Cooking Fool - Celiac and T1 Style.

Today was a fun but busy day. I volunteered at the Walk For Animals all morning, and unfortunately the weather did not cooperate for a good part of it. It heavily drizzled for a few hours, was windy and cold. Good thing I was having too good of a time handing out poop bags to notice too much. (Pay no attention to the straggly looking hair in the photo. It was from hours of wind and rain).

In the afternoon, I began my mission of menu planning for the upcoming week. The menu is based off my newest (and possibly most favorite EVER) cookbook, The Healthy Gluten-Free Life by Tammy Credicott. All recipes are gluten free, dairy free, soy free and egg free. It has some of the best recipes I've ever seen in a gluten-free cookbook, and you can bet I'll be wrapping up this baby to give as gifts to even my NON-gluten free friends. It's that good.

I know it looks like I make way too much food to eat, but generally I freeze half of every entree I make. I freeze them in individual-storage containers for on-the-go lunches(the gluten-free, healthy version of a frozen dinner). It makes for great, quick, ready to eat suppers for later, too.

If you notice, I've been eating quinoa flakes for breakfast quite frequently. For you non-gf eaters, quinoa flakes are like oatmeal, only higher in protein and in my humble opinion, better tasting. It cooks on the stove top in 90 seconds (you can also do microwave) and I usually add either almond butter, peanut butter, almond milk, blueberries, walnuts, agave nectar, or apples and cinnamon. So filling and haven't had any issues with it spiking my BG as long as I bolus ahead of time.

Sunday:
apple cinnamon quinoa
baked chicken with Easy Beans, broccoli salad
skillet rosemary chicken with green beans and apple sauce (which I make fresh in my Vitamix blender- so easy!)

Monday:
quinoa with almond butter and blueberries
BLAT's to Go (Bacon, lettuce, avocado and tomato wrapped in romaine leaves), baked sweet potato
baked pork chop, zucchini with mushrooms

Tuesday:
vanilla honey quinoa with blueberries and almonds
chicken noodle soup with fresh baked buns and side salad with fresh dressing
bay shrimp veggie salad, baked sweet potato

Wednesday:
quinoa with almond butter and blueberries
leftovers for lunch and dinner

Thursday:
quinoa with walnuts, almond milk and blueberries
large salad with fresh dressing, loaded baked sweet potato (healthy toppings)
citrus ginger chicken, green beans, side salad with fresh dressing

Friday:
apple cinnamon quinoa
oriental chicken salad (homemade dressing)
pot roast with vegetables

Saturday:
ham/spinach/sweet potato breakfast scramble
leftover pot roast with vegetables
*WILDCARD SUPPER* maybe a splurge meal, like a homemade GF pizza?

I also picked up some new tea from Teavana. It's strawberry lemonade with blueberry. It's caffeine free and on ice, very refreshing!! This is the actual set I bought.

I fell away from my walk/jog schedule for a bit after my bout with severe low blood sugars, but am ready and back at it tomorrow! So excited! So, after I do my two volunteer shifts at the church, I'll be doing some walk/jogging. Then I'll be putting the Cooking Channel on my tv for some background inspiration while I whip up some crazy magic in the kitchen for the week's menu plan. I love cooking. It's so relaxing to me. You just take a deeep breath of those fresh herbs your chopping, smell the baking bread in the oven, smell the aroma of the ginger chicken... there's nothing better.