Sunday, May 31, 2009

Gluten Free Menu Plan for the Week of June 1st

I haven't had a chance to be blogging much lately, but I promised myself I would post a menu plan, because it helps me so much to have a plan to follow, even if I end up deviating from it from time to time.

Monday: Cheese-Stuffed Meatloaf, garlic mashed potatoes, steamed broccoli



Tuesday: Gluten-free Pasta with Shrimp, green salad


Wednesday: Crockpot Cream Cheese Chicken, brown rice, peas with garlic and mushrooms

Thursday: Trader Joe's Gluten-Free Mini Tacos (Chicken and Beef), refried beans, green salad

Friday: Grilled Tilapia with Lemon Butter, quinoa pilaf, green beans

Saturday: leftovers

Sunday: Gluten-free Pizzas (toppings TBD), green salad

Monday, May 25, 2009

Gluten Free Menu Plan for this Week

Nearly the end of May already....wow.

Monday (Memorial Day): Crockpot ribs and oven-baked chicken (with homemade gluten-free BBQ sauce), potato salad, celery and baby carrots, gluten-free brownies for dessert

Tuesday: Ground Beef Tacos, refried beans (Rosarita Vegetarian are gluten free), green salad

Wednesday: Crockpot Country Captain (Chicken and Shrimp)

Thursday: Corned beef and cabbage

Friday: Crockpot Beef Stew, green salad, gluten free biscuits

Saturday: leftovers

Sunday: (Breakfast for dinner) Scrambled eggs, bacon, gluten free pancakes with blueberry syrup, fruit

Tuesday, May 19, 2009

Gluten Free Menu Plan for this Week

The spacecraft I support has entered its new phase, and we are all EXTREMELY busy at work. I'm late posting my menu, but I am posting it....enjoy!

Monday: Crockpot Chile Verde, corn tortillas, green salad

Tuesday: Easy Fish Tacos, Spanish rice, baby carrots and celery sticks

Wednesday: Crockpot Brown Sugar Chicken, mashed potatoes, peas with garlic and mushrooms

Thursday: Beef and cheese enchiladas with homemade gf red sauce, green salad

Friday: Mac and Cheese with Chicken and Broccoli

Saturday: leftovers

Sunday: GF BBQ Chicken and Pepperoni Pizzas, green salad

Thursday, May 14, 2009

Friday Foodie Fix!

I'm using the same recipe I shared for Wednesday's dinner for my Friday Foodie Fix offering over at the W.H.O.L.E. Gang's blog: Crockpot Garlic Chicken. It's one of my family's absolute favorite meals....I hope you like it too!

Update on Hubby's skin condition

Some time ago I posted about our shock at discovering that my husband has celiac disease too...we never suspected that he had any problem with gluten until he went gluten free for several weeks and then drank some beer over Superbowl weekend. He broke out in a horrible scaly rash with blisters ranging from tiny to the size of a quarter.

I told him it must be dermatitis herpetiformis (aka DH), which, if true, automatically means that he has celiac disease. Many people with celiac disease have the "silent" variety, which means they have minimal symptoms or even no symptoms at all.

He went to a dermatologist, who biopsied him, but when the biopsies were negative for DH, insisted that he had psoriasis, then said it was a combination of psoriasis and eczema. The poor guy tried every cream, ointment and medication prescribed by the doctor, but nothing helped. Finally, after a couple of months of this, I told him to go back to his doctor and demand a prescription for Dapsone, which is the treatment for DH. The dermatologist again pointed out that the biopsies had been negative for the antibodies, but he couldn't argue with the fact that nothing else was working, and that the rash first showed up when my husband ingested gluten!

I've read several posts on celiac.com by folks with DH who also had negative skin biopsies but had the diagnosis confirmed by other means.

He's been on Dapsone for a couple of weeks now and the rash is healing nicely. The blisters turn a deep purple as they heal and close up....which is classic DH behaviour. I've read that the purple spots can take weeks or even months to disappear.

The fact that he's having a positive response to Dapsone confirms that it really is dermatitis herpetiformis; I've seen references to response to Dapsone in the medical literature as a validation of the diagnosis.

There is another test we could try, but he doesn't want to and I can't blame him. The old test for DH is called the iodine patch test, and consists of applying a 30% iodine solution to a small clear area of your skin. This will cause a DH outbreak in that area in those who have DH. A 30% iodine solution may not be that easy to come by, but I've read posts on celiac.com by people who soaked a bandaid in ordinary household iodine solution and applied it to their skin for several (8 or so) hours and ended up with a square patch of DH in the shape of the bandaid pad! Ow!!

In any case, my husband's skin seems to be on the mend...it's healing slowly but at least it's healing!

I'd like to re-iterate that you shouldn't feel bad about making your entire family live gluten free; you never know, you may discover that some of your family members have issues with gluten too!

Wednesday, May 13, 2009

What's-for-Dinner Wednesday!

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Tonight we're having Crockpot Garlic Chicken with mashed potatoes and steamed broccoli; this is one of our favorite meals! Click on the link above to get the recipe....I generally use several boneless skinless chicken breasts instead of the bone-in chicken pieces that the original recipe calls for, so I add a cup of white wine or apple juice to the Crockpot because the chicken breasts need more liquid. At the end of cooking, I thicken the liquid in the Crockpot with cornstarch dissolved in a small amount of water or wine, and then scoop out several of the garlic cloves to mash up with the potatoes.

I know it sounds like an insane amount of garlic, but the long, slow cooking process makes the garlic cloves sweet and mild and very soft. It tastes wonderful...not strong at all!

Please visit Linda, The Gluten-Free Homemaker for other fabulous gluten free dinner ideas!

Monday, May 11, 2009

Gluten Free Menu Plan for this Week

Here it is...I'm a little late posting but better late than never:

Monday: Mexican Lasagna, green salad

Tuesday: Cheeseburgers with Liz's Gluten Free Buns, Oven Fries, Baby Carrots and Celery Sticks

Wednesday: Crockpot Garlic Chicken, mashed potatoes, steamed broccoli

Thursday: Salmon with mushrooms and balsamic vinegar, quinoa pilaf, green salad

Friday: White Chicken Chili, gluten free cornbread, peas and carrots

Saturday: leftovers

Sunday: Shrimp with Gluten Free Pasta, green salad

Wednesday, May 6, 2009

What's for Dinner Wednesday!

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Here we are again....half the week is gone already! I think it's a sign of age to be continually surprised by how fast time is passing.... :)

What are we having for dinner tonight? I found a very brief, one-page bio of a Phillipine-American chef named Tim Luym in the October issue of Sunset magazine....there were three recipes included. I'll be making two of them: Beef Adobo Salpicao, and Garlic Fried Jasmine Rice; they will be served with a nice green salad. Please click on the links to get the recipes.

For more great dinner ideas, please visit Linda, the Gluten-Free Homemaker, who is the sponsor of "What's for Dinner Wednesday".

Sunday, May 3, 2009

Gluten Free Menu Plan for this Week

I've been doing pretty well in the area of following my menu plan, but not so well in the area of publishing pictures of meals and comments on the ones my family REALLY LIKES! I will try to do better, but it may be sometime in August before I improve significantly.

If you've been reading this blog for a while you probably know that I'm a scientist supporting a NASA mission. Well, we are coming up on an extremely busy time in the mission (I will be going absolutely NUTS for about 4 - 6 weeks) which will probably start in mid-May. Then I will be teaching a summer class 5 days a week PLUS working my regular full-time job for another six weeks. So don't expect much from me from mid-May to end of July....OK? ;)

OK....I'll do my best, but please take all of this into account. I wish I were a SAHM, but it's just not part of the cosmic plan for my life right now. Apparently.

Anyway, here is the gluten-free menu plan for the coming week:

Monday: Crockpot Thai Chicken Curry, brown rice

Tuesday: Grilled Lamb Chops, baked potatoes, peas with garlic and mushrooms

Wednesday: Beef Adobo Salpicao, Garlic Fried Jasmine Rice, green salad

Thursday: Chicken and Artichoke Enchilada Bake, green salad

Friday: Cheese-stuffed Meatloaf, garlic mashed potatoes, steamed broccoli

Saturday: leftovers

Sunday: Salmon sauteed with Mushrooms and Balsamic Vinegar, quinoa-mushroom pilaf, green salad