This Week's Gluten Free Menu (lazy Edition)

[RissaRoo]

Just to fill you in....Last week, my dd came down with pneumonia...which she caught (didn't know you *could* catch it!) from my nephew. Several other family members came down with it at the same time. She's pretty much back to 100% now but besides being exhausted I've got too many irons in the fire right now, so this week's menu is pretty lazy!

This Week's Gluten Free Menu (lazy edition)

Well, I just now got a chance to sit down and write out this week's menu. I have not gone shopping for close to 2 weeks now, which has made it a little interesting in the kitchen lately. Tomorrow, I'm packing it up and heading to Costco! I don't feel like thinking about food right now and I have a fun sewing project going on, plus after the last few whirlwind weeks I'm just not feeling motivated or creative. So, this week (aside from one experimental night) I'm going for fast, easy and...well....boring. Oh well.

Monday: Germ Buster Chicken Soup. I made a huge batch of this and took some to my mother in law as well, since she fell victim to the same bizarre contagious pneumonia that took down Sarah and my brother in law last week. The soup is really good, and has a lot of healthy foods in it to help ward off the nasty buggies. I threw 3 boxes of gluten free organic chicken broth in a big pot, added 3 frozen chicken breasts, and boiled it awhile. Then I skimmed the top, and added 2 cups of wild rice. Then I took the chicken out and chopped it into tiny pieces, and threw it back in with some chopped carrot and an onion. I added around 8 garlic cloves (no kidding...I lost count) and then 4 or 5 celery stalks. 1/2 hour before dinner I threw in a bunch of chopped kale (it's really good in soup!), some tiny criminni mushrooms, and a package of chopped regular mushrooms. Some sea salt, pepper, thyme and a sprig of rosemary went in at some point during the afternoon. Finally, I took out about 1/4 of the soup and put it in a blender. I added about 2 cups rice milk and one cup of dehydrated potato flakes and processed it until it was smooth, then stirred it into the rest of the soup. It was really good, and tasted even better today (the second day). I served it yesterday with grilled smoked provolone cheese sandwiches with ground mustard. A salad would have been nice, but nobody would have eaten it!

Tuesday: Noodles and meat sauce. Brown a pound of ground beef, add a can or jar of prepared spaghetti sauce (Ragu has some gluten-free options, check the label) and a bit of fresh garlic and let simmer. Cook some gluten-free noodles...macaroni or some other interesting shape, and drain. Toss it with the sauce and serve with steamed broccoli.

Wednesday: Loaded baked potatoes. Bake a bunch of potatoes (a few extra thrown in the oven will make a good lunch the next day). Serve with canned chili (Cattle Drive brand is cheap at Costco, or Stag brand. Western Family store brand is OK if it's the "Thick and Chunky" type, and is dirt cheap). Serve with green onion, non-dairy sour cream (real if you can do it), bits of bacon, and whatever cheese or cheese substitute you like. Add a tossed salad and some fruit on the side.

Thursday: Experiment with a new idea: Potato gnocchi. I found a recipe in a magazine that looks pretty easy, just Yukon Gold potatoes, a little rice flour, an egg, and some rice milk. You make a dough, make snakes, chop them up and press them a bit and then boil them. I will make a double recipe and use it twice, and the kids will be in charge of the fun kneading, cutting and squashing part. Thursday, we'll just toss it with a little white sauce (made with goat's milk and cheese) and bake it. A salad or some other green vegetable (we'll see what I find at the store tomorrow) will go along side.

Friday: Grilled hamburgers (I've got some left over in the freezer) and homemade steak fries, some kind of steamed green vegetable and fruit. Steak fries at our house are just potatoes cut and tossed with olive oil, sea salt and pepper and then baked. You can also toss them with a package of Ranch dressing mix (it's Gluten Free!). We don't do that often because of the dairy, but it's really good that way!

Saturday: Leftover gnocchi. This time, I'll throw several chopped zucchini, an onion, some mushrooms, and a can of chopped tomatoes into a pan and cook it until the vegetables are crisp-tender. Then I'll pour it over some warmed gnocchi and sprinkle some goat cheese on top. Serve with steamed kale (I remembered how much we like kale when I made the soup!).

Sunday: Grilled chicken green salad. Grilled chicken strips served on a green salad with cucumber, red onion, radish, tomatoes (but not for hubby), sunflower and pumpkin seeds, and feta cheese. Toss with dressing made of olive oil, balsamic vinegar, and stone ground mustard.

Well...that's about it. We'll see if I even follow *this* much of the menu, but at least it's a start. I'll post about how the gnocchi turns out, I'm excited to try it!

[Puddy]

RissaRoo, you are not half as lazy as I am. I don't even try to think of things to cook....I just come on here and copy you!

Hope your daughter is feeling much better.

[RissaRoo]

RissaRoo, you are not half as lazy as I am. I don't even try to think of things to cook....I just come on here and copy you!

Hope your daughter is feeling much better.

Thanks, Puddy! She's actually doing really well, I can't believe how fast those antibiotics worked.

[Juliet]

Just a note - I've made gluten free gnocchi a couple of times. And it is not as easy as it seems! If it acts like regular gluten-y dough where you can easily roll and mold, it's too wet. It actually has to be a little dry and crumbly. You also might want to add a smidgeon of xanthan gum. But can I say, if you get it right, OMG, is it tasty!

[Sweetfudge]

This Week's Gluten Free Menu (lazy edition)

lol!

Thanks for sharing all the great ideas That chicken soup sounds amazing! I was wondering what I should do with all the kale I just bought. Ate some steamed for dinner tonight w/ chicken and rice, but hardly put a dent in the bunch.

I don't even try to think of things to cook....I just come on here and copy you!

lol you and me both