Weekly Menu Plan 4-21 to 4-27, 2024

 

How are you all doing this week?  I hope you had a great week last week, I know I am looking forward to the coming week!

The trees are all leafed out here, even though we had a touch of cold this weekend.  Nothing too severe, but I am ready for those 60's and 70's again.  Tennis is going great, so far my granddaughter is undefeated this season.  We still have many matches to go yet, so we'll see how the season plays out.  Regardless, I am so proud of her!  

As the weather warms up, I'm beginning to work more salads into our meal plan.  I can make them early in the day, which I like, and it's not so heavy at dinner time.  I've just had such a taste for salads lately!  I decided every other day is the goal for salads, although right now I think I could eat one for dinner every day.  

I'm also trying a gluten free pizza out this week that has a pizza crust made with canned chicken.  I know it sounds strange, but I keep reading all these rave reviews about them online.  Extra protein, no gluten, so what's not to love?  I'll see how that goes this week - I am looking forward to trying it!

I also have several easy desserts this week, and I'm trying to go a bit lighter there as well.  I like a little treat at the end of the day, but I'm fine with something light and not too heavy.  I keep several cartons of dairy free ice cream in my fridge, because I mostly go dairy free these days.  I do use lactose pills when I eat cheese, like on pizza, and they seem to work pretty well for me.  But if I make a dessert that has too much dairy in it, I'll just have a small dish of dairy free ice cream.  Breyers makes a wonderful gluten free dairy free Oatmilk ice cream that I love.  Vanilla and chocolate chip mint are both gluten and dairy free.  And yummy!

Here's my plan for the week.  Links and notes are below:

Monday:

Banana Baked Oatmeal

Taco Salad For A Large Crowd

Gluten Free Cornbread

Gluten Free Lemon Meringue Pie

Wednesday:

Devilled Egg Chef Salad

Thursday:

Yogurt Parfaits

Gluten Free Banana Bread

Sheet Pan Nachos

Easy Pineapple Dessert

Friday:

Chopped Salad With Pasta

Gluten Free Brownies

Saturday:

Gluten Free Cinnamon Coffee Cake

Gluten Free Pizza with Chicken Crust

And now off to another busy week!  I hope you all have a wonderful week, and many happy meals with family and friends!  Take care and see you next week!

Weekly Menu Plan 4/14-20, 2024

 

Hello!  Ready for another week of menus?  Sunday got here before I knew it!

We had a VERY rainy week last week, but today, it's sunny and 80 degrees.  I LOVE IT!  I am so ready for warm weather!  The coming week is all 60's and 70's, then it cools to the 50's for the weekend.  I'll take it.  We're halfway through April already, can you believe it?  This year is flying by.

I have a busy week ahead - 3 tennis matches and a tournament next weekend (for my granddaughter).  I'll be at all of them, I can't wait!  The weather should cooperate this week, at least it looks that way for now.

I'm prepping most meals in the morning, if I can, so we can eat early and scoot out of here.  At my age, I'm a slow scooter.  So I need a head start. :)

Here's the menu for this week.  I have several new recipes for me to try this week, so I hope they all turn out!  I love trying out new meals.  Notes and links are below the menu.

Sunday:

Gluten Free French Toast

Fried Apples - I refrigerated leftovers to use on Wednesday's waffles

Gluten Free Chicken Marsala - I tasted it (we haven't eaten yet) and it is very good!  

Monday:

Gluten Free Sausage Gravy - we just eat this over toast

Gluten Free Shrimp Fajita Bowls - this is a new one for me

Gluten Free Strawberry Crumble Bars

Tuesday:

Gluten Free Cinnamon Biscuit Balls

Smoked Sausage and Potato Skillet

Gluten Free Butter Dip Biscuits

Gluten Free Chocolate Chip Cake

Wednesday:

Gluten Free Waffles - these are really good!  I add an extra tablespoon of sugar.

Gluten Free Country Fried Steak and Gravy

Thursday:

Gluten Free Breakfast Burritos

Potato Salad

Gluten Free Peach and Almond Crisp

Friday:

Ham and Cheese Casserole

Gluten Free Pizza - I'm trying this crust for the first time

Saturday:

Gluten Free Pancakes

Chicken Fried Rice

Gluten Free Kitchen Sink Cookies - new recipe for me, but I've got to try them!

That's what I've got for this week!  I hope you all have a lovely spring week, and I'll be back next week with yet another week of menus!  God bless you all!  Don't be afraid to say hi in the comments, I love to meet you all!

weekly Menu Plan 4-7 to 4-13, 2024

 

I love spring!  I know tomorrow is all about the eclipse, especially here in Indiana, but I'm enjoying the warmer temps.  The past few days were CHILLY, but today I can sit outside on my porch swing without a jacket, and I can listen to the birds chirping and watch my bluebirds building their nest inside the birdhouse.  

I missed a couple weeks posting, I don't know what I do but I always seem busy.  Then, when I look back at the past couple weeks, I can't think of what I was doing that I was so busy!  But at the time it seemed like I was!  My youngest granddaughter was on spring break for 2 weeks, and I'm her source of rides and entertainment while she's off.  So that kept me busy, definitely!  We had a lot of fun, and I'm ready for a good long nap or two.  Hopefully this week I'll find time to do just that!

I baked several kinds of cookies the past two weeks, most of them were yummy.  I'm ready for a break from cookies, though, so this week it's pies and bar cookies.  At least bar cookies don't take so long to bake!  

On this week's menu plan, I forgot to label a couple of them gluten free.  But they're all gluten free, and most everything I make anymore is gluten free.  It's just too hard baking separate meals for my husband, and he's fine with whatever I serve him.  I'm lucky there!

Here is my week's worth of cooking this week.  Links and notes are below:

Sunday:

Gluten Free Blueberry French Toast Casserole

Gluten Free Crockpot Pork Chops

Gluten Free Chocolate Cream Pie

Monday:

Gluten Free Banana Cream Pie

Tuesday:

Beef Vegetable Soup - gluten free

Gluten Free 7-Up Biscuits

Wednesday:

Gluten Free Hash Brown Quiche

Crispy BBQ Chicken - gluten free

Gluten Free Lemon Bars - I actually found a gluten free mix from Krusteaz at my Meijer store.  I bought one and may just use the mix and try it.  It depends how much energy I have on Wednesday!

Thursday:

Gluten Free Blueberry Waffles

Cheesy Ham and Broccoli Rice Skillet - also gluten free

Gluten Free Blueberry Crumble Bars

Friday:

Egg Roll In A Bowl

Saturday:

Gluten Free Peach Cobbler Coffee Cake

Gluten Free Yellow Cake with Chocolate Frosting

That ought to do it for this week!  Tennis season has begun for the youngest granddaughter, and I'm all set to go to as many matches as I can - both in and out of town.  I will try not to miss any, because I love watching these kids play.  It's so much fun as a grandparent to see your grandkids evolve into such wonderful young adults!  And this team has a lot of talent - it amazes me!  I just love it!

Have a wonderful week, enjoy the eclipse if you're in a prime viewing area, and be sure to use those glasses if you're going to watch it.  I'll play it safe and watch it on TV, because honestly it scares me to death to look at it.  I guess the older I get, the more cautious I become!

See you next week with another meal plan!  God bless you all!

Happy Easter

 

I hope you all have a beautiful, blessed Easter!

I am taking off a week from menu planning, and will be back next week!

Hugs,

Weekly Menu Plan 3-17 to 3-23, 2024

 

It's corned beef and cabbage for dinner tonight!  I usually only make it once a year, on St. Patrick's Day, so we're all looking forward to it.  

I hope you had a great week last week, mine was very quiet but nice.  I had time to meet some friends for breakfast and for lunches, and it's always so nice to catch up with good friends!  💗

I've been sewing some Christmas baskets I'm making for my sister, she needs a total of 20.  I love making them, and I'm trying to get a good start and have them all finished by June or July.  Here are 2 of my favorites so far:

I have a blue one to work on today.

I've got my corned beef and cabbage in the crockpot, happily cooking on low for about 5 hours now.  It ought to be ready in a few more hours.  It smells good in the kitchen!  I don't use a recipe, I just peel and quarter about 5 or 6 potatoes and throw them in the crockpot.  Then I peel and cut up about 6 or 7 carrots into chunks, and into the crockpot they go.  I quarter an onion and spread that out on top of the carrots and potatoes.  After adding a little salt and pepper, I put the corned beef on top of the veggies and sprinkle the spice packet on top of the corned beef.  Then add a couple cups of beef broth or beer, and let it go for about 4 hours on high.  Then I quarter a small cabbage and jam it into the crockpot as best I can, because it's usually pretty full.  Turn it down to low, and let it go another 3 or 4 hours.  That's it!  Easy peasy!  And really yummy!

Here is the menu plan for the rest of the week:  (Notes and recipe links are below)

Sunday:

Bailey's Chocolate Poke Cake

Tuesday:

Gluten Free Pancakes

Marry Me Chicken

Gluten Free Lemon Pound Cake

Wednesday:

Gluten Free Coffee Cake

Crockpot Pork Tenderloin - 

To make it gluten free, use 1 can gluten free cream of mushroom soup, and 1 packet of Onion Soup Mix with 1 cup of water.  Also make sure your soy sauce is gluten free.

Gluten Free Coconut Cream Pie

Thursday:

Gluten Free French Toast

Air Fryer Garlic Butter Steak Bites

Friday:

Baked Cod -

Use gluten free Panko bread crumbs

Saturday:

Frittata

Gluten Free Lemon Crumb Muffins

Gluten Free Cashew Chicken -

Make sure your soy sauce and Hoisin Sauce is gluten free

Dark Chocolate Pecan Cookie Bars

That's it for this week!  Have a Happy St. Patrick's Day, and Happy Spring!  So glad it's finally here this week!  I've been waking up to the birds chirping, and I just love that!  See you next week!

Weekly Menu Plan March 10-16, 2024

 

I'm sure you're all sick of hearing the reminders to spring forward, but I thought I'd remind you anyway!  At least it means spring is almost here, right?  This week, we're having a lot of spring weather, and my forsythia bush is in full bloom.  My daffodils are about ready to open, I'm sure they will pop this week.  I love this time of year!

I'm gearing up for a busy spring, looking forward to lots of concerts and sporting events with the grandgirls.  And spring break!  I don't know why I still look forward to spring break, I've been retired for over 10 years, but I still mark it on my calendar!  :)  Old habits die hard, I guess!

Sorry I missed last week's menu plan.  On Sunday, we did a kind of impromptu dinner and I didn't have time to get on the computer.  My son made a brisket in his smoker, and everyone came over here for dinner.  I made fried apples, corn bread, mashed potatoes, green beans, and coleslaw to go with the brisket.  We all had a wonderful meal and lots of fun visiting.  I meant to do the menu plan on Monday, but I got busy and just procrastinated.  Pretty soon it was Thursday, and I realized I should just skip it altogether.  So today I start over.

Here's this week's menu plan.  Nothing fancy, I have some busy days so I'm just going for easy meals for the most part.  Check the notes and recipe links below, all of the recipes are not gluten free this week, but I make them gluten free.  All my adaptations are below.

Sunday:

Amish Cinnamon Oatmeal - use gluten free oats;  I made fried apples and put them in with the oatmeal bake, and it was delicious!

Gluten Free One Pot Gnocchi Chicken Pot Pie - I had some gluten free gnocchi so I'm using it up

Gluten Free Yellow Cake with Chocolate Frosting

Monday:

Gluten Free Waffles

Cowboy Casserole - use gluten free onion soup mix (I get mine at Kroger), Gluten Free Cream of Mushroom Soup ( I get mine at WalMart)

Tuesday:

Gluten Free Snickerdoodles

Wednesday:

Gluten Free Blueberry Pancakes

Gluten Free Chicken Noodle Soup - this is a new recipe I'm trying, everything is gluten free except the pasta, so I'm using gluten free elbow macaroni

Thursday:

Gluten Free KFC Bowls

Gluten Free Morello Cherry Pie - I made this at Christmas time and it was delicious!  I don't do the crust from the recipe, I use a frozen gluten free pie crust from Maine Woods that I get at Meijer.  The filling is gluten free, so make as is.  The topping needs gluten free flour (I use King Arthur Gluten Free All Purpose Flour) and gluten free oats, in the same amounts as indicated in the recipe.  Bake as directed.  This is a very delicious pie!  I got my Morello cherries at Aldis.

Friday:

Breakfast Burrito Casserole - use gluten free tortillas (I use Mission gluten free tortillas)

Crockpot Chicken Parmesan - this is already gluten free

Affogato - easy and such a great tasting dessert!  It's light and yummy!

And that's it for this week!  I hope you have a good week, and just a head's up, next Sunday we're having Corned Beef and Cabbage with carrots and potatoes.  I put it all in the crock pot and let it go all day.  So yummy!  I may try gluten free Irish Soda Bread with it, I have to see how energetic I feel next Sunday.  Have a great week!

Weekly Menu Plan Feb. 25-March 2, 2024

 

Hi there!  What are you all cooking this week?  I just got home from the grocery store, and I can smell the beef stew cooking away in the crock pot.  I'm so hungry!

I had a great week last week.  Nothing special, just a lot of fun times with the grandgirls and family.  One of the girls came home from college this weekend, so it was great to see her!  The youngest had a birthday on Valentine's Day, and my daughter and I took her and a friend shopping on Monday last week, since they were off for President's Day.  We shopped, we had a wonderful lunch, and I enjoyed listening to two teenagers chatter away all day.  I miss those days when my kids were growing up!

Anyhoo, I'm still working through the freezer.  I had a couple packages of beef stew meat, so tonight we're having Beef Stew.  I don't really use a recipe anymore, I just use my crockpot and throw in the meat, potatoes, carrots, onions, and season with whatever sounds good.  Then I whisk together cream of mushroom soup, tomato soup, a packet or 2 of beef gravy mix, worcestershire sauce, and some beef broth. All gluten free, of course!   I stir it all together in the crock pot and let her go all day.  It always turns out good!

Here's my menu plan for the week:  (recipe links are below)

Breakfast Recipes:

Peanut Butter Blueberry Overnight Oats

Gluten Free Blueberry Muffins

Gluten Free Dutch Baby Pancake covered with Warm Fried Apples

Gluten Free Banana Bread

Gluten Free French Toast

Gluten Free Eggs Benedict Casserole

Dinner Recipes:

Honey Garlic Pork Rice Bowls

Gluten Free Meatloaf

Baked Cod - use this recipe, just use gluten free panko bread crumbs (I get mine at Wal Mart)

Gluten Free Pizza - topped with sausage, pepperoni, onions, and black olives - and of course, Mozzarella Cheese!

Desserts:

Gluten Free Red Velvet Cake

Gluten Free Cherry Crisp (just use this recipe, but sub gluten free all-purpose flour for the regular flour)

Gluten Free Apple Pie

I can feel spring coming, can't you??  I actually went out and sat on my swing on the back patio today!  There was a gorgeous breeze, and my forsythia bushes look like they are getting ready to bud out.  I can't wait!  

Until then, have a great week, and be a blessing to your family and friends!  Hugs!