This Week's Gluten Free Menu

[RissaRoo]

As always, just email or leave a comment if you want more info on a recipe!

Saturday: Grilled chicken with barbecue sauce (Kraft), a green salad, corn on the cob. We'll grill extra chicken to use on Monday.

Sunday: Grilled burgers (Lipton Onion soup and and Worcestershire sauce in the meat), fruit salad, green salad, home fries (toss cut potatoes, skin on, with olive oil and sea salt. Bake until crispy). Oreo Cake for dessert! (recipe will follow)

Monday: Left over grilled chicken sandwiches. Grilled chicken, barbecue sauce, lettuce and pickle on a bun. Gluten free macaroni salad and fruit salad.

Tuesday: Pasta salad with summer sausage, feta cheese, olives, green and red pepper, red onions, corn, and tomatoes. Steamed artichokes on the side.

Wednesday: Tuna fish salad, lettuce, red onion, and cucumber wrapped in a rice flour tortilla. Watermelon.

Thursday: Chicken Parmesan with marinara sauce over noodles, green salad (roll chicken tenders in mayo, then coat. To make the crumb and cheese mixture: pulse one gluten-free hamburger bun in the food processor, add 1 cup Parmesan cheese, a dash of garlic powder, a dash of oregano and basil and pulse again. Bake chicken strips at 350 until brown and crispy, serve on a bed of noodles with sauce over everything).

Friday: Big salad with lots of greens, grilled chicken, cucumber, dark red kidney beans, olives, red onion, blue cheese, bacon bits, and Ranch dressing. Gluten free corn bread with butter.

[Ridgewalker]

Sounds dee-lish, especially the pasta salad! Do you do an Italian dressing in it?

[Sweetfudge]

some great ideas! i might just have to copy you

do you make all your food dairy free?

what do you use for buns?

[RissaRoo]

Thanks!

Most of my dinners are dairy free, but some of them are not. You can just use a dairy free cheese substitute for the parmisan and feta in the two recipes that do have dairy...we use sheep cheese (mizethra) instead of parmisan and goat feta, which my son and I can handle better than cow's milk. The Oreo cake is sort of expensive to do dairy free, because the cream cheese substitute (Tofutti) is expensive...when I post the recipe I'll do dairy free substitutions if you like!

We like Kinnikinnik buns the best. Their hamburger buns or the English muffins (same exact product as far as I can tell!) are both good. I also discovered that Ener-G dinner rolls are pretty good as hamburger buns!! I like them because they hold together well (my only gripe about Kinnikinnik is that the top layer is sort of flakey...tastes good but makes a mess). They are a little smaller, but that works well for us because our burgers end up being sort of small anyway. One note on the Ener-G buns, though...don't let them dry out! They turn rock hard really fast.

Pasta Salad...I make my own dressing. I use balsamic vinegar, olive oil, pressed garlic, sea salt, a bit of basil and dill, and some brown mustard. I never measure (I'm working on that one!) but I'd say about 1/3 oil, 2/3 vinegar and 2 tbs. brown mustard.

[RissaRoo]

Forgot to add...I will often make things and take out part of it before serving it for the people in my family who are allergic...for example, I'll toss the salad first, take out my son's portion and my hubby's, and then add the blue cheese and tomatoes. Then hubby can add cheese to his and son can add tomatoes to his, and neither of them have to pick something out and risk getting sick. It's a pain, and I often choose to avoid the problem foods all together...but sometimes it's worth it!

[Puddy]

Thank you so much for posting your menus, RissaRoo. You have no idea what a big help this is. Planning what to make for dinner each night was never my favorite job! And then when I was diagnosed 3 months ago, it really became a problem for me. You have made my life that much easier. You're a doll!

[RissaRoo]

Thank you for saying that, Puddy! I was honestly wondering if they were helpful, so it makes me feel good )

I remember those first few months, I think I ate pretty much cooked chicken breast and carrot sticks and nothing else. Even if a menu just gives you some ideas, it can help get your brain going as to what to eat. I promise...it WILL get easier!!! At first, I was afraid to eat anything and it made me nervous trying to shop and cook. Within a few months, you'll be a pro and within a year or so you'll find that you don't miss it too much. In fact, our whole family is eating so much healthier than we used to that I sort of consider the whole thing a blessing in a way.

Thanks again, you made my day!