Coconut-Breaded Halibut

When I first started buying organic food in bulk, I might have gone a little crazy. I may have an entire cupboard full of 5 lbs bags of flour, baking ingredients and such, just maybe!

One thing that I bought in bulk (and look back and have NO idea why) was shredded coconut. Now, many of you are thinking that there is a lot you could do with 5 lbs of coconut, and I’m sure you are right, but me? I don't like shredded coconut! I never have, I probably never will! I don’t like the taste, I don’t like the texture and I avoid foods with shredded coconut on/in them.(This leads me back to the point “why do I have 5 lbs sitting in my house?!?)

Well, in an effort not to waste the coconut, I decided to try this recipe for Coconut-breaded Halibut. Let me bring up another point… I do not like seafood very much. In fact, I didn’t have my first voluntary bite of fish until I was dating my husband. Now, I can eat shrimp and tilapia and that’s about it! I am slowly working my way toward different varieties, but it is a slow transition.

All of that to say, I have no idea why I thought I would LOVE this recipe. It includes two ingredients that even on a good day, I don’t like! Needless to say, this is not my favorite recipe, however my husband really liked it and I’m sure if you are not afraid of coconut and like fish, this would be a great dish!

Coconut-breaded Halibut (or Cod or Tilapia)

1 cup shredded coconut, finely chopped

2 tablespoons coconut flour

1 tablespoon Cajon seasoning

4 (4 ounce) Halibut fillets or similar white fish

1/2 cup cornstarch

3 Egg whites

Preheat oven to 350

Toss together the coconut, flour and Creole seasoning in a bowl. In a separate bowl, toss the fish with the cornstarch, and shake off the excess. Pour the egg whites into a separate bowl, and dip the fillets in the egg. Next, press fillets in the coconut mixture coating all sides. 

Place fillets into a lightly greased baking dish. Bake the fish for 10-12 minutes, or until the coconut is browned, and the fish is flakey. 

Viola! 

Im sharing this on:

Real Food Wednesdays

What's Cookin Wenesdays

Pennywise Platter

Real Food Weekly

Full Plate Thursdays

Its a keeper Thursdays

Cajun Casserole

 

I don’t know how I’ve had a blog this long without posting this recipe! I have been making this casserole (as least some version of it) for years! It is packed with protein, it’s quick and it’s good!  

(And yes, those are brussel sprouts in my picture. That recipe coming soon – I’m just like you, thought I HATED them, but oh man, these were fantastic!)

I call this Cajun Casserole because I used Cajun spices to season it. You could easily change the spices to better reflect what your family likes. You could make this more Italian, or Mexican if you prefer!

Cajun Casserole:

½ -1 lbs Ground Turkey or Beef (grass fed if using beef)

½ large onion, chopped

1 red pepper, chopped

2 Cups cooked quinoa (or brown rice)

1 can organic diced tomatoes

15 oz (1 can) cooked organic kidney beans (or black beans)

1 Tbps minced garlic

2 Tbps Cajun seasoning

Salt and pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 400

In a large skillet or pan, cook your ground turkey (or beef) until brown and cooked all the way through. Season with Salt and Pepper to taste. Remove meat from skillet and set aside.

Add a bit of oil (may not need to if you have grease left over in your pan) to your skillet/pan and add onions and pepper. Saute until soft – about 5-7 minutes. Add Garlic about one minute before your veggies are done.

Once your veggies are done cooking, add tomatoes, beans and meat into skillet/pan. combine well. Add 1 Tbps of Cajun seasoning. Let cook for 1 minute.

Add in Quinoa (or rice) and stir until well combined.

Transfer contents into a large baking dish. Top with remaining 1 Tbps of Cajun seasons. Bake for 10-15 minutes, until flavors combine. 

I'm sharing this on Pennywise Platter!
and on Full Plate Thursdays!
and Its a Keeper Thursdays!

How to Adapt "Normal"Recipes into Allergy-Friendly Recipes

When you live in a household where you have dairy, gluten and soy allergies, you learn very quickly how to adapt “normal” or “classic” recipes into allergy-friendly recipes.

This is one things I have prided myself on over the last few years. I can take just about any recipe and make it not only allergy-friendly, but much healthier.

I was thinking about this today, and I realize that some of you may not have allergies in your home, but have dinner guests who do have allergies, or are raising kids who are just developing allergies and you may not be as well adjusted to this practice.

I wanted to take the time to share with you some really basic substitutions for classic meals that can be allergy friendly and offer some basic substitution recommendations.

Allergy: Gluten

Substitution:

All-Purpose flour – Any Gluten Free All-purpose flour (Bob’s Red Mill is the most popular and can be found in most any grocery store) (also, please note you will need either xanthan gum or guar gum to make the flour work)

Pasta – Brown Rice Pasta (can be found at Trader Joes, Fred Meyer, QFC, ect)

Tortillas – Corn Tortillas (make sure they don’t have any wheat in the ingredients)

Chips – Either Corn Chips or Potato chips (make sure the seasoning doesn’t contain gluten in the ingredients on the back of the bag)

Bread – Udi’s Gluten Free Bread can be found at a lot of stores, Fred Meyer, QFC, ect, some times gluten free bread is found in the freezer section, with the organic foods)

Allergy: Dairy

Substitution:

Butter: Coconut Oil (can be found in the natural food section or online) or Vegetable Palm Shorting.

Heavy Cream: Full Fat Coconut Milk

Milk: Coconut Milk, Almond Milk, Rice Milk (I do not recommend soy milk)

Sour Cream: Cashew-Cream 

Cheese: Daiya Shreds (can be found only at Whole Foods, PCC, ect) or Goat Cheese (make sure your guest can have Goat cheese, contains no lactose, but does affect some allergy suffers)

Allergy: Eggs

Substitution: Ener-G Egg Substitute (for baking only), or 1-2 tsp Chai Seed Meal (ground up Chai Seeds) mixed with hot water, combine until stringy, per egg (for baking only)

Allergy: Nuts

Substitution:

Peanut Butter: Sunflower Butter (available at most stores)

Nuts: Seeds!

Allergy: Soy

Substitutions:

Soysauce: Coconut Aminos (can be found at health food store of Online)

Soy Milk: ANY OTHER KIND OF MILK (please do this anyway!)

Soybean Oil: Coconut Oil

Allergy: Shellfish

I don’t have any ideas. Probably just to avoid shellfish and eat other types of protein!

Although most recipes can use some of these replacements, not every recipe is going to ideal for guests with allergies. If you are having a guest over who has a dairy allergy, I wouldn’t recommend trying to make a dairy-free lasagna (if you do, and are successful, let me know!) Just as if, you are having a guest over who can’t have eggs, I wouldn’t recommend making omelets with one of the options above!

However, if you are having a guest over for dinner, or have a child with a gluten allergy, making spaghetti with brown rice noodles would be a fabulous replacement. Or, if you are making cheeseburgers for a dairy-free friend, adding goat or Daiya shreds to their burger would be wonderful!

Here is an example of a “classic” recipe that I will change into an allergy-friendly recipe.

Meatloaf:

Ingredients in the Classic Recipe:

• 1 1/2 pounds ground beef
• 1 egg
• 1 onion, chopped
• 1 cup milk
• 1 cup dried bread crumbs
• salt and pepper to taste
• 2 tablespoons brown sugar
• 2 tablespoons prepared mustard
• 1/3 cup ketchup

Ingredients in the Allergy- Friendly Recipe:

• 1 1/2 pounds ground beef
• 1 -2 Tsp Chai Seed and Hot water (egg replacement)
• 1 onion, chopped
• 1 cup coconut milk (milk replacement)
• 1 cup Gluten Free Oats (bread crumb replacement)
• salt and pepper to taste
• 2 tablespoons brown sugar ( would also replace this for Turbando to make it healthier!)
• 2 tablespoons prepared mustard
• 1/3 cup ketchup

See? That was so simple, and with a few adjustments, you can make just about any meal for any guest.

Want another example?

Chicken Parmesan:

Ingredients in the Classic Recipe:

• 4 boneless chicken breasts, pounded to 1/2 inch thickness
• 1 egg
• 1/2 cup milk
• seasoned bread crumbs
• 2 to 3 tablespoons olive oil
• 8 slices mozzarella cheese, or more
• 1 jar (16 oz) spaghetti sauce

Ingredients in the Allergy-friendly recipe:

• 4 boneless chicken breasts, pounded to 1/2 inch thickness
• Ener-G Egg Replacer (egg replacement)
• 1/2 Almond Milk (milk replacement)
• Gluten Free Bread, cooked and crumbed, or GF flour (breadcrumb replacement)
• 2 to 3 tablespoons olive oil
• Sliced Goat Cheese or Daiya Shreds (cheese substitute)
• 1 jar (16 oz) spaghetti sauce

I hope this helps ease the cooking process as you ease into allergy-friendly cooking!

Mike's Pasta

One night, in a mad scramble to make dinner in a hurry, without having anything planned for dinner, this dish came together and was quickly dubbed “Mike’s Pasta” because he has requested it almost weekly since I first made it!

This one dinner dish is quick, simple and hits the spot at our house every time I make it!

Mike’s Pasta

3 Chicken Sausages, chopped

2 Cups chopped Veggies (any veggies work, we use a frozen veggie blend with carrots, peppers, broccoli, beans, baby corn, onions, mushrooms, ect)

1 pack of elbow noodles (I use brown rice noodles from Trader Joe's)
¾- 1 Cup Italian Dressing (recipe below)

Salt and Pepper to taste

Grated Goat cheese to taste

Bring a large pot of water to a boil.

While the water is coming to a boil, sauté veggies and sausage until well cooked (about 10 minutes) in a separate large skillet.

Once the water boils, add your noodles and cook according to directions on package.

Drain your noodles and rinse (if using rice noodles)

Add Sausage and veggies into the noodles and combine well. Top Pasta mixture with Italian dressing. Mix well. Salt and Pepper to taste. Grate Cheese into the mixture, and combine well.

Enjoy!

Note: Because rice noodles get hard when cold, this dish is best served warm. If you are using wheat noodles, this dish may be great served cold as well!

Italian Dressing (to go with above recipe)
(from heavenlyhomemaker.com):

2 T Dry Italian Dressing Mix (recipe below)

¼ Cup Vinegar

2 t. water

½ Cup Olive Oil (or extra-virgin)

Mix well. Enjoy!

Dry Italian Dressing Mix:
1 1/2 t. garlic powder
1 T. onion powder
2 t. oregano
1 T. dried parsley
2 t. sea salt
1 t. pepper
1/4 t. thyme
1/2 t. dried celery flakes

Shake ingredients together and store in a jar!

Blueberry Muffins and Lemon Poppy Seed Muffins

Ever since I have started getting into baking, I have been seeing muffin and cupcake recipes everywhere that I have wanted to try. However, I surprisingly didn’t have a muffin tin! So, I have been muffin-less, until now!

My wonderful mother-in-law got me a Demarle muffin pan for Christmas and I am now a muffin makin’ machine! This not only excites me, but my husband is pretty ecstatic as well! Last night he actually asked me to “make dozens and freeze them”. I’m going to have to find the time to make dozens before I can commit to that!

Below are my two favorite muffin recipes thus far.

Blueberry Muffins (adapted from Whole Life Nutrition Kitchen)
 

These are so moist and delicious, and very filling. They are great for breakfast or for a snack!  

Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups sorghum flour (or you can use brown rice flower)
1 cup almond meal flour
1/2 cup tapioca flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon guar gum
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
2 large eggs
1/2 cup honey
1/2 cup milk (dairy or non-dairy)
1/3 cup melted virgin coconut oil
1/4 cup unsweetened applesauce
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 cups blueberries

Preheat your oven to 350. Line a 12-cup muffin pan with paper liners (or if you have Demarle, you can skip this step)

Mix together the dry ingredients in a large bowl. 

In a separate bowl add the eggs and whisk. Then add the remaining wet ingredients. Blend well. 

Pour the wet ingredients into the dry and whisk together well. Then, lightly mix in the blueberries. Use a 1/3 cup measure to pour batter into muffin cups.

Bake for about 25 minutes. Remove muffins from pan and let cool

Lemon Poppy Seed Muffins (or Lime Poppy Seed)

These muffins are lighter and airier than the previous muffin. They are also much sweeter. These make a better snack or dessert than breakfast!

Ingredients
8 Tablespoons dairy free shortening. (I’m sure that coconut oil would work too, make sure its softened)
1 cup Turbinado
2 egg
1 teaspoon lemon extract (or lime)
1 teaspoon almond extract
2 Tablespoon lemon juice (or lime)
2/3 cup tapioca starch + 1/2 cup superfine rice flour + 1 teaspoon guar gum
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup almond flour
2 teaspoons poppy seeds
1/4 cup milk (I used coconut)

Lemon syrup ingredients:
2 Tablespoons lemon juice
2 Tablespoons sugar 

Preheat your oven to 350. Line a 12-cup muffin pan with paper liners (or if you have Demarle, you can skip this step)

In a large bowl, Cream together butter and sugar. Add remaining wet ingredients, minus the milk,  and blend well

In a separate bowl, whisk together flour(s), baking powder, salt, and almond flour.

Add dry ingredients to creamed sugar/butter/egg mixture, mix well. Add milk, mix well 

Fill muffin cups/paper liners w/ a ¼ cup measure and bake for 16-20 minutes

While the muffins are baking, mix together the sugar and lemon juice for the lemon syrup and set aside.
 

Puncture several small holes in each muffin (6 or so). Spoon the lemon syrup over the top of each muffin.

Allow the muffins to sit for 15 minutes before removing from the pan.

Collard Wraps w/Sunflower Pate

My husband enjoying his Collard Wraps

I found recipe through one of my very favorite blogs, Whole Life Nutrition Kitchen. They have great whole food, healthy, allergy friendly, original recipes! If you haven’t checked them out, I greatly encourage you to stop by their blog.

This recipe is very unique! The flavor is so wonderful and while it is fairly time consuming, it is totally worth it! This recipe was not the biggest hit with my husband, but I loved it! It is so healthy, and makes a huge amount! I think it would be a great appetizer to bring to party, or for a large dinner as the main dish!

Collard Wraps with Raw Sunflower Pate (from Whole Life Nutrition Kitchen) 

1 bunch (large) collard greens

Sunflower Pate:

 2 cups raw sunflower seeds, soaked for 6 to 8 hours

1 cup chopped celery

1/4 cup finely diced shallots (I found ¼ cup was a little to strong for my family, next time we will use a little bit less)

2 to 3 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice

1 teaspoon dried thyme

1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

1/2 to 1 teaspoon sea salt

2 teaspoon honey (I added this to the recipe as I found it was too tart without it!)

Fillings (all optional, whatever sounds good to you!)

pumpkin seeds
green lettuce
tomatoes

grated carrots

sprouts

sliced avocados

Cut the stems off of the bottom of each collard green. Bring a large pot of water to a boil.

While the water in coming to a boil, drain and rinse the sunflower seeds in a fine mesh strainer. Place all pate ingredients into a food processor fitted with the "s" blade and pulse until desired consistency. I like mine processed until the pate is fairly smooth. Set aside.

To blanch the collard greens, dunk each one in the boiling pot of water for approximately 60 seconds. Gently remove with tongs and set on a plate to cool. Continue to do this until all of the greens are blanched.

To assemble the wrap, place a green onto a large plate or cutting board. Place a few scoops of the pate on the bottom (stem-end) of the green. Add your other filling ingredients on top. Fold the long ends in slightly (about an inch on each side) and then tightly roll. Refrigerate right away or cut in half and serve.

Honey Mustard and Lime Chicken

This week, we found out that my husband’s arthritis may have actually stemmed from Lyme Disease, which he would have contracted when he was little from a Deer Tick (I have a post coming soon about Lyme Disease, if you want more information!)

This being the case, his Naturopath has put him on a 6 week long completely grain-free diet. We are so excited to finally have some sort of answer and possible solution for the arthritis, but this meant that I had to go and re-plan my menu for October to cut out any brown rice, corn, yeast, ect. I needed a meal for us last night, and I found this great recipe that I adapted to make it more friendly for our family.

My husband’s response to this meal? “This one has got to go on your blog honey!” So here it is, at Mike’s request!

Honey Mustard and Lime Chicken:adapted from Elanas Pantry

 3 boneless chicken breasts (can have the skin or not!)
½ cup fresh lime juice
¼ cup dijon mustard
3 Tbps Honey
1 Tbps olive oil
1 Tbps chili powder
½ tsp sea salt
½ tsp pepper

Combine lime juice, honey, mustard, olive oil, chili, salt and pepper in a food processor Pulse until ingredients are well combined. Or just shake it up really well!

Rinse chicken breasts, pat dry and place in on a plate or baking dish. Pour marinade over chicken, cover and refrigerate for at least for up to 6 hours (our only marinated for about 15 minutes, but longer would be better!)

Heat grill and cook chicken for 5-7 minutes per side until browned and cooked in the center

We had this with Quinoa and a side salad! So easy, and delicious!

Menu Plan September 20th - 26th

This past week was one of the first weeks I actually was home to make dinner every single night! I can't even remember the last time that happened!

This next week is fairly busy for Mike and myself. Now that fall is in full swing here, it seems that we are back to a full schedule. This week we are going to try a new small group at our church, I have an appt . to get my hair done, and the weekend is full of plans! I am choosing to thank the Lord for all the friends and support he's given us instead of stressing out about life being busy!

Monday:(Stir fry / Salad)

Breakfast: Green Protein Smoothie
Lunch: Leftovers (for Mike) / Leftovers (for me!)
Dinner: Simply Lentil Salad w/bread

Tuesday: (Meat Main Dish)

Breakfast: Green Protein Smoothie
Lunch: Leftovers (for Mike) / Chicken Salad (for me!)
Dinner: Whole Roasted Chicken w/ Salad and veggie

Wednesday: (Vegetarian)

Breakfast: Green Protein Smoothie
Lunch: Leftovers (for Mike) / Chicken Salad (for me!)
Dinner: Baked Potato w/chili, cashew sour cream, veggies

Thursday: (Cultural)

Breakfast: Green Protein Smoothie
Lunch: Leftovers (for Mike) / Chicken Salad (for me!)
Dinner: Tuna Casserole w/salad

Friday: (Pasta Dish)

Breakfast: Green Protein Smoothie
Lunch: Leftovers (for Mike) / Office Lunch (on Friday's our boss buys us lunch!)
Dinner:Shrimp Pasta Primavera w/veggie

Saturday: (Leftovers)

Breakfast: Bacon and Eggs
Dinner: Leftovers

Sunday: (Crock Pot)

Breakfast: Shakes before church
Dinner: Quinoa and Chicken Soup w/bread and veggie

Menu Plan September 6th - 12th

Mike and I at Pike Place Market this weekend

Ahhh, there is nothing quite like a 3 day holiday weekend! Mike and I had a wonderful weekend with friends and family. We visited with my best friend who just got out of surgery on Friday evening, went to Pike Place Market (a blog about that coming soon!) on Saturday with some dear friends, church and an evening with my parents on Sunday (we had them over for dinner, I made pot roast! Recipe coming this week!) and then did some shopping and had dinner with dear friends on Monday.

We really are so blessed to have such wonderful people in our lives! This week is a little crazy as I will be celebrating my best friend’s birthday this weekend and Mike will be at a Bachelor party all weekend. So we will be working to make sure we have everything packed and ready for that.

Monday:

Breakfast: Green Protein Smoothie
Lunch: Leftovers (for Mike) / Chicken Salad (for me!)
Dinner: Dinner at a Friend’s – Steak, grilled veggies and spinach salad

Tuesday:

Breakfast: Green Protein Smoothie
Lunch: Leftovers (for Mike) / Chicken Salad (for me!)
Dinner: Chicken Stir-fry w/rice and salad

Wednesday:

Breakfast: Green Protein Smoothie
Lunch: Leftovers (for Mike) / Chicken Salad (for me!)
Dinner: Oven Omelets with homemade morning potatoes

Thursday:

Breakfast: Green Protein Smoothie
Lunch: Leftovers (for Mike) / Chicken Salad (for me!)
Dinner: Sesame Chicken w/rice and Swiss Chard

Friday:

Breakfast: Green Protein Smoothie
Lunch: Leftovers (for Mike) / Office Lunch (on Friday's our boss buys us lunch!)
Dinner: Mike will be gone, so I will do something easy for just me, probably a dinner salad!

Saturday:

Gone

Sunday:

Gone

Menu Plan August 30th - September 5th

Wow, it’s Monday again already! I cannot believe how fast August is going by! Mike and I had a very fun, busy weekend, which resulting in very little cooking for me. I had some great meals planned, so I may try and push some of them into this week so we can enjoy them!

This week is fairly laid back for us. We are looking forward to the three-day weekend coming up. We don’t have any plans set in stone, but are hoping to get in some time with our families, friends and maybe a date day just for us!

I plan my meals a month in advance (I know, I’m a bit OCD) however, since we are avoiding foods in the nightshade family this week, I had to make some last minute substitutions, as I LOVE to cook with tomato based products (salsa, tomato sauce, tomatoes, ect!)

Monday:

Breakfast: Green Protein Smoothie
Lunch: Leftovers (for Mike) / Chicken Salad (for me!)
Dinner: Tilapia w/Roasted Corn – with Veggie and cornbread

Tuesday:

Breakfast: Green Protein Smoothie
Lunch: Leftovers (for Mike) / Chicken Salad (for me!)
Dinner: Crockpot Meatloaf with salad

Wednesday:

Breakfast: Green Protein Smoothie
Lunch: Leftovers (for Mike) / Chicken Salad (for me!)
Dinner: Crock Pot Rice and Beans w/veggie or salad

Thursday:

Breakfast: Green Protein Smoothie
Lunch: Leftovers (for Mike) / Chicken Salad (for me!)
Dinner: Cashew Lime Chicken with Quinoa & veggie

Friday:

Breakfast: Green Protein Smoothie
Lunch: Leftovers (for Mike) / Office Lunch (on Friday's our boss buys us lunch!)
Dinner: Cold Quinoa Salad w/Sausage and fresh fruit

Saturday:

Breakfast: Morning Rice w/Sausage
Lunch: Leftovers
Dinner: Leftovers

Sunday:

Breakfast: Green Protein Smoothie (for Mike) & Oatmeal w/raisins (for me)
Lunch: Leftovers
Dinner: Homemade burgers w/sweet potato fries

Because of our special diet the next week and a half, I have strayed from my normal “theme nights” but that’s okay! Life gets crazy. The theme nights are there to HELP me, not STRESS ME OUT further. Its okay to be flexible with your menu!

If any of our recipes this week are mind blowing, I will be sure to post them! I tried a few recipes this weekend that I don’t love, so unfortunately, they won’t be appearing on the blog. I do want to get my DELICIOUS banana bread recipe up here though! Its to die for, I may just make another loaf this week (if I can find more brown banana’s on sale!)

Menu Plan August 23 - 29th and Meal Planning

This coming week should be low key as far as the evenings go. Last week we had something going on every night, which made grocery shopping, house chores, baking, cooking extremely hard! We also picked up our Quarter of grass-fed beef this week! Mike tried the first steak last night, and it is DELICIOUS! We are so excited to try different cuts of this yummy, nutritious meat!

I plan all my meals out usually a month ahead, so here's to hoping I have the time to make these dishes every night! This weekend is busy with baseball games and parties, so I wont be doing much cooking, hopefully we can make the leftovers stretch!

Menu Plan: Week of August 23rd to August 29th

Monday:

Breakfast: Green Protein Smoothie (for Mike) & Oatmeal w/raisins (for me)
Lunch: Leftovers (for Mike) / Chicken Salad (for me!)
Dinner: Tomato Basil Chicken Salad w/Qunioa

Tuesday:

Breakfast: Green Protein Smoothie (for Mike) & Oatmeal w/raisins (for me)
Lunch: Leftovers (for Mike) / Chicken Salad (for me!)
Dinner: Homemade Meatballs & Sauce w/cornbread and veggie

Wednesday:

Breakfast: Green Protein Smoothie (for Mike) & Oatmeal w/raisins (for me)
Lunch: Leftovers (for Mike) / Chicken Salad (for me!)
Dinner:Quinoa & Black Bean Casserole w/salad and roll

Thursday:

Breakfast: Green Protein Smoothie (for Mike) & Oatmeal w/raisins (for me)
Lunch: Leftovers (for Mike) / Chicken Salad (for me!)
Dinner: CA Chicken w/brown rice and veggie

Friday:

Breakfast: Green Protein Smoothie (for Mike) & Oatmeal w/raisins (for me)
Lunch: Leftovers (for Mike) / Office Lunch (on Friday's our boss buys us lunch!)
Dinner: Mariner's Game!! (We will probably eat out or eat something quick!)

Saturday:

Breakfast: Eggs & Sausage
Lunch: Leftovers
Dinner: Mike has a "Fantasy Football" party to go to, and I have a birthday party!

Sunday:

Breakfast: Green Protein Smoothie (for Mike) & Oatmeal w/raisins (for me)
Lunch:Leftovers
Dinner: Crock Pot Meatloaf w/veggie and cornbread




If you notice a theme in my menu planning, that is because there is one!

One of my favorite bloggers, Passionate Homemaking recommended having "theme nights" for dinner based on the day of the week. I thought this was such a great way to organize and help plan our meals.

Here is an example of what my theme nights are:

Monday: Stir fry / Main Dish Salad
Tuesday: Main Dish Meat
Wednesday: Vegetarian
Thursday: Cultural
Friday: Pasta Dish
Saturday: Leftovers
Sunday: Crock pot

Other ideas for theme nights are Mexican, Seafood, Finger-food, Soup, Italian, ect! I just catered to what I know my family likes! You can do the same! Get creative!

Menu Plan August 16th - August 22nd

I am going to try to post my meal plan for the weeek every Monday. I find this really helps me assure we are getting a varied diet and eating a good mix of veggies and protein.

One area where I think we can really improve is our breakfasts. Mike and I are always in a hurry in the morning, so our breakfasts are the same almost every day. I am on the search for new healthy, quick breakfast ideas.

Most of these recipes I found from other whole food blogs that I love!! Most often from: Passionate Homemaking , Heavenly Homemakers , Frugal Granola , and Keeper of the Home. As I work to tweak and perfect these recipes I will start posting some of my own versions and recipes as well!

Menu Plan: Week of August 16th to August 22nd:

Monday:

Breakfast: Green Protein Smoothie & HB (Hard Boiled) Egg.
Lunch: Leftovers (for Mike) / Chicken Salad (for me!)
Dinner: Crock pot Chicken and Rice Soup w/Corn bread

Tuesday:

Breakfast: Green Protein Smoothie & HB Egg.
Lunch: Leftovers (for Mike) / Chicken Salad (for me!)
Dinner: Zucchini Burger Boats w/Sweet Potato Fries

Wednesday:

Breakfast: Green Protein Smoothie & HB Egg.
Lunch: Leftovers (for Mike) / Chicken Salad (for me!)
Dinner:Spinach &Brown rice Casserole w/seasonal veggie

Thursday:

Breakfast: Green Protein Smoothie & HB Egg (Hard Boiled).
Lunch: Leftovers (for Mike) / Chicken Salad (for me!)
Dinner: Dinner at a Friend's house.

Friday:

Breakfast: Green Protein Smoothie & HB Egg.
Lunch: Leftovers (for Mike) / Office Lunch (on Friday's our boss buys us lunch!)
Dinner: Shepherd's Pie w/salad
Dessert: I think I will make some "healthy fudge"

Saturday:

Breakfast: Home made gluten-free blueberry pancakes w/raspberry freezer jam and eggs
Lunch: Leftovers
Dinner: Dinner with friends (we have to get in all our summer fun before we loose this beautiful Northwest weather have been blessed with this week!)

Sunday:

Breakfast: Green Protein Shakes w/Egg before church
Lunch:Potluck with our parents. We will bring a side dish
Dinner: Tuna Stuffed Tomatoes


I hope to get 2 or 3 recipes on the blog this week, as well as sneak peak into what our food budget looks like and our grocery list!


Happy Monday!