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Meal Plans Week of 6-10-12

Good morning. Today is one of “those” days…Abram up before 6 am. He’s munching on cheese, showing me his latest dance moves right now 😛  We’ll see how long this lasts. A couple of off mornings for us since I way overslept two days in a row 😛  I guess I need some extra sleep.

Last week was a very busy week in the kitchen with lots of new treats and plenty of other stuff. We also had lots of errands, had Abram’s iron levels checked (hate to see little ones get a blood draw), got the kids’ pictures taken and spent plenty of time playing outside and swimming in the pool.

This week was going to be quite busy. Rebecca was supposed to start a dance class. But they called yesterday saying they had to move it to a different time…so we had to cancel. It doesn’t work in our schedule now. Bummer. We’ll have to find another dance class sometime. The week will still be plenty busy, but meal planning will be easier since I won’t need quite so many prep ahead meals. Today is church. Monday we have a playdate (an ice cream making playdate:) in the afternoon. Tuesday is farmer’s market. Saturday we have an extended family get-together. That’s all we have planned. We might go strawberry picking one afternoon. And we’ll see if the kids feel like going somewhere – zoo, playground, library, children’s museum, etc. Rebecca and I didn’t go mini golfing yesterday because she wanted to play in the pool instead. Maybe we’ll go this week sometime.

Looks like it’ll be another busy week in the kitchen. I always have more that I want to make than I have the time to make it. I have a couple cookie remakes I want to try. I also have one more recipe that was in my “to try” pile for years. It’s a chocolate ganache cake. I still have a little rhubarb to use up. I will need to make a fresh batch of yogurt and possibly pesto and mayo. I also have to bring a dish to pass on Saturday. I need to figure out what yet. We’ll be making ice cream with friends tomorrow. I might use the rest of our cream to make a new batches of ice cream toppings (chocolate, butterscotch, caramel). For meals I want to keep working on using some freezer foods. We will also have another Rebecca recipe…probably some kind of variation on chicken strips. She seems to be a big fan of foods that you can dip, especially anything you can dip in our homemade honey mustard.

I had a pretty up and down week last week. Too many cheats on bad stuff 😛  At least I’m learning what my body really can’t handle right now. I got to try a hoola hooping class. It was a blast! I’m considering buying a hoop (they are weighted…much different than kids’ hoops). It is a great way to workout/tone your body in a short amount of time without actually feeling like you’re working out. It’s so much fun. I also learned another important part of my mental issues with food. I have a hard time stopping eating if there is more food. If I eat ice cream I know there is more. When I finish what I served myself I know I can get seconds, thirds,…my body has a distorted sense of hungry and full. I just go on taste…it tastes good…I want more. Even with my meals, if I can get seconds of something I want it. When I’m cleaning up dinner I keep eating until it’s out of sight/put away. I end up eating way more than I need. On the other hand, if I make myself something that is a single serving (a sandwich for example), when I’m done I’m totally satisfied. I can’t go grab another bite or two or three. So I don’t even think about it. I don’t like that how much I eat has to be dictated by my thoughts at this point. But I don’t know what my true hunger and fullness are. My brain has a starve/binge mentality. It’s not healthy. But I’m not sure how to get rid of it. Maybe I need to eat more single serving type foods so that I can try to retrain my brain and not be in the habit of always getting additional helpings. I have another experiment that I want to try this week. I started it last week but didn’t have time to do it fully. I think it will also help with my mental issues about eating enough food. I’ll update next week. Hopefully this will be a better week overall for me.

Here’s what’s on the menu this week. It might change depending on our activities. And some sides might change depending on what we find at the market.
—–
S (prep lunch, church, prep smoothies)
  B – yogurt, granola, banana
  L – cp honey mustard chx w/ vegetables
  D – cobb style rice bowls, strawberry milkshakes

M (prep dinner, playdate, make ice cream)
  B – smoothie, banana bread
  D – (prep ahead) – cp ribs, mashed potatoes, beans

T (skim cream, make graham crackers, cookie remake, FM, strawberry picking dance)
  B – yogurt, peach bread
  D – (prep ahead) – avocado salmon tuna salad sandwiches w/ bacon, strawberries

W (freeze strawberries, roast beets, make cake, make cream pops)
  B – smoothie, banana bread
  D – Rebecca’s recipe – “cheese chicken nuggets w/ honey mustard, lettuce dipped in honey mustard, peas, strawberry milkshakes”

Th (dance make yogurt, make mayo, make butterscotch, freeze strawberries)
  B – smoothie, toast, bacon
  D – (prep ahead) – fish sticks, potato wedges, broccoli / cucumber, avocado
F (boil eggs, make pesto, prep dinner, make fruit leather)
  B – yogurt, granola, fruit
  D – deviled eggs, salad, scones or bread pudding

S (clean, make strawberry rhubarb pie, make fruit salad, VH party)
  B – TBD
  L – picnic
  D – grill TBD?

Strawberry Rhubarb Upside Down Cake

We got strawberries and rhubarb at the farmer’s market this week. A great combination for a spring dessert. Justin asked for a pie. But Rebecca insisted that we make a cake. She won 🙂  I did a quick search for a recipe yesterday morning and found one that looked good from Betty Crocker. It’s strawberry rhubarb upside down cake. I’ve never made any kind of upside down cake. But this looked good.

This turned out to be quite simple to make. And it tastes great!!! All four of us really enjoyed it. I modified the recipe since I don’t use boxed cake mixes. I made a modified version of my usual white cake (also a Betty Crocker recipe).

If you’re looking for a new way to use rhubarb and strawberries give this is a try! I know I’ll be making it again. Serve it with homemade vanilla ice cream, and it’s a perfect summer treat.

This post is linked to Fat Tuesday.

Strawberry Rhubarb Upside Down Cake

1/4  cup butter
1 cup packed organic brown cane sugar
2 cups sliced fresh strawberries
2 cups chopped fresh rhubarb

2 1/4 cups organic AP flour
1 2/3 cup organic cane sugar
2/3 cup palm shortening
3 1/2 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. sea salt
1 tsp. organic vanilla
3 eggs

Whipped cream or homemade vanilla ice cream, if desired
Heat oven to 350°F (325°F for dark or nonstick pan). In 13×9-inch pan, melt butter in oven. Sprinkle brown sugar evenly over butter. Arrange strawberries on brown sugar; sprinkle evenly with rhubarb. Press strawberries and rhubarb gently into brown sugar.
In large bowl, beat cake ingredients with an electric mixer on low speed 30 seconds, then on high speed 2 minutes, scraping bowl occasionally. Pour batter over strawberries and rhubarb.
Bake 50 – 60 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Immediately run knife around sides of pan to loosen cake. Place heatproof serving plate upside down on pan (I used a small baking sheet); turn plate and pan over. Leave pan over cake 1 minute so brown sugar topping can drizzle over cake. Cool 30 minutes. Serve warm or cool with whipped cream or ice cream. Store covered in refrigerator (I froze half and put half in a tupperware in the fridge).

Homemade Thin Mints

In June of 2009 I came across a recipe on 101 Cookbooks for homemade thin mints. I printed the recipe…and put it in a pile somewhere. And there it sat. Now three years later, I finally got around to making them yesterday.

The recipe is very simple. It’s a chocolate wafer that you dip in melted chocolate. It tastes very good. But I had some issues with the wafer dough. It was kind of crumbly. When I took the cookies out of the oven  they would fall apart if I touched them. After they cooled I could handle them ok. But when I started dipping them in the chocolate they sort of melted and crumbled (maybe I made them too thin?). So I only dipped a few of the cookies. For the rest I just spread the mint chocolate over the top. Not quite as good as a fully coated cookie, but they still taste fine. I was pressed for time so I went simple with the shape. I made squares (using a pizza cutter) instead of cutting out individual circles and trying to re-roll the dough.

Overall this is a really good cookie. It does taste like a thin minty chocolaty cookie. I can’t really compare it to the Girl Scout version since it’s been at least 15 years since I tasted one. If I make these again I’ll try to get the dough a bit more moist and see if that helps. I didn’t have pastry flour, so maybe that made a difference as well. Maybe I’ll try adding an egg next time. And adding a little heavy cream to the chocolate might make it thinner and easier to dip such a delicate cookie. It was pretty thick. I guess I’ll just have to make more soon to try. 🙂

Homemade Thin Mints

Chocolate Wafers:
8 ounces organic butter, room temperature
1 cup organic powdered sugar
1 tsp. natural vanilla extract
1 cup cocoa powder
3/4 tsp. fine grain sea salt
1 1/2 cups whole wheat pastry flour

Chocolate Peppermint Coating:
1 pound good quality semi-sweet chocolate, chopped
natural peppermint oil to taste

Preheat your oven to 350. Racks in the middle zone.

Make the cookie dough: In a mixer cream the butter until it is light and fluffy. Add the powdered sugar and cream some more, scraping the sides of the bowl a couple times if necessary. (Add egg??) Stir in the vanilla extract and then the salt and cocoa powder. Mix until the cocoa powder is integrated and the batter is smooth and creamy, sort of like a thick frosting. Add the whole wheat pastry flour and mix just until the batter is no longer dusty looking, it might still be a bit crumbly, and that’s o.k. You don’t want to over mix and end up with tough cookies.

Turn the dough out onto a counter, gather it into a ball, and kneed it just once or twice to bring it together into once nice, smooth mass. Place the ball of dough into a large plastic bag and flatten it into a disk roughly 3/4-inch thick. Place the dough in the freezer for 20 minutes to chill. (Might be easier to roll it in a log, freeze it and then just slice thin rounds…I’ll probably try that next time.)

Roll out and bake: Remove the dough from the freezer and roll it out really thin, remember how thin Thin Mints are? That’s how thin you need your dough, about 1/8-inch. You can either roll it out between two sheets of plastic, or dust your counter and rolling pin with a bit of flour and do it that way. Stamp out cookies using a 1 1/2-inch cutter (this time I used one with a fluted edge, I’ve done hearts and other shapes in the past). (I used a pizza cutter to cut them into squares…much easier and no waste) Place cookies on a parchment-lined baking sheet and bake for 10 minutes. Remove the cookies from the oven and allow them to cool completely on a baking rack if you’ve got one.

Make the peppermint coating:
While the cookies are in the oven you can get the coating ready. Slowly melt the chocolate in a double boiler (or glass bowl over a pot of simmering water), stirring occasionally until it is glossy and smooth (add heavy cream to thin if necessary). Stir in the peppermint extract. If you think the chocolate needs a bit more peppermint kick, add more extract a drop or two at a time – but don’t go overboard (I used 4 or 5 drops for a half recipe).

Finishing the cookies: You are going to coat the cookies one at a time and then gently set them on a parchment-lined baking sheet to set. Drop one cookie into the chocolate and (using a fork) carefully make sure it gets fully coated. Lift the cookie out of the chocolate with the fork and bang the fork on the side of the pan to drain any extra chocolate off the cookie. You are after a thin, even coating of chocolate. Place on the aforementioned prepared baking sheet, and repeat for the rest of the cookies. Place the cookies in the refrigerator or freezer to set. They will set at room temperature, it just takes much longer, and I prefer them straight out of the freezer anyways 😉

Make 3 or 4 dozen cookies.

Sea Salt Caramel Ice Cream

I love ice cream…if you hadn’t noticed. Rebecca and I make ice cream almost weekly with our fresh, raw cream. This week we decided to try a new flavor – sea salt caramel. Oh My Goodness…this is awesome! One of my favorite flavors we’ve made by far. I still used my usual base recipe of cream, egg yolks, vanilla and maple syrup. But I added our homemade caramel sauce and a bit of sea salt. This is truly heaven in a bowl 🙂

I never measure ingredients when I make ice cream. Rebecca and I prefer to taste as we go to get it just the way we want it 🙂  I’ll do my best to give quantities. If you try it be sure to taste your batter before putting it in the mixer to be sure it’s the way you want it. And a great tip I’ve learned with all of my ice cream experiments is to make the batter a little overly sweet. The ice cream loses some of its sweetness when it freezes.

I only took pictures right out of the mixer, before I put it in the freezer. So it looks a bit liquidy. Don’t let that fool you. It is amazing! Even Abram devoured it. I had to cut him off so he wouldn’t get a tummy ache 🙂  If you really want to go over the top drizzle some extra caramel sauce on top. It won’t take much of this ice cream to satisfy your sweet tooth.

This post is linked to Fresh Bites Friday and Fight Back Friday and Fat Tuesday.

Sea Salt Caramel Ice Cream

3 cups cream
3 egg yolks (optional)
2 tsp. vanilla
1/4 cup maple syrup
3 Tbsp. honey
1/3 cup caramel sauce
1/2 – 1 1/2 tsp. sea salt

In a blender combine all ingredients (I use my Vitamix to mix ice cream batter). Taste. Adjust caramel and salt quantities to taste. Pour into ice cream maker (I use a Kitchen Aid attachment) and process (mine takes about 20 minutes). Store in a plastic or glass container in the freezer.

Ham and Peas Casserole

I subscribed to Every Day with Rachael Ray a while back…like years ago. I would often rip out recipes that looked good. I had a big pile of things I was going to try making…at some point. Well, last week I found that pile of recipes. I went through it and got rid of all but two of them 😛  I saved the two that I thought I would actually make and put them on the menu this week. I tried the first one last night. It’s a simple casserole. And it’s delicious!! Ham and peas casserole is like cornbread mixed into quiche. It almost reminds me of the flavor of creamed corn with the subtle sweetness from the cornbread. We all really enjoyed this casserole. It’s great for breakfast, lunch or dinner. And the leftovers are great too (I had a delicious breakfast today :). Plus it’s very easy to make (as long as you have ham and cornbread on hand…which we actually did this week!).

I didn’t actually measure anything. I just used 2 leftover corn muffins and about a half cup of ham we had left from Sunday’s dinner. I also used more eggs than the recipe called for. And in typical RR recipe fashion I had to modify the cooking time/temp. If I had cooked it at 350 for 40 minutes we would have been eating ham and pea soup for dinner 😛  I baked mine at 400 for about an hour. I’ll post the original recipe with a few of my mods. Overall this was a great recipe. I plan to make it again.

Ham and Peas Casserole

1 1/2 cups ham, cut into small pieces
7 oz. cornbread, cut into small cubes (about 2 cups)
1 cup frozen peas, thawed (I used more than this)
1 tsp. chopped fresh thyme (I used dried)
2 cups whole milk
3 eggs plus one yolk, lightly beaten (I used 3 whole eggs and 3 yolks)
salt

Heat oven to 350 (I baked mine at 400).

Butter a 9″ casserole dish. In a bowl toss the ham, cornbread, peas and thyme. Transfer to the baking dish.

In the same bowl combine the milk, eggs and salt. Pour into baking dish. Let stand 15 minutes.

Bake until the custard is just set in the center, 40-45 minutes (I baked mine for 1 hour).

Let stand 10 minutes before serving.

Meal Plans Week of 6-3-12

June is here. That means farmer’s market!!! I’m very excited that we can start our weekly walks to the local market this week. It will be so nice to have some fresh produce. But it also means my kitchen will be getting busier soon with preservation. In order to prepare we defrosted both freezers last week. I just got the second one reorganized this morning. It sure feels good to have that done. It’s amazing how much more space it feels like we have in the freezers now that the ice is gone and things are organized. It’s also a great way to see what we have and what needs to be used. I’ll be working on using up some things this week.

Our week isn’t too busy at this point, but we could add in a few activities. Today is church. Monday we are having some insulation work done. We might need to be out of the house for a bit, but I haven’t decided if/where we’ll go. Monday evening I will be having dinner at church with the nursery cmt. Then I’m done with my term. Tuesday is farmer’s market. Wednesday is Meijer. Friday I might go to a hooping class. Saturday we are going to try to get the kids’ pictures taken. And Rebecca and I might go mini golfing. We’ll see what the weather is like. We could have a playdate this week (still waiting to hear on that). I need to get Abram’s iron levels checked, so we might do that. I also need to do some gift shopping soon. We’ll just see how the week goes.

I’m not sure what all of my food work will be this week…depends what I find at the market. I think there will be some strawberries already. But I probably won’t stock up yet in case we decided to go picking. I have to make a dessert for the dinner tomorrow. I want to make a new batch of chicken broth (I’m eating it daily and I can get a few things out of my freezer 🙂  I have some milk and eggs to use up. I’ll take care of some of that with the nursery cmt dessert. Other than that I’ll try to use them in meals. I might need to make yogurt. Depends how much we use this week. I would like to make sourdough english muffins and ice cream. I also might try making thin mint cookies.

No major updates for me. I’m working on finding balance. It doesn’t mean that every day is great, but I have already noticed a general change in my attitude/anxiety. Even when I don’t feel my best I’m not so anxious about it. I’m trying to be more calm and relaxed and positive, especially with my family. I also met with my yoga instructor and got some great tips on things I can do for my tummy and to relax. I learned some fascinating information about certain parts of the body. It’s the first time I’ve ever had someone tell me about things I’ve been feeling for years that I thought were so odd…but assumed it was just my messed up body and that nobody else experienced it. But she explained it without me even mentioning what I feel! So it’s not just me. It is a real issue that can be addressed. I’ve never even had a doctor that did that. I’m hopeful that this will be one more step/tool on my journey to feeling better.

Here’s what’s on the menu. I’m trying to use up some freezer food and try a few new recipes (I did some cleaning last week and found a stack of recipes that I’ve wanted to try…that’s been sitting there for years!). I’m also going to let Rebecca plan one of our meals. So far she’s been talking about some ideas with hot dogs. We’ll see 🙂
—————
S (organize freezer, prep lunch, church, prep smoothies)
  B – french toast bake, lemon yogurt
  L – cp ham and carrots, pesto pasta
  D – leftover chicken black bean soup, grilled cheese / garlic toast w/ lettuce, avocado and fried egg

M (make dessert, milk pick up, insulation, nursery cmt dinner)
  B – smoothie, peach coffee cake (from freezer)
  D – burritos (from freezer) / pizza dinner at church

T (skim cream, make broth, make sour cream, fm!)
  B – yogurt, blueberry muffins (from freezer)
  D – ham and peas casserole, beans, pears

W (strain/freeze broth, prep dinner, make pesto, make honey mustard, Meijer, make ice cream, strain kefir)
  B – smoothie, TBD from freezer
  D – pea soup, soaked soft pretzels (from freezer)

Th (make thin mints, make strawberry rhubarb dessert)
  B – yogurt, TBD from freezer
  D – Rebecca’s recipe – hot dog dippers, beans, peppers, garlic toast

F (make english muffins, hooping)
  B – cereal w/ milk, banana
  D – fried egg and bacon sandwiches on sd english muffins, beans, fruit else TBD (if I go to the hooping class)

S (clean, pictures, mommy/daughter date?)
  B – sd english muffin else TBD
  D – cobb style rice bowls else fried egg and bacon sandwiches on sd english muffins, beans, fruit

Apple Honey Crunch – Three Ways

Rebecca has been helping me in the kitchen since before she was one. Now that she is four she is becoming quite a little chef! Rebecca often plays cooking and will come up with all kinds of meals/recipes/goodies. She actually has some really good ideas! When she does we try to make them. This week while she was playing she was making “apple honey crunch.” We brainstormed about how to make it…and gave it a try. We came up with three versions. They were all very simple to make and tasted great. One is kind of like a baked apple/apple dumpling. One is like apple cobbler. And one is like a brittle. They each only use a few ingredients and are very kid friendly. We just did small versions of each. They are great for individual servings. Or you can make them in larger quantities. Want to have some fun in the kitchen with your kids? Try Rebecca’s apple honey crunch recipes 🙂  Two of them are even grain free/gluten free/GAPS legal.

This post is linked to Fat Tuesday at Real Food Forager.

Apple Honey Crunch (dumpling style)
1 apple
1/8 cup chopped crispy nuts (we used pecans and walnuts)
1 Tbsp. honey

Peel and core apple. Place the apple in a small, buttered glass/oven safe dish (I used my small pyrex dishes). Sprinkle half of the nuts into the center of the apple. Pour honey into hole. Top with remaining nuts. You can add an extra little drizzle of honey over the apple if you like. Place another bowl over the apple (inverted) as a lid. Bake at 375 for 40 minutes (until the apple is soft). Let cool. Enjoy!

Apple Honey Crunch (cobbler style)

1 apple
1/8 cup chopped crispy nuts (we used pecans and walnuts)
2 Tbsp. honey
1/4 cup ground oats (or whole oats or whole wheat flour)
2 Tbsp. softened butter
1/2 tsp. cinnamon

Peel and chop apple. Sprinkle a few of the nuts in the bottom of a small, buttered glass/oven safe dish (I used my small pyrex dishes). Put apple chunks on top. Sprinkle on cinnamon.

Mix oats, butter and honey. Sprinkle over apples. (lick bowl 🙂

Bake at 375 for 35 minutes – until the top is golden and crunchy.

Apple Honey Crunch (brittle or ice cream topping)
*This didn’t get quite as solid as I would have liked. Some parts stayed a bit soft. But it was still very good. We will experiment with it to get it just right. As is it would make an awesome topping for ice cream (if you just chill it instead of freeze it).

1 apple
1/4 cup crispy nuts (broken into large pieces) (we used pecans and walnuts)
1/4 cup coconut oil
1/4 cup honey

Peel and chop apple. Cook the apple in coconut oil in small pan. When apple is tender stir in honey. Cook about 2 minutes. Remove from heat. Stir in nuts.*  Pour onto a parchment lined baking sheet. Place in freezer until solid. Break into chunks. Store in the freezer to remain solid.

*You can also pour this into a glass container and allow to cool (on the counter or in the fridge) and use it as a topping for ice cream, pancakes or waffles or as a mix in for yogurt.

Butterscotch Sauce

Tuesday we made some awesome caramel sauce with our extra cream. But I didn’t use all of the cream. So yesterday we used a little more and tried butterscotch. I got the recipe from Smitten Kitchen. It is so simple to make (only takes about 5 minutes) and is sooooo good. I like the butterscotch even better than the caramel. Rebecca and I sampled a little on homemade vanilla ice cream. A little piece of heaven 🙂  I think we might have homemade butterscotch sauce on hand more often now 🙂

Butterscotch

1/4 cup (1/2 stick) unsalted butter
1/2 cup packed organic brown cane sugar or sucanat
1/2 cup heavy cream
1/2 tsp. unrefined sea salt, plus more to taste
1 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract, plus more to taste

Melt butter in a medium heavy-bottomed saucepan over medium heat. Add the sugar, cream and salt and whisk until well blended. Bring to a very gentle boil and cook for about five minutes, whisking occasionally.

Remove from heat and add one teaspoon of the vanilla extract, stirring to combine. Dip a spoon in the sauce and carefully taste the sauce (without burning your tongue!) to see if you want to add additional pinches of salt or splashes of vanilla. Tweak it to your taste, whisking well after each addition (I used about 3/4 tsp. salt and 1 1/4 tsp. vanilla).

Serve cold or warm over vanilla ice cream. The sauce will thicken as it cools. It can be refrigerated in an airtight container and reheated in a toaster oven or small saucepan.

Caramel Sauce

Every week I skim some cream from our fresh milk. Most weeks I have a purpose for it…and often wish there was more! This week I didn’t have an urgent need for it. I have plenty of sour cream. I think we are even good with homemade ice cream. So I decided to make caramel sauce…something to go with our fabulous homemade ice cream 🙂

I’ve made caramel before, but it never seemed to work properly. I followed the directions, but I would cook it and cook it and cook it and never get it up to temp. So I decided to try a new recipe. I found one that looked simple on Lick My Spoon for Salted Caramel Sauce. There are good step by step directions. And you don’t have to monitor the temperature.

I gave it a go yesterday. It turned out very well. And it was quite quick and simple. I just made regular caramel, not salted. But I’m sure that would be very good too. It tastes great right after making it. As it cools it gets a lot thicker. It would be great for dipping apples when it’s cold. You simply warm it a bit to soften it to use on ice cream. Homemade caramel is a simple and delicous treat.

Caramel Sauce

1 cup cane sugar
6 Tbsp. unsalted butter, cut into chunks
1/2 cup heavy cream
1/4 cup water
Heat the sugar and water in a 2-quart or 3-quart saucepan over medium-high heat. Stir to help the sugar dissolve, but stop stirring when the sugar comes to a boil. You can swirl the pan a bit if you want.

When the liquid sugar hits a dark amber color, add all the butter to the pan. The mixture will foam up and thicken. Whisk until the butter has melted. Once the butter has melted, take the pan off the heat.

Add the cream to the pan (the mixture will foam up again) and continue to whisk to incorporate.

Let cool in the pan for a couple minutes, then pour into a glass jar and let cool to room temperature. Don’t worry if the sauce seems a bit too thin at first, it will thicken as it cools. Store in the refrigerator. Warm before serving to loosen it up again.

Meal Plans Week of 5-27-12

Thank you to all those that have served and those that still do serve our country! Happy Memorial Day (weekend).

It’s unofficially the start of summer…and it sure feels like it! It’s supposed to be in the 90’s for the next couple days. Back to trying to plan my kitchen work based on the weather forecast 😛

Last week I ended up doing more than I had expected in the kitchen. I made butterscotch pudding, kefir, soaked graham crackers, soaked bread, sour cream, 2 batches of ice cream (vanilla and chocolate), sd bread, yogurt, granola bars (modified them by grinding the oats…really seems to help Rebecca with the chewing/texture issues with oats), pesto, mayo, cupcakes (I had lots of frosting to use up from birthday cakes) and chicken broth. It kept me busy, but it sure was tasty 🙂  We also finally managed to run all of our errands – Meijer, Heffron Farms and Target.

This week won’t be quite as busy I don’t think. Today is church. Monday Justin has vacation. We might go to the local parade. I have to get milk. Wednesday I am going to try hot yoga. I’m sure it will be quite challenging, but hopefully fun too. Friday I am meeting one-on-one with my yoga instructor to talk about some specific stuff for me. That’s it for now. I might try to get to the library one day. Rebecca could use some new books. I might try to set up a playdate or two. And Rebecca and I have not done a May mommy/daughter date yet! The one I was trying to plan fell through. So we’ll see if I can come up with something this week yet.

I would like to do some baking this week if possible. It’ll have to be first thing the morning when it’s still cool. I would like to make a new batch of cereal, soaked graham crackers and caramel. I might experiment with toddler snacks (for the never ending dilemma…what do we feed Abram that he won’t immediately spit out?) and modified oat snacks (I’m experimenting with recipes that have oats to either make them oat free or use ground oats so that Rebecca can chew them better). I have some food planning to do for next week. I’ll need a dessert for a church event, and I need to coordinate food with my sister for a girls day for my SIL next week. I will also have to start thinking about food preservation soon…the farmer’s market finally starts next week!! We should really defrost at least one of our freezers before restocking. So maybe I’ll try to do it this week.

I’m trying to hit the reset button right now 😛  My inflammation has really flared the last couple days…which means weight gain, drop in temps/lower metabolism, moodiness (every little thing bugs me…I apologize to my family!), acne and poor digestion. It’s from a combo of lack of sleep (a couple rough nights with Abram) and diet. I had a few too many nuts, too much fiber/raw veggies, too much wheat and too much pork/chicken fat/meat in a short amount of time. I still really struggle with moderation and balance. If I make something that I really like I have a hard time controlling my portions. I’m sure that making two batches of ice cream and cupcakes didn’t help either. Now I need to get back on track and really try to keep things balanced. I’ve had so many years and diets of restrictions. Now I have a hard time not going overboard when I am “allowed” to eat the things I really like. I can’t tell my body that I don’t have to binge on something… I will be able to eat it again. I don’t have to pig out now. Once I start eating it’s hard to stop. It’s definitely part of the eating disorder/mental issues I’ve struggled with for years (started in high school). It’s a starve/binge mentality that is soooo unhealthy. It’s not something that I do consciously anymore (I’m not trying to under or over eat). But it’s hard to rewire your brain. But I have to. I think that will have one of the biggest impacts on my health. If I can train my brain what moderation means I won’t have so many ups and downs. Lately I’m always on this roller coaster of having a few good days then going overboard with something. Then I have to recover. Then it starts over. I think that will be one of my main goals next month…but it sure won’t hurt to start now! So for now I need to stick to my basics – chicken broth, soft/pureed veggies (pumpkin, squash, well cooked beans, peas, etc.), soft fruits (pears, blueberries), healthy fats, light proteins (eggs, dairy, chicken) and some soaked wheat products. I have to balance the wheat with other stuff, but I do need some. If I eat totally grain/starch free then my colon gets spastic. There isn’t anything to soak up liquids, etc. Again, it’s all about balance. That’s where I’m at. In some ways I feel like I’m really figuring things out. In some ways I’m still totally confused. I need balance/moderation and shifting my focus from food to other stuff. I still have a lot of psychological food issues to get past (things that I know now aren’t true/aren’t healthy but seem to be hard wired in my brain now). I am trusting that God is in control and he has a plan. He can heal my mind and body.

I hadn’t really intended to even do an update on myself. But I guess I had some stuff in my head that I needed to get out 🙂  And it really helps me to move on when I can write it out/organize my thoughts. So hopefully this week will be a better one now that I have more direction.

Here’s what’s on the menu for now. I may have to be creative with side dishes. I just realized I only have two potatoes left and no rice…and I won’t be going to the store until next week. I discovered yesterday that the rice in my cupboard is not good. I’ve had issues with it cooking the last couple times I used it. Last night it took 2 1/2 hours for it to absorb liquid/get soft. So I tossed the rest. I think I have some couscous, quinoa, arborio rice and pasta. Maybe this will force me to be a bit more creative 🙂  I might also be adding salads to some meals since we are now getting lettuce from our garden! Rebecca was so excited to eat a salad with lettuce from her own little garden yesterday. Want your kids to eat fresh veggies? Let them grow their own 🙂
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S (prep breakfast, strain/freeze chicken broth, prep lunch, boil eggs, church, prep smoothies, soak flour, freeze butter beach)
  B – strawberry yogurt, granola, banana
  L – cp pork steak with carrots and rice
  D – picnic at the beach – egg salad sandwiches, chips, grapes, avocado, banana milkshakes, sauteed zucchini and mushrooms, corn, chips

M (make cereal, make graham crackers, soak flour, parade, milk, prep smoothies, strain kefir)
  B – smoothie, TBD from freezer (in the car) – breakfast cake, grapes
  D – grilled steak, grilled asparagus, warm potato salad / grilled zucchini and mushroom warm salad

T (make cereal, make graham crackers, skim cream, make caramel sauce)
  B – cereal w/ milk, fruit maple pecan scones, smoothie
  D – chicken nuggets, chips, peas, russian custard w/ strawberries

W (make yogurt, yoga)
  B – smoothie, TBD from freezer cereal w/ milk
  D – (prep ahead) – cp roast beef and veggies
Th (soak beans, make baby snacks, make Rebecca’s recipe, soak bread)
  B – yogurt, granola, fruit
  D – salmon cakes, squash, fruit

F (bake breakfast, prep dinner, yoga)
  B – overnight french toast bake
  D – (prep ahead) – cp salsa chicken and black bean soup

S (clean)
  B – overnight french toast bake
  D – baked egg puffs, beans, fruit, toast