Meal Plan (Gluten Free, Dairy Free) Jan 11-17

We've had another good week with food around here... and when I say "good" I mean tasty, pretty simple, and not much nose-turning-ups from the kids. Technically, a meal success for me is when it doesn't end up in the trash can. I am still waiting for the day when cooking is a joy to me. Sunday - turkey burgers + slaw + steamed broccoli (not pictured). This dinner was such a hit last week with everyone that I threw it into the rotation again for a guaranteed win.

turkey burgers + slaw

Monday - Trader Joe's pulled carnitas pork + leftover rice + corn. I had to work late so I needed something easy for Scott to pull together. This pulled pork is so very good and you simply microwave it for 3 minutes.

Tuesday - Crockpot Chicken (1 lb chicken breasts covered with Progresso chicken and wild rice soup. Cook for 4 hours on high) + rice + green beans. Rory loves french style green beans so we've been eating those a lot lately.

Wednesday - Flank Steak Stirfry + leftover rice. I bought flank steak already cut in thin strips and grilled them on my George Foreman Grill. Then, just cooked some frozen stir fry veggies in a wok with coconut oil. I had intentions on making cauliflower rice but the afternoon was so crazy that I just didn't have the time.

Thursday - Breakfast for Dinner. We had turkey bacon + scrambled eggs + Paleo biscuits. I was the only one who liked the Paleo biscuits. I think eating with different flours takes time for your taste buds to acclimate.

Friday - leftovers

Saturday - GF frozen chicken nuggets from Trader Joe's (my kids FAVORITE) + leftover rice + black beans for the kids. Scott and I enjoyed a date night at Century House Tavern in Downtown Woodstock. You guys. It was incredible. We waited an hour to be seated and I have to say that I was doubtful if the food would be worth the wait but it was delish!! I ventured off the GF path and enjoyed a grilled pork chop, mashed yukon potatoes and fried okra. We also indulged in apple cobbler for dessert. If you guys are local, you must go there!

Our breakfasts and lunches were pretty much the same as the last two weeks. I did make this smoothie and this one minus the spinach (Rory can't digest raw spinach well).  I try to keep it simple so that I don't get overwhelmed. I'm proud to say that we have added much more real food into our kids' diet however we do survive most days on applesauce pouches & GF granola bars. I will say this...our kids don't always like our dinners but I try to not let that discourage me. I keep giving the food to them and I refuse to make other foods in that meal's place. I try to put at least one thing in their dinner that I know they will eat and tell myself that it's okay if they go to bed a little hungry--they will eat a good breakfast in the morning!

We had a really tasty dinner Sunday night and look forward to sharing that one next week!

Meal Plan (Gluten Free, Dairy Free) Jan 4-10

Here we are, going on 3 weeks gluten free + dairy free for the girls. I finished my first week of grain free + sugar free and I am feeling really good--sleeping well, not hungry throughout the day, stopped night time snacking, drinking more water and exercising. Granted I have done this diet before, but this time around has definitely been easier. It does help when I make my mind up about something. Are you like that, too? The girls have been superstars with their diet change. I took Rory to a homeopathic doctor last week because I was TIRED of her getting sick so much and doctors continuing to treat symptoms without looking into why she keeps getting sick. We discovered that she has candida, large intestinal stress and immune deficiency along with food sensitivities to dairy, wheat, soy and pork. SOOOOOOOO, we are working to get her body healthy by continuing the gluten free and dairy diet along with eliminating sugar. (PRAYERS ARE WELCOME) It is hard for me to limit my sugar intake and I'm an adult so imagine how hard it is to do that for a picky 4 year old. It's amazing how much sugar is in things--even some fruit has a lot of sugar. Along with diet, she is taking some supplements. We go back in one month to see her progress.

We really enjoyed this week's meals. I knew I needed to start with recipes I loved while kicking off the grain free + sugar free diet. That really makes all the difference. I planned out my meals in my new DIY planner (which I will share soon!)

Sunday - chicken zucchini poppers EPIC FAIL. Ya'll I almost gaged while preparing them. I don't really like dealing with raw chicken as is so I don't know if the chicken smelled or the combination with the zucchini but none of us could handle it. So the back up plan was scrambled eggs + bacon.

Monday - Advanced Plan Chili

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Tuesday - leftover chili

Wednesday - Turkey burger patties + coleslaw + avocado slices + roasted broccoli (baked fries for the girls). I am by no means a good cook. In fact if I could have one luxury in life it would be a personal chef. Sweet Rory watched me prep this dinner and said, "Mommy, when you grow up, you should be a chef! You look like one and act like one." Presh.

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Thursday - Breakfast for dinner: Pumpkin Coconut Flour Waffles + scrambled eggs + bacon + fruit. The waffles were a big hit. I used the slightest amount of maple syrup in the batter and only put dairy free butter on their waffles. We made these again (per the kids request) on Saturday morning and froze the leftovers to use throughout the week.

Friday - leftover chili + baked potato (for Scott). I made GF spaghetti with marinara sauce + GF Udi's toast for the girls. For the record, my girls do not like chili which is such a crying shame because it is DELISH.

Saturday - Taco Salad/Burrito Bowls. For me, I started with a base of romaine lettuce and topped with taco turkey meat, black beans and grilled onions + peppers (inspired by Chipotle). All my avocados were bad so I couldn't make guacamole. Tears. Scott added rice and corn to his bowl and the girls basically had a deconstructed burrito bowl. To make the taco meat, I simply brown the ground turkey (or ground beef), then add the following spices for 1 pound of meat: 1 t chili powder, 1 t cumin, 1/2 t paprika, 1/2 t garlic powder, 1/4 t salt. I usually add my black beans into the meat.

I tried making Banana PB Breakfast Cookies but the girls turned their noses up at them. I thought they were pretty tasty. The girls pretty much ate GF cereal, bacon, GF waffles, & fruit for breakfast. Their lunches included items like rice cakes with PB, chips, fruit, chicken salad, almonds, cucumbers, tomatoes, GF lunch meat, & GF granola bars/Lara Bars. For me, my go to lunch this week was my homemade Chicken Salad on a bed of spinach. I also ate a leftover turkey burger one day. My other tasty lunch was chopped up granny smith apples (1 1/2 small ones) with almond butter and sprinkled shredded coconut on top. I snacked on dry roasted almonds, raw pecans, peppers, celery and berries.

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I hope that gives you some inspiration for what you can eat this week!

Health Reset

I had the unfortunate pleasure of having my girly yearly appointment on Dec 23. I don’t know about you but I dread that appointment for weeks leading up to it. Since we moved, I called to make an appointment with a new doctor assuming it would take at least a month to get an appointment—plenty of time to lose weight before standing on the scale in the moment of shame. However, to my surprise they had an opening in less than a week. (Clearly not enough time to lose any pounds especially during the holidays).

For years, I have tried to teach myself that how I eat and what I weigh is more about health and freedom, but there is a voice inside my head constantly trying to convince me otherwise. Over the course of the last year, I knew I had allowed myself to consume more of what wasn't best and my jeans fitting tighter was the evidence--and by tighter, I mean cutting off my circulation and therefore causing me to be angry/grumpy/deathly while wearing them. The scale that day at the doctor’s office confirmed that I had gained about 7-10 pounds over the last year. Call it the Freshman Fifteen. Thankfully, I was prayed up before that appointment so knowing that fact didn’t send me into complete and utter disarray. Instead it served as a motivation.

I’ve learned that how we view and treat our body is all about moderation. Really, that has been the lesson for me about life in general. I know I’m not fat or overweight but I do know when moderation is lacking in my life or diet. I always think of the scripture that says, “All things are lawful for me but not all things are beneficial…” (1 Corinthians 6:12) I am free to eat or drink whatever I want, but is it beneficial for me in this moment or stage or circumstance. Moderation is the answer to the question about whether or not it is beneficial to me. When my clothes aren't fitting well, then the freedom of eating or drinking what I want when I want is no longer beneficial to me. Make sense?

So with the new year, I am taking time to reset my body. It’s time to choose some moderation. I will follow my chiropractor’s Advanced Plan diet which is basically grain free, sugar free, processed food free. I also signed up for the 100 Days of Real Food challenge to remove processed food from your diet. Every 10 days, she posts a new challenge and at the end of 100 days, you will be process food free. Sounds manageable. Check out her site if you want to sign up.

My goal is to simply fit better in my clothes and more specially to drop those 7-10 pounds. My first goal is to weigh 5 pounds less when I go back to my doctor at the end of the month for a follow up appointment. I don't have a scale in my house so its the next time to weigh in.

I don't want to be obsessed with my appearance but I also don't want to live in the other extreme. Moderation has always been the key for me. I remember hearing Beth Moore talk about body image once, and she talked about the idea of finding your freedom size. Where can you live moderately and freely without the extreme of obsession or the extreme of neglect? I know where that is for me. Where is it for you? Part of that is letting go to unrealistic expectations. Let me tell you that I had the expectation of weighing at or less than I did on my wedding day. Ladies, it is unrealistic for me because in order to be that (and it is possible), I have to be obsessed--watching everything I eat and not allowing myself to enjoy different foods or drinks. To be that, I had to take my own food when we ate out as a family. Seriously? Who wants to do that? I am NOT even a good cook. One of my greatest joys is having other people, who are clearly good at it, cook for me. Let's find our freedom point together.

• I have an Advanced Plan diet board on Pinterest if you want to check it out.
• Be sure to follow along my meal plans for foods that we try (I promise to always be real and talk about the fails too). Here is this week's.
• The book I'm following from my Chiropractor is called "Maximized Living Nutrition Plans" by Dr. B.J. Hardick, Kimberly Roberto and Dr. Ben Lerner
• Here are a couple of other great resources if you want food ideas: here and here

I mentioned earlier this week how I adjusted my kids diet fully in order to boost their immune system so January is turning out to be a reset month for us all. Along with the diet, I am adding in burst training. This is a great way to stimulate fat burning hormones. You guys, it is just 5 minutes a day. My chiropractor wrote an article about it here and there is also the video that I follow in that post.

I will keep you posted with my health reset. I will NOT, however, post pictures of myself so that you can see progress. I honestly hate those kind of pictures because it causes me to be more obsessed. I'm sure other people can handle it better than me but just know you will not see a picture of my flab or rock hard abs. You're welcome.

Meal Plan (Gluten free, Dairy Free) Dec 28-Jan 3

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

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Now that Christmas is over, I am officially over winter. I pretty much put up with enjoy winter only during the month of December. Then, I’m ready for warm weather. This season particularly has been difficult because my youngest has been sick constantly—nothing that would keep her from school, but it just seems like her body can’t quite fight off these germs. So days after Christmas when she was diagnosed with another ear infection on top of her cold (that's has lasted 2 months), I felt like it was time to change up her diet to boost her immune system. The dinners I prepare for our family are almost always gluten free and dairy free however what my kids eat during the day don’t always follow that rule. We are now over a week into the diet change and so far things are going well. Scott and I have been gluten free and dairy free for almost 7 years now so food restrictions aren't new to us.

Here is what we ate this week:

Dinners

Sunday - GF Applegate frozen chicken nuggets + chips

Monday - grilled chicken (olive oil, S & P) + DF twice baked potatoes + green beans (steamed)

Tuesday - Chicken savoy (recipe to follow) + broccoli (steamed) + rice

Wednesday - NYE date night - Pork Tenderloin + sautéed green beans + roasted Brussel sprouts at Chicken and the Egg in Marietta, GA

Thursday - New Year’s dinner at my in-laws with Pork Tenderloin + mashed sweet potatoes + green beans + black eyed peas

Friday - Trader Joe’s pulled pork + steamed green beans + black eyed peas (leftover from my mother-in-law)

Saturday - date night. We ate at a food truck--Grilled chicken & zucchini (Paleo style)

Chicken Savoy

Kid Breakfasts

Honey Nut Chex cereal with vanilla almond milk; GF frozen waffles with maple syrup; bacon + scrambled eggs; with fruit as a side. I really tried to add 2 servings of fruit or veggies to each of their meals.

Kid Lunches

Monday - rice cake with peanut butter, sliced bananas + strawberries + grapes. They decorated their rice cakes with the fruit; corn chips with avocado chunks & yellow peppers (You have to know that Sinclair is my well-rounded eater and Rory refused to try the avocado & peppers).

Tuesday - same as Monday

Wednesday - breakfast food for lunch

Thursday - Chick-fil-A grilled nuggets + fries

Friday - Ian's frozen GF DF french loaf pizza. They HATED it.

Saturday - same as Monday

I made these no bake energy bites and they snacked on those and Rory ate them at a birthday party instead of cake. They have snacked on almonds, Chex cereal, cinnamon rice cakes, fruit, Lara Bars, GF granola bars, popcorn.

Have a great week!

Meal Plan (gluten free, dairy free) Dec 14-20

Last week was a busy week being the last week of school and activities. And boy did it fly by!! I didn't think I would be able to cook much but things really worked out well. Some things we ate weren't gluten free or dairy free, but part of surviving is being okay to cheat on diet sometimes (if you can afford it). Sunday - Hamburger patties (1 lb ground beef, 1/2 cup GF crackers crushed, 1 egg, S & P to taste, 1/4 cup finely chopped onion. Mix all ingredients and form into patties), roasted veggies (chop red onion. Then toss onion, broccoli, cauliflower, green beans in olive oil and salt & pepper. Place on rimmed roasting pan and cook at 400 degrees for 20-30 minutes).

Monday - Scott had to work late so me and the girls made a frozen pizza from Trader Joe's (not GF or DF)

Tuesday - Pork Tacos with tangy slaw. Pulled carnitas pork from Trader Joe's (fully cooked--just heat up for 3 minutes in microwave and it pulls apart) Serve with warm soft corn tortillas. You guys, this came together in about 15 minutes which was great for arriving home late from dance.

Wednesday - leftover pork tacos for Scott. I made breakfast for the girls (scrambled eggs, bacon, frozen GF waffles from Trader Joe's). The organization that work for celebrated with christmas lunch and ya'll it was the BEST meal I've had--Filet Mignon, mashed potatoes, roasted brussel sprouts. It was so delicious that I refused to eat anything else the rest of the day. It would have just ruined the best meal.

Thursday - Coconut Flour Chicken Tenders + rice + steamed green beans. We didn't really care for this chicken recipe. If you've ever worked with coconut flour then you know it is a dense flour. I think something was just off with the recipe so I'm willing to make it again and alter things. I've made this recipe before and it turned out pretty good.

Friday - Scott's business Christmas Party

Saturday - Scott's family Christmas Dinner

Somehow I managed to forget to take any pictures of our meals. Forgive me!! I hate reading blogs that don't include pictures so I promise to do better! I'm usually so spent or hungry by the time the food is done that pictures are the last thing on my mind. The good news for me is that somehow I have managed to escape cooking for probably more than a week! We have lots of christmas get togethers. That my friends is pure joy to me! JOY TO THE WORLD! Since I hate leaving you with no pictures.

christmas party fun

I'll leave you with one of my husband and I at the company Christmas Party--I sure love doing life with this guy.

Merry Christmas!