Thursday, June 24, 2010

Moving Right Along

Preparation week has gone without a hitch so far, (*knocks on wood*) but being busy with school I've not gotten to post much about it. Today I'll attempt to remedy that.


Monday went as planned with a simple chicken stir-fry, though I almost forgot about the chicken part. I made two stir-frys, one with regular, gluten-filled soy sauce and teriyaki sauce for Dad and one with wheat free tamari for Mom and I. I also made chicken (without veggies) seasoned with garlic, soy sauce, and teriyaki for the picky kids. Our stir-fry was delicious. Dad said his was good, and when he tried a bite of ours said he liked ours as much if not better. He also said he is happy to eat whatever we eat, so we don't have to make seperate dishes for him, he just doesn't want to do the complete UltraMind Solution.



Tuesday's tostadas were even simpler than the stir-fry the night before. We just heated up some canned black beans and some corn tortillas and put whatever we wanted on them. For me that meant just a tortilla with beans and cheddar cheese. Mom also made guacamole, but I didn't try any of that this time. After my tostada, I was still hungry, so I had black bean and cheese nachos with our "natural" tortilla chips. The kids had a "whatever night" because they are boring and don't like Mexican food at all (even the very boring version that I eat).



Wednesday's dinner was absolutely delicious. My mom's Creamy Braised Chicken recipe (which I think actually came out of a Light and Tasty magazine) was a hit. We adjusted the recipe a bit so the recipe I post will be our adaptation.


Creamy Braised Chicken


Ingredients:

  • 1/4 cup thinly sliced onion
  • 1/2 cup thinly sliced carrot
  • 1/2 cup thinly sliced celery
  • 1 tablespoon plus 2 teaspoons GFCF margarine (we used Earth Balance), divided
  • 1-1/2 pounds chicken breast halves (we used ones with bones, so they took a little longer to cook than boneless would have)
  • 2-1/3 cups chicken broth (we used Food Club brand as it had no sugar), divided
  • 1 tablespoon minced fresh parsley
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 1 teaspoon dried thyme
  • 1/8 teaspoon white pepper
  • 1 bay leaf
  • 1 tablespoon cornstarch
  • 1/2 cup organic half and half
  • 1/2 pound fresh mushrooms, quartered

Directions:

In a dutch oven or large pot saute sliced onion, carrot and celery in 1 tablespoon of margarine until tender. Remove vegetables from pot; set aside. Add chicken to pot, brown on both sides. Remove chicken from pan and keep warm. Add 1 cup of broth to pot; simmer until reduced to 1/2 cup. Stir in rest of broth and seasonings. Return chicken to pot; cover and simmer for 5 minutes (perhaps longer if chicken has bones) or until juices run clear. Remove chicken onto serving platter; keep warm. Combine cornstarch and half and half until smooth, gradually stir into pan. Bring to a boil; cook and stir for 2 minutes or until thickened (it took much less time than 2 minutes for mine to thicken). Return vegetables to pan. Remove from the heat; cover and set aside. In a non-stick skillet, saute mushrooms in remaining butter. Add mushrooms to serving platter. Discard bay leaf from sauce; spoon over chicken and vegetables.

Thursday we had lasagna that was rather delicious as well. The recipe is rather old (my mom made it for my dad when they were dating) from a box of Hodgson Mill Whole Wheat Lasagna Noodles.

Lasagna

Ingredients:

  • 1 lb. ground beef
  • 1 clove garlic, minced
  • 1 Tbsp. parsley flakes
  • 1 Tbsp. basil (we used dried)
  • 2 cups diced tomatoes (we used canned)
  • 2 (6 oz.) cans tomato paste
  • 1 (8 oz.) package whole wheat lasagna noodles
  • 2 (12 oz.) package small curd cottage cheese (or one package ricotta and one package cottage)
  • 2 beaten eggs
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 1/2 tsp pepper
  • 2 Tbsp. parsley flakes
  • 1 bag shredded mozzarella cheese

Directions:

Brown meat slowly; add next 6 ingredients to meat. Simmer uncovered about 1 hour. Cook noodles until tender; drain and lay out on wax paper. Combine cottage cheese with next 5 ingredients in separate bowl. Place 1/2 noodles in 9x13 baking dish; spread 1/2 cheese mixture over noodles, add 1/2 mozzarella cheese and 1/2 meat mixture. Repeat layers. Bake at 375 degrees for 30 minutes.

Today's (Friday's) dinner was very simple. A bag of frozen mixed vegetables steamed in the microwave and some tilapia cooked with lemon and Parmesan cheese on top.

Trial and Error

I tried sea salt yesterday for the first time, which is what we are supposed use during the rest of the UltraMind Solution and learned that it is much saltier than regular table salt. Just thought anyone that was unaware (as I was) should know before they put way too much sea salt in a recipe.

Local Finds/Tips and Tricks

I found some more Full Circle brand chicken drumsticks in the 40% off section this morning at United. Also, they have completely organic Full Circle chicken at Market Street. It helps to look at what day the chicken will expire to know where you should go on which day if you don't have time to go everywhere (as I often don't). I also went to Vitamins Plus yesterday to look at their organic produce (which they get every Thursday) and found some great deals. First, I got about one and a half to two pounds of organic green grapes for only $1.81. There were also one pound packages of organic baby carrots for 94 cents. I also got a five pound bag of organic russet potatoes for $3.69, which I didn't feel was too bad, especially since they seemed very fresh and I haven't seen organic potatoes everywhere. It also looks like they are expanding Vitamins Plus as well, as there seemed to be many more gluten free items in particular.

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