GF Singleness 101

I'm not single. I'm happily, happily married. But for reasons beyond our control, my wonderful husband is finishing up his PhD coursework in Nashville while I'm up here pastoring in Wisconsin.

So as far as food goes right now, I'm single. I'm generally cooking for one.

Sorry, Eliot. You only eat kitty food, so you don't count.

My weeks are made up of dozens of wonderful things. I love being a pastor. I love, love, love it.

But what I tend to forget to do in the midst of all the studying and serving and writing and meeting and greeting and visiting is feed myself. When I'm alone and busy I tend to revert to the terrible eating habits I had when I was actually single. Prepackaged foods. Fast food. But now since I'm gf, there aren't many of these that I can eat. So I end up with a bowl of cereal for dinner, a Snickers bar for lunch, or a cup of chai tea on the run. No protein. Hardly a veggie. Sometimes not even a real meal in the whole day.

This is (OB-viously) not healthy.

And within a couple of weeks, my body rebelled. "Stop doing this!" it yelled at me, as I got the sniffles. "Knock it off!" it said, firmly, as I dragged myself out of bed in the morning. It also made me sad that I have this beautiful redone kitchen, and I wasn't using it at all...

As most of you know, being gf means planning ahead. And I hadn't been. So over the weekend, I went to war on my food and stocked provisions for the week.

The result? Tasty goodness that can be reheated in a moment, leaving no room for the grumpy munchies at the end of a long day.

The plan of attack? Make things that would last all week, be easy to reheat, and involve more fruits and vegetables than I've been ingesting recently... Make a few things that are portable for my meetings that are far away (Presbytery events in Delafield and Milwaukee later in the week).

A tall order, perhaps, but easily accomplished with a day to cook and some determination!

Breakfasts:

Green smoothies with kale, white grape juice, blueberries, kiwis, and pears.

Cinnamon rolls baked with Pamela's bread mix.

Lunches:

Turkey sandwiches with lactose-free mozarella on fresh bread baked with Pamela's bread mix.
English cucumber slices.

Dinners:
Pan-seared flank steak with mashed Yukon gold potatoes* and gingered honey carrots.
Teriyaki baked chicken with jasmine rice and more English cucumbers (I am loving these cucumbers!).

Dessert: Rice chex with peanut butter, chocolate, and powdered sugar (known to many as "Puppy Chow" or "Muddy Buddies").

*Do NOT mash Yukon gold potatoes. They turn out like glue. They taste amazing, but should be baked or roasted. Mashed their texture is YUCKY. Blech.

The result? A Gluten Free Jesus Freak who is focused on her pastoral work because her tummy isn't rumbling away. More energy. Less lethargy. A lesson well learned.

How do the rest of you plan meals for the week, being gf? Anything I should try out for next week?

I also picked up a few new products to try out for snacks, but you'll have to wait until tomorrow for those... Stay tuned...