I spent $30 for 6 people for 7 days.....

How are you doing with your kits? This week I spent $30 for produce for 3 adults, 3 kiddos for 7 days.  If you have made my kits before, you know you still have leftovers for lunches.  Here is a pic of this weeks produce:

This week's kit ingredients (aside from the grapes): 1 Butter squash, 6 bellpeppers, 7 yellow squash, 7 zucchini, 1 sweet potato, 1 pack of Baby Portabella mushrooms,  1 spaghetti squash and grapes.  I also added (not in pic, 3 small new potatoes)

As you know, always wash your veggies before you put them in the kits. I usually take a big bowl and hand wash each to make sure all residue or pesticides may be removed.  After washing, chop up your kits.

Last week, 

I made the following with my kits:

Spaghetti- Added Marinara sauce, chicken sausage, served with GF spaghetti noodles

Chicken Soup- Added Rotisserie Chicken (Picked apart), carrots, onions, chicken broth, cabbage, celery

(Made a big 7 quart pot)

Stir Fry-Added Snap peas, bean sprouts, served with rice and Vegan egg rolls

Mexican spin- served with Chicken tamales, black beans and rice

Italian- Added Sweet Italian Chicken sausage. Served over Basmati Rice

Chicken Dish- added diced sweet potato and spinach leaves, served sauteed with Rotesserie chicken 

Pasta- Added New potatoes, served with grilled chicken over GF noodles

Spices on hand for seasoning: Freeze dried Cilantro, Basil, Garlic, Parsley, Oreganio, Nutritional Yeast and Season all. 

Have a great week!  Let us know how your kits are going. I love feedback just to know if this blog is helpful.  

-Janice

Overcoming School Lunches...GFCF Style

This isnt GFDF but we can easily change it.
Get Glutino's pretzel sticks, 100% Fruit leather strips, Honesty kids juices instead.

There is this mom who photographs all of her kids lunches.  That is so not me, but I think its a great way to benefit by checking out what goes into other kids lunches for ideas. You could easily customize this to make it GFDF for your child. If your kids are like mine, they haven't quite embraced the GFDF lunches 100%. We may be 80% but definitely not 100%, so I have got to get creative.  Today I sent a Sandwich, sweet potato corn chips, blueberries and a pear. So maybe I could plan a little better. -Janice




Here is her link: http://www.flickr.com/photos/mslil65/sets/72157601755804789/

If this is not enough for ideas...check out this blog:

http://www.laptoplunches.com/bento-menus-season/Winter/

Prepping for the week, part 2

Hey Friends,



















I thought I would show you one of the kits in action.  One kit fed 7 people (3 adults, 2 children and 1 toddler) and enough for leftovers.  I added grilled chicken,  1 sweet potato and some sunflower sprouts to the kit. I also added rice.  Very Yummy and took about 15 mins to fix. Dump in the skillet with some Extra Virgin Olive oil and saute. Cook the rice simultaneously, in another pot..  If you don't have the sprouts, you can add just sweet potatoes and dried cranberries for a sweet flavoring. See its simple, clean and fresh.

Prepping for the week...

Hello my friends,

Its been a great long weekend and I am food prepping for the week. Here again are six kits very easy to prepare in advance. I set out my 6 containers and slice, dice, cube, quarter away. Just add your meat during the week. Dump it in a skillet with some Extra virgin oil, saute away.  For sides Add Basmati, Jasmine or Brown rice and/or red potatoes or small potatoes. Super easy!!! I have a family of 5 and I am tired too. No excuses on not eating healthy. One hour of prepping ahead of time will give you 15 min meals for 6 days.  Believe it or not, even though these are the same veggies, your meat and spices will change up the flavors for you so it doesn't seem like you are eating the same thing over and over again. Have a fantastic week!

6 zucchini
6 squash
1 pkg of mushrooms
4 bell pepper
1 egg plant

Forks Over Knives-must see!

Add this to my documentary films that you must see. This film pretty much sealed the deal for my family to not go back to the way we were before. Aside from the fact that I am completely medication free (minus the 17 I was on before, for my autoimmune disease and fibromyalgia and the 27lb weight loss since August 2011) This film shows how you can greatly reduce medications or eliminate them just with food selection change. Its not hard because once you start feeling better overall, you won't want to go back.  Check this movie out- I bought a copy to share but it is also on Netflix and Apple TV. 

Forks Over Knives Film Synopsis

What has happened to us? Despite the most advanced medical technology in the world, we are sicker than ever by nearly every measure.

Two out of every three of us are overweight. Cases of diabetes are exploding, especially amongst our younger population. About half of us are taking at least one prescription drug. Major medical operations have become routine, helping to drive health care costs to astronomical levels. Heart disease, cancer and stroke are the country’s three leading causes of death, even though billions are spent each year to "battle" these very conditions. Millions suffer from a host of other degenerative diseases.

Could it be there’s a single solution to all of these problems? A solution so comprehensive but so straightforward, that it’s mind-boggling that more of us haven’t taken it seriously?

FORKS OVER KNIVES examines the profound claim that most, if not all, of the degenerative diseases that afflict us can be controlled, or even reversed, by rejecting animal-based and processed foods. The major storyline in the film traces the personal journeys of a pair of pioneering researchers, Dr. T. Colin Campbell and Dr. Caldwell Esselstyn.

Dr. Campbell, a nutritional scientist at Cornell University, was concerned in the late 1960′s with producing "high quality" animal protein to bring to the poor and malnourished areas of the third world. While in the Philippines, he made a life-changing discovery: the country’s wealthier children, who were consuming relatively high amounts of animal-based foods, were much more likely to get liver cancer. Dr. Esselstyn, a top surgeon and head of the Breast Cancer Task Force at the world-renowned Cleveland Clinic, found that many of the diseases he routinely treated were virtually unknown in parts of the world where animal-based foods were rarely consumed.

These discoveries inspired Campbell and Esselstyn, who didn’t know each other yet, to conduct several groundbreaking studies. One of them took place in China and is still among the most comprehensive health-related investigations ever undertaken. Their research led them to a startling conclusion: degenerative diseases like heart disease, type 2 diabetes, and even several forms of cancer, could almost always be prevented – and in many cases reversed – by adopting a whole foods, plant-based diet. Despite the profound implications of their findings, their work has remained relatively unknown to the public.

The filmmakers travel with Drs. Campbell and Esselstyn on their separate but similar paths, from their childhood farms where they both produced "nature’s perfect food," to China and Cleveland, where they explored ideas that challenged the established thinking and shook their own core beliefs.

The idea of food as medicine is put to the test. Throughout the film, cameras follow "reality patients" who have chronic conditions from heart disease to diabetes. Doctors teach these patients how to adopt a whole foods plant-based diet as the primary approach to treat their ailments – while the challenges and triumphs of their journeys are revealed.

Quick 15 min Meal...

Quick 15 minute meal....

Hey GFCF family,

Here is a quick meal for you. Its sautéed chopped Zuchinni (1), Yellow Squash (1), 1/4 of Red-Yellow-Green-Orange Bell peppers sliced (the remaining in a kit for later meals), 2 cut up golden potatoes, Garlic, Basil, Parsley and GF Italian Chicken meatballs. I am making some quick gluten free pasta noodles to go with it.  I also may cook a little spinach to go with it.  Super easy. 15mins. Great Color, Great Flavor, Great Feeling.  Enjoy!

**Went back and added sliced portabella mushrooms while it was cooking. I served all over spiral pasta GF noodles. Family loved it!