THIS WEEK (#44) MEALS

We have started eating a lot more salad once we found a dressing we all enjoy and figured out what veggies everyone likes. The dressing is a sweet lime ginger that I make from scratch in large amounts!

 
Dinners:
Salmon, Turmeric Squash, salad with my ginger dressing
Chicken Pot Pie (making up the recipe from several others will post later if it goes well)
Broccoli Tofu Stir Fry
Avocado Verde Enchiladas
Black bean and corn tamales (from the local farmers market), salad, Mexican rice (husbands specialty)
Leftovers Night
Out to eat


Lunch:
Quinoa Pizza Bites  I plan to not use cheese and sub in a little coconut "butter" for flavor
Lemon thyme almond cakes, salad
Peanut butter and jelly on banana nut waffles (2x), apple slices
Apples and peanut butter, chocolate chia pudding
Thia Tofu tacos
Leftover Lunch

Breakfast:
Oatmeal Bars (2x)
Banana Nut waffles (freeze leftovers)
Avocolada Smootie - I am making this up from several other ideas but I have a lot of frozen pineapple, plan to add coconut milk sugar avocado, maca powder and raw sugar (I will update once I have tried it!)
Yo Soy (yogurt) and fruit (2x)
Cold Cereal and Flax Milk (our new favorite drink!)


Snacks:
Pineapple upside down cupcake (I use the Betty Crocker GF mix, coconut butter, otherwise like the old fashioned type)
Chocolate garbanzo bean mini muffins (see previous blog)
Fruit

Obviously I am feeling ambitious today and like trying a lot of new things ;) Lets see if I actually do it!!

Dinners for week #42

Sunday: Leftovers


Monday: Gluten Free Pasta with canned spaghetti sauce (w/ extra garlic, onion, diced up veggies)

Tuesday: Tuna Casserole Wraps


Wednesday: Tofu Curry and Rice


Thursday:  Lentil Soup

Friday: Tacos (corn tortillas) with chicken (for every one but me) re-fried pinto beans, Spanish rice and guacamole

Saturday: Out to eat (at Pei Wei)

Sunday:  Margarita Pesto Pizza

Overcoming illness

So a lot has happened since my last entry. Mainly I have had some major health issues and seem to be on the recovery side of them most days. Basically I have no idea what is wrong. I have had more tests than I can count, seen several different specialist and no one ever could give me an answer. I lost the ability to walk or have had days where it is very difficult and then a couple weeks later I am fine. I have had migraines that were completely debilitating causing me to not be able to have any light, making me so dizzy and nauseated I would throw up and at one point they were happening every week for a few days. I have been so fatigued that I feel like moving an arm or leg is like trying to lift 1000 pounds. I have had such bad limb pain that I can't stand to move. I have had extremities go completely numb. My peripheral vision and depth perception was getting worse. The doctors were not giving me answers or a cure and I was (still am) frustrated. Finally they just started assuming it was all in my head and I was crazy (awesome). The last neurologist appointment I went to he recommended I start seeing a psychiatrist and take anti-depressants to lower my anxiety. It has been a frustrating year medically speaking. I tried all types of all natural diet changes. I ate more beef (thinking I was anemic), I started drinking raw milk (thinking I was missing some enzymes), I tried fermenting my own food (thinking I needed more probiotics, and adding a variety of vitamin supplements. I tried migraine medicine (caused me to have a mini stroke!). After ending up loosing my ability to speak and in the ER with my last migraine pill I refused to take any more medicine. My doctor said "what do you want me to do if you won't take medicine?" I answered that I wanted to understand what was wrong. Why is my body giving up on me?
I gave up on medicine! I read a lot of books during this whole ordeal and one really jumped out at me. It talked about inflammation in the body and I definitely have an issue with that!
The book was called "Eat to Live"by Joel Furhman and I have been following the diet outlined as well as eating gluten and dairy free 95% of the time and I have not had a migraine since and have had very few symptom days. The days I have had symptoms they are much less intense than they were. I can live my life again! Hooray!! You will notice from now on my posts and recipes will be mostly vegan (with the exception of fish) They will still be gluten and dairy free :) I fell off the wagon and got sicker than I already was becoming. It turns out my body just doesn't do well with any type of animal protein. I wish I could explain why or understood it but that just seems to be the case.

Meal Plan (2 weeks)

This was a post from a year ago that somehow stayed in the draft phase and I never published. This isn't my actual meal plan for the next two weeks now (but it was a year ago :)

Today we picked up our biweekly bountiful basket  which is a coop for fruits and veggies. I like to meal plan now on Saturdays because I find out what fruits and veggies we will have once we pick up our basket. Today we got a bunch of key limes among other things. My husband really wanted key lime pie which was one of the few things I made for him before we got married and convinced him I was a great cook (which he quickly found out was far from the truth). So I am making one because I love him :)

Saturday: 

Breakfast: fruit and Apple Oatmeal

Lunch: left overs and sandwiches

key lime pie 

Dinner: Salad, Cilantro Potatoes (we will see how they go), Salmon Patties (from Costco) with Cilantro Lime dressing (will be modified)

Sunday:

Breakfast: Smoothies & Apple Donuts

Lunch: Strawberry Spinach Salad, Pork Tenderloin, Asparagus

Dinner: Out

Mon-Tues: Vacation so we will be eating out :)

Wednesday:

Breakfast: Smoothies & Cereal

Lunch: Cucumber Salad & Chicken Nuggets

Dinner:  Tomato Basil with sourdough bread

Apple Pie

Thursday:

Breakfast: Waffles and fruit

Lunch: Left overs

Dinner: fried squash and pickles, Spaghetti

Friday:

Breakfast: Smoothies and Cereal

Lunch: PBJ and fruit

Dinner: Tomato Basil with sourdough bread

No Cook super easy Key Lime Pie Tarts (NOT GFCF)

Disclaimer: So this recipe is NOT gluten free and definitely NOT dairy free so I know it is the opposite of what should be on this blog, but please forgive me and if you are looking for gluten free skip this recipe! My husband really wanted key lime pie today and said some neighbors would love the recipe so I am putting it up for any of them who may enjoy it! I am sure I could figure out some substitutes but I am positive it would be far from the original recipe.





SUPER EASY KEY LIME PIE TARTS:

I learned to make this while waiting tables at a gourmet restaurant and it was part of my side work to make the pies. I will not name the restaurant but they had me make pies for $2/hour for a year of my life so I am not feeling guilty about sharing how I made those pies at all :)


Ingredients:
2 cans sweetened condensed milk
2/3 cup key lime juice (approx 16 key limes)
mini graham  cracker crust (2packs) (I prefer the mini ones which is what we used in the restaurant and they were "key lime tarts" but our local dollar general store only had full pie crusts* so that is what I used)
1 spray can of whipped cream

*This makes more key lime batter than 1 crust worth but not enough for 2 so you can use 1.5 cans of sweetened condensed milk and juice from approx 12 key limes for one pie). Also with a large pie crust batter may be a little runny even after a few hours in the fridge. We do not mind it being a little runny but if you do it can be easily fixed. Just add a couple tablespoons  of cornstarch (when stirring the batter) if you want your pie to not be to runny.

Directions:
1. Put most but not all of the keylime juice (about 1/2 cup) and sweetened condensed milk (1.5 cans) in a bowl stir or whisk until juice thickens milk (about a minute). There should be no liquid and it should be the consistency of yogurt. Careful not to over stir and don't use an electric beater because it will over stir the batter. 
2. Taste  if too sour put more sweetened condensed milk, if too sweet add key lime juice and stir more to mix into the batter (This is necessary because every key lime is different in tartness so you HAVE to taste it every time you make it and adjust until the right balance)
3. Pour batter into mini pie crust and leave a little space for whip cream (but DO NOT put it on yet)
4. Refrigerate for at least 2 hours to let it get firm. Since I made a large pie I use the plastic that came with the crust for a cover (flipped upside down-see photo)
5. Put whip cream on each tart as it is served and enjoy

I made this for my husband before we were married (and after). He thought I was some kind of GREAT chef. When I showed him how I made it (after the wedding) he couldn't believe that was it and I didn't even cook it. He quickly learned that I had a lot to learn about cooking that involved actually using an oven! I have come a long way since then :)

 

Cinammon Apple Donuts

So I made a few batches of donuts with our left over Cinnamon apples and left over icing (from a carrot cake I made last Sunday). The kids love them. One of my strategies for GF baking is to avoid cooking things that need to rise. I have successfully gotten baked things to rise (such as bread) BUT I have failed many more times. For Christmas we bought ourselves a mini donut maker which is basically an electric top and bottom pan that is donut shaped. This batter could also be used in a waffle maker (that is same thing but different shape) or a cake pop pan.

Ingredients:
2 cups of  Cinnamon apples
1 cup of Gluten Free baking mix (I make my own 2 parts rice flour, 1 part potato starch, 1 part soy flour, 1 part corn starch)
5 eggs (can use less I just like a lot of protein)
icing (recipe coming later)

Directions: 
1. Put cinnamon apples then baking mix, then eggs
2. Process until well mixed and apples have no more big chunks
3. Put in donut maker, or top bottom pan, waffle maker, etc 
4. Cook until done and put on icing

Our mini donut maker is sold on Amazon :





 

GF breakfast: Apple Cinnamon Raisin Oatmeal

Ingredients:
1 cup oatmeal
1.5 cup water

1/2 cup brown sugar

1 apple peeled and chopped

1/4 cup raisins

1 TBS cinnamon

Directions:
1. Bring water to a boil
2. Add oatmeal first and stir then add all other ingredients and stir
3. Cook on low 5 mins or until oatmeal and apples have a nice consistency


So I know oatmeal is not all that exciting but I grew up on it and it is easy for a quick basic gluten and dairy free breakfast! All you need for a perfect breakfast is a glass of OJ, some protein and you have a quick balanced breakfast. I recommend grabbing a boiled egg from the fridge or frying one up on the skillet while your oatmeal cooks. This breakfast is comforting to me and reminds me of staying with my grandmother as a kid. We would have it more often in our home but one of my kids does not like the texture so I give him a different breakfast (which can be a hassle). Maybe one day we will ALL enjoy this easy quick breakfast. One can always dream right?

Coconut Curry Chicken (GFCF)

Tonight for dinner we had a family favorite Coconut Curry Chicken with Rice. It is not too labor intensive but in my mind if it takes prep work it is not a quick meal either. We made quite a bit which we always do because it freezes well and we all love the left overs! This has a lot of flavor, a creamy sweet richness and the heat from the curry gives it a wonderful spicy finish! Also this is one of the few dishes I think taste even better as left overs. The longer the better!

Ingredients:
3 TBS Peanut Oil
4 TBS Red Curry paste
1 cup chopped green onion
1.5 tsp dried minced garlic 
1 large tomato diced
1 tsp fish sauce
2 tsp salt
canned Coconut milk 20 oz (1.5 cans)
2-2.5 lbs skinless chicken breast cubed (can use less but decrease other ingredients only slightly NOT proportionally or may not have enough flavor)


Directions:
1. Cook Peanut Oil and Curry Paste for 5 minutes Med-Low heat
2. Add Onion and Garlic to pan and saute for 5 mins
3. Add Chicken and salt. Cook until it is no longer pink
4. Add Tomato, fish sauce and coconut milk
5. Simmer uncovered for 30 minutes
6. Salt to taste and serve

We like it served over white rice (to soak up all that yummy sauce!)

SHORT ON TIME IN THE EVENING??
I have a great solution and I actually prefer the flavor to the traditional way above but it does take more steps and overall time.
1. Cube and cook the chicken in oil
2. In a freezer bag put curry, fish sauce, garlic and coconut milk, mix well.
3. Put chicken into bag and put in fridge for when you are ready to make dinner
4. Can cut up onion and tomato now and put in fridge until dinner or cut up at dinner if you have time
5. When ready to cook put veggies and bag of sauce and chicken in a sauce pan and heat on Med heat for 20-30 minutes (until nice and hot)

Cinnamon Apples: This dish + carrot cake icing makes the apple cinnamon donuts (soon to come)

I have been a rebel and took the family off the gluten free diet for a while (for a GI doc who was wanting to do testing) and we have not totally gotten back on the band wagon yet (I know... for shame, for shame, tssk, tssk, tssk) BUT I did start having crazy medical issues and I have started cooking GF again. SO the first real big batch of cooking I did was because I joined a food co-op and ordered 25 pounds of apples (and no that is not a typo), along with 20 pounds of carrots, and tomatoes.  (Oh why am I so ambitious?) Alas even after DAYS of cooking I still ended up giving away a bunch of produce. But on to the cooking ........

Candied Apples:

5 apples cored and sliced (I leave peels on because time is a commodity and they have a lot of nutritional value)
1/3 cup brown sugar (for those not wanting sugar this can be skipped all together but requires longer cook time and will be a little bitter, or honey, agave, stevia, Splenda can all be used)
1 TBS ground cinnamon
1 tsp nutmeg
1-2 TBS vegetable oil (or butter if you are not dairy free)

Directions: Spread oil on skillet, then apple slices, next sprinkle on sugar, cinnamon, and nutmeg. Cook on Medium heat covered for 3 mins. Stir well and cook for 8 more minutes(stirring occasionally) until desired crispness/softness is reached. Also if want to have softer apples can recover it after first stir and just leave it for less work and more of a steamed apple texture. Eat as many as you like then refrigerate the rest for later! They taste good hot or cold!

*These are not super sticky or greasy like most fried apples but they can be with additional sugar, oil and pan frying for longer (and uncovered). My kids actually prefer them per the above recipe though. They like them with a little crunch and I cook them just soft enough that my kids will eat the peels without complaining.

**Can skip oil by putting 1/4 cup water instead and cooking a little longer though it does effect the texture some