Weekly Menu Plan

I've been thinking about adding a weekly menu plan to this blog in order to share some ideas of what we're eating during the week.  Obviously, the one recipe or link I may share each week doesn't begin to cover what we actually eat around here.  The blogging thing is not my strong suit, so we'll just give this a trial run...  I'm going to approach this as an "what we actually ate" list instead of a "what we would eat if everything goes according to plan" list.  I'll start with today, Sunday, then (hopefully) add to this post as the week wears on.

Sunday

Breakfast: leftover baked oatmeal or leftover banana muffins (I used hard white whole wheat flour and sucanat)

Lunch: grilled chicken thighs with homemade BBQ sauce; steamed broccoli with cultured butter, Celtic sea salt, and pepper; baked potatoes with cultured butter, cultured sour cream, raw cheese, Celtic sea salt, and pepper; coconut flour brownies

Snacks: water kefir, fruit

Dinner: leftovers

Monday

Breakfast: leftover baked oatmeal or leftover banana muffins (I used hard white whole wheat flour and sucanat); oatmeal with cultured butter; sourdough bread with peanut butter and jelly

Lunch:  sandwiches (sourdough bread, all natural lunch meat, raw cheese, cultured pickles); baby carrots and cultured ranch dip; apple chips or potato chips; fruit

Dinner:  crockpot spaghetti (rating: thumbs down from everyone, bummer...), peas with cultured butter, Celtic sea salt, and pepper

Snacks: homemade vanilla ice cream from a friend, water kefir

Tuesday:

Breakfast: oatmeal with cultured butter; sourdough bread with peanut butter and jelly,  oatmeal with sunbutter and raisins, leftover baked oatmeal

Lunch: pigs in a blanket (reviews for these: weird but OK), potato chips

Dinner: smothered chicken with gravy and mashed potatoes (courtesy of my mom!) and steamed broccoli with cultured butter, Celtic sea salt, and pepper

Snacks: strawberry ice cream, water kefir

Wednesday:

Breakfast: sourdough bread with peanut butter and/or jelly, gluten-free english muffins with cultured butter and raw honey, fried egg and fresh pears

Lunch: sandwiches (sourdough bread, all natural lunch meat, raw cheese, cultured pickles); baby carrots and cultured ranch dip; apple chips or potato chips; fruit

Dinner: banana muffins (I used hard white whole wheat flour and sucanat) (we seem to have had a lot of ripe bananas lately!); scrambled eggs with raw cheese and salsa

Thursday:


Breakfast: sourdough bread with peanut butter and/or jelly, gluten-free english muffins with cultured butter and raw honey or sunbutter, fried egg and fresh pears

Lunch: creamy mac and cheese (I used rice pasta)

Dinner: chili with raw cheese and tortilla chips

Friday:


Breakfast: leftover banana muffins (I used hard white whole wheat flour and sucanat); sourdough bread with peanut butter and/or jelly, gluten-free english muffins with cultured butter and raw honey or sunbutter, fried egg and fresh pears

Lunch: sandwiches (sourdough bread, all natural lunch meat, raw cheese, cultured pickles); baby carrots and cultured ranch dip; apple chips or potato chips; fruit

Dinner: hamburger steak and gravy, mashed potatoes, green beans

Saturday:


Breakfast:  sourdough bread with peanut butter and/or jelly, gluten-free english muffins with cultured butter and raw honey or sunbutter, fried egg and fresh pears

Lunch:   sandwiches (sourdough bread, all natural lunch meat, raw cheese, cultured pickles); baby carrots and cultured ranch dip; apple chips or potato chips; fruit

Dinner: lentil stew (super easy, good and filling - everybody liked this, but we're beans and rice kinda people!)

Molasses-Sweetened Soaked Baked Oatmeal

We love this baked oatmeal recipe from Nourishing Days!  It is moist and cake-like, not too sweet, super easy to make and feeds all of us 3 meals.  Gluten-free and flour-free, naturally sweetened.  Now that fall (?) is coming this will be a great, warm breakfast to have on hand.

Cultured Lunch Ideas

I got a newsletter from Cultures for Health yesterday and it had an article with lots of great ideas for including cultured/fermented foods into your lunch.  There are several things mentioned that I want to look into.  Just thought I would share!

Creamy Mac and Cheese

Just wanted to pop in and say that the recipe Laura has for Creamy Mac and Cheese is sooooo good!  It is one of the easiest recipes I've ever used.  Maybe even easier than buying the box!  I prefer the taste of rice pasta rather than that of the whole wheat pasta.  Also, one recipe provides 3-4 servings when using it as a main dish for my kiddos lunch.  Let me know if you like it!

Granita

About a month ago, Pioneer Woman posted a recipe for Watermelon Granita.  It looked like a wonderful treat for the 100+ degree days we've been having ALL SUMMER LONG...  I had about 1/2 of a gallon of apple juice taking up space in my fridge, so I decided to make granita with it instead.  All I did was pour it into a glass dish, stick it in the freezer, and scrape it with a fork every so often.  Easy.  Simple.  Refreshing.  I loved it, and the kids thought I had made them a marvelous treat!  (Plus, it wasn't near as messy as serving pop-sickles!)  Go forth and make granita!

Fresh Green Beans

This summer we had green beans in our garden and were able to enjoy several pots cooked up just like my grandmother.  Delish!  I took notes and measurements during one batch to share with you here.








3/4 lb green beans, ends removed
3/4 lb new potatoes, quartered
4 cups water
1/4 onion, sliced
2 tsp Celtic sea salt
1/4 tsp pepper

Put all ingredients in a soup pot, bring to a boil.  Boil for 20 minutes.  Enjoy!

Simple Egg Salad

This simple egg salad is a cool, nourishing treat during these HOT summer months!  I served mine on sourdough bread with tortilla chips and salsa on the side.  Oh, don't forget some fresh strawberries (or cherries!)...

6 hard boiled eggs
6 tbsp mayo
3/4 cup chopped, cultured pickles
1 tsp mustard

You could always make your own cultured pickles if you have any cucumbers in the garden...