Weekly Menu Planner for Week of March 11 to March 18, 2018

Don't forget to spring ahead one hour for Daylight Savings Time!

I got a head start on next week's menus today, since I know I will be sleep-deprived tomorrow!  I don't know about you, but I don't mind the Fall Back when we gain an hour of sleep, but I don't care too much for losing an hour of sleep!

Here is the coming week's menu:  (recipe links can be found below)

FOR A PRINTABLE VERSION, CLICK HERE

Recipe links for this week:

Sunday: 

Chicken Ala King Casserole is from Taste of Home

Pineapple Cheesecake is from Kraft Recipes and is no-bake

Monday:

Crockpot Brown Sugar Balsamic Glazed Pork Tenderloin is from Food 52

Peach Cobbler 

Thursday:

Sheet Pan Breakfast Bake is from Damn Delicious

Lemon Cream Pie is from Mel's Kitchen Café

That's it for this week!  Hope you find something you like!

Gluten Free Buttery Vanilla Pound Cake

I like cake.  A lot.  That is one of the hardest things about being gluten free.  Desserts just aren't what they used to be.  And since I am the only one in my family that is gluten free, most of the time I make dessert for them that is not gluten free.  I just am used to it.

But every so often, I want dessert.  Most often I want cake.  Sometimes pie, sometimes cookies, but most often cake.  Any kind of cake....coffee cake, pound cake, chocolate cake....whatever!

So when I ran across this recipe from Carla Hall for Buttery Vanilla Pound Cake, I knew I had to try it.  I don't get a chance to watch The Chew very often, but I've seen Carla Hall's desserts before and they always look REALLY GOOD!  Her recipe called for store-bought prepared vanilla pudding, and that is what caught my eye.  I have used dry pudding mix in a cake recipe, but never prepared pudding!  And I just had to try it!

The only tweaks I made to her recipe were I used gluten free flour (Bob's Red Mill 1 to 1), and I used 6 eggs instead of 5.  In addition, I made a box of Jell-O Vanilla Instant Pudding and used a cup of that instead of buying ready-made pudding at the store.  For baking, I used a 350 degree oven and baked it for exactly 1 hour and it turned out perfectly.  I opted for her chocolate glaze, and it may be my new favorite glaze for cake.  I LOVED IT!!

This cake rose beautifully, the crumb was very cake-like and not gummy at all, like so many gluten free cakes can be.  It had a very buttery vanilla flavor, and the glaze put the flavor over the top.  If you must know, the next day I made another batch of the glaze and drizzled it over the entire piece of cake I was eating. Because I need a few more calories.  It was totally worth it.

I tried taking a picture of a piece of the cut cake so you could see the texture, but I really take so-so pictures.  Anyway, here is my attempt:

See how moist and cake-like the texture is?  Oh, it is a really good gluten-free cake!

If you want to make this cake the way Carla Hall made it, and I am sure hers is out-of-this-world delicious, here is the link:  Buttery Vanilla Pound Cake.  I wish I could try it!!!

If you want to try my gluten-free version of her cake, my recipe is below.

If you want to print my gluten-free recipe, please click HERE.

This recipe is linked to Meal Plan Monday #103.

Gluten Free Salisbury Steak and Gravy (Instant Pot)

Remember these?  I used to LOVE TV dinners when I was little.  It was a real treat to eat out of aluminum foil tins, and what a challenge it was to try and eat those vegetables!  As a child, that was the only way I got to eat Salisbury Steak.

Throughout the course of our marriage, over 100 or 200 years now, I've tried to make Salisbury Steak a couple times.  It never turned out very well, so I gave up and figured it was one of things that Swanson mastered but I would never get.

Fast forward to Monday and my Instant Pot.  And a wonderful recipe from the blog Live Simply.  Oh, my goodness.  We really enjoyed this!  To me, pure comfort food!

I tweaked the recipe just a little bit.  For one thing, I used all gluten free items.  I did not have gluten free panko bread crumbs (Live Simply's recipe called for panko bread crumbs), so I just used plain gluten free bread crumbs.

The other tweak I made was that I browned the beef patties in a skillet on the stove.  Live Simply's recipe said to brown them on Saute in the Instant Pot, but that seemed like a no-no to me.  First off, I don't want to be reaching down into a deep hot pot to flip over beef patties.  And I made 7 patties, so it would take too long to do 2 patties at a time in the Instant Pot.  So I just used a large skillet and browned the patties 2-3 minutes on each side.  To me, much quicker and I didn't worry about burning my arm.

This turned out so good!!  We loved the gravy!  It was so good on the mashed potatoes AND the beef!  My new favorite gravy recipe!  Here is what my dinner plate looked like:

So good!

Here is the tweaked recipe, or you can head over to Live Simply and use that one!

For a printable version, click HERE.

Thanks, Live Simply, for a wonderful recipe!

This recipe is linked to Meal Plan Monday #103.

Weekly Menu Planner for March 4 to March 10, 2018

Here is the menu plan for the coming week.  I changed the format a bit, hoping it is easier to read and follow.  Recipe links are listed below.

If you would like a printable copy of my menu plan, please click HERE

Sunday:

Instant Pot Crack Chicken is from Adventures of A Nurse

Buttery Vanilla Pudding Pound Cake is from The Chew's Carla Hall

Monday:

Instant Pot Salisbury Steak is from Live Simply

Tuesday:

Southern Fried Cabbage and Sausage is from Genius Kitchen

Heavenly Oreo Dessert is from Life in the Lofthouse

Saturday:

Carrot Cake is from Good Eats 'N Sweet  Treats ( this is my FAVORITE carrot cake)

That's it for this week!  Hope you find some good ideas, or a recipe you like!

This menu plan is linked to Meal Plan Monday 103.

Peach Cobbler (Gluten Free)

The other day I made a really yummy peach cobbler.  It was super easy, and I have to say everyone ate it and didn't even ask if it was gluten free.  They just gobbled it up!

I used the same old recipe I usually use, except I used gluten free flour this time.  I cannot remember where I got this recipe, since I've made it many many times over the past several years.  It turned out SO GOOD!  I served it warm with vanilla ice cream - real comfort food!

Here is the recipe:  (if you want to make it with gluten, just use regular flour and one less egg)

For a printable version of the recipe, click HERE.

Peach Cobbler

1 stick of butter

1 cup of gluten free flour with xantham gum (I used Bob's Red Mill 1 to 1)

1 cup sugar

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

2/3 cup milk

2 eggs

28 oz. can of sliced peaches, drained

16 oz. can chunk pineapple, drained

1 cup sugar

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon nutmeg

1.  Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

2.  In a 9 X 13 glass baking dish, melt the 1 stick of butter in the oven.

3.  In a medium mixing bowl, whisk together 1 cup gluten free flour, 1 cup sugar, 2 tsp. baking powder, and 1/4 tsp. salt. 

4.  Whisk the milk and 2 eggs into the dry ingredients, until smooth.

5.  Remove baking dish from the oven and pour the batter over the melted butter.  DO NOT MIX.

6.  In another medium sized bowl, combine the drained peaches, drained pineapple, 1 cup sugar, cinnamon, and nutmeg.

7.  Spread the fruit mixture over the batter.  DO NOT MIX.

8.  Bake at 350 degrees for about 45 minutes, until nicely browned and a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.

9.  Let cool 15-20 minutes.  Serve warm, with vanilla ice cream if desired.

This recipe is linked up to Meal Plan Monday #103.

French Dip Sandwiches

I guess I was late to the Instant Pot Party.  Really L.A.T.E.

In fact, I just got to the party this week.  After a couple weeks of staring at it sitting on my counter, looking through the manual and walking over to my Instant Pot and thinking NO WAY, I finally got up the courage to try it.  I made sure our homeowner's insurance was current, I put on an asbestos HazMat suit, and got a frozen roast out of the freezer.

After reading I don't know how many Instant Pot New Users suggestions online, and looking up several thousand Instant Pot recipes, I finally decided to try French Dip Sandwiches as my first attempt.

The main reason I chose to make French Dip Sandwiches was because my son was raving about the French Dip and Philly Cheesesteak Sandwiches he had this week at a restaurant close to where he works.  I wanted to see if I could come up with a reasonable facsimile at home.  

After looking at quite a few recipes, I decided to combine and/or tweak them, and see what came out of the pot!  The result:  REALLY GOOD!  I could not believe how tender and juicy the beef was, and the dipping sauce was yummy!  

I immediately was SOLD on the Instant Pot!  

Here is the recipe:

French Dip Sandwiches:  (very easy to make gluten free)

4 lb. top round roast, thinly sliced (put in the freezer for about 2 hours to make slicing easier)

1 can (14 oz.) beef broth

1 can (10 oz.) French Onion soup 

1 can (10 oz.) beef consommé

1/2 teaspoon garlic powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

8 hoagie rolls, split and toasted  (I used a Schar ciabatta roll for my gluten free sandwich!)

16 slices Provolone cheese, if desired

1.  Spray the removable pot from the Instant Pot lightly with cooking spray.

2.  Place the sliced beef, beef broth, French onion soup, consommé, garlic powder, and salt into the cooking pot.

3.  Place the pot into the Instant Pot base.  Cover and lock.  Make sure the valve is on Seal.

4.  Select the Meat button, and adjust to High Pressure and 15 minutes.

5.  When the timer beeps, turn the Instant Pot off and do a natural release for 10 minutes.

6.  After 10 minutes of natural release, do a quick release to release any remaining pressure.

7.  Remove the meat from the broth.  Strain the broth to remove any fat.

8.  Top each toasted roll with slices of meat and two slices of provolone cheese, if desired.  Serve with small bowls of au jus (broth) for dipping.  

What I learned is, it takes the Instant Pot time to preheat.  So even though you set the timer for 15 minutes, it actually takes about an extra 10 minutes to preheat plus the pressure release time.  So it isn't as fast as I thought it would be, BUT it is still way faster than a slow cooker!  And you can put the meat in FROZEN!  We also liked the texture of the beef much more than we do when it comes out of the slow cooker.  All in all, I loved making dinner this way!  

Weekly Menu Plan for February 25 to March 3, 2018

Here is this week's menu plan - recipe links are below:

Sunday:

Teriyaki Pork Tenderloin is from Slimming Eats

Monday:

Ground Beef and Cabbage Skillet is from Smile Sandwich
Gluten Free Chocolate Chip Cookies are from Land O' Lakes (everyone likes them!)

Tuesday:

Amish Ham Casserole is from Amy Made That

Pineapple Upside Down Cake is from Betty Crocker

Wednesday:

Copycat Cracker Barrel Pancakes are from Mirlandra's Kitchen

Friday:

French Dip Sandwiches are from right here!

That's it for this week!  Hope you find something you like!