2020 Week 25 Menu Plan
The 2020 Week 25 menu plan concentrates on a mix of THM eating, plant based eating, and cook once eat twice meals. Once again several of the meals planned during week 24 were moved to this week for a variety of reasons.
Breakfast
We became dog sitters for our son’s family, meaning we spent time over the weekend at their home. This was definitely not a sacrifice because their property sits on the water with lots of lovely outdoor space and the weather was beautiful. The ‘Ole Buckeye spent the nights with Rudder (their Chesapeake Bay Retriever) so he was not alone. As a result his weekend breakfasts consisted of oatmeal while he was away from home. While home alone, I was happy with avocado toast. These changes moved most of the planned breakfasts to week 25. The recipes for the new breakfasts are listed in the menu plan for week 24.
Lunch
I am continuing with my current obsession of having soup for lunch. It has been uncustomarily cool in Virginia, making soup highly desirable. Normally by preparing soup I cook once and we eat several times which is a huge plus. We have had a wide variety of new and enjoyable recipes, many worth repeating with some slight revisions. 2020 week 25 continues with the current soup craze.
Dinner
The dinners planned for the week feature several interesting plant based meals, eat again dinners, as well as favorites. We will be helping to take care of the grand girls over the upcoming weekend and they have requested macaroni casserole and white lazy lasagna. Sunday is Father’s Day so I am preparing shrimp and grits for the ‘Ole Buckeye. I am also hoping to do some of the meal preparation with the girls. It would be great to give them the tools to cook a meal all by themselves.
Garlicky Sweet Potato Noodle Pasta
Cheesy Shrimp and Grits Casserole
Hits and Misses
I wanted to make this Skinny Taco Chili into an E meal. After browning the ground beef I rinsed it thoroughly under hot water to remove as much fat as possible making it compatible with an E meal. This was a quick and easy preparation and served us for several lunches. It was quite good.
I served a new salad with the grilled chicken and it was light, fresh, easy, and great for a hot summer evening.
In keeping with my goal of revising old favorites to fit into our current healthy eating plan, I have made changes to my mushroom meatball recipe. I replaced the bread crumbs with Parmesan cheese, I omitted the buttermilk and the flour completely. I thickened the sauce with 1/4 tsp of Glucomannan. Xanthum gum would work as well. With the revisions the meatballs would fall into a Keto and Trim Healthy Mama S meal. I served them with mashed cauliflower. Delish!
Just so you know, as soon as this recipe crossed my horizon, I knew I would give it a try. My next pick up from Kroger included rhubarb! My fingers were crossed that it would be available. I happen to trust Carolyn of “All Day I Dream About Food” completely. Many of her recipes have been so enjoyable, so I had high hopes for this one. It did not disappoint. This cake was delicious and the ‘Ole Buckeye was overjoyed.
I revisited this quinoa recipe. I had not made it for a long while. That was a mistake. Without the cheese this is a plant based E meal. With the cheese it makes the ‘Ole Buckeye happier. Easily done, by making the casserole without the cheese and melting cheese on individual servings it pleased him and satisfied my E meal. This will defiantly be added to the rotation.
Early Father’s Day Celebration
At the last minute it was decided since my son would be out of town on Father’s Day, we would do a family dinner while he was home. Monday was selected and I volunteered to host dinner at our house. Since I wanted to avoid a trip to the grocery, I decided to make sure dinner was created with what I had on hand. I had chicken in the freezer and the Caramelized Onion Mushroom Rotini was already planned for the week. Luckily I also had the ingredients for the Trifle available. I will admit that it was a lot of preparation for a last minute gathering, but it was one of the best meals I have ever prepared. I will utilize this exact menu in the future for guests as well. Delish!
Father’s Day Menu
I make Chicken Piccata frequently since it is a favorite of the ‘Ole Buckeye. I base the way that I make it on Giada’s recipe. The basic change that I make is replacing the flour with Parmesan. I also add about 1/4 cup white wine to the broth.
Way back in 2016 I combined 2 recipes and created the Caramelized Onion Mushroom Florentine Rotini. My intent this week was to revise this recipe to make it more low carb. Since this was a family gathering, I decided to stick to the original recipe and experiment later. I did however use whole wheat rotini. This pasta was a huge hit and I am not sure I will make any future revisions. Cheers to occasional pasta!
Caramelized Onion Mushroom Florentine Rotini
The dessert decision was so easy. A few weeks ago I prepared this trifle and not only was it a great dessert for a Patriotic holiday, but it is one of the best Keto desserts I have ever eaten. The family of 7 left little behind for another night. Most had double servings. What can I say…this is a summer must.
Aside from dessert, I was so busy with dinner prep that I did not take any pictures, however be assured, it was a great meal.
Food For Thought
According to Ben Simon, co-founder of Imperfect Produce, the global food industry is responsible for roughly one-third of all human-caused greenhouse gas emissions. If we could end food waste, that alone would shrink the impact of the food industry on our climate by one-third. It would reduce our carbon footprint far more significantly than swapping out all our incandescent light bulbs for LEDs and trading all our SUVs for Priuses.
Recap
To be perfectly honest I spent a lot of time trying to determine more plant based meals than anything else for the upcoming week. In fact all of the new recipes, aside from the taco soup, are plant based. I have found that experimenting with this way of eating has exposed me to new ways of food preparations and interesting flavor combinations. We have also enjoyed the whole grains, especially the pasta. Being on a low carb diet avoiding pasta for so long has lead to an even greater enjoyment. This week I have included a plant based meal at least once every day. As I continue to learn, we continue to eat healthy meals. Nearly all of the experiments have been successful. I look forward to another week of healthy eating. Bon Appetit.
