April Week 1 Meal Plans - Allergen friendly, PCOS friendly, Calorie friendly

Whoops I forgot to post last week's recipes. We did eat out one night so here's the rest. More to come later today for this week's meal plans. After last week's craziness it's going to be crockpot central around here!

April Week 1 Meal Plans (many from PCOS Diva's new blog)
One Pot Kale and Quinoa Pilaf
Raspberry Balsamic Chicken
Cincinnati Spaghetti
Baked Potato Casserole (Recipe Below)

Baked Potato Casserole

It's super easy!
Slice 4-5 good size butter gold potatoes thick au-gratin style, drizzle with EVOO, sprinkle with salt and pepper, and bake at 425 for 30 mins.

Top with 1 lb of browned & cooked ground beef, sprinkle with a few pats of butter, top with 1 cup of shredded cheddar cheese, cover with foil and bake for 20 mins.

Take out and serve topped with chopped green onions and sour cream. Delish but it took way to long for this busy momma! I'll be making it in the crock pot next time.

Social media as a customer service tool

Image via CrunchBase Finally a lazy Sunday to catch up...well as lazy as a Sunday can be around here. Kids are up before dawn, husband is spending the three day weekend finishing up our landscaping, I'm playing online working on the dining room re-design and then there is the usual cooking, cleaning and never ending "will you play with me" questions that I hate saying no to. :)

I've been pretty MIA from cyber space lately. My sister in law is now a Mrs. and weekends are now no longer dedicated to wedding plans, Alex is officially not in preschool any longer (OMG how did my baby turn into a Kindergartener??) and Liv is walking...plenty to keep me busy. It's funny how attached we become to our information sources. I use Twitter to stay up on news and to interact with friends, and lately also as a venting outlet for crappy customer service issues.

I hate dealing with customer service numbers. It never works out well for me. I end up in a never ending loop of hold music and lack of answers. Boy does that make me mad...enough that I had pretty much given up on calling anymore. Instead I got mad and shot my mouth off on Twitter. I had a rough day, McDonalds screwed up my coffee, Target wouldn't let me enter a prescription online (well they would, just at the end of the process they kicked it out since the person it was for was 9 months old and needed an adult...seriously like my prodigy 9 month old was entering it herself), Lumber Liquidators wouldn't refund half my money for a product I had never picked up for some unknown reason, and Sam's Club had double charged me and messed my order up and I was stuck in an endless loop of them insisting both issues were fixed because they refunded the overcharge. Not my best day and perhaps I can be forgiven for getting a little testy and shouting off on Twitter.

Imagine my surprise when I almostly immediately got direct messages back from Sam's Club, McDonalds and Lumber Liquidators. Direct messages asking me why I was frustrated (kind of hard to explain in 140 characters but I did my best). Direct messages flew back and forth and ended with me giving them my phone number. Within minutes my phone rang and without a minute on hold I was speaking with an awesome customer service rep based here locally. To keep this post out of the novella range suffice it to say that the morning ended with all my refunds being processed (plus some! Rock on Sam's Club for offering a 200% money back guarentee on flowers LOVE THAT), and McDonalds sending me out a coupon for free coffee.

Who knew how powerful venting on Twitter could be and closely some stores watch their brand. Target was the only store to never respond at all and believe me, I'll call 3 out of 4 a win win!

March Allergy Friendly, PCOS Friendly Meal Plan - Week 1

I've been following a few blogs focusing on meal planning for a while now and
I'm inspired to start tracking my meal plans and posting them in case they help someone else out as much my favorite sites have helped me. With our family's various persnickety issues meal planning is a must and fast, healthy, tasty food is a bit tricky. This week we're attempting some new recipes to spice things up. All of these recipes will be slightly altered where necessary to be gluten, corn, soy and egg free (except the friatta which will be for me :)) Happy Cooking!

Monday: Beef Daube Provencal in the Crockpot
Tuesday: Brown Rice Penne with Sausage, Chard and Artichoke Hearts
Wednesday: Spring Chicken and Buckwheat Soup in the Crockpot
Thursday: Poached Chicken with Tarragon and Peas
Friday: Spring Rolls and Spicy Thai Curried Lentils
Saturday Lunch: Spring Chicken Salad & Toasted Pitas or homemade gluten free bread
Saturday Dinner: Mini Shepherd's Pies with roasted veggies on the side
Sunday: Mini Meat Loaves with sauteed broccoli and mashed potatoes

Breakfasts will be a combination of Friattas and Oatmeal and lunches will be made up of Pitas with whatever fillings I have on hand. I'm sure the occasiaional quesidilla will also make it's way in since it's a common standby in this house.

Related articles

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Quick Blog Update and then back to my lazy Sunday

Life is flying by so quickly recently I feel like someone in a movie who's standing still while everyone moves in fast forward around them. Livi is growing up so quickly, Alex is a self-proclaimed genius who never sits still and the daily grind just never lets up.

We're sitting around today doing our taxes in our jammies (don't knock it...it takes me a bit of motivation to get around to taxes... a jammy day and a mocha latte are significant motivation in my book). I use Turbo Tax and while I'm waiting on hubby to supply the numbers I've requested I decided to flip over and update my very neglected blog. Sorry blog, there are just not enough hours in the day for everything calling my name recently.

Soccer season has started and I'm happy to say Tryant #1 is enjoying his time on the field and I'm highly enjoying the hard core serious soccer playing that gets interrupted every 5 minutes by one of the boys bringing us flowers, or pointing out a plane or just dancing in circles instead of watching the ball. It's hilarious! Tyrant #2 quite enjoys watching the chaos and I truly appreciate the 2 hours a week when I'm forced to sit outside and do nothing. Ahhh

I have so many plans and such limited implementation time! Stay tuned for upcoming blogs on free business resources, great ideas for work at home mommies to stay organized and productive and some great stress relievers like online journals.

Dealing with Milk Soy Protien Intolerance -MPSI

Image by Veganbaking.net via FlickrI'm not vegan but lately it's become my primary adjective when I search for recipes. I find it far easier to locate a good looking, yummy sounding vegan recipe and then add on meat then the other way around.

A few nights ago my husband was quite brave and dug right in to the vegan Alfredo sauce I made to go with our gluten free brown rice pasta and blackened chicken. If you've ever thought about making a white sauce with no cheese, no butter and no milk, then you and I have shared a moment of "I just spent 30 minutes slaving over this and no one is going to eat it" panic.

Over the last five months I have experimented, avoided and substituted to no end. Although I can point you in the direction of a fabulous dairy free, soy free, gluten free chocolate bar, I can hardly remember the taste of real milk. Since I've fielded lots of questions lately on allergy free cooking and getting started I thought I would put together my top ten list of must haves for allergy free cooking and hope it helps someone else down the path to better health.

1. Coconut milk-I was pretty pumped when Jillian Michaels jumped on the coconut milk bandwagon since this is one that really needs to become more mainstream. It tastes fabulous, makes one heck of latte and works in everything from baking to mashed potatoes. I buy the vanilla for baking and unsweetened for everything else. It has no coconut taste or smell whatsoever and they make everything from milk to yogurt to ice cream and coffee creamer from it. My favorite brand is So Delicious and you can usually find at least 2-5 items of it in my fridge.
2. Tinkyada Brown Rice Pasta- We tried a lot of pasta when my husband first went gluten free and if you cooked them just right they didn't turn to mush on your fork. Then along came Tinkyada with their fabulous brown rice pasta in all shapes and it's now back in our weekly rotation.
   
3. Cashews-ground up superfine and cooked into a coconut milk sauce these lend (believe it or not) a cheesy texture and taste. I also through some nutritional yeast in there to increase the "cheesy" texture. The Alfredo sauce I mentioned earlier in this post was made up of olive oil, ground cashews, nutritional yeast and coconut milk, thickened with a tiny bit of arrowroot powder (could use corn if you aren't' corn free like we are).
   
4. Rice flour (white and brown)- buy it in the Asian section or from an Asian supermarket to get the fine flour that works wonders in baked goods. I make my own flour mix up of 1/3 brown rice flour, white rice flour and sorghum flour, and substitute that cup for cup in any regular recipe calling for all purpose flour.
   
5. Sorghum flour-see above. It's a staple in my house and I find it quite cheap at the Indian market. If you don't have something like that in your area try amazon.com.
   
6. Starbucks Via-I love coffee and since Starbucks only offers soy or dairy milk I suffered for weeks before grabbing a pack of the VIA and trying it out. IT'S AMAZING! I use an inch of water, micro it, add my via, top it off with vanilla coconut milk, stir and micro that and there's my latte!
   
7. Gluten free rolled oats- I'm a dessert fiend and most of my favorites went out the window with the milk soy protein intolerance diagnosis. My new favorite (healthier) replacement is a small corningware dish filled with frozen strawberries and mangoes (no sugar added, just plain frozen fruit), sprinkle with cinnamon. Then in a separate bowl melt a little Earth Balance dairy/soy free butter spread and mix in a few tablespoons of gluten free quick cooking oats and brown sugar. Top the fruit and bake for 30 minutes until cobbler like.
   
8. Frozen fruit-I buy the big bags from Sam's Club and use it for everything from the recipe above to smoothies. Lot's of smoothies.
   
9. Oatmeal (Quaker makes packets of instant with whole grain rolled oats) I use instant for a quick breakfast or make up a batch of oatmeal pudding (recipe to come soon) and eat on it all week.
   
10. Google-There is so much information out on the web from people who walked this path before me. I am grateful for Google and all the help, recipes and suggestions it has brought my way!

I hope this information helps you or someone you know who is dealing with elimination diets for Milk Soy Protein Intolerance and be sure to email me or comment with any questions or suggestions.

Holiday Recap-Recipes, Pictures and More

It took me getting sick and camping out on the couch to find time to write this. Two kiddos, work, hobbies there's just not enough time in the day is there.

This year we hosted a dessert party, did a day trip to Houston and back on Christmas Eve, and managed 4 Christmas celebrations in 42 hours. Talk about controlled chaos. The new van came in super handy, the kids were fabulous and I enjoyed every minute. of course I kept thinking to myself on the road...if I had an IPad I'd be writing right now hehehe! Thanks to all the family and friends who showered me with gift cards I think there's an IPad in my near future.

The natives are restless so I'll keep this short and sweet!

My favorite holiday recipe...hands down it was the Crockpot Chocolate Pudding Cake I made for our dessert party. It was quick to prep, cooked while we were out and about and combined with the timer on our coffee pot, allowed me to arrive home minutes before our guests and have everything ready to roll!

Crock-pot Chocolate Pudding Cake (dairy free, gluten free, corn free, soy free options)

• 1 pkg (3.9oz) Jell-O Chocolate Instant Pudding Mix (or check out www.allrecipes.com for an allergy free recipe sub)
• 3 cups milk (regular, almond, coconut)
• 1 pkg (2 layer size) chocolate fudge cake mix (I use Cherrybrook Kitchen Gluten Free Chocolate Cake Mix)
• 2 squares Baker's Semi-Sweet Chocolate chopped (sprinkle Enjoy Life chocolate chips for dairy/soy free)
• 2 cups thawed cool whip or whip cream (Soy whipped cream if soy tolerant, or omit, I didn't mind the omission :))

To Make It:

• Spray your crock-pot with cooking spray, or lightly coat with shortening. (Some Pam sprays have soy so check labels). Beat pudding mix and milk in your crock-pot with a wire whisk for 2 minutes. The recipe calls for a 3 1/2 quart but I have the larger oval and it worked fine.
• In another bowl prepare the cake batter according to the boxes instructions. Slowly pour it over the pudding mixture. DO NOT STIR. Cover the crock-pot with the lid.
• Cook on low 2 1/2 - 3 hours (or on high 1 1/2 - 2 hours) until toothpick inserted comes out of cake clean. Top with chopped chocolate or chips. Turn off the cooker and let stand covered 30 minutes to allow the pudding to thicken. Serve with cool whip and dusted with cocoa powder or chocolate shavings.
  

My Must Have Kitchen Gadget for the holidays: Hands down it was my new Beka sauce pan. I whipped up quick quesidillas, chocolate sauces, you name it in there and was able to wash and reuse in minutes. The non-stick coating is amazing and a few more of these will be on my Christmas list for next year. And even better...this company has an environmental record that puts most other companies to shame. I just love them! Check them out here.

My 'Couldn't get dinner on the table without it' recipe sites: I have two favorites without question are Dinner Tool and All Recipes. Dinner Tool lets me meal plan, add my own recipes, create shopping lists and have a quick printout of my weeks plan. Allrecipes.com lets me search by ingredients so I can plug in something I'm trying to get out of the pantry or fridge and up pops a slew of choices. LOVE IT!

My favorite photo sharing site: With all the IPads, E-readers, and smartphones out there we've become a society of digital sharing. In most cases I'm right on that bandwagon but some vestiges of society are being lost in the cyber rush. I firmly believe it teaches real values for kids to recognize the generosity of Christmas and respond with a heartfelt thank you note. However I've found that over the last few years it is tough to interest my oldest in writing them. This year I stepped up my game and we used Smilebox to create digital thank you cards we could send to family. Normally this would have gone against my edict that thank you notes are personal and it's hard to get that touch with a digital card, but Smilebox allows you to add video clips to your card. So we sat down and recorded a bunch of 10-30 second clips on our Flip with my son thanking friends and family for their gifts. Each person got an individual thank you card with a video clip of Alex thanking them. Better than forcing him to sit at the table and write his name on cards he couldn't read, this worked great. He could relate to this and I loved the message he got from working with me to put it together.

Last but not least to catch me up over the last few weeks...Livi turned 6 months. It's been an amazing time with her and we are truly blessed to have such an angel living with us.

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Gluten Free, Dairy Free, Egg Free, Corn Free Pumpkin Cookies

I was seriously upset about the lack of pumpkin pie in my holiday future, so I tweaked some recipes and came up with these. They're delicious and have added benefits for nursing moms. I also made a quick icing glaze for about half of them and it was the perfect touch!

Ingredients:
2 cups gluten free flour (I used 2/3 cup each: Sorghum, Brown Rice and White Rice)
1 1/3 Gluten free rolled oats
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1 tsp guar gum
2 Tbsp Brewers yeast
1 2/3 cup sugar
2/3 cup canola oil (for corn free use grapeseed oil)
2 Tbsp molasses
1 cup canned pumpkin
1 tsp vanilla
1 Tbsp ground flax seeds
1/2 cup cranberries or raisins (I used cranberries)
1 cup walnuts finely chopped (optional, take out for nut free)

How to make:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Lightly grease your baking sheets. Combine flour, oats, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, guar gum, and brewers yeast in a mixing bowl.

In another bowl mix sugar, oil, molasses, pumpkin, vanilla, and flax seeds. Add contents from the first bowl to this one and fold. Fold in nuts if using, and cranberries.

Use a tablespoon or cookie scoop to fill your cookie sheet. (I made one sheet and then filled the next one and froze it. once the cookies were frozen I put them in an airtight container and they were ready to bake anytime I needed them...plus they lasted more than 24 hours :)). These don't spread a lot so you can flatten them if you want crispier cookies.

Bake for about 15 minutes. This recipe makes about 4 dz cookies.

NOTE: If you are not gluten free, use all purpose flour, and omit the guar gum.