Menu Planning Monday

Monday - breakfast for dinner - sausage, blueberry oat pancakes, eggs, fruit, fried plantains for dessert - or maybe I should figure out something green or Irishy - but not corned beef and cabbage because we hate it
Tuesday - whole wheat flax spaghetti with seafood red sauce, salad
Wednesday - 16 bean soup, salad, fresh baked bread or rolls
Thursday - pork loin chops, applesauce, mashed potatoes, zucchini
Friday - bean & beef burritos, broccoli
Saturday - (prep overnight cinnamon rolls)
Sunday - breakfast - overnight cinnamon rolls, Easter eggs & fruit
Easter lunch @ my parents'
dinner = Easter bunny pasta salad & veggies with dip

Carrie's Tilapia Indiana Style

TILAPIA Indiana Style

Take an egg and beat it up with 1T of milk or even non-dairy creamer. Dip filet in it and let excess egg run off. Take this filet then and dredge thru flour. Then take it and lay it out flat and sprinkle some garlic salt and a little fresh ground pepper. Squeeze some fresh lemon over it. Turn over and do same to other side. When finished filet will be sticky but take it again a dredge thru flour. Then, heat a little olive oil (not extra virgin) in a saute pan. Lay filet in the pan and lightly and slowly cook filet 'til golden on one side. Repeat on other side.


For this recipe I use frozen tilapia and cannot tell the difference.

Use lots of lemon. That is the secret.

** Super hit with the family.

Nutty Buddy Cookies

This recipe started out as Bobby Flay's decadent chocolate chip cookies. Just for me. Until I realized I was out of CHOCOLATE CHIPS! Sort of an important ingredient. I ended up throwing in whole wheat flour, flax meal and lots of nuts and made them kid friendly and dairy-free. They were nutty and cake like. A huge hit at the park for a homeschool playdate.

1 cup plus 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 cup whole wheat pastry flour
3/4 teaspoon kosher salt
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup of Earth's Balance
2/3 cup granulated sugar
2/3 cup brown sugar
2 large eggs
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
1/3 cup flax seed meal
1 cup chopped nuts - mix of walnuts, pecans and almonds
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Line baking sheet with parchment paper or silicon pads.

Whisk together the flours, salt, flax seed and baking soda in a large bowl.

Place the butter in the bowl on an electric stand mixer fitted with paddle attachment and beat until smooth, about 1 minute. Add the sugars and continue mixing, scraping down the sides and bottom of the bowl until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes longer. Add the eggs, 1 at a time, and the vanilla extract, beating until incorporated.

Add half of the flour and mix until just incorporated. Add the remaining flour, again mixing until just combined. Remove the bowl from the stand and fold in the nuts.

Using a small ice cream scoop, spoon the dough onto a baking sheet, leaving at least 2 inches between each cookie and bake on the middle rack until the cookies are lightly golden brown and still soft in the middle, about 10 minutes. Let cookies rest for 2 minutes on the baking sheet before removing them to a baking rack with a wide metal spatula. Let the cookies cool on the baking rack for a few minutes before eating. Repeat with remaining dough. Made about 2 dozen big puffy cookies.

Menu Planning Monday

Sunday - baked bbq chicken, broccoli, giant steak fries
Monday - bake bread, make chicken stock
Dinner - butternut squash & ground turkey sauce over flax whole wheat penne (a dairy free variation on this recipe)
Tuesday - panko crusted tilapia, garlicky green beans, steamed rice
Wednesday - (make buns) buffalo burgers, baked fries, coleslaw
Thursday - sloppy joes on leftover buns, leftover coleslaw, roasted chickpeas
Friday - tortilla pizzas, salad
Saturday - the grandparents'?



In my oven this week
muffins with the kids
whole wheat bread (I am going to try adding an egg to reduce the crumble factor)
french bread (last week's loaves got over done - I want a yummy, perfectly golden loaf this week!)
granola
granola bars
hamburger buns (varying the linked recipe to make it dairy free)


For more recipes visit www.orgjunkie.com

Dairy Free Coleslaw

This recipe was a huge hit. My husband kept gushing about it, kids asked for seconds and my 5 year old even licked up the extra dressing on his plate! ewww!

1 large head green cabbage, minced
1/4 small head red cabbage, minced
1 large carrot, minced
2 tablespoons minced red onion
2/3 cup mayonnaise (scant 2/3 cup)
1/3 cup white sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon ground black pepper
1/3 cup soymilk mixed with 1 tablespoon lemon juice (to make soy "buttermilk")
1.5 tablespoons white wine vinegar
1/4 cup lemon juice

Mix cabbage, carrot & red onion together in a large bowl. Mix together the remaining ingredients and add to cabbage mix. Chill for at least 4 hours before serving.

Honey Whole Wheat Flax Bread

(adapted from a recipe posted in the kitchen forum on Diaper Swappers)

(Dairy Free) Honey Whole Wheat Flax Bread

1 1/4 cup warm (not hot or it kills your yeast)water
2 tbsp honey (other options given were - sugar,molasses,or maple syrup)
1 tbsp yeast
Mix sweetener in water,sprinkle yeast over.Let stand 10 minutes.Then stir in:
1 tsp salt
2 tbsp canola oil(be generous) (or margarine, butter or oil )
3 cups whole wheat flour (or any combination)
1/8 cup flax seed meal
1/8 cup wheat germ
(instead of flax/wheat germ or up to 1/4 cup 9 grain cereal,or ,or raisins and extra honey,or whatever may be added now)

With dough hook in place mix on 2 until well combined, scraping down sides occasionally. Continue to knead a bit more until the dough starts "climbing" up the hook.
Place in an oiled bowl, turn to cover with oil. Cover bowl and place in a warm draft free location (I put mine in the microwave because I was already baking something else - I would rather have put it in the turned off oven - having it in a stainless steel bowl in the microwave made me a nervous wreck since William thinks turning on the microwave is super funny :eek: )
Let rise 1 hour, covered.
Shape into a loaf shape, place in a greased loaf pan.
Let rise 45 mins-1 hour.
Bake at 350 degrees F for 45 mins-1 hour.
Loaf is done when it sounds hollow when tapped. (You can also place a pan of water in the oven with the loaf to make it rise higher. - I did not do that)
Makes 1 (1.5 L loaf pan) loaf

I think I should have added more flour and maybe kneaded it more. The honey taste/smell was really strong and sort of icked me out but my family LOVED it. I might try a different sweetener this week.

Menu Planning Monday (on Sunday)

for more menus visit www.orgjunkie.com

Last week I scrapped a lot of my planning and made some new recipes. We had lots of rain and cold days Ham Soup was a huge hit. I baked my first loaf of yeast bread (also a hit) and this week I plan on trying some new recipes for bread! Fun!

We are still doing well with no-take out although Tuesday after my doctor's appointment we picked up take-out which wound up being a good choice because by the time we got home I was feeling awful and would not have done well having to cook and clean up. So one take-out meal for the month is a darn good record considering we used to eat out or get take-out 1-2 every weekend plus maybe 1x during the week.

The menu that might be followed...
Sunday - black bean & beef burritos, mexi-veggie soup

Monday - baked sweet chicken thighs, baked potatoes and either roasted or garlicky asparagus, coleslaw (DS1 loves coleslaw but we rarely have it since DS2 is allergic to dairy so I am going to tinker with a dairy free recipe - I will post it if it is a success) fresh french bread (Kitchen Aid recipe)

Tuesday - chili (from the freezer), corn bread (I am going to try this WFM recipe - I have yet to find a really good dairy free cornbread recipe which might be partly because I am always trying to reduce fat, add whole wheat flour or add flax seeds. This time I will make the recipe as is), salad

Wednesday - baked Mediterranean tilapia, steamed spinach, fried eggplant, rice pilaf

Thursday - veggie bean soup (from the freezer), fresh bread or biscuits

Friday - tortilla pizzas, salad or veggies for dipping

Saturday - maybe dinner at my parents'?



My baking & bulk cooking for the week:
2 lbs black beans (cooked, packaged and frozen today)
red sauce for pizza or pasta (cooked last night - already packaged and frozen)
french bread
whole wheat bread
oatmeal bars (cooked and tested - SO SO GOOD!)
granola bars
chicken stock