Weekly Meal Plan-Feb 5-9 (Paleo and/or Gluten Free)

I am making use of my slow cooker and InstantPot this week.  Also including some one dish/ one pan meals for quicker clean up.

Monday:
Stupid Easy Salsa Chicken- double
Tortillas, taco toppings
Sweet corn

Prep for tomorrow:  thaw ground beef

Tuesday:
Persian Spiced Beef with Butternut Squash
Green Beans
Millet Flax Bread with butter

Prep for tomorrow: thaw chicken breasts

Wednesday:
One Pan Creamy Chicken and Vegetables -double this and use heavy whipping cream  instead of coconut milk
Roasted potatoes
Berries

Prep for tomorrow:  thaw flank steak, chop salad

Thursday:
Instant Pot Paleo Mongolian Beef-double
Rice
Cooked Peas
Salad

Prep for tomorrow:  thaw 2 lbs ground beef, clean and cut carrots

Friday:
Gluten-Free Meat Loaf
Lemon-Garlic Butter Fish
Roasted Carrots
Steamed Broccoli

Paleo Chicken Spaghetti and Garlic Herb Biscuits

This Paleo Chicken Spaghetti was tasty.  ALL of us liked it.  I'm thinking it would be a great thing to make early in the day and then pop in the oven at supper time.  A great way to use 3 cups of leftover chicken.  I did not have a poblano pepper, so I used a few jalapeno pepper rings for the soup mixture.  We topped ours with basil, hot sauce & some used Parmesan cheese.  Definitely not the most appealing dish to look at, so pair it with bright berries or salad. 

Here's how I make the Garlic Herb Biscuits-
I use this Buttermilk Biscuit Recipe as the start.  Then I add 1 Tbsp of dried herbs (chives, parsley, oregano, basil, thyme) to the dry ingredients when mixing up.  Brush the tops with 1 Tbsp of melted butter with 1/4 tsp granulated garlic when finished baking.  

Gluten Free Avanti's Bread

If you live close to me, you know what Avanti's is.  If you don't, think cheap Italian restaurant that is really yummy.  Tuesday night all you can eat spaghetti was a staple in college and it's a great place to take a whole family.  The sweet bread served piled high in baskets with butter pats is always a hit!  A friend of mine shared her GF Avanti's bread recipe with me.  We gave it a try & it has a very similar flavor but is a bit more dense.  My kiddos and hubby all liked it! Here's her recipe:

2 1/4 cup warm water
1 1/2 T oil (I used light olive)
1 egg
1/2 T salt
1 cup sugar
5 cups flour (I used this mix primarily, but it was about 1/2 cup shy so I filled in with another flour mix.  I used stone ground flour, not superfine)
1 1/2-2 T yeast

Dissolve yeast in warm water.
Mix in remaining ingredients.
Mix on Medium for 3 minutes.
Put dough in 2 greased loaf pans. (I made 2 long loaves on parchment paper & 1 loaf in a parchment lined pan.  Use wet hands to smooth out loaves.)
Let rise covered or preheat oven to 200 and shut off for about 30 minutes.
Bake at 350 for 30 minutes.

Millet Flax Gluten-Free Bread

We have packed lots of sandwiches in the last couple months.  Store bought gluten free bread can be somewhat dry.  Here's how we rate the ones we can buy locally.

#1- Canyon Bakehouse from Target
#2- Live G Free from Aldi
#3- Udi's - Costco or Kroger

Whenever I can, I like to make this millet flax bread.  It stays moist & holds together.  I keep it for several days in the fridge.

Paleo Banana Bread

So, this recipe was just ok.  When I mixed it up, it was a very thick batter.  I baked it according to directions and it baked perfectly.  It just seems like it needs some more flavor.  If I made it again I would add some cinnamon.  I thought the texture wasn't quite right, maybe a bit less coconut flour???  I've been eating mine warmed up with butter on top.

Honey "Cornbread" Muffins

This honey "cornbread" muffin recipe is from the cookbook "Every Last Crumb."  It is great in terms of taste and texture.  I served ours with a pot of soup.  I've made these a couple times and think they are way too sweet.  The last time I made them I cut the honey back to 1/3 of a cup.  They were perfect! 

Against All Grain Blender Bread

Danielle Walker shared her blender bread recipe on the Today show the other day.  You can find a copy of it here.  I decided to make a loaf of it and it turned out perfect!  Looking forward to having it for toast and sandwiches all week.  I substituted 17.5 ounces of unsalted cashew butter for the raw cashews and it worked great.

Chocolate Chip Espresso Banana Bread Muffins

I really wanted to take a picture of these after supper, but they were ALL GONE!  I guess that is my family's stamp of approval.  :)  Try this muffin recipe the next time you have bananas to use.

Carrot Gingerbread Muffins & Blueberry Lemon Muffins

Muffins are such a great portable breakfast and snack.  I like both of these recipes because they are high in protein and contain some veggies or fruit.  These both come from the Practical Paleo cookbook. First is the Carrot Gingerbread Muffin recipe.   My hubby & I both love these, but the kiddos are so-so about them.  They have very strong spices in them.  The other muffin is a Lemon Blueberry Muffin.  This blogger left out the lemon juice, we used 4 Tbsp of fresh lemon juice in ours.  My kiddos liked the lemon flavor.  These both keep well in the fridge for a few days.

 
See the liners on these muffins?  They are parchment paper muffin liners.  A friend recommended them to me for paleo baking.  She was right, they come right off, no wasted muffin stuck to the liner!  

Cinnamon Raisin Bread and French Toast

A few days ago, I made this cinnamon raisin bread recipe.  It was yummy, and the family liked it.  I had some leftover and decided to make it into french toast today.  I really liked this! It has a ton of flavor and was super easy to make.

3 eggs
1/2 cup milk (I used half almond half coconut)
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp vanilla
1/4 tsp salt
1 Tbsp honey
butter (for frying)

Whisk all ingredients together.  Drench bread and fry in butter over medium heat. 

Paleo Breakfast Bread

Here is a simple, filling, cinnamony, sweet bread to start your day.  Very portable.  We ate ours with fried eggs, but it can stand alone for a great breakfast or snack. 

Microwave Sandwich Bread

I have posted this recipe within other posts before, but it is such a go-to bread it deserves its own post!  This microwave sandwich bread was one of the first paleo breads I made.  I always use the toasted sesame seeds and use olive or grape seed oil in place of the walnut oil.  I used a mixture of black and white sesame seeds for this batch. 

This is all it takes to mix it up, so it does not create very many dishes.  I use the 1/4 cup to measure the almond flour and flax.  The 1/2 Tbsp to measure the sesame seeds, baking powder, oil and honey in that order. Then the 1/4 tsp for the salt.


Next, I pour about 1/4 of the batter in each small glass pyrex dish like this.

I microwave them individually for 1 minute.  The recipe says longer, so it may depend on the power of your microwave.  I flip them out on a cooling rack and then reuse the dish for the next 1/4 of the batter.
 
 I slice mine horizontally.  This is one made into a yummy egg, turkey bacon, pepper & onion sandwich.


What will you use yours for?

 

Pizza Crust- Take 2!

I shared this pizza crust recipe awhile ago.  At the time I only had chia seeds on hand, so I used that option.  Since then, I have picked up some psyllium husks at the health foods store.  I have now made this recipe a couple times and it is GOOD!  My kids like it too.  One has even said you could probably just make this crust instead of doing one "regular pizza" and a "paleo pizza."  That is as good as it gets.  Be warned it has a very interesting color and consistency when you mix it up.  Press it out on your stone with your hands coated in tapioca flour.  Enjoy!

What in the world are psyllium husks?  Check out wikipedia, because it is never wrong, right???  Psyllium Husks

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffins

This pumpkin chocolate chip muffin recipe is definitely a keeper.  I mixed the batter up quickly in my vitamix, hand stirred in the chocolate chips (I used regular since I didn't have any mini), and used my cupcake maker to make a smallish muffin.  ALL of my kiddos liked them!  Stored the leftovers in the fridge and they are still very yummy.

Grain-Free Bagels

I took this recipe for a test run.  I made some in my mom's donut maker.  The others I made in small glass Pyrex dishes with small metal dipping cups in the center all greased well.  They looked like this:

 

They did not come out looking pretty!  The ones in the donut maker look much better.

 


Here are a few issues about this recipe:
1.  They did not taste like or have the texture of a bagel.
2.  My kids really liked these toasted with some butter on them.
3.  This would make a really good bread for a sandwich or toast, so next time I will just bake them in the small, round Pyrex dishes.

 

Paleo Friendly Biscuits & Gravy

There are so many obstacles when trying to make biscuits and gravy a paleo meal.  The first is the biscuits.  Today, I tried this recipe from the Deliciously Organic site. Several days ago I had made this biscuit recipe.  It was good, but we all liked the one I made today better.  I think it is due to the mix of flours and using butter. 


Now that we have overcome that obstacle, lets move onto the gravy.  Replacing the dairy and making the gravy thick and creamy can be tricky.  The first time I did this the flavor was right, but the arrowroot made it sticky & stringy.  This time the tapioca flour made it better.  We do not prefer pork in our household, so we use turkey sausage.  I'm sure pork sausage could be substituted if desired.

Turkey Sausage Gravy
1 lb turkey sausage
3 Tbsp butter
3 Tbsp tapioca flour
1/2 tsp ground mustard
1/4 tsp salt
1/8 tsp pepper
2 1/2 cup non-dairy milk (we used a mix of coconut & almond)
1 Tbsp worchestershire sauce

Crumble sausage in large saucepan, cook until no longer pink.  Transfer to a bowl.  In the same pan, melt butter.  Stir in flour, mustard, salt and pepper.  Gradually add milk and worchestershire sauce.  Bring to a boil; cook and stir for 2 minutes until thick.  Stir in sausage; heat through.  Serve with warm biscuits.
 
 

"Rye" Bread

I was hungry for bread this weekend.  Decided on this rye bread.  The caraway seed flavor really does give it that classic rye bread flavor!

Flatbread/Pizza Crust

I like the pizza crust recipe I usually make, but this recipe intrigued me.  I tried it out for our pizza night this weekend.  We used ground chia seed since we do not keep psyllium husks on hand.  The flavor was very good. Even my kiddos that do not like paleo pizza crust liked it.  I think the chia seed did not make for the most desirable appearance.  I might pick up some psyllium husks and try it again. 

Quick & Easy Paleo Hamburger Buns

This is the second paleo hamburger bun recipe tried.  I think this one had better flavor.  I used grape seed for the oil, arrowroot powder, and brushed the top with butter before adding the seeds.  I had a blend of black & toasted sesame seeds I sprinkled on top.  This made 4 large buns.  They were perfect for the grilled ribeye sandwiches we were eating for lunch.  Quick & Easy Paleo Hamburger Buns
 

Buttermilk Biscuits

I have not had a biscuit in a couple years, so I was excited to try a paleo biscuit recipe.  This recipe comes together so quickly.  All of my kiddos like these.  We have eaten them with jam and a paleo sausage gravy, yum!  Definitely something we will make often.