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Saturday, March 28, 2009

Baby Rebeccca Arrives!
















Welcome to the newest addition of our family! Rebecca Jo was born on Friday, 2/27/09 at 2:24am. Baby and Mom are both doing well. Rebecca weighed 6 pounds 13 oz. and is 20 inches long.










Saturday, March 21, 2009

2 Great Dairy Free Uses for Grated Carrots!

Carrot Salad (dairy free)

6 carrots grated, peel if you like
2 or 3 oranges-- peeled and chopped
canned coconut milk (enough to moisten the salad) *I mixed this in the blender first before adding to the salad
agave nectar to sweeten to taste ( used about a tsp.)
1/2 cup of raisins

Combine all the ingredients in a large bowl, and serve cold.
**This is really tasty and I plan to eat off of it all week, almost like dessert to me-- who is deprived of all sweets and other things at the moment!


Carrot Raisin Muffins (dairy free)

2 cups unbleached white flour
1 cup whole wheat pastry flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. baking powder
¼ tsp. salt
1 cup sugar
1 tsp cinnamon
½ cup raisins
2 eggs
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1 cup rice, soy or almond milk
½ cup applesauce
2 cups of grated carrot

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a large mixing bowl, combine the dry ingredients. Add raisins. Make a well in the center and all the liquid ingredients. Stir just until blended. Pour batter into papered muffin cups. Bake 25-30 min or until toothpick comes out clean.

My new favorite breakfast!

OH YUM!! I found a new favorite breakfast.

Start with 2 or 3 mushrooms-sliced and sauteed in coconut oil in a small skillet
Remove the mushrooms and set aside onto a plate.
Scrambled Eggs-- one egg, a little bit of water, hot sauce, salt, pepper and a pinch of dried spinach flakes.
Scramble the eggs in the leftover oil from the mushrooms --in the meantime, take an avocado, cut it in half and score one half of it, so it makes little squares.
Remove the cooked eggs from the pan-- put the mushrooms on top of your eggs, add some chopped up cooked chicken or turkey, and then scoop out the avocado onto the top of the eggs.

Monday, March 2, 2009

Menu Plan - week of March 2-7

Here it is:

This week DH has a busy week at work with a project that may mean he isn't home for dinner alot, so it may actually change nightly.. but for now, here it is:

I rarely plan meals for Sunday night since it's usually just DH and myself and the youngest of the kids -- the older kids all go to their dad's house on that day -- so we just wing it or eat from the stash of leftovers in the fridge/freezer.

Monday -
Salmon Potato Cakes -- (yeah, I get to try adding salmon to my diet) - my normal recipe won't work cause it uses cracker crumbs so I will be trying the recipe below. We'll make a double batch since one would never be enough with our crew.
Brown Rice Pilaf
Chopped Cantaloupe

Salmon Potato Cakes
makes 4 large cakes (or 6-8 small ones)
1 can salmon (about 14 oz.)
1/2 cup mashed potato flakes
2 eggs
2 green onions, chopped
tobasco, to taste

Drain the canned salmon and flake with a fork into a large mixing bowl, add the remaining ingredients and stir to mix. Start with slightly less mashed potato flakes and add more as necessary to acheive the right texture. You want the mixture to be moist, but to hold together well enough to form patties. Form into patties. Heat a pan to medium high and add a bit of oil or cooking spray. Add the salmon patties to the hot pan. Allow to cook undisturbed for about 4 minutes, and then flip over and cook on the other side for about 3 minutes. The fish is fully cooked, so it doesn’t take too long.

Tuesday -
Black Bean Chicken Chili -- will plan to make a double batch of this since it's hubby's fav and I can eat it for leftovers too.
Cornbread
Carrots and Ranch

Wednesday-
Turkey & Gravy - full sized will make for lots of good leftovers ( I get to try turkey too this week)
mashed potatoes-- some with rice milk for me!
Veggies of choice

Thursday -
French Toast (buckwheat pancakes for me from the freezer)
Eggs & Bacon or Sausage
Cantaloupe

Friday -
Deer Steaks (last package --yumm) & homemade gravy
Baked Potatoes
Veggies of choice & Fruit

Sat -
Colin's Favorite Sesame Chicken
Fried Rice (from freezer stash)

Kickin' Coconut Chicken Soup

My parents came over Friday and bless their hearts they brought this soup!!
It's not your run of the mill soup -- and for me being dairy, gluten, and soy free and on a super restricted diet-- it was a great relief to have something different and SOOOO tasty and even better was that I didn't have to make it. It was not spicy at all -- and nice and creamy. We left the tamari out since I can't do soy at the moment, but man it was really great. Oh and leftovers heat up perfectly well!!

Kickin’ Coconut Chicken Soup
2 T. oil—olive, coconut or butter
2 T. apple cider vinegar
6 garlic cloves
2” piece of fresh ginger grated
2 jalapenos (dad used serranos) –remove seeds if you prefer less heat
5 cups of water
¼ -1/2 tsp red pepper flakes
4 oz. shitake mushrooms, chopped
1 red bell pepper, chopped
1 bunch spinach, stems removed, washed and chopped
1 small bunch of broccoli, chopped
4 small bunches of bok choy, coarsely chopped
2 cups of cooked chicken, cubed
1 14 oz. can of coconut milk
¼ cup tamari or soy sauce

Heat oil in a large stock pot, add garlic, ginger and jalapenos, sauté 2-3 min, stirring often. Add reserved broth, red pepper flakes and mushrooms and bring to a low boil, reduce heat, cover and simmer for 20 min. Add red bell pepper and simmer for 5 min. Add chicken, spinach, broccoli, bok choy, coconut milk and tamari and simmer an additional 3-5 min, until soup is warmed through and the greens are wilted.


Hope you all enjoy it !