Meals this week - 3/30/2014

I know I have posted often today - but this will be kind of the "norm" - where there will be days I won't be able to post, and days I will have time to post. 

Wheat free meals this week : (I don't eat these meals usually because they have ingredients I currently do not eat.)
Creamy Chicken and Wild Rice Soup
Chicken Enchiladas
Gluten free pancakes and bacon - yes, breakfast for dinner because the family loves it!
Cheesy eggs and sausage.


Paleo Based Meals this week:
Vegetable/Salad wraps - red leaf lettuce, avocado, cucumbers, tomatoes, red peppers, and spinach with the leaf lettuce acting as the wrap. I made some "raw vegan cheeze" too - using cashews.
Whiting fish, roasted beets, and steamed broccoli
Simple baked chicken, cinnamon carrots, green beans

Chicken Bone Broth - comes in handy for so many things....

I have on my stove a pot of chicken bone broth cooking. I love this stuff. It makes a wonderful broth to sip on all by itself, and makes wonderful soups. (no picture this time - have not had my camera out in ages and it needed the battery charged.)

To make chicken bone broth:
1 chicken baked according to how you like it, eat what you want off of it but save the bones, skin, and leave the little pieces of meat you cannot get off. You can also save chicken leg and thigh bones if you make just dark meat like we will do often - my son loves the drumsticks, I enjoy the thighs - and just pull the meat off and toss the bones back into a bag for this broth. Another option - you've baked a chicken but it has quite a bit of meat left on it - just toss it in for about 30 minutes - take it back out, remove meat for salads or sammys and put the bones back in. There is no "wrong" way to prepare this stock.

1 onion
3 carrots
3 stalks of celery
garlic powder
basil
oregano
salt

water

In a large stock pot toss in the leftover chicken pieces, add rough chopped onion, celery, carrots and herbs. Pour in enough water to fill the pot to desired amount. I fill mine pretty full because it will reduce. For the herbs I don't measure - but for a decent stock pot about a teaspoon of each works well, except for the salt which I use about 1/2 teaspoon. Smell the herbs - taste them dry - and decide how much of that smell and flavor you want in your finished product. Carrots are naturally sweet when they are cooked in water - and lend that to the stock - if you don't like sweet too much use less. But I don't recommend more because then it takes on a strong carrot flavor.

This stock is designed to be cooked low and slow - barely a simmer for about 2 hours. I have simmered it longer - however, I read recently that it can cause some histamine reactions - of which I am not sure of. The longer it simmers the darker the color it gets.

I don't mind the fat -- but you can skim it off the top of the stock.

A New Blog Beginning....

Howdy howdy! Just a little about me to start with the new blog. I am a married to one Amazing husband (Hi Sean!!) and mother to 5 boys, 3 step children, and 1 adopted-by-choice daughter - all of which I do love very much! I have extended family thanks to facebook around the world. If I call you "friend" then you are a part of my family because we are all in this world together. I am a sister to many, mother to 9, grandmother to 1 - and 1 due in May, and a daughter to my mom. (Hi Mom! Love you!)

I have recently promised recipes - and I will get to those. Please be patient as I am working full time plus, taking care of my family full time plus AND attending ITT Tech to further my education and open up some options for me in Business Management. My schedule is extremely full - and though two of my classes this quarter thus far have not had much in the way of homework - one class is making up for it quite well!

I have also promised to talk about my journey with the way I eat. I no longer tolerate the Standard American Diet (aka SAD diet) - and have made HUGE changes in my life to try to heal my body. I was diagnosed hypothyroid over 6 years ago and am struggling with Rheumatoid Arthritis for the past year. There are just some foods that are no longer "my friend" - and cause me terrible joint pain and stiffness. Or cause my thyroid to rebel and not produce some rather important hormones.

Looking forward to posting recipes, my soon to be started BTE (Back to Eden) Garden. (HUGE THANKS TO Paul in Washington state!!!), my Way of Eating journey, and hopefully a lot of fun things in general!