So with the holiday weekend coming up Shiela over at GAG challanged us to come up with a plan for getting through any holiday parties that we may have this weekend. Well I am happy to say that so far we don’t have any parties to derail the diet this weekend. That is not to say we won’t have one to go to by the end of the weekend. My mom is famous for inviting us over at the last minute. I also figured it wouldn’t be so bad to have a game plan in place anyway since we are coming into a busy time of the year for us with a lot of social gatherings.

Step One: Be sure to eat in the morning and during the course of the day, rather than starve myself so that I can eat without feeling guilty at the party. In the past I have not eaten lunch if we had a evening party so that I could eat what I wanted. Well it always backfired. I was so hungry by the time I got to the party that I just ate and ate, way more than I would have if I hadn’t been hungry. So if I am not starving then I am less likely to overeat at the party.

Step Two: Avoid the appetizers. I am horrible about the mindless eating. Especially at parties. I always end up standing next to the chip bowl talking to somebody and end up eating a ton of chips and then I don’t even realize how much I ate so I still eat a full plate of food. I am going to work on staying away from the appetizers.

Step Three: NO SODA. I can’t stand diet soda so I drink regular which is filled with calories, and I never seem to stop at just one, so I am going to avoid it altogether.

Step Four: Use a small plate instead of a large one, that way my plate looks full and I am eating less, and I feel satisfied.

The second part of this challange is to give a recipe for something healthy that we would bring as an alternative. This is my husbands usual request. Roasted Potato Salad. It doesn’t have any mayo so it is better than traditional potato salad. This is my modified version for my kids allergies. The original recipe called for ranch dressing, which I substituted Italian Dressing. I use regular Italian, but I am thinking about trying lo cal dressing the next time I make it. It also calls for bacon, I am looking for an alternative for that as well. I put it in when I make it for my husband and kids and when I eat it I just pick out the bacon.

Roasted Potato Salad

2 Tbsp. olive oil

2 lbs. small red potatoes, diced

½ onion chopped

2 cloves garlic minced

1 tsp. kosher salt

Dash fresh ground pepper

8 slices of bacon, cooked and crumbled

½ bunch green onions, chopped

Italian Salad Dressing

Oil a pan with olive oil. Toss together the potatoes, onion, garlic and salt, and spread on the pan. Bake at 425 for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally. In a serving bowl combine the cooked bacon, green onions, and salad dressing. Stir in cooked potato mixture and serve.

Serves 6-8

Have a great weekend.

Heather

So it has been a few weeks, the last few weeks of May, it became a mad house around here. Alex was finishing up preschool and for whatever reason the kids decided to get sick, a lot, even though we were very healthy all winter. I was still menu planning, but I just didn’t have the time to post. We are on week 7 of our 12 week rotation.

Week 7 Breakfast:

Meal 1: PB&J Crunchy French toast
Meal 2: Egg & Cheese Waffle Sandwich
Meal 3: Banana Waffles
Meal 4: Pancakes
Meal 5: Blueberry Muffins
Meal 6: Cereal with Fresh Fruit

Week 7 Dinner:

Day 1: Grilled Chicken Breasts, Rice, Green Beans
Day 2: French Dip Sandwiches, Chips, Salad
Day 3: Hamburger Steaks over Noodles, Mixed Vegetables
Day 4: Nachos, Refried Beans, Mexican Corn.
Day 5: Creamed Chicken over Biscuits

I am looking forward to the dinners this week, they are good summer dinners, and as usual I plan on using the outdoor grill a lot. I am also going to try to put the crock-pot outside this week as well. I never really thought the crock-pot put out a lot of heat into the kitchen, until we moved and I started cooking in a kitchen that had no ventilation. The only window in the kitchen doesn’t have a screen in it, so I try not to open that one too much. As a result in the summer, I modify most, if not all my recipes to be cooked outside in the summer, it really helps to keep the whole house cooler, since we have such an open floor plan.

I am almost done my 12 week menu plan for breakfast. I have two more weeks to plan. when that is finished I am thinking about making up a menu plan for lunches as well. I get into such a rut with lunch. We end up eating the same things over and over again. The only reason I haven’t made a meal plan for lunch yet is because of school. When Alex starts kindergarten we have decided to home-school. I would like to make lunches that incorporate the lessons that we are working on that day, and a rotating menu plan doesn’t really work for that. I haven’t decided yet, I may make a rotating plan, that only has 3 or 4 days planned and make the other days meals that coordinate with our lessons. I think the big test is going to be this summer. I am planning on doing some light schooling all summer. I will know more about how the schedule is going to look at the end of the summer.

Have a great week, and as usual if you want a recipe for anything just ask, and I will get it to you.

God Bless

Heather

After I posted my menu plan on Monday it occurred to me that because I used the links this week instead of adding my recipes I didn’t show my substitutions for our diet. I will probably be using the links more often, especially for breakfast so I thought I would write up a post about how I make our diet dairy and soy free.

When I first started cooking this way I looked high and low for easy  recipes that my kids could and would eat. I had a very hard time. Typically when you cook without dairy you use soy as a substitute, mostly in the form of margarine, oils, etc…  When you are cooking without soy you use dairy as a substitute. So where did that leave me. My biggest difficulty was fats. I needed to use something but I found it difficult to substitute a liquid fat for a solid fat. I just didn’t like the way it was turning out. Then I found out a few things.

1. You can use bananas or applesauce measure for measure in place of a solid fat like butter or margarine.
2. Clarified Butter  or Ghee has no Casein (milk solids, what my kids can’t have) and can be used measure for measure in place of butter or margarine.
3. Rice milk can replace milk measure for measure
4. Many items packaged as “Heart Healthy” use canola or olive oil instead of vegetable oil.

These 4 things completely changed the way I cooked. Now for things like muffins and cakes and batter breads, I use a traditional recipe and just substitute unsweetened applesauce in place of the butter or margarine. When I make icing I use the clarified butter. It has made it so much easier to find recipes that the kids will eat without having to go out and buy hard to find and expensive ingredients.

For the few prepackaged items that I buy, things like spaghetti sauce, pancake mix, etc.., when it is packaged as “Heart Healthy” they typically use canola oil instead of vegetable. Vegetable oil almost always contains soybean oil.

There are still a few things that substitutions don’t work for. I have found that bread is one of those things that I needed to find a dairy and soy free recipe for. No matter how many recipes I tried, both with and without the bread machine using substitutions just didn’t work. The recipe that I finally settled on works great and doesn’t use a solid fat, so I can easily substitute canola oil for the vegetable oil that the recipe calls for.

There are also times that I can add something later after dishing up my kids plates. This usually is the case with cheese. When I make eggs for the whole family my husband and I like to have some cheddar cheese on our eggs, but I can’t put it on the kids eggs. In that case I make the eggs first and then after I dish up the kids food I sprinkle on the cheese and let it melt for my husband and I.

That is how I keep our diet dairy and soy free. Any time I post a link that uses dairy or soy in the recipe, now you know how I am able to use that recipe.

Jason is going to be away this week for three days on a business trip. I really don’t like cooking for one person. While I am not technically cooking for just one person, the kids hardly ever eat what I cook, unless Alex is being bribed with Candy. So the days that he is going to be away I decided to make things that I know they like. I know they will eat, and it will help the days until Daddy comes home easier. Tuesday is family night at our local Chick-Fil-A, so I decided to go there for dinner on Tuesday, instead of going out for dinner on Friday night like we usually do.

Hope everyone has a good week.

Week 4:  Breakfast Meal Plan
Meal 1:  Old-Fashioned Potato Pancakes
Meal 2: Apple Bars
Meal 3: Cinnamon & Honey Apple
Meal 4: Sautéed Cinnamon Apple Crisp
Meal 5: Cinnamon-Raisin Bread
Meal 6: Cereal with Fresh Fruit

Week 4:  Dinner Meal Plan
Day 1: Tacos, Refried Beans, Mexican Corn
Day 2: Hot Dogs, French Fries
Day 3:  Chicken Teriyaki over Rice, Grilled Pineapple Slices
Day 4:  Pancakes, Fresh Fruit
Day 5:  Pizza, Salad

Thanks to my wonderful husband I was able to get my chart up this week. Mondays are always leftover days since I go to the grocery store on Tuesdays. My week, at least for menu planning purposes starts on Tuesday.

So I am trying something new this week. I made up a week long calendar for all our meals this week. I am still working off of the 12 week plan for breakfast and Lunch, I just put it all on a calendar that is on our fridge. I did this mostly so that I can see at a glance what I am making that day, in order to prepare through out the day. If I see in the morning that I am making hamburgers that night, I know I need to start the rolls in the bread machine in the morning. That type of thing. I haven’t figured out how to get my calendar on here yet. Maybe next week. I am still putting our breakfast and dinner plans down.

As usual if you want any of the recipes, just ask.

Week 3: Breakfast Meal Plan
Meal 1:  Banana Crumb Muffins
Meal 2:  Alphabet Pancakes
Meal 3: Waffles
Meal 4:  Biscuit Breakfast Sandwiches
Meal 5:  Hash Brown Sandwich
Meal 6: Cereal with Fresh Fruit

Week3: Dinner Meal Plan
Day 1: Blt’s, Curly Fries, Apple Slices
Day 2: Sliced Ham, Sweet Potatoes, Corn
Day 3: Hot Ham and Cheese Sandwiches, Chips
Day 4: Grilled Pork Tenderloin, Long Grain and Wild Rice,  Grilled Veggies
Day 5: Chili, Cornbread

Have a great week.

Wow, it is another week. And it is almost April. March flew by for our family. We are enjoying the warmer weather and are out and about more. This week is week 2 in our 12 week plan. A lot of the recipes that I have this week are from various places on the Internet. I am enjoying finding new things for breakfast. For the most part the kids are enjoying the new breakfasts as well. Although I haven’t been able to convince them that oatmeal is good yet. I figure it is a work in progress. I also use the same rules at breakfast that we have at dinner. I cook one meal and if you don’t want to eat it, that is fine, but I am not making anything else until the next meal. One of these days, we will be out of the picky toddler and preschooler age, and they will eventually be good eaters.

I have also switced to an all organic diet. We did this to help with some of Alex’s hyperactivity and innatention behaviors, and I have to say, he has made a complete turn around. He is a different child. We are still dairy and soy free, as well as no raw bananas.

As usual if I didn’t add a recipe that you would like, just leave me a comment and I will get it to you.

Week 2: Breakfast Meal Plan

Meal 1: Amish Baked Oatmeal

1/3-cup butter
2 large eggs
3/4-cup brown sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla
1-teaspoon nutmeg or cinnamon
1/4-teaspoon salt
1-cup rice milk
2 tablespoons rice milk
3 cups oatmeal (regular or quick)

Melt butter. Grease 1 1/2 quart baking dish and drop in eggs and beat well.
Add brown sugar, baking powder, vanilla, nutmeg or cinnamon, and salt. Mix well, no lumps. Whisk in ghee and both measures of rice milk, and then add oats. Stir well, and refrigerate overnight. Bake, uncovered, at 350 for 35-45 min, or until set in the middle. Serve hot with warm rice milk poured over.

Meal 2: Breakfast in a Mug

1-tablespoon ghee
1-tablespoon rice milk or water
1-2 eggs
1 dash pepper
1 dash salt
1 slice bacon, cooked (optional)
Shredded cheese (optional)

Place ghee in 12 oz. microwave safe mug or small bowl. Microwave on High 30-45 seconds, or until melted. Add egg (s), rice milk, salt and pepper. Stir or whip with a fork.
Microwave one egg on High 35 to 45 seconds; two eggs 1 1/4 to 1 3/4 minutes, or until eggs begin to set, stirring with fork to break apart after half of the time. Remove eggs when they are still soft and moist. (You may have to play with the time depending on your microwave) Let stand about 2 minutes. While eggs are standing crumble bacon and add to eggs. Eggs will firm up while standing. If desired sprinkle with shredded cheese during standing time.

Meal 3: Apple French Toast Casserole

Apple French Toast Casserole
4 tablespoons butter
3 large apples, peeled and sliced thinly (I use Cortland or Empire)
3/4 cup brown sugar, packed
2 tablespoons water
1-teaspoon cinnamon
8 slices Italian bread, 1 inch thick
4 large eggs
1 1/4 cups rice milk
2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Melt the ghee in a large skillet and add apples. Cook and stir for 5 minutes. Add brown sugar, water, and cinnamon and continue to cook and stir for 10 minutes until apples are tender. Spoon mixture into 13×9 baking dish. Cover apples with bread slices, making sure to cover the entire surface. Trim the bread to fit if you must. Beat eggs until foamy, then beat in rice milk and vanilla. Pour egg mixture over the bread slices. Cover the dish with plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight. In the morning, remove the dish from the refrigerator and let it stand while oven is preheated to 375 F. Bake uncovered for 35 minutes, or until bread is golden and firm. Let sit 10 minutes before serving. To serve on a platter, run a knife around the edges of the casserole, place platter on top of casserole, and carefully flip. To serve individually, use a spatula to remove serving, place serving plate on top of serving and carefully flip so apple side is up.

Meal 4: Everything Breakfast Bar

4 cups oatmeal
1-tablespoon baking powder
1-teaspoon salt
1-tablespoon cinnamon
2 eggs, beaten
1-cup pumpkin
1-cup rice milk
1-tablespoon maple syrup
1 cup Splenda sugar substitute
1/2 cup brown sugar, packed
1-tablespoon vanilla
1-cup raisins

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. In large bowl combine oatmeal, baking powder, salt and cinnamon. Mix in remaining ingredients. Spread in greased 9×13 pan. Bake for 40 minute.

Meal 5: Smoothies
Meal 6: Cereal with Fresh Fruit

Week 2:  Dinner Meal Plan

Day 1: Corn Chowder, Poppy seed Muffins

Corn Chowder
1 10oz package frozen sweet corn
1 potato, peeled and cubed
½ cup diced onion
½ cup water
2 tsp. chicken bouillon granules
Dash salt and pepper
1 ¾ cup rice milk
1 Tbsp. Margarine
2 Tbsp. flour

In a saucepan, combine the corn, potato, onion, water, bouillon and salt and pepper. Cook over medium heat for 15 minutes, until the potato is tender. Stir in 1 ½ cups milk with margarine. Mix the remaining ¼ cup milk with the flour and add to the chowder. Cook and stir until thickened.

Variation: Toss in some diced, cooked chicken or ham during the last few minutes of cooking.

(Serves 4)

Poppy seed Muffins
2 cups flour
¾ cup sugar
2 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. baking soda
½ tsp. salt
2 Tbsp. poppy seed
2 Eggs
1-cup rice milk with 1 Tbsp. lemon juice
½ cup margarine softened
1 or 2 Tbsp. lemon juice

Combine all ingredients. Spoon the batter into a greased 12-muffin tin. Bake at 400 for 15 to 20 minutes.

(Serves 6-8)

Day 2: BBQ Chicken, Baked Rice Pilaf, Green Beans

BBQ Chicken
1 lb. Chicken Breasts
1 or 2 cups BBQ Sauce

Marinate Chicken in BBQ Sauce for at least 1 hour. Grill chicken until done, basting with additional BBQ Sauce as needed.

Green Beans
1 bag fresh or frozen green beans

Steam Green beans for about 5-10 minutes or until they are tender.

Baked Rice Pilaf
1 ¾ cup water
2 carrots, peeled and shredded
¾ cup white rice
3 Tbsp. parsley
2 Tbsp. margarine
2 Tbsp. chopped onion
1 Celery Stalk, diced
1 Tbsp. chicken bouillon granules

Melt the butter in a saucepan, and briefly sauté the diced onion and celery in it. Then combine sautéed mixture with all other ingredients in a 2-quart baking dish. Cover and bake at 375 for 45 minutes, stirring halfway through cooking time.

(Serves 6)

Day 3: Spaghetti with Meat Sauce, Garden Salad, French bread
Day 4: Chicken Quesadillas, Spanish rice
Day 5: Hamburgers, Baked Beans, Chips

Have a great week.

I was never really too sure about the whole “green” movement, until about a year ago. Even then, I was still kinda skeptical about the whole thing. Our process from being a family who filled up two large trash cans a week and ate a lot of, pre-packaged foods,  (rice a roni, hamburger helper, etc… ) We were never as bad as some of the families that you would see on T.V. We have never owned a deep fryer, and I baked or grilled most of our meat. However deep down I knew there was a lot of room for improvement, I just wasn’t real sure how to go about it. I liked the way the meals I cooked tasted, they were easy, and most importantly, my family ate them. As for the trash, well, all that pre-packaged food comes in boxes, and for a while we did have two children in diapers. Paper towels and other paper products were often a staple for us. With a toddler and an infant it made life so much easier.

As most things in this house, the change started with the kids. When Alex turned 1, we started him on whole milk, that is when we noticed that he was still spitting up, a lot. It just didn’t seem right. So I talked with his doctor and put him on soy milk instead of cow milk. It worked wonders. That was the start of our slow gradual change to being a green family. At that time, I still bought and cooked with a lot of pre-packaged food. I was so overwhelmed at the idea of cooking without dairy that I didn’t quite know how to start. On top of everything else we were moving from a town house into a single family home, and I was pregnant. It wasn’t the time to start experimenting with how I managed the house. At least I didn’t think so. I just wasn’t ready.

Then came Lizzie. Lizzie has changed our lives in ways I couldn’t ever begin to imagine. We discovered very quickly that Lizzie was dairy and soy intolerant. Not just dairy like Alex. Not only couldn’t she have dairy or soy, but she became violently sick whenever she had either, especially soy. At about the same time we started noticing some behavior problems in Alex, mostly hyperactivity and attention problems. Nothing big, but it was creating problems at home and at his playgroup. Since I was now cooking dairy and soy free for Lizzie I decided to try it with Alex as well. It worked, but we were still having problems, and I was still overwhelmed. I had no idea how to cook all naturally from scrap.

This is when I began to feel that God was telling me that I needed to make changes in how I managed our house. I started to feel like, we were wasting too much. I felt like God was telling me that there was a better way of doing things, that I didn’t have to be so overwhelmed all the time. All I needed to do was make a few small changes and I would be a much calmer wife and mother.

Our first big change was the diapers. At the time Lizzie was a year old and Alex was three. We were in the process of potty training Alex, but we were not getting very far. That left us with two children in diapers of some sort. That is a lot of diapers, and a lot of money. That in itself did not cause the change, it was Lizzie’s constant diaper rash that brought about the change. When Lizzie was 6 weeks old she contracted a yeast diaper rash, it was our constant companion for the next year. That rash caused many sleepless nights, and tiring days. By the time Lizzie was a year old, I was at the end of my rope. We had tried every medicine and home remedy out there, and nothing worked. That is when I gave in. I decided to try the cloth diapers, and guess what, within 2 days of using the diapers, the rash was gone. Other than the occasional guest appearance when Lizzie is sick, we haven’t seen it since. Along with a happier Lizzie, there were several other side benefits to the new diapers. The cost was a big one, They were expensive at the beginning, because we use pocket diapers, however after 6 months we had made back all our initial costs through savings.  We were now also producing far less garbage.

That was our first big step. After that all the other changes we made were tiny baby steps. I had been doing some research on ADHD and eventually decide to put both the kids on an all organic diet. I started this for Alex, to try to help with his behavior, but it has been beneficial for both the kids. It has been a little harder on my wallet, but I am confident that it will even out in the end. Alex has shown a dramatic improvement in his behavior in all areas of his life. It took some time, and a large learning curve for me. I had to pretty much relearn how to cook, but it has been well worth it.

Now that we have made those two biggest steps, I am slowly making other smaller changes. I have switched to microfiber sponges  and rags in the kitchen instead of disposable sponges and paper towels. I have switched to all natural cleaners as well. I am thinking about switching to cloth napkins when we use up the napkins that we currently have.  In a more personal area, I have even switched to cloth sanitary pads. We have gone down from two large trash cans a week, to less than one. I am also thinking about starting a vegetable garden this spring, and possibly even a compost pile, to help cut down on our trash even more.

All in all, I think all our changes have been for the better. I know the kids are happier and healthier, and so am I. I am not nearly as overwhelmed about cooking for my family, in fact I even enjoy it. I love sitting down at the beginning of the week and planning our menu. I am a much happier, calmer mom, which means happier and calmer children and husband.

I am happy that we have “gone green.” I know we are not nearly as green as we probably should be, we still have two cars, and I drive wherever I need to go. I still use shampoo, and toilet paper, but I am happy with the way things are going. I will continue to make small changes in our lifestyle when I feel that God is telling me too.

Breakfast

Meal 1: Blueberry Pancakes
Meal 2: As You Wish Muffins
Meal 3: Breakfast Cookies
Meal 4: Cheesy Eggs, Toast
Meal 5: Banana Muffins
Meal 6: Cereal

Dinner

Meal 1: Sub Sandwiches, Potato Wedges
Meal 2: Sweet-n-Sour Chicken over Rice
Meal 3: Taco Salad
Meal 4: Split Pea Soup with Ham, Grilled Cheese
Meal 5: Spaghetti, Garlic Toast, Salad

Hey there everybody,

This is week 10 in my 12 week cycle. I took a few weeks off. It was a busy couple weeks with birthdays and sick children. I have also started planning breakfast. The kids need to start eating a better breakfast so that they are not so hungry an hour after we eat. I am also hoping that it will help Alex behave better at school. Even though this is the first week that I am planning breakfast, I am going to keep dinner and breakfast on the same week, so I don’t get too confused.

Hope everyone is having a great start to the week.

Heather

Week 9

So last week we had Freezer Frenzy week here at our house. I had quite a collection of leftovers in my big freezer, so I just pulled things out all week and reheated them for dinner. I didn’t even make a dent, or at least it seems like that. I thought about doing the same thing this week, but decided against it. I still want to have stuff in the freezer in case we need it for some reason. So we are on to week 9. I am almost through my 12 week rotation. Once we get through the 12 weeks I will have another freezer frenzy week, and then I start the whole cycle over again.

Here is this weeks menu:

Meal 1: Honey Baked Chicken, Brown Rice, Corn
Meal 2: Pizza Sandwiches, Salad
Meal 3: Chicken Noodle Soup, Crackers
Meal 4: French toast, Sausage, Fresh Berry Salad
Meal 5: Hamburger and Potato Dish, Peas

Here are some of the recipes for this week:

Honey Baked Chicken
4 Chicken Breasts
1/3-cup ghee
1/3-cup honey
2 Tbsp. mustard
1 tsp. salt
1tsp. curry powder

Season and place chicken in a prepared 9”x13” pan. Combine the remaining ingredients and pour over the chicken. Bake at 350 for one hour, basting occasionally.

You can also cook this in a crock-pot on low for 4 about hours.

Pizza Sandwiches
8 slices of bread
Softened ghee
1 3.5 oz. package sliced pepperoni
8 oz. mozzarella cheese, sliced
Mozzarella rice cheese
1 Jar pizza sauce

On each of 4 slices of bread, arrange one layer of sliced pepperoni, and one layer of cheese. Top each with a buttered slice of bread, butter side up. Turn these upside down on a hot griddle and quickly butter the topside of the bread. Flip when crispy and cook the other side until crispy. Serve with pizza sauce for dipping.

Hamburger and Potato Dish
1-½ lbs. ground beef
1 cup chopped onion
1 ½ tsp. salt
1 15 oz. can dark kidney beans, drained
1 14.5 oz. can diced tomatoes, with juice
4 cups frozen hash browns, partially thawed.

Brown ground beef and onion and drain. Stir in the salt, beans, and tomatoes. Place hash browns in a sprayed slow cooker. Top with ground beef mixture. Cover and cook on low 5-6 hours or until potatoes are tender.

Have a great week

Heather

I am back. I took the last two weeks off from Menu planning due to the holidays. We were out so much and had so many leftovers that I didn’t really need to plan too much. I was a little worried about how the kids would do, since we ate away from home so much, but for the most part they did great.  We had a few days were I wished we had been more strict about their diet. Overall though they did great. We did discover however that red dye really affects Alex’s behavior, so no more Hi-C or red candy for him.

Now that the holidays are over and we are starting to get back into our usual routine it is time for me to plan this weeks menu. In my 12 week rotating schedule we are on week 7.

Week 7: Meal Plan
Day 1: Grilled Chicken Breasts, Rice, Green Beans
Day 2: French Dip Sandwiches, Chips, Salad
Day 3: Hamburger Steaks over Noodles, Mixed Vegetables
Day 4: Nachos, Re-fried Beans, Mexican Corn.
Day 5: Creamed Chicken over Biscuits

I didn’t add all the recipes this week, since most of them are pretty straight forward, but if you want one of the recipes, leave me a comment and I will get it to you.

Have a great week.

Heather