Gluten Free Dinner Menu For The Week

[RissaRoo]

Well, I decided to start posting my weekly menu on our Blog. I figure it will help me keep track of what we're planning to eat because I always write it all down and lose it. Plus, this way I can print it out and keep it and just recycle the menus after awhile! My blog is www.anerissara.blogspot.com, I will try and pop in here and post them here, too. During the week I'm hoping to take a few pictures and add full recipes for some of the meals and snacks I make. I'm having fun doing this...and I remember well first year or so gluten free and how much of a struggle it was to figure out what to eat! I'm also going to post the brands I use for various things, to make it easier to shop. Here's the first week (I'm catching up on meal planning because it's been a crazy month, so usually I'll try and do it Saturday through Friday).

THIS WEEK'S MENU (if you want a detailed recipe for anything below, email me and I'll send it to you!)

Friday: Crock Pot BBQ Beef, broccoli, and carrots. I throw a roast or some cuts of beef in the crock pot and cover it with a whole bottle of Kraft Mesquite Smoke BBQ sauce. The BBQ sauce is gluten, soy, dairy and egg free! I let the meat cook slowly all day, then pull it apart about an hour before dinner. Sometimes I add a little extra sauce to it when I pull it apart, if it looks like it needs it. I cut Rainbow Heirloom Carrots (red, yellow, orange and white carrots) into rounds and steam them for a few minutes, then add broccoli and steam them together for another 5 minutes or so. Then, toss them with a little Real Salt (mined salt) and maybe a squeeze of lemon juice. Serve the beef right on the plate, or on a gluten free bun (Kinnikinnik brand hamburger buns are the BEST!).

Saturday: Eat out. (probably at Outback Steakhouse, where they have a good gluten-free menu). The kids will be eating gluten free frozen chicken nuggets and frozen fries with watermelon and carrot sticks....Ian's brand chicken nuggets are terrific and taste like 'real' chicken nuggets. In our area, we usually buy Western Family frozen fries. Cheap, and gluten free!

Sunday: Pizza from Pier 49 pizza (one location here has gluten-free pizza crusts. YUMMY! Call your local franchise and bug them about getting the crusts...all the other ingredients are already gluten free.

Monday: Gluten Free Lasagna and a tossed salad. Tinkyada gluten free pastas makes gluten-free lasagna noodles. I will use ground beef, spinach, sneak some grated carrot in, olives and mushrooms with tomato sauce and mozzarella cheese. I'm making a regular lasagna for a compassion project Saturday, so I'll just make a gluten-free one for next week while I'm at it. I make my tomato sauce from scratch rather than buying a pre-made spaghetti sauce, with lots of garlic and herbs. I will make one half of our lasagna with goat cheese products for Isaiah and I.

Tuesday: Corn Chowder, bread, salad. Canned corn, potatoes and onion in chicken broth (adding goat's milk and about 1/3 of the soup to a blender and processing it until smooth gives it the 'chowder' feel) make this a really tasty and hearty soup. I use Pacific brand chicken broth...gluten free and organic. Costco has it, pretty reasonably priced. I haven't decided what sort of bread to make yet...probably a biscuit or Irish soda bread.

Wednesday: Grilled chicken, corn on the cob, broccoli salad. I will rub the chicken with spices before I grill it. I will be grilling twice as much chicken as we need, because we'll eat the rest of it the next night. The broccoli salad is lightly steamed broccoli (still crunchy), chopped red onion, bacon bits and mayo with salt and garlic powder (Hormel brand Real Bacon Bits is gluten-free...check their website because they've got a great list of gluten-free products! Kraft mayo is gluten-free.)

Thursday: Mediterranean Wraps and fruit salad. Rice tortillas (Food For Life brown rice tortillas...yummy!), homemade hummus, lettuce, cucumber, red onions, yogurt dill sauce (with goat yogurt), feta cheese, and the leftover grilled chicken from the day before. I will make a lot of the hummus and save most of it for snacks with carrots or corn chips all week long! Served with a fruit salad...just a bunch of chopped fruit with a little pineapple juice tossed in.

Friday (next week): Chicken and Vegetable Satay Pasta: Tinkyada gluten free spaghetti noodles, tossed with boiled chicken breast, snow peas, bean sprouts, water chestnuts, and whatever other vegetables happen to be in the fridge. The sauce is made with peanut butter (I use the organic type from Costco...ingredients: Peanuts, nothing else!), sesame oil, ginger, soy sauce (Tamari Organic brand is gluten-free, watch out 'cause most brands are not!) and a bit of rice vinegar with some chili sauce mixed in. I will take a little of the sauce out for Isaiah before adding the soy. Serve with fresh green onions and ground peanuts on top!

Whew! This should get me caught up so that I can do meal planning next Saturday and be back on schedule. I'll post a few pics and full recipes this week!

[Lisa]

Hi RissaRoo,

Your menu choices look wonderful and it's great that you can share your weekly plan with others. That's why we're here, to help others.

Celiac.com has a blog section and it may be better placed your entries there. You may also place your website on your personal profile page, according to the rules of the Board. Personal websites in a post page or in a signature is discouraged.

Good work and I look forward to keeping up with your cooking on your personal profile page.

[RissaRoo]

Oh, shoot! I didn't know that. I'll post my blog on my profile. It's OK to keep posting the meals though, right?

[Lisa]

Oh, shoot! I didn't know that. I'll post my blog on my profile. It's OK to keep posting the meals though, right?

Right!

PS: Good to have you back.