Menu Plan

Yesterday morning: Sliced mango and leftover chicken,
whole milk on the side.

Wow, we made it through March! It was a very rainy March for us - and it's still rainy today, hence the playlist.

I was shocked at how much money we saved on groceries last month with my husband being the primary grocery shopper -- enough to have him involved in grocery shopping a lot more often from here on out.

Also? My preschooler is more or less geared now toward the idea of whole foods for breakfast; I can't remember the last time that she asked about breakfast cereal, and I consider that a milestone of some sort.

Here's what's on the menu this week:

Monday:

Leftover beef brisket soup, absolutely
loaded with leeks and mushrooms.

Breakfast - Hot tea for me, bananas and leftover chicken with mango for my girls
Lunch - Liverwurst, smoky autumn beef brisket soup using leftover beef roast
Dinner - Flank steaks on the grill - it's grillin' weather, baby, YEA! :)

Tuesday:
Breakfast - Hot tea for me, milk and fruit for my girls (I meant to get some protein in for them, too, but the morning got ahead of me!)
Lunch - Leftover beef brisket soup, Dubliner cheese
Dinner - Chebe Pizza!*

Wednesday:
Breakfast - Onion and cheese omelette
Lunch - Fasting for me, probably
Dinner - Chuck steaks under the broiler, baked Brussels sprouts with butter

Thursday:
Breakfast - Frozen blueberries, warmed with cinnamon, served with cottage cheese
Lunch - Lamb shoulder simmered in tamari and butter
Dinner - Salmon filets, coconut oil veggie stir fry

Friday:
Breakfast - Whole milk yoghurt with liquid whole leaf stevia and vanilla extract
Lunch - We're visiting with a friend and her daughter! She's providing the chicken for grillin', I'm supplying a loaded salad and maybe some Green & Black's as a special treat :)
Dinner - Bacon and eggs

Tonight's Chebe crust pizza, which I made using the
very simple and low-carb Victoria tomato basil sauce.
It is, quite simply, delicious.
I would be proud to serve it to company.

*Look away if you are dogmatic -- I saw Chebe Bread Pizza Crust Mix as somebody had mixed and baked it up on another paleo blog (it's tapioca flour based, very short ingredient list, came highly rated). Drumroll...this means that yes, our household will have the occasional pizza night! (I haven't been contacted by Chebe with any review requests; I discovered and bought Chebe of my own initiative, and am glad that I did!) I did some Googling, and discovered that Chebe also sells frozen pizza crusts with the same ingredients as the dry mix ... but unfortunately the wet ingredients added in the frozen crust include (ick! so bad for you) canola oil.

Definitely some leftovers going with my husband
and daughter in their lunches tomorrow.

But now that I know that the tapioca flour crust won't "die" while waiting in a freezer, I hold out some hope that I could make the dry mix (as I did tonight) fresh at home with Kerrygold, but then press it flat and and add some toppings, and finally freeze it for when unexpected dinner company drops in, or those nights when we arrive at home after some long trip with nothing in our fridge, or in case of nausea/illness/recovery when something simple and fast is needed. Hmmm, maybe that is a case where a vacuum sealing appliance comes in handy -- as it did for Joyful Abode when she cracked open some frozen vaccum sealed twice baked potato skins that she had made with her postpartum recovery time in mind.

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Menu Plan

Well, we've earned the badge of having a child in a school setting: our family had a little bout of something flu-ish over the weekend, though so far we've bounced back pretty well. I wonder to what extent our diets affected our recovery? Though I was being rather stupid and had too much dark chocolate, which I think may have set me up for immune weakness in the first place. Thankfully, my husband and I are merely stuffed up, but still operational.

Last winter, when my husband got sick, I had brought home lots of comfort junk foods to get us through the week - mini muffins, Gatorade, etc.

But now that I've gone down the MDA rabbit hole, my recovery objective when sick is the same as when healthy - lots of real food, minimal processed items. Fortunately for me, at the first sign my family was headed downhill this weekend, I was able to reconstitute a bag of frozen slow cooked pork and veggies, using some added chicken broth on the stovetop.

Today, I have a whole chicken in the crockpot to cook with water, chopped onions, crushed garlic cloves, diced ginger, carrots, and some salt, and in the oven I've roasted separate pans of cauliflower and butternut squash with butter and seasonings - truly nourishing comfort food. Not only will the chicken and carrots serve as a no-stress dinner tonight, but I'll be able to salvage lots of nourishing broth out of the deal. I'll also boil some eggs tonight to have at the ready in the fridge in case my bout with the illness isn't over and my family finds itself without the head chef on her feet.

Besides fresh fruit and veggies, I did pick up a few prepackaged items for us - mainly dried fruit and crystallized ginger (to aid with nausea).

Here's the menu plan for this week:

Monday:
Workout: Kettlebellin'
Breakfast - Boiled eggs, bananas for the girls
Lunch - Leftover chicken soup, romaine salad
Dinner - Crock pot pork ribs with tamari and seasoning, broccoli stir-fry

Tuesday:
Workout: Swimmin'
Breakfast - Strawberries with creme fraiche
Lunch - Pureed vegetable soup, using whatever's left from Sunday (broth + roasted veggies), plus a bit of Kerrygold
Dinner - Coconut lime salmon filets, brussels sprouts, romaine salad

Wednesday:
Workout: Rest/play day
Breakfast - Cottage cheese drizzled lightly with honey
Lunch - Romaine "big-ass" salad
Dinner - Bacon and eggs

Thursday:
Workout: My first attempt at Turkish getups with Veronica; going to take this VERY slowly (so it may not count as high intensity anything)
Breakfast - Baked apples topped with chopped nuts
Lunch - Quiche of some kind
Dinner - Eggplant lasagna with a meat sauce

Friday:
Workout: Need something very quick and intense, so may do kettlebell swings
Breakfast - Curried egg salad (may try D-I-Y mayo!)
Lunch - Leftover eggplant lasagna
Dinner - Leftovers

Ideas for preschool lunches:
Lunch #9 - Leftover roasted cauliflower with dip, cottage cheese, fresh pomegranate seeds (pomegranates are also coming into season!)
Lunch #10 - Egg salad, leftover brussels sprouts, dates, trail mix
Lunch #11 - Maybe some kind of finger sandwiches made with coconut/egg pancakes (?), strawberries, zucchini sticks