Lots of you have asked what in the world Ryan and I eat since we are grain-free right now, so each week I will be sharing our grain-free menu plan for that week!

Here are the two main books that’s I’m using to plan out my menus:

Update from my last menu plan:  the Latin American Sauerkraut was pretty awful.  I let it sit out for 3 days (what the instructions said to do) but it tasted almost like alcohol (but a WHOLE lot worse).  I’m going to try it again and only let it sit out for two days.  Do any of you have fermenting experience?  I’d love to hear any tips you may have!

Also, the last time I got quinoa, Sprouts was out of the regular quinoa and only had the red quinoa.  None of us liked it!  Maybe I need to find a different way to cook it (maybe it needs more water?) but it was nothing like the regular light-colored quinoa.  I’ll likely be sticking with the light quinoa from now on!

The kids will be mostly eating the same things as us with some extra carbs added in to the meal plan below.  I can easily throw in a slice of bread or some rice for them to round things out a little more for their growing bodies.

Breakfast:

• Fried eggs (with in butter) with onions and bell peppers
• Coconut Flour Breakfast Bake
• Trim Healthy Pancakes (from the Trim Healthy Mama book – these are so good!)
• In-season fruit for the kids
• Coconut Flour Donuts for the weekend

Lunch:

• Salads (with salmon, leftover burgers, or lunch meat, and broccoli, carrots, and cheese)
• Chicken Lettuce Wraps
• Leftovers from dinner
• Sandwiches with grain-free bread

Snacks:

• Apples & Peanut Butter
• Homemade Guacamole with grain-free crackers
• Greek Yogurt and frozen berries
• Oranges
• Trail Mix

Dinner:

• Burger Salad (the kids will have a bun with their burgers) and roasted sweet potatoes for the kids (this is pretty much a weekly staple in our house!)
• Roasted Chicken with a salad and steamed broccoli
• Roasted spaghetti squash (I cook it in the oven just like a whole pumpkin) with meat sauce (2 lbs. ground beef + one bottle of favorite pre-made sauce + extra fresh basil)
• Broiled Cod Fish (was on sale at Sprouts this week again) with green beans and quinoa.
• Stuffed Bell Peppers (ground beef + quinoa + cream cheese/cheese mix + sauteed onion + garlic powder + salt & pepper to taste; fill bell peppers with the mix and bake at 350 for 18-20 minutes)
• Leftovers

Beverages:

• Water
• Raw Milk (thankfully here in Texas we can still go get it from a local farm)
• Unsweetened almond milk (mostly for the 2 year old, but I’ve been incorporating it some too – I actually tried the vanilla unsweetened almond milk in my coffee today and it was surprisingly good!)

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I like to do my menu plans on the weekends since the week is pretty crazy for us, and I don’t set up my menu plans by day of the week so that I don’t have to set in stone what we are having every single night. It’s a big enough deal for this non-scheduler to plan out a general menu at all, so I like that each evening can be somewhat spontaneous since I can choose that day (or the night before) what we are going to eat.

As I make this meal plan each week I take a look at what we have in the pantry, fridge, and freezer first, and then if I’m lacking anything I look at what’s on sale so that I can make a quick trip to the store on Sunday afternoon (although I try to avoid that if possible since I like to go to the store on Wednesdays to do my stock-up shopping).

You’ll notice that we have a lot of the same things from week to week and for this season of life it works for us!

For those who are curious about Quinoa, see my post on How To Cook Quinoa.  I was scared for the longest time to try it out (I guess because it was so new to me?) but I make it all the time now!

Lots of you have asked what in the world Ryan and I eat since we are grain-free right now, so each week I will be sharing our grain-free menu plan for that week!

You can read more about one of the books that I am using to plan my menus in last week’s post.

Another cookbook that I have started using recently is one called Nourishing Traditions. I’ve actually had the book for a while now but I’ve been a little intimidated to start reading and using it. Fermenting vegetables? Making your own ketchup? Making and using homemade beef and chicken stocks regularly? Sprouting nuts and seeds before you eat them? It just all seemed like a little too much.

But like with everything, I can take baby steps towards it. I’ve been reading (and loving!) a new book called Start by Jon Acuff and it’s about just starting what you want to do in life. If you want to learn something then learn it! There’s no time like the present!

Okay fine, I’ll take this thick intimidating book off of my bookshelf and just try it.

Today I started my first batch of Latin American Sauerkraut (fermented cabbage, carrots, onions, and spices) and it actually was EASY! My two quart-size containers will be sitting on my counter for the next 3 days to ferment and then I’ll put them in the fridge.

If it turns out yummy then I’ll share the recipe next week!

If you’re interested in the Nourishing Traditions book then you can read more about it below:

The kids will be mostly eating the same things as us with some extra carbs added in to the meal plan below.  I can easily throw in a slice of bread or some rice for them to round things out a little more for their growing bodies.

Breakfast:

• Fried eggs (with in butter) with onions and bell peppers
• Coconut Flour Breakfast Bake
• Trim Healthy Pancakes (from the Trim Healthy Mama book – these are so good!)
• In-season fruit for the kids
• Coconut Flour Donuts

Lunch:

• Salads (with salmon, leftover burgers, or lunch meat, and broccoli, carrots, and cheese)
• Chicken Lettuce Wraps
• Leftovers from dinner
• Sandwiches with grain-free bread
• Latin American Sauerkraut (recipe coming if it turns out well)

Snacks:

• Apples & Peanut Butter
• Homemade Guacamole with grain-free crackers
• Greek Yogurt and frozen berries
• Oranges
• Trail Mix

Dinner:

• Burger Salad (the kids will have a bun with their burgers) and roasted sweet potatoes for the kids (this is pretty much a weekend staple in our house!)
• Roasted Chicken with a salad and steamed broccoli
• Roasted spaghetti squash (I cook it in the oven just like a whole pumpkin) with meat sauce (2 lbs. ground beef + one bottle of favorite pre-made sauce + extra fresh basil)
• Broiled Cod Fish (was on sale at Sprouts with asparagus and quinoa.
• Asian stir-fry with konjac noodles (these didn’t ship in time to try them last week so I’m going to try them this week instead!)
• Leftovers

Beverages:

• Water
• Raw Milk (thankfully here in Texas we can still go get it from a local farm)
• Unsweetened almond milk (mostly for the 2 year old, but I’ve been incorporating it some too – I actually tried the vanilla unsweetened almond milk in my coffee today and it was surprisingly good!)

---

I like to do my menu plans on the weekends since the week is pretty crazy for us, and I don’t set up my menu plans by day of the week so that I don’t have to set in stone what we are having every single night. It’s a big enough deal for this non-scheduler to plan out a general menu at all, so I like that each evening can be somewhat spontaneous since I can choose that day (or the night before) what we are going to eat.

As I make this meal plan each week I take a look at what we have in the pantry, fridge, and freezer first, and then if I’m lacking anything I look at what’s on sale so that I can make a quick trip to the store on Sunday afternoon (although I try to avoid that if possible since I like to go to the store on Wednesdays to do my stock-up shopping).

For those who are curious about Quinoa, see my post on How To Cook Quinoa.  I was scared for the longest time to try it out (I guess because it was so new to me?) but I make it all the time now!

Lots of you have asked what in the world Ryan and I eat since we are grain-free right now. So last week I started sharing our weekly menus with you guys so that you can see that we really aren’t missing out on that much.

Earlier last week I got a book that I’ve been wanting to read called Trim Healthy Mama (several of my recipes for this week are coming out of this book).  I hesitated on buying it for a while since it’s a whopping $31.50, but I was very intrigued by the ideas and I had several friends who absolutely loved the book and were posting about their progress on Facebook.

The book incorporates a mostly grain-free lifestyle (you can easily adapt it to be completely grain-free) and switching off meals that are more fat-heavy with meals that have more carbs.  I’m familiar with the ideas behind cycling fats and carbs (not eating fats and carbs in the same meal, and eating each with protein) but I LOVE that the authors of Trim Healthy Mama not only explain the science behind it in easy-to-understand terms, but the second half of the book is a recipe book to go along with it!  So getting two books (a “why/how-to” book and a cookbook in one) for the $31 price tag isn’t unreasonable at all.

I’ll keep you guys updated on the progress!

If you’re interested in reading the reviews, you can just click on the box below:

Okay, on to the meal plan!  :)

The kids will be mostly eating the same things as us with some extra carbs added in to the meal plan below.  I can easily throw in a slice of bread or some rice for them to round things out a little more for their growing bodies.

Breakfast:

Fried eggs (yes, in butter) with onions and bell peppers
Coconut Flour Breakfast Bake
Grain-Free Cinnamon & Spice Muffins (recipe coming later this week!)
In-season fruit for the kids – Mangos, Kiwis, Bananas
Quinoa “oatmeal” – 1 cup of cooked quinoa with stevia (or sucanat), and cinnamon

Lunch:

Salads (with leftover salmon, leftover burgers, or lunch meat, and broccoli, carrots, and cheese)
Chicken Lettuce Wraps
Leftovers from dinner
Grain-free sandwiches – recipes to come, I’m getting brave this week and I’m going to try to make my own sandwich rolls!  :)
Coleslaw (cabbage is on sale this month!)

Snacks:

Apples & Peanut Butter
Homemade Guacamole with grain-free crackers
Greek Yogurt and frozen berries
Oranges
Trail Mix

Dinner:

Burger Salad (the kids will have a bun with their burgers) and roasted sweet potatoes (this is pretty much a weekend staple in our house!)
Stuffed Bell Peppers (ground beef + quinoa + cream cheese/cheese mix + sauteed onion + garlic powder + salt & pepper to taste; fill bell peppers with the mix and bake at 350 for 18-20 minutes)
Roasted spaghetti squash (I cook it in the oven just like a whole pumpkin) with meat sauce (2 lbs. ground beef + one bottle of favorite pre-made sauce + extra fresh basil)
Seared Salmon with basil-garlic Neufchatel Cheese (I *might* attempt making my own neufchatel cheese this week, we’ll see) and steamed broccoli
Asian stir-fry with konjac noodles (I’ll let you know how these turn out, it will be my first time to try them!)
Leftovers

Beverages:

Water
Raw Milk (thankfully here in Texas we can still go get it from a local farm)
Unsweetened almond milk (mostly for the 2 year old, but I’ve been incorporating it some too)

---

I like to do my menu plans on the weekends since the week is pretty crazy for us, and I don’t set up my menu plans by day of the week so that I don’t have to set in stone what we are having every single night. It’s a big enough deal for this non-scheduler to plan out a general menu at all, so I like that each evening can be somewhat spontaneous since I can choose that day (or the night before) what we are going to eat.

As I make this meal plan each week I take a look at what we have in the pantry, fridge, and freezer first, and then if I’m lacking anything I look at what’s on sale so that I can make a quick trip to the store on Sunday afternoon (although I try to avoid that if possible since I like to go to the store on Wednesdays to do my stock-up shopping).

For those who are curious about Quinoa, see my post on How To Cook Quinoa.  I was scared for the longest time to try it out (I guess because it was so new to me?) but I make it all the time now!