Meatless Monday

Here is the meal plan for this week, in no particular order:

BBQ chicken pizza

Mango chicken with Thai broccoli (that I didn't get to make last week)

Spinach lasagna with Greek salad

Turkey chili with gluten-free cornbread

Grilled cheese sandwiches with GF pasta salad (and possibly tomato soup, if the weather calls for it)

You'll notice I didn't plan a new meal for every night; that kind of backfired on me last week. We made the chicken pizza on Sunday and are having the in-laws over to share our lasagna tonight. On my list of other things to make this week are GF oatmeal chocolate chip bars from my mom (a mix-in-a-jar), another batch of hummus with veggies, edamame for snacking, and a big batch of steeel-cut oats for breakfast. It's been over a week since I've had them, and I'm getting tired of toast (plus the bread is almost gone).

What meal are you most looking forward to this week?

My grand meal plan

This is what my meal plan looked like when I created it on Saturday:

Sun - Tomato, potato, spinach, and feta frittata with mushrooms and garlic (an Eat-Clean Diet recipe)

Mon - Chicken with mango and brown rice, Thai broccoli (Clean Eating Magazine recipes)

Tue - Caramelized Tofu with Brussels Sprouts from Health for the Whole Self (can you tell The H is heading out of town?)

Wed - Crispy Coconut Tofu Nuggets from Cara's Cravings, with leftover edamame salad

Thu - Honey mustard meatloaf (recipe from my sister) with baked sweet potatoes (from allrecipes)

Fri - Pizza (because The H will now be home, haha)

Sat - Open

HOWEVER... life threw us a curveball and both The H and I were flattened by food poisioning on Sunday. The little guy spent all day Monday with his (very thoughtful and generous!) grandparents while we attempted to recover. Together we cobbled together a simple, tasty chicken noodle soup, which was pretty much all I ate on Monday, in addition to one banana and about a half-cup of dry Cascadian Farms organic honey Os cereal. Today I've sustained myself with more Os, sparkling water, unsweetened applesauce, and toast with Earth Balance. At least I have a great meal plan ready to go for next week! Ah, there's the silver lining.

A taste of spring

The stunningly bright sunshine from yesterday spilled into today, making this eating machine very happy indeed. I had a great run (despite forgetting my peach-mango coconut water and agave bears) and got to drink coffee with The H and a good friend afterwards. I'm not one to waste a good beautiful day by lying around, so after my shower and second breakfast, I got to work in the kitchen.

Today's recipe of choice, that will be snacks and lunch for the coming week, comes from the pull-out recipe card page of the March/April 2010 issue of Clean Eating Magazine. I stocked up on the necessary ingredients last week, when I took my parents and the little guy to our favorite grocery store. Last night I slow-cooked dried garbanzo beans so they'd be ready. One pound of dry beans yielded four 8oz cooked portions that I froze today.

Edamame and Chickpea Slaw

from Clean Eating Magazine, Vol. 3, Issue 2

serves: 6 (generously)

serving size: 1 cup

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups fresh chickpeas

Olive oil cooking spray

1/4 tsp sea salt

4 tsp olive oil, divided

1 head broccoli stalks, shredded

1 head cabbage, shredded

1 head purple cabbage, shredded

1 cup shelled edamame beans

3/4 cup green or red bell pepper, julienned

1 1/2 cup carrots, shredded

4 green onions, chopped

Vinaigrette:

2/3 cup apple cider vinegar

2 Tbsp honey

2 cloves garlic, minced

1/2 tsp caraway seeds

1/2 tsp ground black pepper

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 450* and place chickpeas on a baking sheet that has been sprayed with cooking spray. Drizzle with two teaspoons of the oil and sprinkle with sea salt. Roast for 30 minutes, shaking the pan occasionally. Remove from the oven to cool.

2. Combine broccoli, both cabbages, edamame, bell pepper, carrots, and onion in a large bowl (not kidding about the LARGE part here) and set aside.

3. In a medium bowl, whisk together the vinegar, honey, garlic, caraway seeds, pepper, and remianing two teaspoons of oil. Pour dressing over salad and mix gently. Chill for at least 30 minutes. Before serving, top with roasted chickpeas.

The recipe looks a bit lengthy, and truthfully it did take about an hour to put together, but I made a few shortcuts. Instead of shredding each of the two heads of cabbage and the carrots, I bought a bag of pre-shredded coleslaw mix--green cabbage, red cabbage, and carrots.

I used pre-shelled frozen edamame. It needed to be boiled before using, so keep that in mind as an extra step if you do the same. Start the water when you preheat the oven for the garbanzos.

I may have been only supposed to use the stalk part of the broccoli, but I wasn't sure, so I used the florets as well, like I would have with any other recipe. I chopped it rather than shredding it.

I used some red and some yellow peppers for a bit of extra fresh color.

Roasting the chickpeas at such a high temp for 30 minutes makes them crunchy all the way through. Other recipes I've tried for roasted garbanzos never seem to get *quite* crispy enough. These are remarkably crouton-like, a nice option for The wheat-free H. I would like to make another batch with spicy seasonings for snacking sometime soon.

This recipe just looks like spring to me. I can easily see it making an appearance on the table at family potlucks or picnics. The apple cider vinegar gives it a nice mild tartness, and the caraway seeds provide a sneaky little pop of flavor. I love edamame any way I can get it, so to have those shiny little beans hiding in there is fantastic. The garlic and onion really develop over the half-hour of chilling time. I served this with tonight's dinner (turkey Italian sausages on the grill) and just about fell off my seat when The H not only said he liked it, but actually got up for seconds. His only criticism was that it could use more dressing.

Nutrition information:

Calories 268

Total fat 5g

Sat. fat 0.5g

Carbs 47.5g

Fiber 12g

Sugar 17g

Protein 12g

Sodium 199mg

Cholesterol 0mg

It's shopping day!

The ordering window for the co-op opened this morning and I wasted no time filling up my virtual basket. On the list this month:

Eggs - the brown ones pictured here

Carrots - the producer says they're incredibly sweet

Parsley - for quinoa tabbouleh

Frozen blueberries - for pancakes, yogurt, and oatmeal

Frozen raspberries - for yogurt and smoothies

Ground turkey - I have a honey-mustard meatloaf recipe to try!

Stew beef - for stew (duh) and curry

Chicken necks and backs - for making stock

Nitrite-free bacon - SO GOOD

Pancetta - a new item this month, just wanted to try it

Maybe towards the end of the week we'll see how our 4lbs of coffee from the last pick-up is holding out and add another bag if it looks like we'll run out before the end of the month. We are completely out of chicken breast, so I will plan a trip to one of the local meat markets this week and pick some up. It's a meat-heavy month, but the freezer is getting bare so it's time to stock up.

Crunchy munchy

The sun is shining here in west MI, the sky is a brilliant blue, and the little guy is at daycare... a perfect day to walk up to the health food store! So I pulled on some boots, grabbed a couple reusable grocery bags, and off I went on my lunch break. What a beautiful day! The walk alone was worth it, never mind all the goodies I found.

This is the view from my upstairs window. Look at that sky!

Ohh, the goodies... Guys, I love grocery shopping. Not just love, but obsess over. Daydream about. Make extensive plans for. It's probably a good thing I went by myself today. More than once I caught myself before actually saying, "I *love* this place!" out loud. Today I was armed with a list (my other love!) of specialty ingredients, largely from Clean Eating Magazine and some posts in my Google Reader. Sometimes I flip through my CE Magazine and think, "Really? Now where in the world am I supposed to find THAT?" Ask no more. It's all at this store. And I am lucky enough to have one within walking distance. I think that for those who don't have a Whole Foods or Trader Joe's (my closest one is 2 hours away) this is the next best thing. Sometimes, I think it's better, especially in terms of service and price. A ton of things were on sale today!

Here's my haul spread out on the counter:

Today I went in search of sucanat (got it!), mesquite powder (yep!),

cacao nibs (you betcha!), almond butter, tofu (what else would a health food store carry?) and a few other things. In my browsing I also discovered dulse flakes and umeboshi, both of which had been used in CE Magazine recipes. I drooled over the organic dessert selections and had to pick my jaw up off the floor when I saw the extensive wheat- and gluten-free options in the freezer cases. Wheat-free pie crust. Who knew? The H might be disappointed that I chose not to get chocolate-covered wheat-free donuts, but he'll get over it, especially if I make another batch of almond butter cookies this weekend.

Here's what else I brought home: Food Should Taste Good brand buffalo tortilla chips, millet-flax lavash bread (safe enough for The H to try!), fruit leather, panko bread crumbs, agave bears (for my long run tomorrow),

arrowroot powder, French lentils, Nature's Path frozen flax waffles, and roasted edamame. I realized, as I checked out, that we spend a lot of money on food. This was my third food-related shopping trip in the past week, and not because I simply forgot to get a few things the first time. It's a hobby, a habit. Something I enjoy doing when I read a new recipe and realize I get to purchase new ingredients for it. Some people have shoes or handbags; I have cacao nibs and sucanat.

Nice ingredients, right? I hope they treat The H well. I had one with hummus and tabbouleh for lunch.

This is Samwise. He's pouting because I didn't take him with me:

I must say I felt a tad out of place as I walked the mile back home, reusable bags slung over my shoulders, munching on fruit leather and crunchy edamame. Seems like I'd fit in better in a place like Seattle or Ann Arbor, where perhaps I wouldn't get odd looks from folks in their cars or waiting for the bus. Then again, maybe my little corner of the world just needs more people like me. Grocery obsession and all.

Our favorite pasta

This pasta dish came together very quickly, since the sausage was already cooked and the sauce came from a jar. When I make a package of Italian turkey sausage links, I cook the entire package (Jennie-O contains 5 links) and set some aside to freeze for future use. The spicy one is especially great for curry-stuffed acorn squash. When I cook it, I remove the casings and brown the sausage like any regular ground meat. This is also the kind of sausage called for in Clean Eating Magazine's turkey sausage ragu.

Anyway, back to the pasta. It made a perfect after-church lunch on Sunday afternoon, but would also be a nice, fast weeknight meal. We used gluten-free brown rice pasta, but it would work well with any pasta in the shape of your choice. Serve it with fresh fruit or a salad to round out the meal. We make a variation of this several times a month.

Baked Ziti-style Sausage Pasta

serves 4

8oz dry pasta

Jarred marinara sauce

Dried Italian herbs and crushed red pepper, to taste

4oz fresh mushrooms, washed and sliced

Handful of fresh spinach, chopped

4oz spicy Italian-style ground turkey sausage, cooked

Shredded mozzarella cheese, optional OR fresh grated parmesan cheese, for serving

1. Preheat oven to 350*. Cook pasta according to package directions.

2. While pasta is cooking, heat marinara sauce in a medium saucepan over low heat. Add mushrooms, spinach, and cooked sausage. Season to taste with Italian herbs and crushed red pepper and heat through.

3. Drain pasta and combine with sauce mixture. Add more sauce if mixture looks too dry. Pour into a lightly-sprayed 8x8 baking dish.

4. Top with shredded cheese, if using, and bake 15 minutes or until heated through and cheese is melted.

Gluten-free cookie mix: a review

It's been a cookie-baking week in the eating machine house. I've had a box of Betty Crocker's gluten free chocolate chip cookie mix sitting in the pantry for awhile and figured it was time to stir it up. The H was going out of town for work, so I thought he could take them with him for snacking.

The ingredients list is fairly simple, though not really clean. Lots of sugar.

There were ton of chocolate chips in the bowl when I dumped the mix, but surprisingly the cookies themselves didn't seem to have very many in each one.

Fresh from the oven, these had a distinctively gluten-free gritty texture, but as they cooled it kind of went away. They baked up large, as you can see, so for the second tray full I had to get creative. There was no way the 12 cookies I had on the sheet would have come out well at all!

I ended up with 2 normal cookies, 6 cookie muffins, and a cute little mini loaf.

These were very crumbly when fresh, but retained their structure better as they cooled. Once cool, they tasted like any regular store-bought chocolate chip cookie dough.

After all was said and done, these ended up being our third favorite gluten free Betty Crocker mix. The first place prize in our experience goes to the Devil's Food Cake. I won't make these on a regular basis (the almond butter cookies I made last night are far superior) but they might be nice to have on hand if you are expecting young gluten-free guests.