Menu Plan Week of 5/28

Happy Memorial Day!  I hope you all had a great weekend with friends and family while taking time to remember those who have fought and continue to fight for our freedoms. 

This is a week of reflection for me in many ways - this marks one year since my husband and I fully committed to a new way of wellness and diet for our son.  The week after Memorial Day in 2011, our little guy began to see a chiropractor who also has a passion and expertise for helping children with challenges resulting from the "4 A's" (asthma, allergies, autism and ADHD) through the use of homeopathy, traditional foods, and elimination diets. 

We have had our ups and downs, our trip-ups, and by no means is his diet perfect, but the significant changes we made have made a big difference for him.  I wish I could say we are 100% prescription medication free, but I can say we now only give him medication and nebulizers as-needed, rather than every single day as initially prescribed.  After a failed hearing test in May 2011 (after a string of chronic ear infections, the hearing test showed fluid build-up behind his ear drums, which caused some hearing challenges for him), we reversed the issue without tubes or additional drugs and he has not had an ear infection since.  Instead of administering asthma medication year-round, we only do this during peak allergy season and he is fine without it outside of that. 

Of course, food allergies do not just vanish, but we have been healing his gut in order to give him he best possible chance at outgrowing these allergies or at least healing him to a point that his body will not react in a life-threatening way when exposed to the foods that he is allergic to.  I am really proud of how far we have come this year and I am always looking for ways to improve - I hope for more health successes in the year to come!

I hope that, for many of you, this blog has inspired and continues to inspire you to make little changes in your everyday eating habits for your family that promote healing and wellness!  If there is ever anything more that I can offer to you on your path of wellness (new recipes, recipe makeovers, meal planning tips, etc.) please comment on my posts or via Facebook!  Your support is what keeps me writing and keeps me accountable to my meal planning, which is critical to healing my son!


Our plan for this week:

Monday:  BBQ!  BBQ ribs, grilled potatoes, grilled asparagus and grilled romaine salad (I am using a different dressing but the one in this recipe looks yummy!)

Tuesday:  Veggie Quesadillas with guacamole
TIP:  Make the filling the night before, this makes it SO easy to have a quick and healthy meal on the table on a work night!  On weeknights, I serve this with Wholly Guacamole - I buy it in bulk at Costco (comes in a box with 4 or  packets) - freeze them and take one out to defrost the night before.

Wednesday:  Hot dogs (we love Thousand Hills 100% grass fed) and kale chips

Thursday:  Pasta Bake with salad
Recipe for the bake:  Ferndale Market Italian style turkey sausage (my favorite sausage!), frozen organic spinach, and a jar of my homemade pasta sauce from the freezer.  Mix with cooked and rinsed GF pasta, sprinkle with a little cheese and bake.  Make ahead and refrigerate or freeze!

Friday:  Leftovers

Saturday:  Honey Lemon Garlic Chicken Kabobs with rice

Sunday:  Shrimp with Avocado Mango Salsa Foil Packets (using brown rice couscous)

Menu Plan Week of 5/21

Yet another week went by without a menu plan post!  This moving thing is putting a cramp in my style! :)  I am hoping to be back on track beginning this week!

Before I share my menu plan, I want to share a quick chick pea salad that I whipped up this weekend to go with grilled brats.  This is fantastic leftover - the longer the chick peas marinate, the better.  I love to scoop this bean salad over spinach or mixed greens for lunch the next day (or even the day after that)! 

Here is the recipe.... (no picture, unfortunately - completely forgot to take one!  I will be making this again so I'll add a picture when I do).

Summer Bean Salad

Dressing:
2 tbsp. apple cider vinegar
2 tsp. Dijon mustard
1 tsp. raw honey
1 clove garlic, pressed
4 tbsp. extra virgin olive oil
pinch of salt (I use Real Salt)
pinch of ground black pepper

Whisk all ingredients together until he dressing is emulsified.  Taste test of flavor balance.  (I added a little more honey for balance, but this is up to your taste!)

Salad:
1 can or 1.5 cups chick peas (drain and rinse if using canned)!
1/3 cup roasted red peppers, chopped (I used organic jarred for convenience)
Fresh basil, chopped

Add salad ingredients to the dressing and toss to combine.  Serve immediately and refrigerate leftovers.  I recommend a double batch! :)


My menu plan for this week:

Monday:  Italian Bean Soup with GF/DF/EF corn bread (I am trying Giada DeLaurentis' new boxed soup mix from Target - I was pleasantly surprised to see that there are no additives, just beans, herbs and spices!  Great for a quick and easy dinner, ready in 30 minutes)

Tuesday:  Honey Lime Baked Chicken Taquitos with a salad

Wednesday: Oatmeal Bake

Thursday:  Leftovers

Friday:  Pizza night (I may make these roasted vegetable calzones for the hubby and I - to make it simple I will use Trader Joe's pizza dough, although it would be fun to make my own sometime!)

Saturday:  Grilled steak and farmers market veggies (can't wait to get to Mill City Farmer's Market for the first time this season!!!)

Sunday:  Turkey Burgers (new recipe posted via Just One Bite this week - YUM!) with salad and grilled potatoes

Menu Plan Week of 5/7

We are moved into our new home (finally!!) and although still unpacking boxes, we feel more and more settled every day.  I am SO excited about my beautiful new kitchen - lots of cabinet space and counter space compared to my last kitchen.  Since I spend a LOT of time there, it makes such a difference each day for me!

I plan to give these allergy-free breakfast cookies a try this week.  I cannot give any credit because I found this recipe via Pinterest and it doesn't link back to a blog, so I apologize for that.  I have to share it with you!  Try to find organic dried cranberries that are sweetened with something other than sugar (and let me know where you find them!  I have yet to do so!)

Breakfast Cookie: no flour, no sugar, no dairy added. Ingredients: 1.5 cups of oats, 2-3 super ripened bananas, 1 cup unsweetened applesauce, handful of craisins, cinnamon to taste. Mix, throw on a baking sheet @ 350 for 35 minutes.        

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I'll let you know how they turn out!

 

 

Here is my menu plan for this week:

 

Monday:  I am out, so the boys will wing it. :)

 

Tuesday:  Crock Pot Santa Fe Chicken served over rice      

Tip:  Prep the slow cooker the night before!

 

Wednesday:  Meatloaf, smashed Yukon gold potatoes (here is one recipe that looks delicious - you can just use coconut milk and butter/ghee - skip the sour cream) and green beans

Tip:  Make the meatloaf the night before - I will split this into two loaves and cook both of them, then slice and freeze one for another quick meal!

 

Thursday:  Slow Cooker Vegetarian Mexican Lasagna (I use half the cheese called for)

Tip:  Prep the slow cooker the night before.  I was nervous when I did this the first time (worried about soggy tortillas) but it worked great.  I use Food For Life sprouted corn tortillas for this recipe. 

 

Friday:  Leftovers

 

Saturday:  Chicken or Steak on the grill with asparagus and pasta (toss brown rice noodles with olive oil, salt, pepper, basil, a few lemon squeezes and add some grape tomatoes to it - YUM!)

 

Sunday:  Happy Mothers Day! (hoping I don't have to cook!) :)