Menu Plan Monday- Feb 11th, 2013 and Fat Tuesday Meal

So clearly I have not updated in awhile. Of course we have been sick around here. I think I was sick for two weeks with only a few days in between. First the fever, ache body flu, then the stomach flu which Cai and Aiden gave me and I gave to Mark. Only Ian seemed to be spared. We are all healthy now. And I couldn't be more grateful. Really!!!!
This week will be different for my family as far as menus cause I'm leaving Thursday with a group of women to go to Meridian, MS for the weekend. We are helping out at the Women's Retreat at Jublee Mennonite Church and then our pastor Brenda is preaching there on Sunday. It should be lots of fun and I'm very much looking forward to the trip.
 For those who follow the Christian church calendar you know that tomorrow is Ash Wednesday. It's so early this year. To be honest it's kinda freaking me out. I'm not sure I'm ready. But here we are. Which makes today (Tuesday) Shrove/ Fat Tuesday. So in honor of the day I made sure to prepare us a feast. :)

We had steaks with this marinate. Baked potatoes. Peas.

For dessert we had these gluten free yeast donuts.

 I used an egg and 1% milk in place of the flax seed and rice milk. They turned out nice.

Everyone liked them.

 It was a good feast. Mark especially liked the steak. I know he likes my cooking but on nights like tonight it is really nice to hear and hear multiple times. :)

Okay so here is our menu for this week.

Monday: Basic Curry recipe over rice (La Leche League's cookbook Whole Foods for the Whole Family)
Shrove Tuesday Feast: Marinated steak, baked potatoes and peas.
Ash Wednesday: Lentil soup
Thursday: I'll be eating on the road- Mark and the boys will eat Cheese Corn Chowder at Grandma and Grandpa Saner's house
Friday: Mark's cooking
Saturday and Sunday: Mark will cook one night and his mom will cook another. TBD

Mark has told me he plans on having Chicken Dijon one night. He loves it but I'm not a huge fan so I haven't made it since our first year of marriage. We have had it at his mom's on occasion.

For more menus head over for Organizing Junkie. There are always lots of ideas and recipe links.

Fat Tuesday 2012

Fat Tuesday seems to have come and gone. But not without a little celebrations in our household. When I was growing up my mother often made Carnival Cookies. They are a dough rolled very thin and fried in oil then covered with powered sugar. I've thought about getting the recipe from her to make for my boys. And maybe one day I will. I'll have to play with gluten free flours to make them gluten free, but hey I'm getting pretty good at that. :) Anyway, without my mother's Carnival Cookie recipe, I decided I would try my hand at doughnuts. I mean, they are fried. And sweet. They fit. Plus in my new book To Dance with God: Family Ritual and Community Celebration, the author talked about making doughnuts with her kids as part of a Fat Tuesday celebration. So we did our own variation of this.

 I used a  doughnut recipe I found on Celiac.com The recipe calls for Bette Hagmans gluten-free mix. I happened to have The Gluten-free Gourmet Cooks Fast and Healthy  However, I don't tend to like GF flour mixes with too much rice flour. I took Hagmans' example and halved it to get a smaller portion. Than did some substitutions to come us with this. 1 1/2 cups Sorghum Flour, 1 1/2 cups Sweet Rice Flour, 1 cup Potato Starch, 1/2 cup Tapioca Flour. I still have flour mix left over but hey I'll use it for something right? The other change I made to the recipe was I used guar gum in place of xanthan gum. My understanding is they are very similar and are often used simultaneously. Anyway, after mixing up the dough, I rolled it out on my counter and had the boys come in one at a time and cut out large circles. 

I don't have a doughnut cutter, So we used a large circle and then I used a small circle to cut out the center

 I then fried them in canola oil in  a pan on my stove.

 Then I placed powdered sugar in a large bowl with a lid and let the boys take turns shaking the bowl. They seemed enjoy this.

Shake Shake

checking to make sure the doughnuts are covered

 But eating the leftover sugar was even more fun. It was a mess. But hey they had fun. And I figured one day of eating plain sugar is not going to hurt them. 

eating leftover sugar

Besides Fat Tuesday is all about indulging in all the fatty, sugary, unhealthy food we will be abstaining from during Lent. Seems to me that letting them eat the remaining sugar fit the bill for the day.

 The doughnuts turned out pretty good. They were more cake like in taste and texture. But still yummy. Next year I might try to find a yeast doughnut recipe. We'll see. 

he is trying not to smile

In addition to doughnuts, this year I wanted to enjoy fried foods that I rarely, if ever, make. So I made fried chicken. And I fried it in at least an inch of oil. I used gluten free crushed corn flakes and flax seed in place of breadcrumbs for the breading. They were very yummy. 

We then enjoyed mashed potatoes with gravy and peas. Cause let's be honest, I can't serve a meal without a vegetable. And while I tossed around the idea of making a green been casserole or something, it was just one thing too many. Frozen peas take five minutes in the microwave. Simple. Easy. And the boys love them, so hey it's works.

 Overall a satisfying feast.