I did pretty good following my first menu plan last week, I made almost everything I had planned on. The surprising thing to me was how much less money I spent on groceries having a plan to follow, I think I easily saved a couple hundred dollars! If saving that kind of money weren’t motivation enough, the amount of time I saved myself by not staring blankly in my refrigerator 3 times a day trying to come up with new allergy-friendly meal ideas was enough to turn me into a die hard menu planning fan! I actually read an entire book, The Unhealthy Truth: How Our Food Is Making Us Sick – And What We Can Do About It
Monday:
Breakfast: Holly’s Green Smoothie from Healthy Green Kitchen, Homemade Breakfast Sausage from One Perfect Bite (I will use a Ground Lamb and Turkey combo and Coconut Sugar, I will also make enough to last the week).
My boys’ Lunch: Grilled Peppers and Lentil Salad from myrecipes.com, Apple Slices with Homemade Macadamia Nut Butter, Vegan Almond Pulp Crackers from Elana’s Pantry, and Fermented Almond “Cheese” from Super Kitchen Machine (this will be a first time experiment for me)
Dinner: Chicken Nuggets from Comfy Belly (I will omit the egg), Pan-Grilled Asparagus with Garlic and Parsley from Elegantly, Gluten-Free and Salad with Homemade French Dressing from Lexie’s Kitchen
Dessert: Gluten-Free Dairy-Free Strawberry Ice Cream from Living Without
Tuesday:
Breakfast: Green Goddess Smoothie from Gluten Free Life with Jen, and Breakfast Sausage
My Boys’ Lunch: Heart Stopping Chicken Salad from Spoonful of Sugar Free, Terra Taro Chips, Homemade Coconut Milk Yogurt, and Watermelon Slices
Dinner: Halibut with Lemon, Butter, Caper and Dill Sauce (sans the pasta) from Closet Cooking, Steamed Broccoli drizzled with Quick and Easy Garlic Olive Oil from Elana’s Pantry, and Everyday Chopped Salad from Jamie Oliver (don’t forget to set your DVRs for tonight’s season premiere of Jamie Oliver’s Food Revolution!)
Dessert: Fresh Pineapple and Banana slices
Wednesday:
Breakfast: Blue Smoothie and Turkey Bacon
My Boys’ Lunch: Healthy, Healing Soup from Jeanette’s Healthy Kitchen (I will nix the rice and freeze the leftovers), Leftover Chicken Salad, Vegan Almond Pulp Crackers and Orange Slices
Dinner: Today is my 9th wedding anniversary, so my hubby is going to cook for me! 😯
Dessert: Dairy-Free, Egg-Free, Grain-Free Brownies from The Spunky Coconut (I will use carob instead of chocolate)
Thursday:
Breakfast: Green Smoothie, Breakfast Sausage
My Boys’ Lunch: Prosciutto and Melon, Raw Veggies with Hummus and Kalamata Olives
Dinner: Wild Salmon with Tomatoes, Basil and Garlic from Cook IT Allergy Free and Garlic Sauteed Spinach (omitting the butter) from Ina Garten
Dessert: Fresh Strawberries and Bananas
Friday:
Breakfast: Green Smoothie and Breakfast Sausage
My Boys’ Lunch: Applegate Farms Turkey Bologna Roll-Ups, Homemade Coconut Milk Yogurt
Dinner: BBQ Ribs using a rub recipe from Tasty Eats at Home and homemade BBQ Sauce, Red Cabbage braised with Apple, Bacon and Balsamic Vinegar from Jamie Oliver
Dessert: Flourless Peanut Butter Cookies from Gluten Free Easily (I will use Coconut Sugar and a Chia Egg)
Saturday:
Breakfast: Veggie-Full Breakfast Hash from Ricki Heller’s new e-book, Good Morning! Breakfasts without Gluten, Sugar, Eggs or Dairy (I will be doing a giveaway of Ricki’s cookbook soon)
Lunch: Leftovers from the week
Dinner: BBQ Ribs using this rub from Tasty Eats at Home and my homemade BBQ Sauce, Baked Beans from The Pioneer Woman (I will probably use Eden Foods canned (BPA-free!) Navy Beans), and Creamy Herbed Coleslaw with Grape Tomatoes from Fat Free Vegan Kitchen (I will use this recipe for the mayonnaise)
Dessert: Fresh Strawberries and Bananas
Sunday:
Breakfast: Maca Pancakes with Miso Honey Butter and Cinnamon Whipped Cream from Vegan Culinary Crusade, Bacon and Fresh Orange Juice
Lunch: Leftovers from the week
Dinner: Fried Turkey from Tasty Eats at Home (leftovers will be for next week’s school lunches), Leftover Baked Beans and Cole Slaw
Dessert: Frozen Grapes
This post is linked to Menu Plan Monday over at Orgjunkie.com
Lastly, I have some exciting news to share. Dr. Vikki Petersen has kindly offered to do a monthly “Ask Dr. Vikki” segment on my blog!
As you all may know by now, I am a huge fan of Dr. Vikki Petersen, so much so that I flew my entire family out to California this past February to see her and the amazing medical team at HealthNOW Medical Center. Without a doubt, that was one of the best decisions I have ever made for my family.
Starting today, you can email me your questions for Dr. Vikki to:
askdrvikki@adventuresofaglutenfreemom.com
Dr. Vikki will pick a question or two to answer each month, in a post here on Adventures of a Gluten Free Mom.
And with that, I will leave you today with one of Dr. Vikki’s videos on Autoimmune Disease and Gluten (but be sure to check back tomorrow, I will be launching a new giveaway…and it just might have something to do with cupcakes). 😀
And welcome to my blog!
Whether you're here looking for advice on how to go gluten free (with delicious kid-approved recipes of course!), or to read some of the latest medical research on celiac disease and non-celiac gluten sensitivity...or even to read about one woman's rise from the depths of gluten-free despair to a place of downright enthusiasm, it makes no matter. The point is, you are here now so let's have some fun!
Hi Heidi – Thanks for using a recipe from, and linking to me at SuperKitchenMachine. Your blog does a great service and there is so much helpful information here, I'm happy to have discovered it. I'm just a tad nervous about the fact you are using the boys as 'guinea pigs' for your first time doing the fermented almond cheeze 😉 The cheeze is tangy and may not appeal to boys who haven't had it before. I just envisioned them opening their lunches as school and… well… maybe not being thrilled by the unique flavour of this cheeze. Also wanted to mention that it does get better with a bit of aging, so making it and immediately sending it off to school with unsuspecting boys might not be the best way to introduce it to your family.
Oh my, what a long-winded comment that turned into. I'm sure your boys are healthy and adventurous eaters, but I just wanted them to know the cheeze first, rather than discovering it at school. Best wishes, H. (oops, just noticed that I'm probably too late as today was the date for the cheezy lunch!)
You're welcome Helene! And thank you for the tip to allow the cheeze to age…My oldest son actually had a few bites and seemed to enjoy it freshly made (my 3 year old is another story, but he's like that, LOL!). I'm aging the rest of it, how long would you recommend? 😀
Well, I usually eat it within a week, but I had one blog reader who swore that six weeks of (accidentally!) aging was perfect (!)
http://www.superkitchenmachine.com/2010/6606/ther…
Fabulous post–your menu sounds great (and thanks for the reminder about Mr. Oliver!) 😀 Can't wait to see what you think of the Veggie-Full Breakfast Hash, too. And I've got my thinking cap on for Dr. Vikki. . . the problem will be narrowing it down! 😉
Thanks Ricki and you are very welcome on the reminder. 😀 I'm so excited for the Veggie-Full Breakfast Hash…have you ever tried it as leftovers? Does it hold up well? This would be great for me to make the night before and throw in a container for my boys to eat during their 45 minute commute to school!
Great menu! I want to try Ricki's breakfast hash really soon too – sounds so good. I hope you like the fried turkey!
My guys are very excited for the turkey, thanks for the inspiration Alta!
Thanks for reminding me of 'One perfect bite' I haven't looked there in forever and we've been planning homemade sausage for months. I'm glad the plan is working for you and that Mike blows your socks off with dinner. ta
You're welcome Laurel! I really like making the homemade sausage, it's fun to change up the spices and use different meats. Pray for me for Mike's dinner…I'm afraid, LOL!
I'm bragging now but Al made me Lobster tails AND Steak plus stir fried veg for our anniversary. Okay the lobster was a bit tough but WOW! Of course he FORCED me to make him allergy free marshmallows and chocolate mousse. LOL
P.S. I have a lot of faith in Mike, he'll do fine.
Lobster…YUM! You gotta keep there Laurel. Of course, he does too….homemade marshmallows and chocolate mousse? Oh. My. Heavens.
Another amazing meal plan! I'm usually happy to figure out just the dinner entree for each day beforehand, so your plan really inspires me. I can't wait to hear about your anniversary dinner — congrats on 9 years! And I hope your asparagus turns out to your liking. My last batch was a little too crispy 😛
Hugs,
Pat
I was sort of like you Pat, only…I rarely even had the dinner entree picked out before 4pm (I always seemed to get lost in my baking experiments)! The menu plan has been really good for me for trying new side dishes and sauces/seasonings for steamed or roasted veggies (the plain variety does get a little boring after a while). As for your asparagus, I know it will be yummy…(and I love crispy asparagus, LOL!).
Congrats on scoring Dr. Vikki! That's so cool. Looks like a great menu for the week Heidi. I like this – it's kind of like a peek in your kitchen 🙂
Thanks Maggie! It's a crazy kitchen, that's for sure, LOL!
Hi Heidi-
Congrats on 9 years and thank you for another great menu! When you say roll-ups for your kids lunches, is it just the lunch meat or do you put something in it? Sounds like a good idea for school lunches that I hadn't thought of. Also, how do you get your kids to eat Grilled peppers and lentil salad and other things on your menu? My 5 year old would not touch it.
Hey Annie!
The deli meat roll-ups have been just the meat but I stick a decorative cupcake pick in it to hold it together (you can see a picture of the cupcake picks I use in this post: https://www.adventuresofaglutenfreemom.com/2010/04… (it's from back in the day when we still ate dairy).
As for getting my kiddos to eat things like grilled peppers and lentil salad…it's not always easy. My oldest son is certainly more adventurous, but my youngest son is as picky as picky get!
I was really worried about Luke in the beginning of our most recent dietary overhaul, because every day his lunch would come home untouched (how can he learn on an empty stomach?!), but instead of throwing it away, I would plop him in a chair and make him take 3 bites of each thing I had sent (one bite for each year of his age, he's 3, so 3 bites of everything). This approach seems to work for my kids because they feel like they are getting a deal (instead of having to eat the entire thing) and I feel like I win because I know that sometimes it just takes time to adapt the taste buds.
It's been interesting for me to watch my kids' dietary evolution over the past year, the more foods we've lost, the more accepting they have become of new foods, mostly because there are no "better" (a.k.a. junk food) options in the house to tempt them, but also, they eventually get hungry enough and eat. 😀
I checked out the Menu Plan Monday site and was scanning through all the links to other people's submissions. I clicked on one for the Vanderbilt Wife and noticed something surprisingly…um…familiar on her site: http://www.vanderbiltwife.com/. 😉
Thanks for the recipe links. There are a bunch there that I can't wait to try. 🙂
Was all it the "glutonium" you noticed Janet? LOL! Yeah, Menu Plan Monday is not just for gluten-free and allergen friendly bloggers, but the menu plans are at least great for ideas. 😉
I love the idea of planning a weekly menu in advance. I used to do this, but lately find myself scrambling at dinnertime. Thanks for including one of my recipes, and I can't wait to try the gluten/dairy free strawberry ice cream recipe – my son's been asking for strawberry ice cream and I haven't seen a GF/DF option in the supermarket yet. Also, found Dr. Vikki's video very informative, as I believe my son has leaky gut syndrome, and have been treating him for it.