This is the time of year for resolutions and making grand plans that are soon forgotten or become nagging guilt until the spring. I’m not giving up anything. I’m adding things. I’m adding more produce, drinking more water and committing to just 30 minutes of movement a day. The theme of this week’s Gluten-Free Menu Swap is ‘adding more produce’ and Angela has designed a snazzy badge to go with it. My favorite ways to get more veggies are by using pizza and pasta as platforms for flavorful veggies, using soups, stews and chili, roasting vegetables, and stir fries and fried rice that use up any odds and ends of vegetables with family favorites like broccoli and peppers.
My plan for this week with veggies packed into every meal:
- Black Bean and Butternut Chili from The Pure Kitchen-my butternut is kind of small, so I’ll add a leftover sweet potato too
- Pork Fried Rice with lots of veggies using leftover pork from our lucky New Year’s dinner
- Slow Cooker Minestrone Soup from More Make It Fast Cook It Slow, salad and flatbread with spinach hummus
- Penne with Cauliflower
- Kale and Roasted Tomato Pizza-the family is loving my roasted grape tomatoes on pasta, in omelets and on pizza.
- Roasted Chicken, roasted root veggies and Brussels sprouts
- Beef Stir Fry with asparagus and peppers, rice
I’m hosting the menu swap this week and will be adding and updating as the other menus are posted today. Heather has the rules and schedule for our weekly swap if you’d like to join us.
Angela at Angela’s Kitchen has Teriyaki Chicken with Broccoli, Sweet Potato Casserole, Southwestern Noodle Dish, and two slow cooker meals. She has great ideas o getting more produce into her busy family. Angela also has some great gluten and dairy-free freezer meals on the Once A Month Mom site.
Over at Celiac Family, Heather has pulled pork, gumbo, fish sticks, chili and chicken nuggets done gluten free and served up with lots of veggies for her young family.
Emily joins us from Our Happy Frugal Life with white chicken enchiladas, Chebe crust pizza, Monterey Chicken, and Cheeseburger Pie.
Paige has tacos, tuna and noodles, a homemade hamburger helper, two delicious chicken recipes and will be firing up her slow cooker too at Not Missing a Thing!
Renee from Beyond Rice and Tofu is making an enchilada inspired polenta pie, spaghetti and roasted tofu and Brussels sprouts. I checked out the recipe she linked for the sprouts and I might try that one.
I’ll be joining Hallie of Daily Bites for her New Year New You series on Thursday where the theme is also Adding More Produce.
One of the ways I get more produce into our diet is by using the slow cooker. If I know the main part of the meal is taken care of and ready to go, I spend more time on the salads and sides and get more veggies into a meal. My favorite source for slow cooker recipes is Stephanie O’Dea’s More Make It Fast Cook It Slow. I’m giving away a copy of this along with Totally Together:Shortcuts to an Organized Life to help my readers get off to an organized start to the new year. Here’s what you need to do to enter.
- Follow Stephanie O’Dea on Twitter and follow @midlife_celiac too.
- Like Stephanie’s Facebook page and Celiacs in the House Facebook page.
- Leave a comment on this post and share your favorite way to add more fruits and veggies to your diet.
This is for US and Canada addresses only and the winner will be picked using a random number generator. You have until Sunday, Jan 8th at midnight EST to enter. I will contact the winner by email and announce it here.
Visit Organizing Junkie for hundreds of menu plans with tips and recipe links each Monday that are easily adaptable for gluten-free cooking.
Congrats to Dana, the winner of the giveaway.
Pingback: Menu Plan Monday – January 2, 2012 | Angela's Kitchen
How neat that this week’s theme is Eat More Produce, so fitting with New Year New You!! I’m with you on adding more veggies and water to my diet in 2012, instead of taking something away. Happy new year!
Hi, Wendy! I hope you had a wonderful holiday! My menu is up: http://angelaskitchen.com/2012/01/02/menu-plan-monday-january-2-2012/
Awesome give away! I follow you both on twitter already. I love Stephanie’s blog (I have a big love of the slow cooker, too). I agree with you – having the main part of the meal done (either with the slow cooker or with freezer cooking) makes it easier to have time for a salad. I precut salad toppings on the weekend for the upcoming week to also make it easier. We like lots of extra veggies on our salads.
On the weekend I also cut up veggie sticks to keep in the fridge with humus, guacamole or other dips my kiddos like (I put the dip into little containers – they can have as many veggies as they want with one container of dip for a snack). This make it easier for my kids to grab some for a snack as it is all prepared and they know I never say “no” to snacking when it is veggies.
I’m off to follow you two on Facebook now.
Pingback: Weekly Gluten-Free Menu Plan - Eat More Produce
Thanks for hosting the swap this week. Love the theme. It seems to be a constant issue that needs attention at our house. I’ve used it as a start to my New Year Resolutions. Hope you have a fabulous 2012!
Not sure if I have to do all three things above as I don’t twitter. I already like Celiacs in the House and will like Stephanie on facebook.
I don’t need much of an excuse to get more veggies. I love them, but need to find more ways to get them in my 19 year old son’s diet. He will eat things like Spinach when it is in lasagne and he likes Asian food. My mother in law puts carrots and peppers and onions in her chili and even carrots in the spaghetti sauce. I just got a Ninja blender and if he will have fruit if I make it into smoothies and icecream, which in the Ninja is just frozen fruit and soy.
Hi Deborah. Each thing you do gets an entry in the giveaway. My 19 and 21 year olds get a lot of their veggies from Asian food. They love stir fries.
Here’s our menu plan for the week; it includes Pizza, White Chicken Enchiladas and Cheeseburger Pie, plus more!
http://ourfrugalhappylife.blogspot.com/2011/12/menu-plan-11-white-chicken-enchiladas.html
Happy New Year! I’ve just posted my weekly menu plan – all gluten, dairy and egg free! http://notmissingathing.blogspot.com/2012/01/meal-plan-monday-jan-2-2012.html
Everything sounds so good, Wendy! Love that badge and the ideas. Great point on the benefits of the slow cooker. I do like making salads or other more creative veggie dishes when my time is freed.
Have a good week, all!
Shirley
Pingback: Meal Plan Monday, January 2, 2012 « Beyond Rice and Tofu
Here’s my plan for the week: http://beyondriceandtofu.com/2012/01/02/meal-plan-monday-january-2-2012/
Don’t enter me into the giveaway… Thanks for hosting!!
I add peas to any creamy/cheesy pasta or rice dish and pureed carrots to any tomato based dish. Thanks!
I like both pages on Facebook. Thanks!
I liked both on twitter-onflgator. Thanks for a great giveaway
In order to get more fruit in my diet, I try to make smoothies for snacks instaed of finding something in the cabinet. And we try to have a salad before dinner each night to get in those veges.
One huge benefit of gluten free eating is it forces our hand to eat more vegetables (or go hungry
). Great post!
Tiffany
// ps – I added you to our list of “favorite links” on http://www.transferofhealth.com .. happy 2012!
Pingback: Eat More Produce for A New Year A New You | Celiacs in the House
Wendy,
Love this post! Can I come eat at your house this week?! YUM! I’d love to enter the giveaway. I already follow you and Stephanie on facebook and twitter so I’m covered on that! One of my new years resolutions is to eat vegetarian for lunch. This has forced me to focus on whole foods and produce for lunch rather than a gfree sandwich with deli meat. I can already see the difference! For instance today, part of my lunch is celery and 1/2 of a green pepper. I’m loving the way it makes me feel – full but not stuffed!
Yay for you, Janelle. Good luck on the giveaway!
I follow you both on Twitter as @GlutenfreeDana!
I add more fruits and veggies by making sure I always have a colorful plate. It is almost impossible to make it colorful without the help of fruits and veggies!
I like both on Facebook as Gluten Freedom!