Category Archives: Food

Menu Plan and Goals

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Life is crazy! I always think things are going to slow down and get better but I’m beginning to think that we might just have to find a way to make things work for our family going at this pace, at least for a while. After the craft show is over there won’t be a never ending to do list of things that have to be accomplished by a certain date. When life gets like this, I’m thankful for simplicity.

Menu Plan and Goals @ From this Kitchen Table

On a side note, I’ve found making earrings to be quite relaxing and enjoyable. It’s a fun way to spend an hour or so each evening and the perfect time to catch up on watching movies or television shows online. I need to have everything completed 3 weeks from Friday. I will be selling the earrings, lip balm, room spray, and mason jar lidded straw cups with a chalkboard paint rectangle. The lip balms and room sprays should come together pretty easily. I just need a couple hour block of time to work on them.

I’ll try to remember to take pictures of the earrings and other products to share soon!

Oklahoma is crazy! I think we’ve completely skipped spring. The number of perfect temperature days we’ve had are minimal. It went from cold to 100 degrees today. It’s only the first week of May! I’m a little scared for what the rest of the summer is going to be like.

I’m thinking the next month our menu might become even more basic than normal. On top of being busy and lacking time, hot weather also seems to decrease the desire to cook.

Menu Plan and Goals @ From this Kitchen Table

Suppers:

  • Macaroni and Cheese
  • Small Groups – brought a dessert and chips and salsa
  • Ladies’ Bible Study for me and pizza bread at home
  • Crockpot BBQ Chicken with Sweet Potato Rounds
  • Leftovers

Lunches:

  • Salads (for me and Shaun)
  • Leftover macaroni and cheese
  • Pizza Bread

Breakfasts:

  • Oatmeal Banana Muffins
  • Pancakes from the freezer
  • Smoothies

Goals:

Here’s hoping for the little guy to have a couple good nights of sleep this week. I’m thinking I’m going to need it. 🙂

What’s on your menu? What are you goals for the week? If you have any quick and healthy recipes (not using the oven is a huge plus) to share or advice for my craft show going ons I’d love hear from you too!

Linking up to Menu Plan Monday

How to Eat Gluten Free Cheap

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Have you ever wondered if it was possible to eat gluten free cheap? To eat gluten free if you are on a tight budget?

Last week I shared why we went wheat free for 6 weeks and next week I have a round up of the recipes and meal ideas we used during that time.

Today, I want to share some tips for those of you who are contemplating doing the same thing. I had people wonder what you can eat if you are avoiding gluten. My friend’s immediate thought was that basically everything has gluten it and she’d have no clue what to feed her family.

When you are eating gluten free you not only need to eliminate all forms of wheat but also rye, barley, and bulgur. (Did you know that malt was made from barley? I didn’t.) Be sure to read all labels. Chicken broth, chips, soy sauce – everything!

Change also holds the possibility of having to increase your grocery budget. We didn’t set extra money aside to use during this experiment so we had to work within the constraints of our usual budget.

I have nine tips for going gluten free cheap!

How to eat gluten free cheap

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How to Eat Gluten Free Cheap

Don’t Buy Packaged Foods

Buying Larabars, boxes of gluten free macaroni and cheese, crackers, and snacks will quickly eat away at your budget. Make a batch of homemade larabars, granola bars, and oat flour muffins to use as snacks and breakfast. Make double or triple batches and keep the extras in the freezer and you’ll have your own convenience food for later in the month.

Don’t Buy Specialty Flours

There are tons of flours out there you can use in gluten free cooking and baking. This was a temporary diet change for us so it wasn’t worth it to spend a lot of money stocking my kitchen for gluten free baking. Just avoid recipes for your meals and snacks that would require purchasing these things. I already had coconut flour in my pantry so I used it and oat flour that I ground in my blender. If the change becomes permanent then slowly began adding different products to your kitchen.

Use Produce

Add extra in season produce to your diets. Instead of having bread as a side, roast some asparagus. Bring out a bowl of fruit salad for dessert instead of cookies. Fruit and vegetables make a super easy snack as well. If you buy the produce that’s on sale each week you can do this without blowing your budget. The majority of my grocery shopping trips consist of produce so I just added some more to the pile and we were good to go.

Keep it Simple

Don’t burn yourself out! Make the process enjoyable. I made a few recipes that took a little more work but that didn’t happen every day. When I cooked, I tried to make large quantities so that there would be enough for a second meal.

Read Labels

If you buy processed foods (or eat out) read labels! You will most likely find wheat a few places you weren’t expecting it. If you aren’t used to checking, this might take a little while to get in the habit of.

Make What You Like

Every meal doesn’t have to be unique and a new recipe for your family. Take some ideas you know your kids will like and find ways to adapt them. Use lettuce for a wrap instead of a flour tortilla or bread. Make quesadillas on corn tortillas. Does your family love shredded beef sandwiches? Try serving it over a potato. Turn recipes into salads (like how this recipe can be either a wrap of salad). There are a lot of possibilities that are simple and easy on the budget.

Grill, Stir-Fry,  Mexican, and Soups

These are four meal types that are easily wheat free! Tacos (and taco salad), tostadas, and enchiladas were favorites in our house. Stir fries also made many appearances. Simply cut up a lot of vegetables add some meat cook it up with a sauce. Grilling meat and serving with fruits and veggies and maybe rice or quinoa makes a quick and easy supper. Soups are another simple way to go gluten free cheap. Great way to use up all the leftover veggies you have in the fridge.

Beans

We also ate a fair amount of beans the past 6 weeks. Even if you don’t like eating a pot of beans for supper (which my husband doesn’t) there are ways to incorporate them into your meals. Have your tacos with refried beans some of the time. Add black beans to the enchiladas. Top your salad with garbanzo beans. They were a great way to stretch our budget and make recipes more filling and go further.

Oats and Oat Flour

Rolled oats are super affordable and you can turn it into flour by putting it in your blender. Easy! I tried not to go overboard on the amount of oats in our diets but this made it possible for us to have some traditional wheat type foods – pancakes, waffles, and muffins. Granola and baked oatmeal (or baked oatmeal muffins) also made great and filling breakfasts. If you are allergic to gluten, you are going to want to be sure to buy gluten free oats to avoid cross contamination.

What suggestions do you have for going gluten free cheap or for making the transition easy for your family?

Don’t forget to stop back by next week for meal ideas while being wheat free (that would also be great to add to your menu anytime).

Linking up to these fun parties!

Menu Plan and Goals

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We just got back from a fun weekend away. We went to our daughter’s favorite amusement park (Silver Dollar City) and spent a few days with my sister and brother-in-law. It was great to get away and not have all the stuff around the house hanging over us. Feeding the ducks (mostly geese, actually) and climbing in the water near a small waterfall were the perfect adventures for our daughter.

Menu Plan and Goals @ From this Kitchen Table

We left to come back home in the morning which worked out well. The car was unloaded, laundry washed and put away, and the house tidied up before the week even started.

Menu Plan and Goals @ From this Kitchen Table

We are home for a while now so my big project is to tackle all of the stuff I need to complete to sell in the herb festival. I only have a month to get everything done. I had my sister brainstorm earring ideas and now I just need to knock out the rest of them and get all the other products done. Then there is labeling to figure out and I need a plan for the booth display at the festival. Hopefully everything will all come together.

Seeing as we just arrived home, I haven’t gone grocery shopping yet so meals are going to be pretty mundane as I try to make do with what we have in the pantry until I head to the store.

Breakfasts:

  • Rice Cakes with cream cheese
  • Muffins or pancakes or oatmeal (we’ll see what I have on hand)

Lunches:

  • Salads
  • Lentil Soup
  • Bread
  • Homemade applesauce from the freezer

Suppers:

  • Scrambled eggs and toast (if I make bread)
  • Chicken Stir Fry
  • Something with potatoes
  • Soup

Goals (keeping things simple this week):

What is your week looking like? What are your favorite pantry meals?

P.S. Don’t forget that today is your last day to buy The Ultimate Homemaking Bundle!

Linking up to Menu Plan Monday

Wheat Free Experiment for Eczema

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6 weeks ago we eliminated wheat from our diets to see if it helped with our 11 month old’s eczema. The 42 days came to an end and we just reintroduced wheat into our diets and now we are waiting to see if the eczema stays the same or worsens before we decide where to go from here.

Why we went wheat free for 6 weeks. It was actually easier than I thought!

Some friends told me during our experiment,

  • “I wonder about people that go gluten free. What can you eat?
  • “I could never do that.”
  • “I rather deal with problems or have medication then give up wheat or dairy.”

I’ll be honest. I was dreading these 6 weeks up until we actually committed to doing it. Homemade pizza, alfredo sauce over pasta, naan, cookie dough, and warm bread are all things I thoroughly enjoy. Giving them up wasn’t exactly high on my list of things to do.

My husband and I decided it was worth it, though, to see if our son had any relief on his face from eczema and constant scratching that frequently drew blood.

Many times our diets and the food we eat play a roll in the symptoms that exhibit themselves in our bodies. It could be rashes, behavior, ear infections etc. Food often is not the first thing that comes to mind when we these issues come up. Even if it crosses our minds it, seems easier to treat with antibiotics, creams, or just living with it.

One of my friends has a dog that has had continuous ear infections since she was little. They recently switched her to gluten free food and treats and she’s gone several months without any problems now. I know it might not always work, but sometimes a change in diet can make a world of difference. There are also those with severe allergies to certain foods that don’t have a choice but to make drastic adjustments to their diets and they are lifelong changes.

All that to say, we didn’t know what would happen or what the outcome would be but we decided to at least try and then re-evaluate and see what we needed to do next.

Once we made the commitment and started, I was surprised at how little of a deal it was. The transition was actually easier than I thought it would be. Going gluten free, I’m sure, would be more stressful and little harder on the budget as I didn’t worry about cross contamination for our experiment (I still bought regular rolled oats).

6 weeks of using no wheat went by quickly. The eczema didn’t clear up completely but it’s very slight and my son is scratching his cheeks way less. (You can see after pictures here.) During the process he only had a couple of flair ups and they were mild. We’ll see what happens the next few weeks.

Next week I have 9 tips for how to do a wheat free experiment without a lot of work and on a budget. These are the ideas that I used the last 6 weeks with our family. My grocery budget wasn’t any more that usual. Coming up I’ll also have a list of the recipes that we ate to help you with your menu planning.

I’m curious. Have you ever seen changes because of how you tweaked your diet?

Linking up to these fun parties!

 

 

 

Menu Plan and Goals

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Have you heard about the Ultimate Homemaking Bundle? The sale starts Wednesday!!!

Last year there were a ton of great books included in the bundle and you get them all (plus GREAT bonuses) for $29.97. It’s highly worth looking at the collection of e-books when it’s available on Wednesday (the sale only goes through Monday). If out of the 78 e-books there were even just 10 books you’ve been wanting, it would be a great deal. (Don’t forget, if you already own an e-book or some don’t interest you, you can forward them on to a friend who would enjoy it and delete from your computer.)

We had a good Easter weekend! My husband had the day off of work Friday (although he had to go in for a few hours) and we worked around the house some. Saturday we met his parents, brother, and nephew an hour and a half away and spent the afternoon at the botanical gardens. The tulips were in bloom and it was beautiful. The children’s garden was well done with a tree fort to climb in and giant musical instruments to play.

Menu Plan and Goals @ From this Kitchen Table

Not only was Sunday Easter it was also the day we reintroduced wheat into our diets. We’ll see if we notice any difference in my son’s face over the next few weeks with wheat added back in. This is a shot of his cheeks from yesterday. He still has some redness and spots but it’s way better than it was earlier this year. He’s had no major flair ups in the 6 weeks we’ve been doing this and only a couple of minor once (none in the past 2-3 weeks). We’ve also noticed a huge difference in his scratching. Before he was continually clawing at his face (often drawing blood) and now it’s just every once in a while. We’ll see what happens. 

Menu Plan and Goals @ From this Kitchen Table

We had quite the traditional Easter lunch of. . . pizza! My husband is a pizza fan so we decided to go for it. Homemade pizza made for a pretty easy (and tasty) lunch and we finished the day off with apple crisp and ice cream (an early birthday dessert for my husband). 

Menu Plan and Goals @ From this Kitchen Table

Suppers:

Lunches:

  • Brown Bag lunches
  • Leftovers
  • Salads
  • Pizza

Breakfasts:

Goals:

What are your goals? Anything tasty on your menu plan?

Linking up to Menu Plan Monday