My how things have been hectic lately. We are getting ready to PCS ("move" for those non-military types) and we have just put our house on the market, which surprisingly has impacted my menu planning. No buyer wants to walks through a house that reeks of food, especially fish, so I have to plan wisely. And I won't even get into the struggles we've had with our little celiac and school - it's been a stressful time, for sure...
So here is what I will be cooking this week:
Mon - Blackened Shrimp Salad (Blackened Shrimp Salad) with Garlic Bread.
Thankfully it is going to get up to 65 degrees outside today so it is a good night to open the windows and screen doors and cook some shrimp! I'll use GF turkey bacon instead of regular bacon and make the garlic bread with Schar's ciabatta bread of course :-)
Tues - Chicken Lasagna Alfredo (Chicken Lasagna Alfredo) with broccoli.
I love to make lasagna but sometimes the marinara sauce is too much (heartburn). So, I thought I'd try a recipe using Alfredo instead. I will use fresh, chopped up spinach instead of frozen because that is what I have on hand and I'm sure I'll season with some garlic powder. Here is a picture of the noodles and sauce that I will be using:
Wed - Grilled Tilapia (Grilled Tilapia) with Crispy Parmesan Potatoes (Crispy Garlic Parm Potatoes) and Corn.
Thurs - Chicken Noodle Soup (Chicken Noodle Soup).
Since I can't find GF Egg Noodles I am just going to use GF pasta instead. Hopefully it will taste OK.
Fri - Crockpot Beef Stroganoff (Crockpot Beef Stroganoff) with mashed potatoes and peas.
Sat - Roasted Chicken and Veggies (15 Min Roasted Chicken and Veggies) with Idahoan Loaded Baked Potatoes Casserole (kids love them):
Hope you have a great week!
-Jackie
Holy cow it's been a while since I've shared my weekly menu! While grocery shopping this morning my husband said (in not so many words) that I basically set out to start a blog to share my gluten-free menus, recipes, and experiences, and I've failed to follow thru. It's important to note that this weekly grocery shopping time is our once-a-week date with no kids - where we walk thru the aisles, talking about our excitement for our upcoming move, bantering back and forth, and just flirting with each other in general. So his pointing out a critical flaw of mine (my failure to follow-thru) put a damper on our date. With that said, here is what I will be making this week for dinner (and thus my attempting to again follow thru with blogging):
Mon - Lasagna Mueller's Lasagna with Peas
I will be using Mueller's Gluten-Free No Boil Lasagna Noodles (delicious) and Prego Traditional sauce for this. Usually I make garlic bread using Schar's white bread and garlic salt but my Type 1 Diabetic is coming out of Honeymoon and his blood sugar has been everywhere so I think the carbs in the lasagna and peas is enough for one meal.
Tues - Hot dogs with Baked Beans
Nothing special here. We like Oscar Mayer Selects Turkey dogs because we know they are gluten free and they taste good to us. I serve them on Schar's Hot dog Buns although to be honest, my daughter just kind of picks at the bun so she ends up just eating the dogs by themselves. Bush's baked beans are our go-to beans. Simple mean that the kids and husband love.
Wed - Chicken Broccoli Alfredo Bake (should be renamed "Jackie's Favorite) Chicken Broccoli Alfredo Bake
I LOVE THIS. I do substitute rice for the quinoa because my kids are not crazy about quinoa and I plan to use a mixture of Parmesan and Asiago cheeses because that is what I have on hand. If you follow my menus you will see that at least once every 3-4 weeks because I just love this that much. Although I must be honest - I kind of pick around the chicken because I don't really like chicken so much.
Thurs - Cheeseburger Pie Cheeseburger Pie with Salad
I made this once before and everybody liked it, but we all decided it was missing something. So this time I am going to try making it with 1/2 pound ground beef and 1/2 pound sausage instead of just 1 pound ground beef. Hopefully that will give it the extra "umph" it was missing.
Fri - Tilapia Broiled Tilapia and Baked Potato Casserole Baked Potato Casserole with Green Beans
I am trying the Baked Potato Casserole for the first time. I'm trying something I've tried in other recipes to try and make it a little healthier - instead of using the entire 1 cup of mayo (or 1 1/2 cups), I'm going to use 1/2 cup of mayo and 1/2 cup of Greek yogurt.
Sat - Parmesan Ranch Chicken Tenders Parmesan Ranch Chicken Tenders with Tater Tots
Sun - Soft Tacos with Chips/Salsa and Corn
For the tacos I am using ground beef and a packet of GF Taco seasoning. Also my family likes corn tortillas so we will use those. As a side note, I learned that the trick to folding or rolling corn tortillas without them breaking, is to warm them in a pan with a little bit of cheese on them before filling them.
I hope you all have a great week and I'd love to hear if anyone tries any of these recipes and makes any note-worthy substitutions!
-Jackie
So, we did it - we finally let my daughter sleep over at a friend's house. It was her first time sleeping over at a friend's house whose family is not also gluten-free, and today E is home sick, feeling the repercussions. I knew that there was a high chance of her being "glutened" as soon as she asked me if she could stay at her friend's house; but she's been having so many issues with mean girls in school lately, and I really wanted her to just have a good time with a nice girl and enjoy being a kid for a night. Is that so bad? So I packed her up with gluten free snacks, we gave the friend's parents a brief synopsis of what gluten is and what foods to avoid, and sent them on their way.
The friend's mom and dad are great - They were very receptive to E's dietary needs, bought special ice cream that she could eat for that night and even cooked her eggs for breakfast the next morning. However, using my mad detective skills I have determined a couple of areas where the gluten may have sneaked in:
- They went out for dinner at a local Mexican Restaurant where E had corn tortilla chips with melted cheese. I must admit, when I found out that they took my daughter to this restaurant I was immediately excited because it is one of my favorites in the area and we haven't been there since E's diagnosis (because we haven't verified if they offer gluten-free items). But then I remembered why we haven't been there in almost a year and E admitted that they don't have a separate GF menu, she just ordered corn chips with melted cheese. When we asked her if she asked if the chips were fried in oil separate from everything else, like any 10-year-old she admitted she did not inquire.
- During breakfast E tasted some frou-frou drink from Starbucks because she has never tasted "coffee" before. E said, "it was a drink so it should be gluten free, right?" So there's that.... And really given that E was so blase about tasting the beautiful Starbucks drink, I have no idea what else she actually consumed.
Anyway, regardless of where the gluten came from, later this weekend E started to feel dizzy, really sleepy and then her stomach started hurting. Today she is home with a tummy ache, constipation, and can hardly keep her eyes open. But at least she had a great time at her friend's house!
I think the lesson we've learned is that, at least for the time being, any sleepovers are going to have to be at our house :-(
-Jackie
So, this is me, or at least my likeness, (IF you add chubby cheeks and crazy naturally curly hair):
I'm Jackie and up
until January of 2016, I, along with my husband and 2 kids, was living what
most would consider a "normal" life: I worked at a great paying job,
I traveled for work about once a month, spent money frivolously (see aforementioned
great paying job), and my family dined out at least 2-3 times a week without a
care in the world. Then reality struck - we found out that our 12-year-old son
has Type 1 diabetes. I have a pretty extensive family history of Type 1, so
this should not have been but a shock, but you could have knocked me over with
a feather. This kind of stuff just doesn't happen to me, and certainly not my
kids...am I right? Well, it did and it was a wake up call for sure. So as my
husband fought his denial and I listened to coworkers, friends and even family
suggest that I just change his diet (if only it were that easy), I stressed
about what to do next. How could I possibly travel to places like Japan for
work while worrying about my son's blood sugar and whether or not his father was
handling things alright? I was torn. Well then reality slapped me right in the
face again and basically made the decision for me - 2 months after my son's
Type 1 diagnosis we found out that our 9 year-old daughter has Celiac Disease.
After meeting with her Pediatric Gastroenterologist and a dietician, we of
course learned that there is more to going gluten-free than just avoiding
wheat, so that brings me to where I am at now:
I am a stay-at-home mom of 2 kids who is still learning the best way to raise
my Celiac daughter to be gluten free. She is 100% gluten free, while I am about
80-90% and my son and husband are about 70% gluten free. ALL of our dinners are
made gluten free. When I quit my job we started living on a budget. A real
budget, not just one we pretend to be on to impress people. So every Sunday
morning I sit down and plan out our menu for the week and then I grocery shop
according to that menu.
I decided to start this blog as a way to share my weekly menus because I see so
many people new to the GF way of life have no idea how to start. I make real
food that kids eat (with the exception of the fish nights - in which case my
daughter gets frozen GF fish sticks). It is not diet food and it is not fancy.
It's real food that is typically easy to make.
Mon - Shrimp Alfredo (Healthier Alfredo) with garlic bread and peas.
For this I'll make the Alfredo as prescribed (although I might try using a little less butter) and then add about a 1/2 bag of (thawed) frozen cooked large shrimp (tail off) at the end. I'll let it simmer for about 5-7 minutes to let the shrimp warm up and then pour it over GF pasta. I might mix the peas into it instead of eating on the side. You could use a jar of Light Alfredo instead, if you want to save some time. If I'm in a hurry I usually use this one, which is gluten-free:
Tues - Slow Cooker Jambalaya (Jambalaya) and salad.
I have never made this before but my husband requested it so I'm going to try it. I plan to use either boneless skinless chicken breasts or boneless skinless chicken thighs and I'm going to cook it in my Dutch oven. I'll have to go easy on the spicy seasonings because I'm wimpy as is my daughter :-)
Wed - Chicken Divan (Chicken Divan).
Holy cow this looks delicious. Never made it before but I know my family is going to love it.
Thurs - Breakfast Bowls.
Tater tots cooked in the oven and then placed in a bowl and topped with cooked sausage, scrambled eggs and cheese. Yum.
Fri - Potato Chowder (Potato Chowder) and gluten free biscuits.
My plan is to cook enough sausage on Thursday to have some leftover to use in the chowder on Friday, saving a little time. I'm going to try making biscuits using GF Bisquick unless somebody gives me a better idea. I was thinking about melting butter and garlic and then spreading it on them so they taste like Red Lobster's biscuits...
Sat - Pizza Casserole (Pizza Casserole) with salad.
I'm going to use GF penne and I might try sneaking some mushrooms into this because I LOVE mushrooms (but my kids hate them). I might add some black olives to make the kids happy...
Sun - Grilled Brats and baked beans.
And by brats this is what I mean (my daughter has a love of cheese):
Have a great week!!!
Here is what I'll be making this week:
Mon - Baked Tilapia (Baked Tilapia), Rice and Broccoli Cheese Bake (Broccoli Cheese Bake Side).
For the Tilapia I will definitely omit the capers at the end because I HATE capers. I've never made the Broccoli side dish before but it looks like something that my daughter will like, and after making her eat the curry this past week that she didn't like, I figure I should make up for it by making something for her. For the Broccoli Cheese Bake I plan to use GF All-Purpose Flour in place of the regular flour and I'll probably use cheddar instead of Swiss cheese, just because my kids are unpredictable when it comes to Swiss.
Tues - Grilled Ham and Cheese on GF Bread with Baked Fries (Oven Fries).
Wed - Baked GF Spaghetti with Corn and Garlic Bread on the side.
Basically I just cook the spaghetti noodles as directed (we prefer Mueller's brand) and set aside. Meanwhile I brown a pound of hamburger and add 2 jars of Prego Traditional to it and let it simmer until the Prego is warmed up. I mix the meat-sauce into the noodles, sprinkle in about a 1/2 cup of Parmesan cheese, add about 1/2 a handful of mozzarella cheese and mix it all together real good. Then I dump it into a Pam-sprayed 9X13 casserole dish, sprinkle more Parmesan cheese on top and bake it in the oven for 30-35 minutes at 350. Simple and delicious. I plan to serve it with corn and garlic bread because for some reason corn and garlic bread are synonymous with spaghetti to me.
Thurs - Baked Pesto Chicken (Baked Pesto Chicken) with Mashed Potatoes.
I am new to the Pesto scene and am so excited to share my Pesto find with you. This is the only Pesto I could find for my Tomato Soup recipe last week and it was DELICIOUS! So of course I went and bought more and specifically searched for a recipe to use it again this week. Hopefully others can find this and enjoy it as much as we did:
Fri - Crock Pot Chili (Crock Pot Chili) with GF Cornbread.
Several years ago my dad passed away and with him he took his chili recipe (along with his famous cabbage rolls recipe) :-( Since then I have made chili several times and I have yet to produce the exact flavor of my dad's. This recipe was the closest I could find to how my dad made it so I'll give it a shot but I plan to make the following changes: I will omit the pinto beans and I'll use V-8 in place of the tomato juice (that is what my dad always did). Maybe this recipe will get me a little closer... For the cornbread, I found this at our Commissary - we haven't tried it before but I'm hoping we like it:
Sat - Pizza.
We bought Freschetta Gluten Free pizzas for this day.
Sun - Crock Pot Steak Fajitas (Slow Cooker Fajitas) with Salad and Chips/Salsa
Have a great week!
Mon - We are eating out, probably at BJ's (BJ's Link) because they have a great gluten free menu for my daughter. Her and I usually eat the tomato soup and share the GF cheese pizza. HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!
Tues - Italian Herb Grilled Chicken (Italian Herb Grilled Chicken) with mashed potatoes and salad.
Wed - Shrimp Tacos (Shrimp Avocado Tacos) with tortilla chips, guacamole and queso.
I already have a bag of peeled, cooked, large frozen shrimp in my freezer so I plan to thaw that out and use that. Because we are having guacamole (and my kids aren't really into avocado) I will probably only sneak a little avocado in the tacos, and there is no way I can use the hot chili powder so I'll have to substitute another spice - maybe paprika? For guacamole I just smash up avocado, mix in some store bought salsa (that I know is gluten free), and season with lime and garlic salt to taste. For the queso I use a can of Rotel and melt Velveeta cheese into in. Simple.
Thurs - Chicken Broccoli Alfredo Rice Casserole, adapted from this recipe (Broccoli Quinoa Casserole).
I use rice cooked in my rice cooker instead of quinoa, cheddar instead of romano, omit the Tarragon and just season with a little garlic powder and pepper. Delicious!
Fri - Crock pot Tomato Soup (Tomato Basil Soup) with Grilled Cheese.
Both of our kids have basketball practice on Fridays and we learned a valuable lesson last week - if there is a day of the week that we could really use an easy crock pot meal, Friday is it. We haven't had tomato soup at home in FOREVER and this recipe is a copycat from one of my favorite restaurants from back home (we are a military family). I am so excited to try this out! For the grilled cheese I'll use Schar's GF white bread and make it just like a normal grilled cheese.
Sat - Mild Curry Chicken with rice and salad.
A friend of mine recommended I try this sauce because it is gluten free. So because I am trying to venture out of my comfort zone a bit, I think I'll try it this week:
Let me say, I HATE raisins. Like, really hate raisins. I'm the annoying person who picks them out of the trail mix, eats everything else, and puts them back in for my husband to eat. So I really hope you can't taste the raisins too much.
Sun - Broiled Tilapia (Broiled Tilapia), Grilled Baked Potatoes (Grilled Baked Potatoes) and corn.
Have a great week!
