Week Nine Meals

Making It Easy for Mom

I'm just a mom on a budget, trying to keep my family healthy.

Have you ever considered how far your food has to travel and the amount of fossil fuels used to get your, even organic, food on your plate?  Perhaps you can find a local farm to buy from.  

"A foolish faith in authority is the worst enemy of truth." Albert Einstein

I am starting to rethink how I buy groceries. I feel "foolish" to admit that for the last few years, I have felt environmentally responsible buying organic foods. However, I am learning that even organic food production is leaving a large carbon footprint in our world. So now what? Well, local farming, even if it's not organic, but sustainable, is where I am going to start seeking our food. Grass fed animals that are locally farmed are actually superior in nutrition to organic meats. For those of you that live in El Paso, there is a local rancher, John Guldemann from Ganados del Rey Ranch, that goes to the Las Cruces farmers market. His beef his excellent. Is it time to reconsider where you get your groceries?

Featured Food:  Limes

We use limes around here for a lot including, salad dressing and to add flavor to water. Sometimes my kids and I just eat them with salt. Limes have a lot of health benefits that I think you should know. The amount of Vitamin C in about 1/4 of a cup of lime in 50% of your necessary daily value. Not to mention that limes have flavonoid compounds that have antioxidant, anti-cancer and antibiotic properties. To pick the best lime, choose one that is light in color and heavy. I like to make what my husband calls a "poor man's margarita". I squeeze one lime into a glass of water and add some mineral salt. Yum!

Grocery List:  This is based on a family of four.

Produce:

-2 bags of organic apples (a bag of red apples and a bag of green apples)

-Bag of organic pears

-Bunch of bananas

-Bag of clementines

-2 bunches of organic green onions

-2 containers of organic spinach

-1 red onion

-1 bunch of garlic

-1 organic orange pepper

-1 bunch organic cilantro

-7 organic tomatoes

-2 avocados

-3 organic baking potatoes

-1 bag organic carrots

Cold Stuff:

-3 dozen cage free or organic eggs

-Container of cream cheese

-Box of organic butter

-14 Probugs (for the kids to have with breakfast)

-2 packages sprouted corn tortillas (frozen section)

-1 bag of frozen green chiles (or canned)

-1 carton organic heavy cream

-1 bag organic Mexican shredded cheese

-1-2 boxes Van's Gluten Free Waffles

Meat:

-3 packages of bacon
-3 boxes lunchmeat
-8-10 organic chicken breasts

-2 lbs organic or grass fed ground beef
-2 lbs ground turkey

Dry Stuff:

-Box of Mary's Gone Crackers
-Olives for salads (I prefer the olive bar.)
-Tortillas (If you are eating gluten and want to make burritos.)
-1 package corn tortillas (fresh)
-2 boxes of organic or free range chicken stock
-Costco's No-Salt Organic Seasoning Mix (or something similar)
-1 box of quinoa
-1 small can organic tomato sauce
-1 bag of nuts (for salad)

Check Your Pantry/Fridge:

-Kosher salt

-Organic olive oil

-Gluten Free Flour

-Paprika

-Pepper

-Garlic Powder
-Onion Powder
-Black Pepper
-Turmeric
-Bragg's Nutritional Yeast
-Worcestershire sauce

-Panko Gluten Free Bread Crumbs
-Soy Sauce

Monday:

Breakfast:  Eggs with bacon, and a side of fruit and yogurt

Lunch: Meat roll-ups

Use about 5-6 pieces of meat and roll each one up with some cream cheese.  I like to eat these with Mary's Gone Crackers.  Make sure to eat some fruit too.  

Dinner:  Bacon Wrapped Chicken 
This is a very simple, but tasty way to eat your chicken.  I pound out my chicken breasts until flat.  Then spread a layer of cream cheese and chopped green onions on the chicken breast.  Roll it up and wrap it in 2-3 slices of bacon.  Use toothpicks to hold the bacon in place.  Bake it at 325 degrees for about an hour.  If you like your bacon a bit crispier, then turn on the broiler for a couple of minutes at the end.  

I serve this with fruit and salad.  

Tuesday:

Breakfast: Eggs with veggies, and a side of fruit with yogurt

Lunch: Leftovers from last night

Dinner: Picadillo (make enough for a lunch burrito tomorrow)
Brown your ground beef (1-2 lbs depending if you and your husband want to bring it for lunch).  Drain most of the fat, but leave some.  Add diced red onion, clove of diced garlic, and diced orange pepper.  Season with garlic powder, onion powder, salt and generous amount of pepper.  When the onion is transparent, add two cut up, cubed tomatoes.  Cover and simmer for about 30 min.  You can use this for tacos, burritos or make some sprouted grain corn chips and serve nachos.

Fruit salad is great with this meal too.

Wednesday:

Breakfast: Omelette with a side of fruit and yogurt

Lunch: Leftover picadillo

Dinner: Chicken Enchiladas
Boil 2 chicken breasts and then shred them.  Season the shredded chicken with garlic powder, onion powder, and salt.  

Then make your sauce.  Take about a half a stick of butter and melt it.  When it’s melted add about 3 Tbsps of gluten free flour.  Let that brown.  Then pour in ⅔ of a box of chicken stock.  Add about 1 cup of sour cream.  Season this sauce with paprika, salt and garlic powder.  Add one half of your bag of green chiles to this sauce.  Let it all simmer.  

In a separate pan, put a little olive oil and fry up the shredded chicken with one cubed onion and half the bag of green chiles.  Then add some heavy cream to make it creamy, but not soupy.  Season with salt, pepper, and paprika.  Next warm up your corn tortillas either in the microwave of the oven.  You just want them to be warm enough to be flexible without breaking.  Then roll up each tortilla with the chicken mixture and some shredded cheese on top.  You will put them in a large pyrex.  Once all your enchiladas have been rolled up, pour the sauce mixture over the entire creation.  I always add another layer of shredded cheese on top.  Cover the pyrex with tinfoil and bake in the oven at 350 degrees for about 30 minutes.  

When you take them out of the oven, top with fresh organic cilantro.

Make a salad for the side, and some fruit for dessert.

Thursday:

Breakfast: Eggs with bacon and veggies, and a side of fruit with yogurt

Lunch: Meat roll-ups

Use about 5-6 pieces of meat and roll each one up with some cream cheese.  I like to eat these with Mary's Gone Crackers.  Make sure to eat some fruit too.  

Dinner: Magic Meatballs
(I always double this recipe for lunch the next day.)

I call them magic because everyone loves them no matter what's inside of them.  Basically I use meatballs to clean out my fridge.  I sautee anything that is about to spoil.  Typically this includes, onions, jalapenos, tomatoes, garlic, kale (food process it up so it's tiny), really the options are endless. Then per pound of ground turkey, I add one beaten egg, a generous amount of Costco's no-salt seasoning mix, salt, pepper, garlic powder, onion powder, and turmeric.  You can also put some nutritional yeast (extra b vitamins).  I like Bragg's brand of nutritional yeast.  Also put enough worcestershire sauce to turn that mixture a light brown.  Then add in your sauteed mix and some type of breadcrumb.  Either use Panko gluten free breadcrumbs or you can crush up Mary's Gone Crackers.  Mix that all up and roll them into balls.  Bake them at 350 degrees for about 30-40 min.  

I make quinoa with these.   Put a little olive oil and some kosher salt and fry one cup of quinoa.  When it's light brown, add one small can of tomato sauce into a measuring cup and fill the rest of the recommended liquid with chicken stock.  Cook the recommended time.  

Friday:

Breakfast: Fridays are our fun breakfast day when we pancakes, waffles or some other gluten free sweet.

Lunch: Salad

A great time to use up all your veggies and spinach.  Pour some nuts and avocados on that salad too.  You can also add a hard boiled egg and some cheese.

Dinner: Chicken with Blasted Veggies

My mom is the creator of the blasted veggies.  All you do is cut into large pieces your favorite veggies.  I use potatoes, green onions, tomatoes, and carrots.  Then cover and blast them at 450 degrees until they are soft.  This usually takes about 45-60 minutes.  While you are blasting the veggies, hammer out a couple of chicken breasts and in a little olive oil, fry them.  I always season them with garlic powder, salt, onion powder, and I splash a bit of soy on both sides.  Then I cut up a little fruit, and done!

Week Nine Information

Making It Easy for Mom

I'm just a mom on a budget, trying to keep my family healthy.

How much time do you spend relaxing as an immediate family?

"Agriculture is carnivorous."  Lierre Keith

This past week I had the pleasure of spending time relaxing with my family.  See usually, because we live away from "home", we spend our vacations going back to see family.  However, this was the first time we went away for a week alone as a family unit.  I can't describe how amazing it was.  Perhaps most of you already know what a relaxing vacation feels like, but this was a first for me, and now I am hooked.  We didn't have anywhere to be at any specific time.  It was spectacular.  

While on the West coast, I discovered I am totally out of fashion.  I kind of already knew this, but it was confirmed.  One new hot fashion item (or perhaps not so new, but new to us that are out of fashion) is Tom's shoes.  Apparently Tom's donates one pair of shoes to a child that needs shoes, for every pair you buy.  I liked that idea, and decided to get a pair.  My husband put on a podcast about how kids without shoes, in developing nations, get hookworms.  However the podcast was not about how hookworms are bad, but instead how hookworms are helpful to people with allergies, asthma, and autoimmune diseases.  We evolved with hookworms, and for some people a hookworm infection can cure their ailments.  CURE their asthma, allergies, and autoimmune diseases.  Listen to this podcast to find out how.  Fascinating stuff.

Book Recommendation:  The Vegetarian Myth by: Lierre Keith

Before I even begin to do this book review, I want to let all my vegetarian and vegan friends know that I am in no way trying to offend any of you.  I have a lot of respect for people that do things with a passion and for a reason.  With that said, I was curious about this topic and decided to read both sides of the argument.  I have tried to be both a vegan and a vegetarian in the past, but it just doesn't work for me.  I feel great for a couple of months, but then I start feeling a lot of anxiety, get shaky, have digestive issues, and feel foggy.  After I got married, I quit eating red meat.  Before I knew I was pregnant with my son, I told my husband my craving for a hamburger was so intense I NEEDED one right then.  My husband was sure I would be sick from the meat, but instead I felt amazing afterwards.  A couple weeks later I learned I was pregnant.  Nature is funny like that, huh?  

Okay let's talk about Keith's book.  Lierre Keith was a vegetarian for twenty years.  TWENTY YEARS people!  She is an educated activist and believed with all her heart, soul, and educated mind, that she was doing what was right.  That is until she was so sick, she had to explore different options.  She presents a counter argument against vegetarianism for moral, political and nutritional reasons.  

According to Keith, Disney had it right in The Lion King's presentation of the circle of life.  Keith provides the facts about how in reality, even plants need animals to die in order to live.  Believe it or not, plants eat too.  Not just the sunshine and raindrops that we would like to believe, but in fact plants need animal bones to grow.  That's right everyone, plants need animals to die so they can live.  So morally if you are a vegetarian to stop death, ummmmm....

So how can you debunk a political vegetarian?  Through much research and many examples, Keith guides her readers to see that because of factory farms stripping our topsoil, the chain reaction effects are to blame for our inability to have enough food for everyone.  What?  Could greed really be to blame for hunger?  In a new light, Keith shows us the path that links US grain production to world starvation.  I did just say that.  And she proves it.

For those of you who are following a vegetarian life because of nutrition, ask yourself how you feel right now.  How do you feel?  Do you have any strange health issues?  Keith started down the path of exploring her own vegetarianism because of health issues.  Her health was failing.  Terribly failing!  And she has turned it around by, drumroll please...eating animal products.  She shares a lot of stories and facts about why vegetarianism is in fact not so healthy.

Keith has this incredible ability to make her book seem like she is sitting with you at the kitchen table telling you a story. I literally read this book as fast as the kids let me.  I came away from The Vegetarian Myth with new insight into what growing a plant really entails, being educated about how our grain production is out of control, and seeing the facts about why vegetarianism never felt good to me.  I usually check out books from the library (I am on a book budget), but this one I bought.  It's that good.  I would love to hear from any of you that decide to read it too.

Something my kids taught me this week:  

With the amazing advancements in technology, travel has become comfortable and easy.  We travel mostly by car so we can save money.  Our drive to San Diego took two days, about 6 hours each day.  We have a DVD player attached to the car so the kids are entertained, and time could pass quickly.  However, my four year old would take off her headphones, and pull out her binoculars because she wanted to see the sights.  When we were kids, that was what we did, right?  Are we helping our kids or hurting them by insisting on technology for a long drive?  My daughter taught me that she can entertain herself by learning about her environment.  She too has a natural curiosity about the world.  I hope that I can nurture that for her.  

Brain Power Activity:  Magna-Tiles

The kids' Aunt bought them Magna-Tiles for Christmas this past year.  These are just about the coolest toy we have.  My kids use them to build whatever themed play idea they need.    When I told the kids they could pack a small bag for San Diego, my daughter filled her bag with Magna-Tiles.  My son chose some hematite rocks as a souvenir, and the Magna-Tiles and hematite rocks are now both used together to build.  What a wonderful way to inspire your kids to be creative and play together.  

Saturday I will be posting a new meal plan and grocery list.  Thanks for reading!  

Week Eight Information

Making It Easy for Mom

I'm just a mom on a budget, trying to keep my family healthy.

My BFF Terri

"Whatever you are, be a good one."
Abraham Lincoln

Thanks Terri for being a great friend to me always, but especially for the chicken soup and support this week.  This past week, my husband came down with the flu.  Yep, like the bad one.  So, I began giving the kids and myself water mixed with oscillococcinum and oscillococcinum for kids.  The kids stayed healthy, but about three days into our quarantine, I started to feel weak and sick.  I spent a day in bed taking ViraStop, Vitamin C hourly, and eating a lot of kale (like our whole house still smells like cooking kale).  I initially felt better, but eventually came down with the flu.  Honestly I am just thankful the kids are okay.    

This reminded me that our immune systems are capable of fighting.  Having remedies and vitamins on hand really helps when someone gets sick.  How does your medicine cabinet look?  Check out my page called My Medicine Cabinet for ideas to stock yours.  And if you are on the fence about flu shots or get one yearly, please read this article.  

Book Recommendation:  Devil in the Milk

There are lots of reasons I don't drink milk, but Woodford and Cowan presented of a new one for me. And quite frankly it scared me.  A lot!  

According to Woodford and Cowan, there are two types of milk, A1 and A2 milk.  A2 milk was the original milk our ancestors drank.  A1 milk came from a natural genetic mutation.  The only difference between these two types of milk is a peptide called BCM7.  I will spare you all the scientific lingo about this peptide, but if you are curious, half the book is dedicated to explaining this peptide. What you need to understand about BCM7 is that it is a powerful opioid.  Have you ever had someone tell you that their kid is addicted to milk?  Well, that is because that child is actually addicted to milk.  

As if it weren't enough to know that A1 milk with it's BCM7 peptide is causing a chemically euphoric response in our bodies, science also shows that people with any kind of digestive problems, will have this response magnified.  In fact scientists have measured these BCM7 peptides in urine.  And indeed have found people with any kind of compromised digestive system have increased BCM7 peptides in their bodies.  How scary is that?  

Well then what do we do?  Farmers in France, New Zealand, and Australia are changing their herds to A2 only cows.  This actually isn't hard or expensive, but it is time consuming.  Bulls are either A1 only A2 only or A1A2 cows.  Farmers can slowly weed out the bulls that are genetically A1.  The statistics mentioned in the book suggested it would take about 10 years for a farmer to change his herd.  There is actually milk here in the USA sold at Hy-Vee, a midwestern supermarket chain, that is A2 milk. So it is available for those of you that want to drink milk.  

There were many stories in this book about people helping or curing their autism, diabetes, schizophrenia, and other mental and physical diseases with the use of A2 milk.  

I have this motto I live by with my family.  It's better to leave out anything questionable than to regret having eaten or taken it because you can't undo that.  So I avoid cow's milk.  Period.  Too many unknowns with it.  There are many parts of the world where milk isn't a part of the diet, and these people don't suffer from calcium deficiency.  Leafy greens and dried beans are a great way to get calcium.  The Harvard School of Public Health has a very informative article on milk.  

After reading this book I again questioned my understanding of what we know about food.  It seems like there is so much hidden truth about what we consume.  It leaves me very driven to increase my understanding about what food is made of, as well as leaves me open to changing my views and positions on different foods.  I kind of feel like foods need to be more transparent, and wonder if we should be requiring health warning labels.  What do you think? 

Brain Power Idea:  What's Bigger or Smaller

Another simple game to play around the dinner table is what's bigger or smaller.  One person begins by asking the question:  

"What's bigger, a whale or a dog?"

or

"What's smaller an apple or a soccer ball?"

Whomever guesses correctly gets to go next.  

Learning about size and comparing two objects are kindergarten learning standards.  By practicing this often, this abstract concept will become second nature to your kids.  

Something my kids have taught me this week:  

Do we allow our kids enough time to just play?  My son is working on earning some new legos.  He wants the Ninjago blue lego guy set.  But, until he gets enough stickers to earn that from the store, he has been using his imagination to create his own Ninjago scenes.  It reminded me that we need to give our kids unstructured time and unstructured toys to ignite and inspire their imaginations. He was very proud of himself and his creation, and I was proud of him too.  How much unstructured play time are your kids getting each day?  

Well, even though I have no official blogging vacation days, I will be offline for the next week enjoying a vacation in San Diego.  With that said, the next book review I do when I get back is going to be a controversial one.  I am hoping not to offend anyone, but rather just get the truth out.  Please have  an open mind when you read my next blog post.  And please go back and get a grocery list and meal plan from your favorite week.  

Week Seven Meals

Making It Easy for Mom

I'm just a mom on a budget, trying to keep my family healthy.

My son's shopping list:  He changed the worksheet because he said the items in the box weren't all healthy.  If a six-year old can recognize that, we have no excuses not to as well.

"Let food be thy medicine and medicine be thy food."  Hippocrates

Featured Food:  Fruit Salad

I have no idea why, but my kids are really, I mean really, into eating fruit salad lately.  So, for those of you with picky eaters, maybe changing up the presentation might help.  If you add a citrus fruit into the mix, your other fruits won't brown quickly.  If citrus fruits can slow down oxidation of fruits, imagine what great antioxidant help they give your body too!

Grocery List:  This is based on a family of four.

Produce:

-Bag of organic apples

-Bag of organic pears

-Bunch of bananas

-Bag of clementines

-1 lemon

-1 box of poultry spices

-Bag of organic carrots

-10 large baking organic potatoes

-4 yellow onions

-Bag of organic garlic

-2 limes

-Container of organic spinach

-2 red onions

-5 large tomatoes

-5 avocados

-4 organic red peppers

-2 jalapenos

-1 organic yellow pepper

-1 organic orange pepper

-3 stalks of organic celery

Cold Stuff:

-3 dozen cage free or organic eggs

-Container of cream cheese

-Box of organic butter

-14 Probugs (for the kids to have with breakfast)

-Loaf of Udi's white gluten free bread

-Container of organic sour cream

-Container of organic heavy cream

-Bag of organic shredded mozzarella cheese

-Bag of organic Mexican shredded cheese

-2 bags of sprouted grain corn chips

-Box of Van's gluten free waffles

Meat:

-2 packages of bacon

-1 roll of Jimmy Dean natural sausage

-2-3 boxes of Hormel preservative free lunch meat

-Large whole organic chicken (Costco sells 2 for the price of one in a regular store.)

-4-6 pork chops

-1 lb mild Italian sausage

-1 lb organic or grass fed ground beef (Costco sells it for $4.00 per pound.)

Dry Stuff:

-Box of Mary's Gone Crackers (Costco has a big box for about $7.00)

-Gluten free flour

-Box of Panko gluten free bread crumbs

-1 jar of organic pasta sauce

-1 can of organic pinto beans

-1 can organic corn

-1 can organic black beans

-1 can organic diced tomatoes

-1 packet original taco mix

-1 packet of organic ranch mix

-1 bag of nuts (pecans, walnuts or almonds for your salads)

-Bag of organic white rice

-1 Box of organic chicken stock

-1 small can of organic tomato sauce

-1 bag of organic pinto beans

Check Your Pantry/Fridge:

-Kosher salt

-Organic olive oil

-Vegenaise

-Italian seasoning

-Oregano

-Turmeric

-Pepper

-Cayenne Pepper

Breakfast Options:  So my blog inspiration (my best friend in Chicago), the very one that didn't have time to eat breakfast a few months ago, offered a great idea for those of you without time to cook eggs daily.  (She's come a long way, huh?!!) She has discovered that if you make your eggs in a muffin or cupcake tin, then you leave them already cooked in the fridge and can warm up one or two quickly for breakfast.  Bake them at 375 degrees for 20-25 minutes.  

Monday:

Breakfast:  Eggs with bacon

Lunch: Meat roll-ups

Use about 5-6 pieces of meat and roll each one up with some cream cheese.  I like to eat these with Mary's Gone Crackers.  Make sure to eat some fruit too.  

Dinner:  Roasted Chicken

Put your chicken in a pyrex and squeeze a lemon over it.  Put the lemon pieces inside the chicken.  Then rub it down with kosher salt.  Then mix your soft stick of butter with a about a half a cup of olive oil and the poultry spice mix and brush that on the chicken.  Cut up four carrots, four potatoes, and two onions and place them all around the chicken.  Put in the oven until the chicken is cooked.   Cook at 450 degrees for 10-15 min and then reduce the temperature to 350 degrees and roast for 20 min. per pound.  

Make a spinach salad with a dressing of one freshly squeezed lime, two cloves of pressed garlic and some olive oil. Season with salt and pepper.

Make a fruit salad for dessert.

Tuesday:

This is a typical breakfast in our house.  

Breakfast: Eggs with veggies (like kale)

Lunch: Using some of the leftover chicken from last night, make a chicken sandwich on Udi's bread. I like to use Vegenaise instead of mayo. I would also put spinach on the sandwich too.

Dinner: Pork chops, mashed potatoes and avocado salad

First I peel my potatoes (we use about 6 organic brown baking potatoes) while I boil a large pot of water.  When my potatoes are boiling, I begin to get my pork chops ready for the oven.  I use 1-2 pork chops for each adult and my kids usually share one pork chop.  I first get my bowls ready.  Bowl 1 is about 3 eggs beaten.  Bowl 2 is some gluten free flour.  Bowl 3 is a mixture of Panko gluten free bread crumbs, italian seasoning, salt and pepper.  I then dip my pork chop in bowl one, followed by bowl 2 and finally bowl 3.  I fry them in a bit of olive oil to brown them.  Then I stick them in the oven for about 30 min. at 350 degrees.   While they are in the oven I am getting my avocado salad ready.  You cut up into thin slices red onion (maybe half a red onion) and then thinly slice some tomatoes and avocados.  Next lay the tomatoes on the bottom of a dish, followed by the avocados and on top the onion.  I dress the salad with some freshly squeezed lime juice, olive oil, salt and pepper.  Your potatoes should be done by now, so I use heavy cream, sour cream and butter when I mash them up.  Not too much of any of the three.  There you go.  Dinner is served!   If you are craving sweet after, have some fruit.

Wednesday:

Breakfast: Eggs on toast with salami (my husband's favorite)

Lunch: Leftovers from last night

Dinner: Stuffed Peppers

This is my six year old's favorite meal.  Take 3-4 red peppers and cut them lengthwise, and place them in a baking pyrex.  In a pan brown your mild italian sausage; you can also use ground beef or ground turkey.  If you don't use italian sausage make sure you season your meat with italian seasonings.  Drain the fat and when it's almost cooked, add one cubed yellow onion.  Then add some fresh (or dried) oregano.  Enough to make it pretty green and smell good.  When the onions are transparent, add about half a bag of shredded mozzarella cheese.  Mix it all up so it looks cheesy.  Then fill the peppers in the pyrex with the mixture.  Use a jar of organic pasta sauce and pour over each pepper.  Then top each pepper with some more mozzarella cheese.  Bake in the oven at 350 degrees until the peppers are soft (about 40 min.).  While the peppers are baking you can make a small salad and cut up some fruit.  Your kids should love this one too.

Thursday:

Breakfast: Eggs with bacon and veggies

Lunch: Meat roll-ups

Use about 5-6 pieces of meat and roll each one up with some cream cheese.  I like to eat these with Mary's Gone Crackers.  Make sure to eat some fruit too.  

Dinner: Taco Soup

This is a favorite in our house, and so easy to make!  To make taco soup, put one can of pinto beans, one can black beans, one can corn, one can diced tomatoes, one pound of ground beef browned and drained, and one packet of original taco mix and one packet of ranch mix into the crock pot.  Make sure you dump the juice from the cans too.  You could add a little water too, to make it the consistency you'd prefer.  Cook on low for 6-8 hours.  I then cut up avocados, jalapenos, onions and some cheese to put on top right before you serve.  Remember the corn chips?  Those are great to make and serve with the soup too.  Fruit for dessert.

Friday:

Breakfast: Fridays are our fun breakfast day when we pancakes, waffles or some other gluten free sweet.

Lunch: Salad

A great time to use up all your veggies and lettuce.  Pour some nuts and avocados on that salad too.  You can also add a hard boiled egg and some cheese.

Dinner: It's Lent, so being Catholics, we don't eat meat on Fridays. Here is my awesome rice recipe. I brown one cup of white rice with one tablespoon of butter. Then I cook it according to the directions using chicken stock as the liquid. In a pan, I saute one cubed red onion, one cubed yellow pepper, one cubed orange pepper, one pressed head of garlic, two large cubed tomatoes, and three cut up stalks of celery. I add about 3 tablespoons of tomato sauce, and season with salt, turmeric, and a little dash of cayenne pepper. Once the rice is cooked, I add the pan of veggies to the rice and stir it all up. It's so delicious! I usually make a pot of pinto beans to eat with this.

Pinto Beans: Boil water with about 1 Tbsp of kosher salt. When the water is boiling, add the beans.  When the beans begin to boil, transfer this to the crock pot.  Cook on high 4 hours.  

Rice and beans can also be served on tostadas or in a corn tortilla.