Weekly Menu Plan ? December 13, 2009

This week has been full of baking disasters – 3 to be exact.  I posted about 1 of them here, the other 2 happened on Saturday.  Saturday I set out to make Sugar Cut-outs and Shortbread.  The cut outs all stuck to my non-stick cookie sheet.  I suspect that my running out of parchment paper & opting to carry on was a mistake.  Live & learn.  I did try the last 5 cookies on foil sprayed with Pam and they worked much better.  So, it wasn’t the recipe as much as it was the method that I chose to bake them – cutting corners because I ran out of the parchment.  Note to self: stick dough back in fridge & go to the store next time.    Now, the shortbread.  Not sure what happened there.  I took a recipe from Real Simple (ha ha….that makes me laugh seeing as this was far from simple for me…LOL) and converted it to gluten-free.  Normally I have no trouble converting recipes, but this just did not work.  It looked very pretty in the pan, but upon removing it, it crumbled.  LOL!  I have more cookie crumbs in my freezer than I know what to do with!  The shortbread & the sugar cut-outs both taste amazing, they just aren’t pretty.  I have renewed faith this morning, though, and am planning on making Gingerbread Cookies with Hannah.  Wish me luck!  I am going with this saying- “If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again.” 

Onto the menu plan for the week.  No more talk of failures.  Heather of Celiac Family is hosting the gluten-free menu swap this week & the ingredient of the week is cinnamon!  I love cinnamon!  I used cinnamon daily.  I put cinnamon in my coffee with a touch of unsweetened vanilla Almond Breeze; I sprinkle cinnamon on my apples & pears; I sprinkle cinnamon on my almond & pumpkin butter creations.  One of my favorite recipes that has cinnamon in it is Snickerdoodles. 

I just got back from the grocery store with some fun produce finds.  I was shocked to find blackberries on sale for $1 again!  Here it is, December, and the blackberries are plentiful!  I also picked up 5 lbs of clementines.  I have a sneaking suspicion that I am going to be eating all 5 lbs alone.  I gave Hannah one for lunch & she didn’t like the “white skin” part.  Jon refused it and I don’t think Aaron likes them either.  Oh well, more for me, right?  I wanted to grab grapes, but not at $2.99/lb.  I was also disappointed at the price of broccoli – $2/head!   While I am enjoying the blackberries & root veggies, I really miss peaches, plums and watermelon. 

Sunday – Rotisserie chicken, basmati rice, fresh green beans & salad

Monday -Sweet Thai Salmon, baked sweet potato, asparagus & salad

Tuesday – Mexican Pizza, refried beans, white corn & salad

Wednesday- BBQ Chicken Breast, parmesan potatoes, sugar snap peas & salad

Thursday -Shrimp Scampi Alfredo, brown rice pasta & salad

Friday -Calzones (hoping Shriley at Gluten-free Easily posts her stuffed pizza by then ), veggies & salad

Saturday -Roasted root veggies with chickpeas, marinutta sauce & goat cheese, salad

Baked Goods

Bread

Bagels

Brownies

Lots of cookies (hopefully no flops this week)

Candy/fudge

As always, don’t forget to check out Orgjunkie for lots of great menu ideas. 

I hope you all have a great week!  Here are a couple of the fudge recipes I plan on making this week – Remarkable Fudge & Peanut Butter Fudge.