Wow. A lot of emails, comments, and Instagram comments regarding gluten-free and so on. I am so encouraged to see mothers doing their best to improve the quality of their family's health! I am sorry if I haven't gotten back to some people. I tried my best and am posting this in hopes that it will answer a lot of the unanswered questions.
First I have to make a few points:
1. Gluten-free does NOT equal a healthier lifestyle. There are so many gluten-free products out there filled with junk. The top replacements for wheat are corn and soy. If these are not organic ingredients in what you are buying, they are most definitely genetically modified (GMO). THIS IS NOT GOOD FOR YOU! Please, please do not correlate a gluten-free product with health. It's similar to the "Fat free" trend in the 90's... fat free is not healthier! You have to learn your ingredients. We don't buy very many gluten free products because of the yucky ingredients. You will see that based on our meal plan. We also try to avoid corn and soy unless it is organic because of the previous statement.
2. I don't do recipes. For that I am sorry. I have nothing to give if you need specifics. :-) However, I am sure there are plenty of recipes out there if you google around. The positive to this is I just make the best with what we have...the negative... things never really turn out the same (it's adventurous, no?!).
3. I am not a doctor. Please do your own research for your family's needs. This is what works for us.
4. We are on a very tight budget. I think if we had more room for grocery spending, we would fall back on boxed snacks and such a little more heavily...so please don't assume that I judge those that do things differently. We are kind of forced to live this way because health is one of our priorities, and I can't afford to shop at Whole Foods, otherwise I am sure our pantry would be filled with yummy snacks and the like.
:-)
Below is an example of what our week looks like (in fact, it's pretty much this week's meal plan!):
Dinner Meal Plan:
(pictured below is grass-fed beef, leftover sprouted black beans/quinoa cooked in bone broth, leftover cilantro, taco seasoning, hemp seeds--kind of ends up tasting like a half-veggie burger/half burger. Topped with avocado and fixings--no bun obviously!)
Mon: Cook a whole Organic Turkey/ Chicken with Vegetables (Sweet potatoes, broccoli, carrots, onion)
Tues: Spaghetti Squash Pesto (with turkey leftovers mixed in)
(Simmer bone broth all day from Monday's turkey, soak/sprout beans & quinoa all day/night for Wednesday's meal)
Wed: Bean Bowls (Crock pot sprouted beans and quinoa, cooked in bone broth, over shredded cabbage, topped with avocado, salsa, and shredded raw cheese)
Thurs: Meat Loaf and baked veggies, aka goulash (Grass-fed beef, mixed with anything in the fridge--usually it's leftover beans/quinoa, or shredded squash, eggs, spices, etc.)
Friday: Cold bean salad with leftover turkey/chicken from Mon (Apple Cider vinegar/olive oil, lemon dressing, kidney and garbanzo beans, seasonal peppers, cabbage, red onion, cucumber, etc...whatever is in season)
Saturday: Bone Broth Stew (remaining broth and all leftover veggies, meat, etc.)
Lunches (I won't do a daily, because we pretty much do the same thing every day!):
Almond butter/raw honey sandwiches on flour less sprouted bread (Carter doesn't have these)
Hodge podge of fruits, nuts, & veggies (pictured below)
Sweet potato fries (made with coconut oil & sea salt) & turkey.
First I have to make a few points:
1. Gluten-free does NOT equal a healthier lifestyle. There are so many gluten-free products out there filled with junk. The top replacements for wheat are corn and soy. If these are not organic ingredients in what you are buying, they are most definitely genetically modified (GMO). THIS IS NOT GOOD FOR YOU! Please, please do not correlate a gluten-free product with health. It's similar to the "Fat free" trend in the 90's... fat free is not healthier! You have to learn your ingredients. We don't buy very many gluten free products because of the yucky ingredients. You will see that based on our meal plan. We also try to avoid corn and soy unless it is organic because of the previous statement.
2. I don't do recipes. For that I am sorry. I have nothing to give if you need specifics. :-) However, I am sure there are plenty of recipes out there if you google around. The positive to this is I just make the best with what we have...the negative... things never really turn out the same (it's adventurous, no?!).
3. I am not a doctor. Please do your own research for your family's needs. This is what works for us.
4. We are on a very tight budget. I think if we had more room for grocery spending, we would fall back on boxed snacks and such a little more heavily...so please don't assume that I judge those that do things differently. We are kind of forced to live this way because health is one of our priorities, and I can't afford to shop at Whole Foods, otherwise I am sure our pantry would be filled with yummy snacks and the like.
:-)
Below is an example of what our week looks like (in fact, it's pretty much this week's meal plan!):
Dinner Meal Plan:
(pictured below is grass-fed beef, leftover sprouted black beans/quinoa cooked in bone broth, leftover cilantro, taco seasoning, hemp seeds--kind of ends up tasting like a half-veggie burger/half burger. Topped with avocado and fixings--no bun obviously!)
Tues: Spaghetti Squash Pesto (with turkey leftovers mixed in)
(Simmer bone broth all day from Monday's turkey, soak/sprout beans & quinoa all day/night for Wednesday's meal)
Wed: Bean Bowls (Crock pot sprouted beans and quinoa, cooked in bone broth, over shredded cabbage, topped with avocado, salsa, and shredded raw cheese)
Thurs: Meat Loaf and baked veggies, aka goulash (Grass-fed beef, mixed with anything in the fridge--usually it's leftover beans/quinoa, or shredded squash, eggs, spices, etc.)
Friday: Cold bean salad with leftover turkey/chicken from Mon (Apple Cider vinegar/olive oil, lemon dressing, kidney and garbanzo beans, seasonal peppers, cabbage, red onion, cucumber, etc...whatever is in season)
Saturday: Bone Broth Stew (remaining broth and all leftover veggies, meat, etc.)
Lunches (I won't do a daily, because we pretty much do the same thing every day!):
Almond butter/raw honey sandwiches on flour less sprouted bread (Carter doesn't have these)
Hodge podge of fruits, nuts, & veggies (pictured below)
Sweet potato fries (made with coconut oil & sea salt) & turkey.
Breakfast:
-Sprouted GF Steel Cut Oats with Raw Honey & Cinnamon
-Farm Fresh Eggs
-Diestel Turkey Sausage
-GF Pancakes or waffles... made from scratch with the following flours: Garbanzo bean, coconut, almond, brown rice & a tad of sorghum. The reason I use so many flours is to get a good consistency. Also add eggs, raw milk, baking soda, black-strap molasses (as a sweetener), and coconut oil.
Snacks:
Organic homemade popcorn with coconut oil and sea salt (read up on REAL salt, good stuff).
Fruit and nuts/almond butter
Veggies and homemade hummus (garbanzo beans, olive oil, garlic, sea salt)
Organic corn chips and homemade guacamole or leftover bean dip
Kettle chips, preferably made with olive oil (our junk food!)
Apple sauce
Grocery outlet "junk food"... we don't have a nearby Trader Joes, so it's difficult to get any kind of snack foods that have acceptable ingredients... however, we do have a Grocery Outlet. It is hardly a health food store, but it does have quite a few accounts with Organic/Health Food big brands. They get a lot of overstock and price them at ridiculously low prices. You can even find fermented drinks, grass-fed beef, organic frozen veggies, etc... you just have to learn where they store the stuff. :-) This is where we get our "boxed" items when they are made with reasonable ingredients.
Drinks:
Water
Raw Milk
Kombucha. If you have never heard of it, read the benefits here. Years ago, I discovered the jarred stuff at the grocery store and it instantly was love at first consumption. But it's super pricey. I adjusted our budget to allow for us to get a few bottles a week to keep everyone's immune systems/digestive systems in check. Anyway, I never looked into making it, thinking it was as time consuming as fermented ginger-ale. Well, it's not and it's so cost-effective, it's ridiculous... so, for the past 6+ months, we've been brewing 4 brews a week (about 4+ gallons!). Everyone drinks it, babies included. :-) My kids think it's a treat!
(ps, featuring The Mason Bar tumbler lid, naturally)
Drinks:
Water
Raw Milk
Kombucha. If you have never heard of it, read the benefits here. Years ago, I discovered the jarred stuff at the grocery store and it instantly was love at first consumption. But it's super pricey. I adjusted our budget to allow for us to get a few bottles a week to keep everyone's immune systems/digestive systems in check. Anyway, I never looked into making it, thinking it was as time consuming as fermented ginger-ale. Well, it's not and it's so cost-effective, it's ridiculous... so, for the past 6+ months, we've been brewing 4 brews a week (about 4+ gallons!). Everyone drinks it, babies included. :-) My kids think it's a treat!
(ps, featuring The Mason Bar tumbler lid, naturally)
Sweets:
(pictured below are the ingredients for the "new" chocolate chip cookie--all RAW, made with almond butter, coconut oil, coconut flakes, honey, dark chocolate chips, cinnamon, flaxseeds, chia seeds, and oats)
-Thankfully, because of Carter's intolerance we actually don't have to fight the fight at school with a lot of junk food/cupcakes, etc... so, I usually send him with some choco-coconut balls or some sort of sweet replacement It's been somewhat of a blessing in disguise!
-One of our family favorites is the near-raw choco-coconut balls, recipe here:
Finished product (little do my children know how many enzymes, antioxidants, healthy fats, and omega 3's are in there!) :
I hope this helps?
A few resources in case this is overwhelming:
Books to buy (what we base our family health philosophy by):
Articles to read: