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.

Menu Post Monday- 12/17/12

It's hard to believe that there is only a week till Christmas. I'm almost ready. I think. On the bright side, my brother gets in on Thursday. I'm so very much looking forward to seeing him and having him here for a week. It will be great fun. Assuming he doesn't become exhausted by the boys. I'm needing to go start dinner so I'll keep this short. Here is the menu this week.

Monday: Leftover Green Lentil Soup with Coconut milk
Tuesday: Homemade Hamburger Helper -using  these Gluten Free noodles
Wednesday: Winter Squash Risotto
Thursday:  Chili
Friday: Pizza Rice Casserole (More with Less cookbook)
Saturday and Sunday: I'll decided when we get there. I'm not sure what our weekend is going to look like right now so I figure it might be better to decided our meals once we know rather than before. :)

For more menus visit Organizing Junkie. Happy Meal Planning!

Menu Plan Monday- 12/10/12

It may be Wednesday, but I thought I would post my menu anyway. Half way into the second week of Advent and already I feel way behind. I had such good intentions has to having more prepared for Christmas. I still haven't finished decorating. Although really all that is left is our stockings (which I need to get hooks for) and some greenery that I want to hang (branches we cut off our tree that I thought would look nice in other places). So I guess the decorating could be considered done, even if there is more I want to do.  I've currently got cutout cookie dough in the fridge to cut out here in a few minutes. So while there are alot of other cookies I want and still plan on making, I've at least started the list. :) And with the exception of my brother I think I have everyone's gift figured out even if they are not purchased/made yet. Can I blame Ian? He has been home sick since Monday. Monday and Tuesday he had a fever. It finally broke sometime during the night last night but since his temp was still 100 when he went to bed we kept him home today.Poor kid. Being sick is no fun.

Ian and Cai looking at pictures on the computer. Can't you just see how yucky he feels

Especially when the first snow on the ground was yesterday and while his brothers got to go out and troop through the dusting of snow, I made him stay indoors. I'm so mean.

The list dusting of snow we got- taken in the morning

On another note, it was awfully cute watching Aiden make foot prints and raking snow with a stick he found. Oh and don't forget eating any he could get on his mittens. Which of course translates to eating dirt as well cause really there wasn't that much there.

Aiden raking with his stick he found

 It was mostly gone by afternoon and today you can hardly tell it had snowed at all. It's sorta a weird winter thus far. That lack of snow is disconcerting  Not to mention just plane disappointing for little boys who look forward to it every year.

The boys in the afternoon- eating snow off the grill and fence

Okay on to our menu.

Monday: Chicken noodle soup- using these Gluten Free egg noodles  

Tuesday: pancakes (Ian's choice)

Wednesday: Mid Week meal at Church- cookie bake- I'm taking Gluten Free cut out cookies pre-baked so kids can decorate. The hope is that it keeps Cai busy and away from the tons of gluten cookie dough. Plus then he has a treat to eat in the end too :)

Thursday: Green Lentil Soup with Coconut milk

Friday:  Sweet Potato and black bean taco salad

Saturday: Leftovers or simple soup

Sunday: Popcorn and apples 

For more menus be sure to visit Organizing Junkie. 

Menu Plan Monday July 30-Aug 5, 2012

So much for posting on Monday. Sigh. Is anyone else in shock that today's the 1st of August? I'm both excited and dreading that fact we are now in August. We now have 5 days till Cai is 4. And 9 days till Ian turns 6 and starts Kindergarten. While I'm very much looking forward to Ian starting school, I'm also somewhat freaking out. This is my baby! When did he get so big? Surely he is not going to be 6! Sigh. Where does all that time go? Well despite the fact that I'm not sure I'm ready for all this, here we are. August has begun. So here is our menu for the week.

Monday: Garden Vegetable Curry (from More with Less)
Tuesday:  Black bean, Zucchini and Tomato Quesadillas  made with Homemade GF tortillas
Wednesday: Coconut Milk Curry
Thursday: Loaded Quinoa Veggie Burgers with homemade GF buns, side veggie of some sort
Friday: First Fridays- eat downtown
Saturday: Leftovers
Sunday: Simple Supper or breakfast or popcorn

Need more menu ideas? Check out Organizing Junkie.

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. 

Completed Projects :)

Almost every year, since Mark was in high school, several members of Mark's family and another family from church, along with other family and individuals depending on the year, travel up to Boyne Highlands in northern Michigan for a weekend of skiing and fun. I've had the pleasure of joining in on this awesome weekend now four times. This year being the second year in a row! With us living in Goshen now, and thus the trip easier to manage than when we were in Kansas, Mark and I both hope to continue the family tradition for our boys to grow up in. Last weekend was our Boyne trip. And prior to this trip I had a long list of things I wanted to complete. Really I was very proud of myself. In the two weeks leading up to the trip I got most of what I wanted to do accomplished. And I have to say I'm very pleased with all my efforts. 

Christmas 2009 my creative sister-in-law Rachel gave the boys a felt puppet theater and two felt puppets. She had seen a puppet theater held up by a tension rod in a store and thought "I could do that." We have enjoyed the theater, and enjoy the puppets even more.

Christmas 2009 

This last Christmas (2011) Rachel gave Cai two more puppets, an owl and a dragon, to go along with our frog and bear.

Christmas 2011

 Also this Christmas, Ian was giving The Frog and Toad Treasury. If you have never read Frog and Toad and have small kids you should. They are fun. Both Cai and Ian love the stories. So realizing that we have a frog puppet, I thought wouldn't it be great to have a toad puppet and then they could act out the stories from the books. So I set to work making them a toad puppet.

Toad front and back

 Being that my nephew also loves Frog and Toad, I made him a set as well.

set for Josiah

 Since I was making puppets I made a cat for Aiden cause he loves cats right now

after detailed glued on

. And a tree. Now this once might seem weird, but trust me there is a reason. Ever since Cai got the owl at Christmas the boys have used this puppet only with an odd green one (I think it looks like a green gingerbread man) and sing Owl in the Tree, a song they learned at the library storytime. Watching them I decided that maybe a tree would be fun for them.

owl in the tree says "hoo hoo hoo"

 All three new puppets were met with squeals of joy.

one of the boys took this

And I learned some thing in the process. Most importantly, if you use hot glue to attach any detail pieces, glut them on after you sew the puppet pieces together. You can not machine sew through hot glue. My poor cat puppet had to be hand sewed because I had already hot glued the stripes on. Still it seems to be holding together.

The next thing I wanted to complete before our Boyne trip was a car road made out of old jeans. Rachel had told me about this when I was telling her about all the old jeans I had. When she asked if she could have some, I told her I would be glad to make it. Rach had seen the idea on pinterest.

all our road pieces

 Of course it should be noted that I didn't finish it until the night before we left. Oh well, it was made and the boys all enjoyed it.

 I had meant for it to go home with Rach, but it ended up in our bag. I'll give it to her sometime this week. Since the boys were giving an awesome road area rug from their grandparents for Christmas we don't need the road pieces.

In addition to some new toys, I made several new snacks for our trip. Since Cai can't have peanut butter, I tried soy nut butter in puppy chow. It turned out really good. Sunflower butter (our normal peanut butter substitute) just isn't the same and can sometimes just make a recipe taste odd. But the soy nut butter worked great, no oddness at all.  I made strawberry fudge from a link my mother shared with me. Two ingredients- strawberry icing and white chocolate chips. It turned out ok, really sweet and soft. Not something I would make very often to be sure.

 The snack I'm most excited/proud about was the gluten free goldfish crackers I made.

My sister-in-law Andrea sent me the link to this recipe. I used my own flour mix in place of Bob's Red Mill gluten free all-purpose flour. I also added a teaspoon of xanthan gum. The original recipe come from Chef Chloe. I didn't have a goldfish cutter. But when I was talking to Rachel she said something about using old aluminum pop cans. So that's what I used. I cut a strip out of an old coca-cola can, folded over the top edge so it wouldn't be sharp when I pressed down on it, and shaped it into a fish, Then I used scotch tape to tape it together. Simple.

 The downside to this type of cutter is that after only a few uses it would bend out of shape and I would have to reshape it.

 

Other than that it worked great.  Next time I make these I will add less onion powder and maybe less nutritional yeast. The flavor, while great for me, was alittle much for the kids.

one of the boys took this

The last completed project I want to share is this. I finished my sweater! Yes, the sweater I started last year. Here is the blog where I shared my goal of finishing within the year.  I'm alittle late, but not much. And mostly I'm just so excited to finish it. I don't have a picture of it completed yet. I'll try and take one soon. Next up is socks. We'll see how quickly I get a pair done. I haven't started yet. Spent most of my time up at Boyne reading when I wasn't skiing, playing with kids or playing games with everyone else.
Well that's it. I realize this isn't an update on our family or the kids. But that's what you get today. Boyne and skiing update to come soon. Any fun projects you've completed lately??

Gluten Free Reviews #1

Now I'm very aware that for families that have been gluten free for awhile these things may be a "no duh." But having now tired a few packaged/store bought gluten free (GF) products, I thought I would share our reviews. There are surprisingly many more options out there. And I'm sure I'll attempt to try some of the others available to us here in Goshen. But for today here are four product reviews. Extra bonus reviews on few online recipes :)

Homemade Bread-
There are several recipes I've found for bread online. And while I have not tried them all, or any but one. I was pleased with the result of the one I tried. No Gluten, No Problem has both a recipe for a GF flour blend, as well as a bread recipe using their flour blend. I had attempted the use the recipe but substitute their flour blend with a GF flour blend I found at our local food Coop Maple City Market. While the bread baked beautifully, neither Mark nor I enjoyed the flavor. I think it's due to the garbanzo bean flour, it over took the flavor of the flour blend thus making my bread taste like garbanzo beans (which I like, just not in my bread). When I then made a batch of the Artisan GF Flour Blend, the sandwich bread recipe was much more enjoyable. In fact we all really liked it. On top of a good flavor, it has a good constancy and texture. Plus it was pretty simple to make. I plan on experimenting with other recipes, but it's nice to have a good backup. :)

Pancakes-

Having used the Artisan GF Flour Blend in Alton Brown's GF chocolate chip recipe (and them turning our great), I thought I would try to substitute this flour in my normal pancake recipe. It did not turn out great. Cai ate them up no problem. Me, the grainy texture was alittle much. I ate them. They were OK. But not great.
This pancake fail happened in Kansas, as I had taken many of the flours/blends with me for just these types of things. I then forgot to grab them and let everything at my mother's. So while I have brown rice flour and potato starch, I do not have xanthan gum or any other binder. Thus until I get to the store am limited in want I can make that requires flour. Last Saturday our church had a pancake feed. I wanted to make pancakes for Cai so that we could attend. However I did not have the energy to shop for ingredients, search for a recipe. Thus I broke down and bought a box of pancake mix.

We were very pleased with the purchase. Gluten Free Pantry's pancake and waffle mix turned out to be really good. The pancakes were fluffy, yummy and the texture was not too grainy. So while I still want to find a good recipe, in a bind or when life is too crazy these are a great, convenient alternative.

Cake/Cupcakes-
The boys' birthdays were earlier this month. We celebrated with my mom and stepdad while in Kansas. But didn't get to celebrate with Mark. So Sunday afternoon we had a mini-party at the park for Cai, Ian and Oliver (their cousin). I really wanted to make a cake. In Kansas it was just easier to have ice cream sundays. And really that worked great. But I wanted cake. So while purchasing the above pancake mix we bought a cake mix as well.

Sorry no picture of the finished cupcakes (they were easier to eat at the park). Cherrybrooks Kitchen Gluten Free Dreams Chocolate Cake Mix turned out wonderful. The cake was moist. The top was sweet, even without frosting. And everyone enjoyed them. Mark and I were very pleased. Two success with store bought produces makes us hopeful for our future eating. :) Although we are bracing ourselves for the many failures that are sure to happen as I try my hand at making things myself. 

Pasta- 

We love pasta at our house. So I knew right off that we needed to find a good GF option. Thus far I have found one brand I like, and one I don't. 

Tinkyada Pasta Joy has worked well for us. We have enjoyed both the  brown rice spaghetti and the brown rice elbow pasta. It has good texture, good taste, and the claim to withstand over-cooking is very true. I'm mean come on, I have 3 little ones 5 yrs and under. Our pasta sometimes gets neglected. But this brand has yet to disappoint us. 

DeBoles Rice pasta did not turn out so well. It was chewy, grainy, and just left a bad aftertaste in my mouth. In fact after draining and tasting this pasta last night, I tossed it and made the Elbow from Tinkyada Pasta Joy. I have one more box of DeBoles (Rice Spirals). I'll give it one more try. But to tell the truth I'm not holding my breath. I don't think we'll be buying this brand again. 

Well there it is. Several review for you. I'm sure more will come. In fact I plan on sharing alot about our journey in Gluten Free eating. If you have suggestions, recipes, links and such you want to share, we would be very grateful. Cause really, while there is a plethora of information out there, it can be overwhelming to sift through.  Help is always welcome. 

Lasagna Rolls

So I will get to our ski trip, but first I wanted to share about making lasagna rolls. These were a favorite meal growing up in my house, especially by my little brother. And they have come to be loved by my boys as well. To top off the fun, they are pretty simple to make. So when thinking about what meal to take and what to cook for said meal during our ski trip with family and friends they immediately came to mind. Knowing I could make them ahead of time meant less to worry about once we got to our cabin. Less work for me there meant more time to enjoy being on "vacation" and away from home. :) So I quickly volunteered to make dinner Thursday night and said I would bring lasagna rolls. It was a hit. Mark sauted broccoli, we made a salad and I brought up Parmesan, onion bread I baked the night before. Yummy! Anyway, I thought I would share the simple process of making them here. Hopefully my mother will forgive me for giving away her secrets. :) 

Lasagna Rolls

You'll need:
         box lasagna noodles- cooked
         1lb ground beef- browned
         28oz can of spaghetti sauce (or equal to)
         8-16oz (2-4cups) mozzarella cheese- shredded
         grease 9x13 casserole dish
        *see notes at end

I set everything within reach so I can easily assemble. I rinse my noodles in cold water and hang them over a bowl or pan to avoid sticking and allow for handling without burning my fingers. 

First I lay out my noodle on the counter or other clean surface. 

Than I spoon on the spaghetti sauce. 

Next spend on the meat and top with cheese. I tend to use alot of cheese. Which is why I tend to go through closer to 16oz rather than 8. 

After everything is on, you roll up the noodle and place in the pan. I can get three rolls across and 5 rolls down in a 9x13 pan. You could probably get 6 down depending on how tight you roll you noodles. But I tend to loose noodles in the cooking process and don't have enough complete cooked noodles to do 6 rows. I than add the rest of the sauce and cheese to the top of the rolls at the end. 

You place in the oven at 350 degrees F for about 30 minutes. The great part about this recipe is that you can assemble and then freeze. My mom is always filling my freezer with pans of lasagna rolls for us. I have to say I love it. For our trip I made three 9x13 pans, put them in the freezer over night and then let them thaw on our 6 hour trip up to the mountain. It was great. 

*Some notes you should know. 

         1) Feel free to substitute a vegetable for the ground beef. I have used cook spinach several times now. In fact one of the pan for our trip had spinach instead of beef.  

         2) While when cooking for a big group I use store bought spaghetti sauce, I often will use a can of tomato sauce and spice it up with herbs and diced veggies such as carrots and pepper instead. 

         3) 8 oz of cheese really should work for you. I just like cheese and tend to go over board. Luckily my family doesn't complain. :)   

Enjoying Purple Cauliflower

So last week we enjoyed my purple cauliflower I got from our local Farmer's Market in two meals. On Monday we had Broccoli Soup. This is a potato soup with broccoli and cauliflower. It is perfect for a cold day. Very warm and thick. My recipe from Simply in Season had me steam my potatoes, broccoli, onion and cauliflower until soft. I also added a leek cause I had some that needed to be used. Than you add your milk, broth (veg or chicken), Worcestershire sauce and simmer. Finally add some flour smoothed with milk to thicken and cheese. It's a great recipe, and yummy. The thick milk base covered up most of the color of my veggies. Oh well.

On Tuesday we ate Green Spaghetti and steamed cauliflower. The cauliflower turned really dark, almost indigo in color when steamed. It was very pretty.

I changed up my Green Spaghetti recipe too. The original comes from La Leche League's Whole Foods for the Whole Family cookbook.

My boys liked this recipe. But everyone seemed to enjoy the new one even better. So I thought I would share.

Green Spaghetti

Steam 1/4lbs spinach- set aside

Steam 1/4lbs kale- add to spinach

Blend together (in blender or food processor) the spinach, kale, 1/2 cup Parmesan cheese, 2 cloves garlic, salt, 1/4-1/2 cup milk

Toss mixture with cooked spaghetti and serve!

The Kale and garlic are my additions. And I was really pleased with the results. Even Mark seemed to enjoy it more.