The monkey bread that I made on Christmas morning was a little dry and the only milk-like substance in the house was a half empty carton of Silk Eggnog.

So my little elf helper and I pulled out “Joy [...]]]> This is a picture of my stove the morning after Christmas.

The monkey bread that I made on Christmas morning was a little dry and the only milk-like substance in the house was a half empty carton of Silk Eggnog.

So my little elf helper and I pulled out “Joy of Cooking” (picture a dirty white cookbook with a disintegrating spine and round burn marks from where I accidentally turned on the wrong stove burner) and improvised a recipe for Eggnog French Toast.

It was delicious!

Eggnog French Toast
(6 servings unless you have a two year old bottomless pit)

2/3 c. Silk Eggnog
4 large eggs
1 Tbsp. maple syrup
1 tsp. vanilla
1/4 tsp. salt
6 thick slices of gluten free bread
butter or margarine

1. Mix the eggnog, eggs, syrup, vanilla, and salt in a shallow dish.
2. Soak the slices of bread in the mixture until completely saturated.
3. Heat a large skillet or griddle over medium heat and add a dab of butter.
4. Place the bread into the skillet (don’t overcrowd; you’re going to need flipping room) and cook until the underside is golden. Then flip the French Toast and cook until the second side is golden (it doesn’t take nearly as long).
5. Serve hot with maple syrup and any other sweet things you can find in the pantry (but don’t tell my husband that this is why our chocolate chips disappeared!)

If you haven’t found a gluten free bread that you like, try my recipe for Finally, Really Good Sandwich Bread.

Related Posts:

• Gluten Free Waffles
• Breakfast on a Budget – Cream of Corn Cereal
• Light and Fluffy Gluten Free Biscuits
• Your Gluten Free Bread Baking Questions Answered
• Fresh Blueberry Scones – Gluten Free, Casein Free

I promised you a surprise for this weekend and I’ve finally gotten it finished. If you’ll look at the top of my blog (RSS and email readers, click here to visit the blog) you’ll see a new tab called “Free Menu Plan”. And if you go to the tab you’ll find [...]]]>

I promised you a surprise for this weekend and I’ve finally gotten it finished. If you’ll look at the top of my blog (RSS and email readers, click here to visit the blog) you’ll see a new tab called “Free Menu Plan”. And if you go to the tab you’ll find a sign-up form for my new Gluten Free Suppers Menu Plan.

The menu plan contains recipes for 6 suppers (all tested by our friends and family, of course) along with a grocery shopping list. Here’s a sneak peek at what you’ll find:

Oven Fried Sesame Chicken
Chicken Vegetable Gumbo (Slow Cooker Meal)
Pineapple Chicken Bake
Black Bean Enchiladas
Parmesan Fish with Cole Slaw
Mexican Cornbread Casserole

When I sat down to write out this menu plan, I was careful to choose recipes that don’t require a lot of special gluten free ingredients. The only special item that you’ll need is 1 3/4 c. rice flour.  As a result, this is a great meal plan if you’re new to the gluten free diet or if you’re trying to keep your grocery bill down. I also based the menu around a variety of meats that are relatively inexpensive.

To get the menu plan, simply sign up using the form on the “Free Menu Plan” tab. You’ll receive a confirmation email that will be quickly followed (once you’ve confirmed) by a second email that contains the download button for the menu plan.

I’m planning on making more of the menu plans and would love to hear your feedback. Feel free to email me – my email address will be listed at the bottom of the email that you receive.

Now, on to our personal menu for the week:

My menu for this week will be submitted to the Gluten Free Menu Swap which is hosted this week by Asparagus Thin.

Monday: Black Bean Burgers with Sweet Potato Fries

Tuesday: Date Night! My mom is in town for a conference so she’ll be keeping David while John and I go out for dinner and a movie =)

Wednesday: Red Beans and Rice with sauteed greens of some sort.

Thursday: Pick up takeout from Chipotle. One of my college roommates is supposed to be in town so we’ll pick up dinner and join them at their hotel for a pool party.

Friday: Gluten Free Pizza – The grilled pizza that we had last week was amazing! I may try that again, but will hopefully find some way to improve my technique. We ended up with grilled calzones that stuck (badly) to the grill.

Saturday: White Bean Crab Cakes (We tried this tonight and they were great. I need to do make them one more time though since I wasn’t in a measuring mood earlier. )

Sunday: TLTs (Tofu, Lettuce and Tomato) with a side of Southern Caviar

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Gluten Free (and [...]]]> I hadn’t planned on posting my menu for the week since I didn’t finish it until lunch today. But just looking at the list makes me happy so I thought I’d share. All of the meals that are not linked are test recipes, so let me know which ones you’re interested in seeing.

Gluten Free (and Vegetarian) Menu

Day 1: Spinach Meatball Sandwiches
Day 2: Black Bean Taco Salad
Day 3: Summer Veggie Quesadillas
Day 4: White Bean “Crab Cakes” with Roasted Corn and Tomato Salad
Day 5: Black Bean Burgers and Curried Sweet Potato Fries
Day 6: Grilled Goat Cheese and Pepper Pizza

Upcoming Posts:
Fresh Blueberry Scones
How to Make Bread in Two Minutes
Adopt a Gluten Free Blogger: Kate’s Gluten Free Egg Rolls
How to Slice an Avocado

And. . .

A Surprise for the Weekend

Note: This post will be submitted to the Gluten Free Menu Swap, hosted this week by Gluten Free Mommy.

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The [...]]]> Here’s a look at what I’ll be making for supper this week. After one day on the Eat to Live plan, I can report the following: (1) that I haven’t been hungry, (2) that everything we’ve eaten has tasted really good, and (3) that I had to get John to hide the chocolate chips =)

The Gluten Free Menu Swap is hosted this week by Natalie from Gluten Free Mommy. While you’re there to look at the other menus, be sure to check out the gluten free Lemon Opera Cake that she made. It looks amazing!

P.S. The Grilled Eggplant & Portabella Napoleons turned out really well, so I’ll be posting that later this week. I’m also working on a dairy-free, egg free mayo since I can’t imagine eating tomato sandwiches without mayonnaise this summer =)

Gluten Free Menu – Eat to Live Edition

Sunday: Grilled Eggplant & Portabella Napoleons, Carrot & Apple Salad

Monday: Salad Nicoise (with a few changes to make it vegan)

Tuesday: Onigiri & Sesame Spinach SaladWednesday: Grilled Ginger Sesame Tofu, Roasted Broccoli, Waldorf Salad

Thursday: White Bean Burgers, Easy Summer Cole Slaw, Baked French Fries

Friday: Veggie/Fruit Kabobs, Brown Rice Pilaf, Green Salad

Saturday: TBD

Related Posts:

• Our Gluten Free Beer Tasting
• Gluten Free Waffles
• Starting a Gluten Free Diet: Free Menu Plan
• Grocery Shopping for Your Gluten Free Diet – Week One
• What to Eat on a Gluten Free Diet – Week One

Monday: Spinach Enchiladas and Southwest Black Bean Salad with Baked Spiced Goat Cheese that I didn’t make [...]]]> I wasn’t going to do a menu for this week, but decided I had nothing better to do while finishing off a slice of gluten free Dutch Apple Pie. Yum =)   So without further ado, here’s my menu:

Monday: Spinach Enchiladas and Southwest Black Bean Salad with Baked Spiced Goat Cheese that I didn’t make last week

Tuesday: Pizza – I made an extra crust Saturday night and I doubt we’ll be able to wait any longer than this to use it.

Wednesday: Faki (Greek Lentil Soup)* with a Greek Salad that I didn’t make last week

Thursday: Falafel on Flat Bread w/ Creamy Cilantro Sauce

Friday: Onigiri!!!!  Sea @ Book of Yum has a new onigiri filling and am compelled to try it.

Saturday: Tofu “Tuna” Salad Stuffed Tomatoes and probably a pasta salad on the side.

Sunday: Black Bean Burgers and Curried Sweet Potato Fries

This week’s Gluten Free Menu Swap is hosted by Faking it GF Style   and she has already started the round-up post.  The round-up is a great place to get new meal ideas and to find other gluten free blogs.

P.S.  The meals on my menu are gathered from a variety of places. Some are family favorites, other are recipes that I’m testing for the blog, and others I’m just trying because they look good. If the recipes can be found on the internet then I’ve linked the recipe name to the actual recipe.  If there’s not a link and you want the recipe, then you’ll have to leave a comment and beg me to hurry up the recipe testing =)

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As I mentioned in 10 Strategies to Lower My Grocery Bill – Part 1 I have a grocery budget of $600 a month, which is currently broken down to $300 per pay check. One of our strategies for staying on our overall budget this year is to use the envelope system. So when I got [...]]]>

As I mentioned in 10 Strategies to Lower My Grocery Bill – Part 1 I have a grocery budget of $600 a month, which is currently broken down to $300 per pay check. One of our strategies for staying on our overall budget this year is to use the envelope system. So when I got my last pay check I withdrew $300 for groceries (as well as various amounts for other budget categories).

Fast forward to this Friday, February 8th. I checked my grocery envelope and was greatly disheartened to discover that there was only $58 left. I have NEVER shopped for a weeks worth of groceries and spent only $58. NEVER! What’s a girl to do?

Well today I sat down in the rocking chair in David’s room and came up with my menu. I was able to move two dinners from last week to this week (2 of the 3 of us have had a stomach bug, so we didn’t eat as much as usual). That left 5 meals for which I would need groceries. I started with what I knew was in the pantry…..rice and beans. And what was in the refrigerator….carrots, potatoes, lettuce.

Somehow (well not somehow, I directly attribute this to God working through my intuition) I ended up with a really good-looking menu for which the groceries cost….drum roll……$50.18.

That brings our grocery spending for this month to:

February 2nd: in-between trip at the Western (a local grocery) $23.75
February 4th: groceries for last week’s menu (Whole Foods) 156.41
February 7th: diaper and beer run (Walmart) 30.09
February 10th: groceries for this week’s menu (Walmart) 50.18
Total $260.43

Hmm….that means there should be $40 bucks left in my envelope instead of $10. I really have no idea how that happened, but I probably re-deposited it. I’m a bit embarrassed that you all know that I’m a CPA =)

(This is probably a good time to note that CPAs are human and that we all make mistakes at some point, and that some of us are much better at researching tax issues and creating remarkably complicated spreadsheets than we are at keeping track of cash)

(It’s also a good time to note that when I use this many parentheses in one post it means that I’m tired and giddy. Has anyone kept count along the way?)

My Very Inexpensive Menu

Monday: Eggplant and Tomato Stew with Garbanzo Beans (slow cooker recipe)

Tuesday: Fried Brown Rice

Wednesday: Minestrone Soup w/ Green Salad

Thursday: Bean & Rice Soup (like chicken & rice soup) with Tofu, Lettuce, and Tomato Sandwiches

Friday: Santa Fe Pumpkin Chowder from Gluten Free Goddess with a side of Broccoli & Corn Cornbread

Saturday: Sweet Potato Peanut Stew (yes, we really do eat this all the time)

Sunday: Falafel w/ Creamy Cilantro Sauce, Slaw, and gluten free pitas (well… pitas if they puff up and make the inside pockets, otherwise we’ll just pretend I meant to make flatbread)

(I couldn’t resist one more…I hope to have the final part of my grocery tips up this week, maybe by Wednesday, so check back for more.)

P.S. Ginger Lemon Girl is hosting the Gluten Free Menu Swap this week, so that’s where to go for tons of gluten free goodness. The ingredient of the week is chocolate which is a perfect excuse to try my hand at a chocolate creme brulee for Valentine’s Day.

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