Catch Up!

Tekoa getting royal treatment

More sick children and an injured dog who had to be taken to the vet has caused me to get a bit behind. Providentially there has not been anything particularly exciting in our menu for the last three days.

Thursday
Breakfast-

• Nitrate free sausage patties
• Green smoothie - frozen banana, lots of kale, 2 TB flaxseed, frozen strawberries, coconut water and ice

Lunch -

• Thursday lunches are always Mac and Cheese. I use Annie's Gluten free Mac and Cheese for the kids and Road's End dairy free for Betsy
• Frozen veggies
• Apple slices

Dinner - 

•  Thursday is family night and we often go out to eat. Ihop was have 2 free kids meal for every adult meal so we headed in that direction. They are very accommodating to gluten free needs BUT it is still torture to look at all those pancakes, breads, toast and other wheat filled items!

Kids at Ihop

Friday
Breakfast-

• Cereal morning for the kids!
• I take this opportunity to eat something I like...a green smoothie or eggs with things like broccoli or asparagus or other non-traditional breakfast items that were leftover earlier in the week.

Lunch-

• Nachos! Corn chips, gluten free nacho cheese from Sam's Club, tomato, olives, lettuce...whatever else we could find in the fridge!

Dinner-

• Date night! We went to Applebee's, not my favorite for gluten free items. I prefer Carrabba's  as they make their food to order and therefore the options are greater, but the Fiesta Chicken Salad was tasty!

Saturday
Breakfast-

• Apple and pear slices and peanut butter
• Gluten free muffins from a friend who used black beans instead of flour!
• Betsy couldn't eat the muffins so she had half an avocado instead

Lunch-

• Open face peanut butter and jelly sandwiches
• Salad
• Blueberries

Dinner-

• BBQ ribs...not very good. :( It was my first run at cooking ribs on our grill and though the marinade was good (I used a tamari sauce which is gluten free soy) the meat was not cooked well. It will be better next time. 
• Cauliflower "potato" salad. I used this recipe and it turned out VERY well. I didn't have dill and am not a fan anyways so I substituted fresh basil that I had picked up at the farmer's market that morning. 
• Steamed green beans from the garden. I steam them first and then fry them up with a little bacon grease. So good!

There you go. A weeks worth of gluten free eating. I am hoping to be adding more recipes as I go. I didn't add the bread recipe yet as I am not satisfied with it. Still needs more tweaking. 

Gluten Free Tuesday

Breakfast on Tuesdays is a favorite for the kids. We have oatmeal! It is not just any oatmeal though...it is MY oatmeal. Thick and creamy with healthy additives that start our morning out great.

Helen's Oatmeal
3 cups Gluten-Free Old Fashioned Oats
1 Can Full-fat Coconut milk
Water
1 egg
Toppings: Maple syrup, butter, raw seeds and nuts, unsweetened coconut flakes, craisins, dried apricots

Pour the can of coconut milk into a large bowl (I use the large Pampered Chef batter bowl since it also doubles as a large measuring cup) and add the egg. Fill bowl with water until you have reached six cups of liquid. Beat with a whisk, making sure to blend the milk, egg and water well.

Pour liquid into a medium sized pot and heat just to boil. Add three cups of oats and cook to desired consistency.

Serve and top with your favorite toppings!

Breakfast-

• Oatmeal
• Coffee 
• Water

Lunch- Tuesday is park day with families from our church so we picnic lunch at the park. Picnicking gluten-free is much more family style, finger food dining then a sandwich and chips. It is more a bite of that and a handful of this. Here is what I packed:

•  String cheese (and dairy free cheese for Betsy)
• Gluten-free fruit snacks (I have pinned a few natural fruit snack recipes that I am looking forward to trying in the near future)
• GF Pepperoni
• Taquitos
• Blueberries
• Oranges
• Frozen veggies
• Pistachios
• Water
• Tea/Lemonade or Juice

For snack we have begun an adventure in popsicle making. I have been buying Luigi's Italian Ice from Sam's for awhile and have really wanted to find a healthier way to treat the kids this summer so I bought a popsicle mold and started with Nutella Popsicles and Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip for Betsy. Super easy blend 1/3 cup Nutella and 1 2/3 cup milk and pour into mold and freeze. They were so yummy. Betsy's pops were easy too! 1/4 Peanut Butter (all natural of course only peanuts and salt listed in the ingredients), 1 TB Enjoy Life mini chocolate chips and 1 cup almond milk blended and frozen. I tasted both...they were great!

Dinner-

• Chicken, Bacon and Apple Salad (with spinach/lettuce mix from the garden, a Fuji apple, celery, bell pepper, chicken from Polyface farm, and nitrate free bacon)
• Dressing for salad - I blended 2/3 cup Raw cider vinegar, 1 1/3 cup light olive oil, 1 TB mustard, fresh parsley, 4 cloves garlic, 1/4 onion, salt and pepper)
• Cheese and Gluten-free crackers (we found these at Sam's club and love them!)

Our garden is quickly being depleted of it's leafy greens as the temperatures

keep increasing...92 tomorrow. I will be so sad when we can't just go outside and grab what we need. Must remember to start earlier next year and plant more!