Menu Plan Monday: Sugar-Free Delights

Last week was a busy one. I taught a parent’s class, had an interview on Let’s Talk Live on gluten intolerance (I hope the link will be up soon!), our house went on the market and am working on the final edits for the Celiac Disease video project. All fun stuff, but boy am I tired! I am looking forward to a little breather and even hosting April in the Raw this Friday. I am also hoping to review Ricki’s new book “Good Mornings”. The Walnut Cacao Nib Butter has been calling my name!

And Ricki’s recipes fit in perfectly with this week’s theme: sugar-free delights! Especially with the normally sugar-laden Easter and Passover desserts, I’m hoping to remind myself of the yummy indulgences that I can still have and enjoy. Even though, BTW, Gluten free Faces has published a list of Easter candy.

The plan this week is to semi-celebrate Passover, but I’m still not 100% which night we’ll have time. I’m planning to make charoset, some MYO matza, baked chicken, roasted cauli. We shall see…and I do have many recipes here if you still need inspiration.

As for sugar-free recipes, I think all of mine are refined sugar free, so that makes it pretty easy, doesn’t it! And I will be posting raw chocolate raspberry balls Friday, too, which are also sugar-free.

And just because often times things get a little scrambled: I avoid cane sugar and have for the past 4-5 years because it gives me fibromyalgia-type symptoms, and that’s not worth it to me.  I do still eat stevia, honey, agave, maple and coconut sugar, which are sugars, too. People overall eat way too much sugar and cutting down makes sense, but I’d hate to unintentionally give the idea that most people need to remove all added sugars from their diet. (not so!)  I’m very pro-happy medium, and adjusting your diet to your body and your needs.

Also, after my post on “Me first & Self Care” I heard some interest in a blog carnival on self-care and am thinking conspiring with Valerie and others to put together something fun. If that sounds good to you, drop me a line!

Weekly plan:
Monday:
Nightshade stew with fennel, using the last of the frozen tomatoes from my garden

Tues:
Roasted salmon with baby greens and asparagus

Weds:
Passover dinner

Thursday:
Coconut Collard Curry

Friday:
leftovers, I hope!

Baked goods/fun stuff:
Walnut Cacao Nib Butter from Good mornings
Raw chocolate raspberry balls, to be posted Friday

I am trying to do less in the kitchen because of the pressure to have a super neat kitchen ’till we sell our house!

And if you’d like to host, please email me!

Scrumptious of In my CSA box has a GF Vegan menu and a great resource to share, too–the new XGFX blog hub, which is a gluten free vegan site with all sorts of neat features, so check it out.  As usual, she’s got a variety of wonderful dishes and yet my attention (of course!) drifts to her talk of a raw chocolate mint chocolate chip milkshake….wow.

Renee, of Beyond Rice and Tofu has a great post on her style of menu planning. She runs through her common foods and also her ways of planning.  The planning style was quite a bit like mine–scribbles on the back of used envelopes.  She has spicy ginger noodles on the menu, and they look fantastic!

Carrie of Ginger Lemon Girl has a pantry based week.  She has a white bean tomato pasta dish on the line up for today that looks fantastic, and I’m looking forward to her posting the recipe later this week.

Wendy of Celiacs in the House has been one busy chica with a review of gobs of cookbooks and new posts on her Mother Earth News blog, too.  I’m quite honored that’s she’s included one of my favorites, Quinoa Italiana on the lineup too.

Heather of Celiac Family has a jam packed week between her daughter’s birthday, her parents visiting and Easter.  She always has gorgeous craft projects for holidays, so I can’t wait to see what she whips up this year.  Her banana coffee cake looks perfect, and you’d never guess she cut back on the sugar.

Angela of Angela’s Kitchen has a great lineup for Easter.  She’s got a luscious picture of her hot cross buns and a great post on natural sweeteners, too.  But the picture of her little one with huge bunny ears a few years bake takes the cake!