This Week's Gluten Free Menu

[RissaRoo]

This Week's Gluten Free Menu

It's starting to look like winter, so this week's menu has a few more cool weather meals. Thursday's meal is special...it was the first meal my stepmom cooked for my dad, and they've been cooking wonderful dinners together ever since! She's an amazing cook. Mom, if you're reading this...I love the cookbook you put together for us! She put all her favorite recipes into a well-organized binder, so we have hundreds to tried and true recipes...from appetizers to snacks and desserts...right at our fingertips. One of the best gifts I've ever gotten! But I digress...here's the menu:

Monday: Lots of running around today (which is why I didn't post earlier). Breakfast for dinner: Gluten free waffles with cherry topping and whipped cream, eggs and bacon (don't even want to *think* about the calorie content...ugh!). I made the waffles from scratch...I just used the regular waffle recipe from the Betty Crocker Cookbook and substituted 1/2 rice flour and 1/2 tapioca flour for the regular flour. I added 1 tsp of xanthan gum as well. This works well gluten free because you whip the egg whites first, and that makes them light and fluffy! Then we put out syrup or canned cherry pie filling (Wilders) to choose from, and whipped cream, or non-dairy topping.

Tuesday: Baked fish, baked potatoes and steamed broccoli. I bought some frozen Tilapia at Costco...bake it for 8 minutes per fillet with some olive oil, seasoning salt (McCormick) , and lemon drizzled on top. Bake extra potatoes for tomorrow's dinner. Quick and easy!

Wednesday: Chili and baked potatoes. Soak kidney and pinto beans overnight, the next morning cook 1 lb ground beef in the crockery part of a large crock pot with two chopped onions. Put the soaked beans on top, add a large can of tomato puree plus a can of chopped tomatoes over everything, add several cloves of minced garlic, salt, pepper, and several teaspoons of chili powder and cook all day. Serve with left over baked potatoes, cheese, sour cream (or substitute), chopped green onion, and a salad.

Thursday: Mom's Cassoulet, salad. Here is the recipe (a person could probably do this in a crock pot, but I'm kind of looking forward to doing it the traditional way):

1 1/2 lbs Great Northern white beans (dry), 5 carrots, 6 medium onions, 4 whole cloves, 2 boxes Pacific chicken broth (gluten free!), 2 bay leaves, crumbled, 1/2 cup coarsely chopped celery leaves, 1 1/2 t. salt, 3 whole black peppers, 3 cloves garlic, crushed, 4 lbs roasting chicken, cut into 8 pieces (I use chicken thighs and breasts), 2 T. butter or butter sub., 1/8 t. pepper 1 can (1 lb) peeled tomatoes, undrained, 1 lb Polish sausage (whole) 2 T. chopped parsley, 1 1@ t. dried thyme leaves, 1 t. dried marjoram leaves, 1 t. dried sage leaves, 1/4 lb bacon

In an 8 qt. kettle with cover, combine beans with 4 1/2 cups cold water, let soak 2 hours, no longer Do not drain beans. Meanwhile, pare carrots and cut into quarters. Peel onions, stud 1 of the onions with whole loves. To beans, add chicken broth, bay leaves, 1/4 of the carrots, the onions, onion studded with cloves, celery leaves, 1 t. salt, the black peppers, garlic, thyme, marjoram and sage. Bring just to boiling, reduce heat and simmer, covered, 1 hour. add remaining carrots: cook, covered, 15 minutes longer. Meanwhile, cut bacon into pieces. in a large skillet, saute bacon until browned, drain off fat. Preheat oven to 350. Turn bean mixture into a 7 quart casserole. Add bacon. Bake, uncovered, 30 minutes. Meanwhile, in hot butter in large skillet, brown chicken, turning until evenly browned. Sprinkle evenly with 1/2 t. salt and 1/8 t. pepper. Add browned chicken and untrained tomatoes to beans. With a a sharp knife, cut 9 diagonal slashes, 1/8 inch deep, in top of the sausage. Place sausage on top of chicken and vegetables. Cover tightly, bake 45 minutes or until chicken is tender. Uncover and bake 10 minutes more, sprinkle with parsley and serve.

Friday: Pizza.Gluten free, homemade crust, with thinly sliced cooked chicken, bell pepper, mushroom and red onion over sauce (find a link to the sauce in the same link as the pizza crust).

Saturday: Grilled chicken, potato salad, and green salad. I know it's totally out of season, but I want to make potato salad one more time before the winter sets in!

Sunday: Leftover Smorgasbord. Cassoulet, chili, grilled chicken, potato salad...I'll put it all out and let everyone decide what they want to eat.

[sickchick]

go, girl!!!