potatoes and beets, and yellow mango. YUM.
Monday
Beef and lentils, roasted broccoli (we tried this recipe while my mom was visiting, thinking the kids would like it...not so much, but us adults LOVED it; to be fair, I don't think Aiden even tried it. Camden said it was better than regular broccoli but that he still didn't really like it.), and corn (because you've gotta have something you KNOW the little kid likes, though he usually does just fine with the beef and lentils dish, but you really never know).
Tuesday
Beef and lentils leftovers
Wednesday
Bean Soup and cornbread - trying a new recipe that uses white beans, lots of carrots, and turkey sausage. We want to see if we think Camden might like this version better than the other we usually make...which is a very basic bean soup.
Thursday
Deconstructed broccoli and cheese stuffed chicken breasts (using chicken left over from making broth, so they're not breasts but chunks of chicken - I like it better this way, anyway, and it's actually a lot easier to make!) and sweet potatoes.
Friday
Leftover bean soup.
Saturday
Lunch: whatever is in the fridge, leftovers, sandwiches... I'll actually be at a friend's baby shower having brunch, so the boys get to fend for themselves. :)
Dinner: leftover broccoli/cheese/chicken, sweet potatoes
AND I'm now, once again, on a gluten-free diet, so we're making adjustments for that... We're trying to keep it easy and plan *around* gluten so we don't have to rely on a lot of substitutions (or so we don't have to buy a lot of extra flours, etc, just yet). BUT....oh, but we ARE going to make THIS. It just looks so good. We got the ingredients we didn't already have today. For some reason, silly girl that I am, sent my mom back home with a lot of my gluten-free things, which actually included some of the necessary ingredients for this dish. Yes, very silly. Oh well. Monday happens to be my birthday, and since Whole Foods didn't have this incredibly awesome gluten-free cake that my mom and I got while she was in, I'm making these babies. By the way, if you are ever at WF and see in their bakery section...where they keep the cakes...and they happen to have their gluten-free chocolate carrot cake - GET IT! It in no way tastes gluten-free, and whoever thought of making a chocolate carrot cake?! OMGoodness it is the best thing ever! But hopefully the quinoa breakfast brownies will be good, too...
Then later we're calling WF to try to reach that bakery buyer to see if she'll order a cake for us. Maybe they'll have it in time for Ryan's birthday. We're exactly a week apart, so that would work. :)
Oh wait....I just did a search to see if I could at least link up to this awesome gluten-free chocolate carrot cake..and I found it! You can order it from their site, too. And looks like they're in Asheville, NC. Now, we bought a much smaller cake at WF, so it wasn't this big or expensive. Ours...you could just barely (maybe) wrap your two hands around it - that's how small it was. And they also had some regular g-f carrot cakes. I want to get one of each next time to compare. But if you want to check it out, HERE is the "World's Best Carrot Cake"...and it might just be. Really.
4 comments:
Hooray for sharing recipes! I'm glad the lasagna toss was a hit. We like it a lot too, and I have actually done it in the crock pot when I needed to make a batch that wouldn't fit in the toaster oven. If you want to do this under cook the pasta by an extra min.
I also have a great freezer manicotti recipe I should post.. at the moment I'm not feeling so friendly toward this dish since my 1st trimester yuckiness turned me against (I didn't get along with the smell of parm cheese in the 1st tri) it but I used to think it was really good!
If you are ever in NYC there is a great gluten free restaurant called the Risotteria. I've taken a gf friend there and we ALL loved it. She even bought a t-shirt that said "No-Flour Power" Apparently they now are making gf twinkies in the bakery!
I think it's great that more good g-f food is showing up! I'm not sure if I'll have to stay on the diet. It's so confusing b/c I have a sensitivity to it (not full-blown celiac - it's a spectrum...), and it's hard to really know if I need to stay off gluten or whatever. There aren't tests for this. Ugh. I'm hoping being on the diet again for a while will give me some answers. I didn't wait for my main symptoms to show up, though, but I've been wondering if some lesser obvious symptoms are related, so I'm not sure if it will make a big difference right away (or at all). Blah, blah.
I wonder if the WF in Lexington has that cake. It sounds so yummy. One of my favorite recipes is for pumpkin muffins found here http://glutenvsthefoodie.com/ They are so moist and light and you can use any GF flour blend. I hope you find some answers. I know I feel 100 times better GF and Benjamin's skin problems have disappeared for the first time since he has been on table food.
Emily - Sorry I didn't respond earlier. We had a tornado, which knocked out our power for a few days, and then I forgot. But I am definitely going to try out those muffins! I also just posted a recipe that I made last week...oh my goodness, it is SO good! You have to try it! I love the website it comes from (glutenfreegoddess.blogspot.com) and have a list of things I want to try from there! I'm thinking about the banana bread this week (along with MORE of the breakfast bars I posted that I made last week - seriously...so good! I shared some with a neighbor who has celiac, and she couldn't believe how good they were!).
The cake from Whole Foods... I really doubt they carry it there. :( We found out it's from a place that isn't too far from here (well, too far for us to drive just for the cake, but not more than a couple hours). The lady that makes them did some kind of demo at our Whole Foods and left some cakes to sell. They don't get them often, but I'm hoping with me and my neighbor bugging them so often, maybe they'll get them more! ;) She does sell them from her website, though - but they're the larger cakes. We had a smaller one that just served a few small pieces. It might be worth getting a large one for a party sometime if you can't find something else that is delicious. It really was good, though... I have been bummed I haven't seen it since. My neighbor really wants to try it, and I told her she probably didn't b/c then she would get frustrated (like I am) at not being able to find it easily again! Haha!
I'm feeling better being g-f. It was hard to tell at first b/c I've been dealing with a bad sinus infection, but I can tell a difference lately. I accidentally had something one night that I wasn't aware was wheat-derived (it was a drink), and I noticed I got a bad headache and had joint pain suddenly...then I checked ingredients and it made sense! I don't have the digestive issues, but I do get the *same* symptoms my mom gets..headaches, severe joint pain, exhaustion, just feeling not right..kind of like the mind-fog stuff, I guess, hard to explain, and some other stuff like that (she kept saying she's allergic to wheat, rye, barley, etc...I'm like, MOM...you have a *gluten* issue.) Once we get more into the diet, I'm curious to see if Aiden's eczema clears up, too. It gets really bad at certain times of the year, and we already switched the kind of cloth diapers we use and have to put him in onesies still during the times it's worse b/c of where the eczema is located (we need to clear it up soon before he's really too big for onesies...or potty trained!), but I'm wondering if it is more food-related. I don't remember how he was on the g-f diet before b/c it was a short time and we were focused on other symptoms at the time.
I'm glad you all are doing so well on the diet. Please do share any tips, favorite recipes/products, etc! :) I'm all ears!!
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