Meal Plan (gluten free, dairy free) Sept 28-Oct 3

October 10, 2014 by Scott in Meal Plans

After I posted last week's meal plan, I had a few questions from people as to why we eat this way. I do recognize that eating gluten free seems quite trendy but I promise we have our reasons. We aren't just jumping on a bandwagon. My husband had terrible health issues for years and after many attempts at seeing a doctor about different things, we decided to go to a nutritionalist to try to figure it out. It was there that we found many food allergies and intolerances. Dairy was the biggest and baddest culprit for Scott. The solution was to change the way we eat. And let me tell you, changing your diet is definitely the hardest solution. Taking a pill would have been way easier. Who wants to give up ice cream and cookies?!? There were also some autoimmune issues which we were told that removing gluten from your diet would not cure the disease but help keep the symptoms at bay. As for me, I have never been tested for food issues (although I would like to be). I always get fever blisters/cold sores on or in my mouth ever since I got sun poisoning as a freshman in high school. They rise up with all kind of stress or hormones. And since I am straight crazy, I was getting fever blisters once or twice a month! I remembered what the nutritionalist said about the connection between autoimmune symptoms and gluten (fever blisters are a autoimmune virus) so I determined it was worth a try. I gave up gluten (strictly for 2 months) and I didn't get a blister. Not a single one. As I continued on my gluten free diet (with some cheating), I went 9 months without getting a blister! Going from twice a month to none for 9 months is a huge success. In my opinion, it's safe to assume a connection there.

So there you have it. That is why our meals are gluten free and dairy free. I really want to push our kids to gluten free (both of my girls get fever blisters/cold sores thanks to their momma) but it is definitely harder to adjust their diet. Their meals are mostly gluten free and I try to keep gluten free snacks in the house. I just haven't wanted to try to control what they encounter at school.

Sunday - We ate leftover chili

Monday - Gluten Free chicken nuggets from Trader Joe's + spinach salad

Tuesday - Kids eat free at Taqueria Tsunami so that is where we went

Wednesday - Breakfast for Dinner (scrambled eggs with avocado; bacon; Trader Joe's GF/DF waffles for the kids)

Thursday - chicken + green beans + baked potatoes

Friday - Burrito Bowls - This was taco seasoned ground turkey with black beans and corn on top of rice. Scott added scrambled eggs on his along with salsa verde.

Saturday - dinner at a friend's house (we ate BBQ and coleslaw) after an afternoon of fun at the pumpkin patch

That day was beautifully perfect for the Pumpkin Patch. Yesterday was 85. Sigh. Where did fall go?

Meal Plan (gluten free, dairy free) Sept 21-27

September 30, 2014 by Scott in Meal Plans

Even though I have quit my grain free, sugar free diet (see this post here), I continue to prepare meals that are relatively healthy. If you are interested in how I plan what we eat, check out this post here. Here is the what we ate last week... Sunday - we celebrated our 9 year anniversary by going out to the Local Three. I have realized that my favorite meal is a hamburger and fries. So that is exactly what I ate. I know, I'm so fancy.

Monday - We had leftover rice from Thursday night, so I made Fried Rice with steamed broccoli.

Tuesday - We cooked the last of the hotdogs on the grill and made a fresh batch of slaw. Easy, peasy.

Wednesday - We ate at Chicken and the Egg here in Marietta. This is one of our favorite local places. I had a house salad.

Thursday - Since I still had cabbage left to eat, I tried a new recipe called Healthy Beef & Cabbage. It was really tasty.

Friday - Since it is finally feeling like fall around Atlanta, I knew I wanted to make a chili. My husband doesn't particularly like soup or chili but I so very much do. I tried a new recipe that I found on Pinterest. Its a 5 ingredient white chicken chili. I really liked it and will keep it in rotation.

Saturday - It was a beautiful evening here so we splurged and went out to eat at Ted's Montana Grill so we could sit on their patio. I had a wedge salad and baked potato. We had the whole patio to ourselves which our girls naturally enjoyed because it became their stage to dance.

I have been craving pumpkin like crazy these days. I found this recipe for grain free pumpkin bars. Tried it but didn't love it. Felt like something was missing... don't say the grain.... LOL

Let me know if you have tried any of the these recipes!

How I Meal Plan

September 29, 2014 by Scott in Meal Plans

Do you like to read food blogs? I find myself getting lost in Pinterest when I search and peruse the food section. And I usually find myself looking at recipes when I am hungry--that is just as bad as grocery shopping when you are hungry! I really wish I was a better cook. I wish I enjoyed it. There was a brief season where I began to enjoy cooking (9 years ago). Then, we discovered all of my husband's food allergies & intolerances and cooking became difficult. It felt like a chore. The food was boring. And it wasn't long until we added kids into the mix. My enjoyment declined further. It seems like these kids always need to eat! ;-) There is nothing worse than realizing it's almost dinner time and you don't know what to cook. That is especially daunting for the one who doesn't like to cook. Not to mention that it is absolute war time during the cooking zone when you have kids. It's like they have secretly been watching you all these years and realize that you are weakest at 5:00pm. So they attack. I digress...

I have found many recipes that I like and have tried successfully. I keep them on my "made it" board. Our dinners tend to always be gluten free and dairy free. They are usually sugar free and often grain free. They are usually boring simple. I have always wanted to be able to follow a meal plan that someone has made but it seemed like most didn't fit our needs (gluten free, dairy free). I have finally found a system that works for us. You'll have to forgive me for this pitiful picture.

I have a serious love for graph paper. Something about writing in tiny boxes makes me happy. So this is what I do. I make a chart with the days of the week down the side and the meals across the top. I write in pencil so that I can easily erase it if something changes. I don't really plan breakfast other than list different options we will have on hand. Both of my girls take lunches to school with the exception of pizza day and/or grilled cheese day for Sinclair. I really wish I was the kind of person who made lunches the night before, but alas I am not. I am more of a morning person and the last thing I want to do at the end of the day is fix another meal (again, they always need to eat!). But I have found that if I simply list out what I plan to fix for lunch on then when the morning comes, I can crank out their lunches in 5 minutes. And while we are on the subject of lunches for kids, I am all about presentation. If it is looks cute/good then they usually eat it. So I take an extra 30 seconds and cut their sandwiches into shapes. Nothing fancy but some little details. For my lunch, I always eat the same thing. My options are usually homemade chicken salad, apple with almond butter, eggs or leftovers. Then, to plan for dinners, I look over my "made it" board and my other boards here, here, here and here. I think about what we like to eat and what I want us to try to eat. I am a firm believer on recycling meals ideas every couple of weeks. I look at our calendar and see what we have going on each day. Tuesdays we have dance so I know its easiest to have a crockpot meal, leftovers or eat out where kids eat free. On Wednesdays, I travel for work which means its easier for leftovers or breakfast for dinner. There are a couple of people that I always tend to try their recipes. Erin over here always has great ideas. And another is this site. I would love to attempt once a month cooking. She definitely has different kinds of meal plans to fit your dietary needs.

After I have figured out what we are going to eat, I list out our grocery needs below the plan. Being the organize junkie that I am, I color coded it. Yellow is produce. Blue is meat. Pink is dairy/eggs. Green is frozen. Orange is pantry. A red box is household items/non grocery items. This helps me to breeze through the grocery store. I usually make a weekly run to Trader Joe's and Target. Then, I hit up one other grocery store later in the week. I simply cross out the items once they are purchased. We usually eat out once or twice a week. Again, I really don't like to cook so I always enjoy when we get to eat out.

So that's it. Nothing fancy. It has simplified things for us. What about you? How do you plan your meals?

Meal Plan (grain free, sugar free, dairy free, gluten free) Sept 14-20

September 22, 2014 by Scott in Meal Plans

My motivation is seriously beginning to waver in this whole eating thing. So to keep it real with you guys, I just want to let you know that I am opting for an abbreviated version now (aka cheating version). My meals will still for the most part be grain free, sugar free, dairy free and gluten free, however, I will not shy away from cheating more. Sunday - Black bean soup (the girls ate chicken noodle soup with a bagel). No one felt 100% that day so soup was in order.

Monday - Paleo Skillet Meal. I threw in some broccoli slaw instead of celery and zucchini. No one really liked this meal. I'm pretty sure I was the only one who ate it. Sigh. I've made it before exactly like the recipe and I liked it, but again was the only one.

Tuesday - Kids eat free at a local place called Taqueria Tsunami. It was basically a taco salad with grilled chicken. I ate a salad with no dressed. (aka BORING) Hence the beginning of my lack of interest in this diet.

Wednesday - Breakfast for dinner. The girls ate Trader Joe's gluten free & dairy free pancakes with bacon. Scott and I ate scrambled eggs with chopped onion, red pepper, spinach and feta (only cheese for me not Scott). This was our 9 year anniversary. What a way to celebrate: eggs & wine.

Thursday - Burrito Bowls. We had our best friends here over for dinner. Katie and I have been agonizing championing this diet together. We skipped the rice and just did lettuce as the base. The kids munched on cheese quesadillas, corn and black beans.

Friday - I spent the day in the doctor's office and ER with Rory. We didn't get home until almost 6:00 so Chick-fil-a was in order for the rest of us. One weary momma.

Saturday - by this point, I was officially over this diet, and we were craving hotdogs on the grill. Our hotdogs did come from Whole Foods along with whole grain buns. I made the infamous slaw again and this meal was music to my ears.

Limiting processed food and refined sugar really works well for me (along with gluten free choices). Our meals are almost always dairy free, sugar free and gluten free. I made it two weeks. Good enough, right? And as soon as I gave up on my diet, I came across this print on Pinterest. Ugh.

(Remember, I always tweak recipes as needed to fit our needs)

Meal Plan (grain free, sugar free, dairy free, gluten free) Sept 7-13

September 15, 2014 by Scott in Meal Plans

This was week two of my grain free, sugar free diet. Everything is going pretty well, but I will admit that I ate my beloved blue tortilla chips one night. Keeping it real, ya'll. I have also developed a cold thanks to my cute little Rory and I don't know about you but all I want when I'm sick is gluten and grains. sigh. Sunday - We ended up rearranging half the house on Sunday so take out from La Parilla was in order. I ate carne asada with onions and peppers & a side of black beans.

Monday - Chicken casserole (shredded cooked chicken, raw chopped pecans, mushrooms & onions sauted in butter mixed with a few tablespoons of Earth Balance Mayo & topped with raw almond slivers and cooked at 350 for 20 minutes). Served with steamed broccoli (and brown rice cooked in chicken stock for the kids & Scott).

Tuesday - Scott and the girls ate at Chick-fil-a for school spirit night. I ventured into Atlanta for a documentary about burgers. DISCLAIMER: I totally cheated. That burger was tasty.

Wednesday - I cooked some boneless, skinless chicken breasts in white wine with mushrooms. Served with green beans (after cooked, toss in EVOO, salt & pepper and slivered raw almonds). Don't hate... I'm definitely not a food photographer especially on my old iPhone.

Thursday - Turkey burgers sans buns (ground turkey, red onion, garlic powder, sea salt & pepper). Served with slaw (I omitted the corn), steamed broccoli, raspberries (I put chocolate chips in the ones for the kids).

Friday - Leftovers for us; grilled cheese sandwiches for the kids

Saturday - Grilled steak & slaw (see link above--seriously wearing out the slaw!); kids at store bought mac & cheese (real healthy, LOL)

I also made Apple Cinnamon Muffins for breakfast. Sinclair liked them, but picky Rory did not. I'm still learning the ways of cooking with coconut flour but overall these were tasty. So feel free to toss out any advice about baking with coconut flour.

Week three here I come.