Menu Plan Monday

Have you discovered Laura’s blog over at I’m an Organizing Junkie yet? I love her many tips, ideas, product reviews, and organizing challenges. I’ve also been fond of Menu Plan Monday for quite awhile, and have finally decided to participate!

Those of you who know me very well know that I recently spent 20 or more hours getting my used-to-be-organized menu binder all cleaned up, re-organized, and most unhealthy recipes thrown out! I was feeling very proud of myself, and, well — accomplished!

Well, I’m now in the process of revamping everything AGAIN!

About a month ago, after a year of not feeling well and a few months of feeling quite nasty, I’ve figured out that cutting gluten (mainly wheat products) out of my diet has greatly improved my health! (After just 3 days without gluten, I felt like I woke up from a year-long nap and wasn’t seeing the world through foggy lenses any longer! Also, my tummy issues cleared up immediately, and seem to return just as quickly the several times over the past month that I’ve decided to give wheat a try to see what happens!) Because I’m not sure how long I’ll remain gluten-intolerant I don’t want to have my menus as set in stone as they were.

My menu binder had been so beautiful and tidy with everything behind page-protectors, but now I have so many terrific new gluten-free recipes to try. My binder is a back to being ridiculously full of loose-leaf paper! New recipes don’t make the “page-protector” cut until I’ve tried them with the family and/or guests a few times, so I am letting go of my desire to have a perfectly pretty little book :)

To keep my sanity, I have decided to work my menus one week at a time instead of re-organizing a 4 week menu to repeat. I’m hoping that posting them for Menu Plan Mondays will keep me on track.

With the possible exception of oats (certified gluten-free oats are available), this menu is gluten-free. From the Menu Plan Monday site, I found a group of gals sharing gluten-free menus each week as well! Woo hoo! The best thing about going gluten-free is the wonderful new foods and recipes I’ve been introduced to! Food is good!

Sunday:

B - Scrambled eggs with bacon and cheese

L - Salami and cream cheese, fresh raw veggies (all leftover from bridal shower this weekend!)

D - Homemade Chicken Soup

Monday:

B - Homemade Hash Browns (I adapted an amazing recipe from Gluten-Free Girl so that I only had to make the potatoes on the stove top and could serve them in “piles” instead of as “cakes.”)

L - Leftover Chicken Soup

D - Chicken Enchiladas

Tuesday:

B - Smoothies (plain yogurt, a little bit of vanilla extract, blueberries, banana, Whey protein powder sweetened with stevia. sometimes i throw a few handfuls of raw spinach in the smoothie, the kids never even suspect it is there.) and a small bowl of Grits (it is just too cold for only smoothies!)

L - Finish off salami, cheese, more raw veggies

D - Stuffed Red Potatoes and a nice big salad

Wednesday:

B - Golden Oats

L - Tomato Soup in a box (Trader Joe’s) and quesadillas made with corn tortillas.

D - Mexicale Chicken

Thursday:

We will be out of town all day with hubby — we’ll probably eat eggs before running out the door and eat out the rest of the day.

Friday:

B - Gluten-free waffles with REAL maple syrup (my favorite tip concerning syrup-control comes from the book Super Baby Food. The authors suggest filling shot glasses with syrup for each child, and having the child dip into the syrup instead of pouring syrup over pancakes or waffles. Our kids use so much less syrup this way, which translates into less sugar in their bodies, and less hurt in my pocketbook — real syrup is EXPENSIVE!)

L - Hamburger Patties w/ cheese slices

D - A Huge Pot of Tonya’s Chicken Chili (we’re having company for dinner!)

Saturday:

B - Soaked Oatmeal

L - Leftover Chicken Chili

D - Our Church’s Christmas Party

You can find dozens of links to more menus, recipes, and tips at this week’s Menu Plan Monday.