Meal Plan for 7/25-7/31

DANG JULY IS ALMOST OVER! WHAT THE HECK?! Summer, where did you go? I do long for the cooler days of fall, living here in the south bends most hearts toward cool relief. I do however love summer, juicy peach chins, swimming, lazy days, no schedule, farmers markets. These are the things that we lose when fall creeps in. BUT we get football, birthday season (in our house), beautiful foliage, not sweating in the kitchen, soups! Ok, so I love every season.

My pal Janie Poo told me I should do weekly blog with my menu for each week just to make life easy for peeps who just need a little help. I fall into that category! Let me tell you a bit about me, our eating habits and just how this may or may not work :)  We eat as naturally as possible with as little sugar and gluten as possible. If anyone who ventures to try these and has a gluten intolerance, please look into the recipes to make sure it truly suits your needs. We eat a lot of vegetarian meals as well, so if you have meat lovers in your home you can add a meat to most anything! Also, I make 5 meals  week (most weeks), one night we'll have leftovers (the hubs fav- totally sarcastic) and then we'll eat out or with family at least one night a week. I have 3 kids, ages 4 to a year and a half and these are recipes that they all love. I' hoping this blog will inspire me to try new recipes and I'll pass them on to you with a verdict from the 3 bambinos!

Here we go!

Monday July 25th
Curry Lentils (snagged this one a few years back from this site. I tweaked it a bit.)

In a crock pot combine 1 32oz box organic chicken stock, 3 cups water, one package dried lentils, one can diced green chilies, 4 celery ribs (sliced) one medium onion (diced), about 2 tsp cumin, 1tsp coriander, 1 tsp sea salt, 1 tsp dried mustard, 1tsp turmeric,  and 3 minced garlic cloves. Cook it on high for about 4-5 hours or on low for 8-10 hours. If you want meat just throw a couple chicken breasts on top and let them cook and by the time you're ready to serve it the chicken will just fall apart or you can shred it. I serve it over jasmine rice and we eat it with Indian naan or corn tortillas (gluten free option).
*vegetarian, gluten free, dairy free

Fish tacos from last week!

Tuesday
Fish Tacos

Grill tilapia on the grill or bake it in the oven for about 15 minutes at 350 after covering it in a little coconut oil, cumin and salt. It will flake easily when it is ready. Slice up the tilapia and place in a corn tortilla and top with toppings of your choice. Mine include: sour cream, cilantro, sliced onions, tomatoes, yellow corn and avocados. I like to have black beans on the side.
*vegetarian, gluten free

Wednesday
Salmon, fresh veggies, quinoa

I get wild caught Alaskan salmon, for the best nutrients possible. I pour and spread about 2 tbsp coconut oil on the bottom of  9 by 13 glass baking dish (you can also grill this!) place the salmon in the dish skin side down. Then I pour a little bit more oil on the fish and sprinkle it with sea salt and fresh minced garlic (you can use garlic salt) and squeeze a lemon over the top. I pop this in the oven on 350 for a bout 30 minutes. It flakes easily when done.
With our salmon we re having sauteed squash and onions. Slice both and place them in a skillet with a little bit of coconut oil. Salt and pepper it and keep it moving around over medium heat.
Fried okra: Slice your okra in about 1/2" slices and then pour okra and 2 cups corn meal into a  storage bag with salt and pepper. Shake it up good. In a deeper skillet or large sauce pan, spread the cornmeal okra in one even level into 1/2" deep hot oil. Let it cook until it gets nice and brown. Scoop it out with a slotted spoon and let it cool on a paper towel.
Quinoa: prepare according to package. I buy it in bulk at costco. I add green onions and diced tomatoes to mine to make it nice and tasty!
*vegetarian, gluten-free

Thursday
Stir-fry

This is an easy, "I don't have time to cook" recipe. I always have a bag of organic stir-fry veggies in my freezer. In a wok or large sauce pan pour  few tablespoons coconut oil. Once it begins to heat, pour in your frozen veggies as well as 1/4 c. liquid aminos (non-soy version of soy sauce- I think it tastes better!) Stir until it is heated through... about 20 minutes. Pour veggies into a large bowl and mix in enough cooked jasmine rice to feed your fam. In the same pan scramble a few eggs and then stir them into the stir-fry in the bowl. Add more liquid aminos to taste. The end :)
*gluten-free

Friday
Taco soup

You can use dried beans or cans... totally up to you.
If using cans: In a large stock pot pour 2 cans black beans, 2 cans pinto beans and 2 cans garbanzo beans, 1 large can diced green chilies, 2 diced organic uncooked chicken breasts, one medium diced onion, one box organic chicken stock, 2 cups water, one package taco seasoning (ok, so i don't use packaged taco seasoning because of the MSG, I make my own mix from my kitchen spices... recipes are easy to find online). Bring to a boil over high heat, then cover it, turn it to low and let it simmer for an hour or two. This can also be done in  crock pot! If I have a busy day, I'll pour it all the crock on low and when I get home in the evening, my dinner is ready. Top with tortilla chips (or quinoa chips for a gluten-free option), cheese, green onions, cilantro, avocados, black olives, or whatever you would put on your taco!

If you care to comment, let me know what you like, or don't like and how you tweaked the recipes to suit you! Have a great week!!!