Officially Gluten Free - Menu Plan Monday

So now we are officially doing the gluten-free thing for a couple of months, in addition to eating low-carb. The search for good high-protein snacks is on. This week's shopping trip is going to include a search for a good beef jerky that contains no soy (because we are also cutting that out) and definitely no MSG or other "hidden" sources of MSG.  I have a list of 5 brands I am going to look for, and later on I may post a review of the ones I was able to find.
 


Monday
Breakfast: kefir, gluten free waffles (also fairly low-carb)
Lunch: Meatballs and Sausage in tomato sauce (leftover from our Father's Day Dinner, but w/o the pasta)
Dinner: Bacon, Eggs, and Grits (Yay, Breakfast for dinner!). We got the bacon at the Athens Farmers Market, from Greendale Farm, and the stone ground organic yellow grits from Mills Farm.

Tuesday
Breakfast: Scrambled Eggs, cooked in delicious organic butter
Lunch: Chicken Salad in Celery Sticks (Chicken Salad made with delicious mayo using eggs from our own chickens!)
Dinner: @ Jeff's Mom's house

Wednesday
Breakfast: Scrambled Eggs and Bacon
Lunch: Chicken Salad in Celery Sticks
Dinner: Grass Fed Burgers (bunless) with Beef Gravy, Salad

Thursday
Breakfast: Kefir, GF Waffles
Lunch: Leftover burgers / Salad
Dinner: Family Birthday Party

Friday
On the Road...

Saturday
Breakfast: Bacon and Eggs
Lunch: Tuna/Egg Salad in Celery Sticks
Dinner: Chicken (in the crock pot with carrots, potatoes, and onions)

Sunday
Breakfast: Kefir / GF Waffles
Lunch: Tuna/Egg Salad in Celery Sticks
Dinner: Grass fed "Country Style" Ribs, Mashed Sweet Potatoes, Broccoli cooked in Organic Butter

And of course we plan to fill in the gaps and stave off hunger with plenty of high protein snacks, including hard boiled eggs, roasted nuts (almonds, pecans, and pistachios), and raw-milk cheese (which we also got from Greendale Farm).

This post is a part of Menu Plan Monday.

Dietary Adjustments & Our Weekly Menu Plan

So it has been forever since I have posted a menu plan, with everything involved in getting this new house settled being so time consuming. I have still been planning, just not posting.  Now the flooring is down, the furniture is mostly into the living room, and we are finally starting to feel settled; so I feel like it is reasonable to spend time blogging again.

Everything involved in moving has really gotten the better of our sleep cycles, though. Couple that with having a baby and too much coffee and you have a serious case of adrenal fatigue.  To combat that, we are about to start going low-carb in a serious way. I have wanted to do this before, but I know that in order to keep your energy up, it is important to have a good source of healthy fats (you know, good butter [organic, but not grass fed, as we really do not have a cost effective source for this yet], and meats from grass fed animals with that nice, healthy, omega-3 rich fat, lots of eggs from hens on pasture), and we have not had a good source for any of those that was also economical until recently. NOW, we are making once-a-month trips to the Athens Farmers Market so we can stock up on good grass finished meats, raw cheese, and locally grown fresh organic produce. Our chickens are providing the eggs.

In addition to going low-carb, we are going gluten free, as of next Monday’s meal plan. We have been noticing some health issues that we thought we might try clearing up by living sans-gluten for a while. Since I have read that an allergic reaction to gluten can continue for 90 days after gluten is consumed, we are doing it for three months and then re-introducing gluten slowly to see what happens. While we usually avoid soy anyway, we are completely eliminating all un-fermented soy in any form (which makes gluten-free snacking a little tougher, but I found some nut-based “crackers” which are gluten-free and contain no soy…not an easy combo to find). We are also going to reduce even fermented soy consumption. You will see one Asian meal on the menu this week, for which we will use Tamari (a fermented soy sauce); but that will be the last one for a while.

The hardest thing for us in attempting to reduce carbs in the past has been snacking. So this time around, I am making sure to have veggies already cut up and eggs hard-boiled ahead of time, as well as roasting nuts (almonds, pistachios, pecans) ahead of time for snacking, too (We could just buy roasted nuts, but finding them without MSG can be tricky and costly).  We found some great artisanal raw milk cheeses at the farmer’s market, too, so we will have cheese for snacks as well.  Next week I am going to start planning breakfasts and lunches too, so that we can stick more easily to the low carb ideal.

As I understand it, low carb is limiting to no more than 60-80g of carbs per day.  So, if we happen to have a cereal for breakfast, there probably would not be a grain with lunch or dinner that day; but we are not going completely carb free or completely grain free. Quinoa, rice, and sweet potatoes will certainly grace our menu.

OK, without further ado, here is the plan:

Monday – Chicken (Slow-cooked in the crock pot, this is one of our backyard birds!), with potatoes, carrots, onions, celery, and of course PLENTY of garlic.

Tuesday – Dinner w/Jeff’s Mom

Wednesday – Pork Chops, Sweet Potato Fries, and salad

Thursday – Chicken Egg Rolls and Shrimp Fried Quinoa

Friday – Chuck Roast (again in the trusty crock-pot), Salad

Saturday – Fish Tacos (with wild-caught Cod)

Sunday – Whole Wheat Tagliatelle (last gluten-containing meal!!) with homemade tomato sauce, plus meatballs and sausage from the farmer’s market).  Originally I had this meal planned as “leftovers,” and I like to have one leftovers night per week….but it’s Father’s Day, and Jeff requested this amazing whole wheat/sun dried tomato tagliatelle we found made fresh by a vendor at the farmer’s market. Last time we had it with homemade pesto, but this time he wanted to try a tomato based sauce.

Breakfasts this week are going to be eggs and bacon, or eggs and smoothies.  Lunches will mainly be dinner leftovers, with some sandwich-less chicken salad thrown in there. Snacks will be celery and peanut butter, hard boiled eggs, and roasted nuts.

This post is part of Menu Plan Monday. Visit I'm An Organizing Junkie for more great menu ideas!

Still Figuring This Out - Menu Plan March 21

So, last week was not a total bust, but I probably only did half of my planned meals. It was not a lack of desire, but it was my first week juggling care for our new chicks (we have 81!), care for the full grown chickens, of course taking care of my darling son, and trying to take care of the house and pack.  I did, as a matter of fact, get some packing done, though there is certainly more to do!  This week, however, I plan to be much more proactive in all of this.  I hate last minute scrambling to get a meal made (especially when it means I am eating dinner around 8:00 at night), or eating junk because it is quicker.  Ok, ok, the "junk" we have around is a lot healthier than "quick foods" that I used to eat, but it is still not the best I could be giving myself (and by proxy, my Joshua).

I started this last week by making to-do lists, and surprising myself with how much I got done. Now that I can make to-do lists on my phone with an app from Cozi, I am not as prone to lose the lists I make!

This week I am going to kick it up a notch by actually planning what time I need to get those things done, and see if that helps me to make the preparations I need to in order to stick to my menu plan. Any women out there whose husbands have had to be away for a time (military, traveling for work, whatever) who have tips on how to keep motivated and get rest...comment away.  

There are some repeats here, carried over from last week because I did not do them, or because I did not do them while Jeff was home.  This week I am cooking for both of us today through Wednesday, and myself the rest of the week.

Monday - Grilled Chicken Salad
Tuesday - Barley Burgers / Salad
Wednesday - Pork & Cranberry Stew (didn't do this last week because the weather ended up being much warmer than the forecast indicated, and I didn't feel like eating a stew in such warm weather)
Thursday - Breakfast for Dinner (Waffles, Bacon, Eggs)
Friday - Leftovers (probably burgers, there are always plenty left over)
Saturday - Pizza
Sunday - Leftovers (probably stew)

This post is a part of Menu Plan Monday.  For more great posts, visit I'm an Organizing Junkie!

Menu Plan for One (and a half)

I have to admit, it has been a couple weeks since I have actually laid out a menu plan, and this is largely because I find it very difficult to plan when cooking for one.  Jeff has been away during the week for the last couple weeks, as he is around our new house trying to get it ready for us to move into. He is working hard to prepare our home for us, and I am so grateful to have a husband who is willing to get the job done, even if it means being away from us for a little while. (Aside: It also paints a nice picture to remind us to long for Christ, who is preparing a place for us.)

Regardless, I find that life is so much easier when I plan our meals, so I need to make it a point to do so. Between Joshua and I both having the cold that has been going around (twice!) and trying to both clean the house and pack things we will not need for a while, not having a menu plan only added to the chaos -- NOT what I was going for!

So, here's the plan:

Monday - Pasta Alfredo with Chicken and Fresh Salad from our (winter) GARDEN! (homemade Alfredo Sauce)
Tuesday - Pineapple Pork Chop, Brown Rice, Salad (totally winging this recipe. At the moment I think I'm going to get some pineapple canned in its own juice, add garlic and honey to that and marinade the pork in it...I know fresh is better but I'm working with what I've got.)
Wednesday - Quinoa Stirfry (with Chicken, and of course we use Tamari instead of Bragg's or standard soy sauce)
Thursday - Leftovers
Friday - California Salad (with Chicken), Whole Grain French Bread
Saturday - Barley and Cranberry Pork Stew (actually doing it in the crock pot, so Jeff has a nice hot meal to come home to after a long week of hard work, and I can enjoy my Saturday not worrying about dinner)
Sunday - Leftovers

And that is the week!

This post is part of Menu Plan Monday at I'm an Organizing Junkie.  Find more great menu plans there!

Natural Pain Remedy - Baltic Amber - GIVEAWAY :)

When I first came across a blog stating that amber necklaces were good for soothing pain (such as teething, headaches, etc), I have to admit I was pretty skeptical. I was thinking, "Is this just one of those weird New Age-y things? How could that even work?"

As it turns out, Baltic Amber is high in a substance called succinic acid (better known as aspirin), and body heat triggers the release of succinic acid into the skin, thus relieving pain.

With my poor little guy teething already, I have been curious to try it, and saw this giveaway on my facebook news feed:


http://www.athenabees.com/2011/02/its-giveaway-time.html

So go ahead and enter for a chance to win a "teething necklace" (or whatever-ails-you-necklace) from Inspired by Finn!

Nutrimill Giveaway @ Kitchen Stewardship

As many of you know, we do most of our baking from freshly milled wheat. At present, we use a Messerschmidt Grain Mill attachment that is compatible with my Kitchen Aid Mixer. It works pretty well, but its finest setting is not nearly as fine as I would like. Not only that, but it does not have the best capacity for our growing flour needs. It was a great starter mill, and I am glad that we have had it, but at some point in the future we will need one of these:


https://www.pleasanthillgrain.com/index.aspx#Nutrimill

...which is being GIVEN AWAY this week at Kitchen Stewardship. So of course I am using every possible entry for the giveaway, and would like to win. But even if I don't (which is MORE likely, because I never win these things), one of these lovely machines is definitely in our future (just not as quickly as it might have been, haha).

Menu Plan Feb 14-20 (and what the week holds)

Keeping it short and sweet this week, as it is late and the pillow is calling me.  Valentine's Day is coming late for us, we are celebrating on Saturday as all three of us were sick over the weekend, and did not feel much like celebrating anything.

We are going to see some of Jeff's family on Wednesday, and checking out the property our family just bought in a small town a few hours south of here. The property has a decent-sized home, and five acres so we can finally get started on our homesteading dream. The part that is really difficult is leaving our town and community. We love it here, and we know it will be nothing short of a miracle if we can find a local church body where we feel as at home as we do at our current church. More on the homestead later, but suffice it to say it will most likely be at least 2 months before we move.

Last week I totally skimped on the menu plan, and we certainly paid the price for it in prep time and sanity. This week I am getting to it late, but at least getting to it. We do still have a holdover meal from the last blogged plan (fried chicken), and a family birthday party on Sunday means that we will certainly be doing leftovers Sunday night. Wednesday it is dinner with my brother-in-law & sister-in-law, and my adorable niece and nephew.

That's the week, and here's the plan:

Monday - Jeff's amazing Burgers
Tuesday - Fried Chicken and all the trimmings
Wednesday - Dinner with Jon & Rachel
Thursday -Chicken & Mushroom Cannelloni (prepared meal we'll pick up on the road, not ideal, but we used up all our freezer meals after Joshua was born)
Friday - Crockpot chicken pot pie
Saturday - grass finished steaks (we'll pick them up at WF on the way home from down south), Baked Sweet Potatoes, Broccoli
Sunday - Family Bday Party = light dinner (leftovers)

Find more great menu plans at I'm an Organizing Junkie!