My menu plan is now sponsored by the great people over at Better Batter Flour.  Stop by and say “Hi!” and check out all the fun.    For more menu planning inspiration at Better Batter Flour, check out the gluten free vegetarian menu from Cindy of  Vegetarian Mamma, the weekly menu from Kristi of Mommy Hates Cooking, and the informative gluten free articles from Gigi of Gluten Free Gigi.  Thank you Better Batter Flour!

What are you up to this week?  This is the last week of summer vacation for my family, so this weekend we did some fun stuff to wrap up our summer.  We had a Girl Scout overnight, hung out at the Minnesota State Fair, and made cupcakes for my son’s birthday.  I still have a few school supplies to buy and I need a to help my youngest pick out a back to school outfit, but otherwise I think we are pretty ready for school to start.  I am hoping to have a nice relaxing week of just hanging out together.  I am going to miss those kiddos when they head off to school…

Are you wondering what cupcakes I made for my 17 year old boy?  I made Cupcakes of Catan (gluten and dairy free, of course) for my big boy for his birthday based on our family’s favorite board game.  Yeah, I know…  CUPCAKES of Catan.  Yep, I do make a lot of geeky-style cakes for our family, because that is how we roll…  In fact, this next week I get to make a cake in the style of the tardis for him to share with his friends when they come over.  Two geeky baking projects in one week sounds like a great way to end the summer for me- LOL!

 

I am hosting the Gluten Free Menu Swap over at Angela’s Kitchen this week.  Stop by and see what everyone else is serving this week!  As we are heading back to school (and I know many of you have already started your school year or need lunches for work), I picked Lunch Box Solutions as the theme for the week.

 

For some an idea of what we pack for lunches, see the nifty roundup of breakfast and make ahead lunches from last year.  I also have a lunch freezer plan from a couple weeks ago that I cooked up for my kiddos.  What sort of things are you packing up in lunch boxes at your house?

 

Freezer cooking plan for the week:  This is week four of my plan to fill my freezer over four weeks to prepare for the upcoming school year.  We have covered breakfasts, lunches, and dinners so far.  This week you can either catch up on any cooking you would like to get to but missed from the past weeks, or take the week off and relax.  🙂  If you are up for more freezer filling fun, you can follow along and make some treats and desserts with me this week.  I would love for you to join me and fill our freezers together!  To entice you I am providing a grocery list, printable recipe cards and freezer labels.  Below in the menu you will see what I am cooking up each day, but there are alternative recipes listed if you have a favorite Better Batter recipe you would rather bake up.  :)

Menu highlight from last week:  My family really enjoyed the Coconut Lime Tilapia, Coconut Rice, and the Tropical Fruit Salad.  Yum!  All the recipes tasted special, yet were easy to put together.
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Monday:  XC practice/mommy works
Fish Tacos with Red Cabbage Coleslaw and watermelon
Treats & Dessert Week – Cooking for the freezer:  Make a double batch of Pumpkin Streusel Bars or  bake up these amazing looking vegan Cinnamon Streusel Pumpkin Muffins.

 

Tuesday:  XC practice

Chicken & Fresh Apricot Thai Salad with Egg Rolls

Treat & Dessert Week – Cooking for the freezer:  Make a double batch ofGluten & Allergen Free Brownie Bites or whip up a batch of this Brownie Mix Master Mix (after baking a double batch, you will have enough mix made up to make 2 more pans of brownies on another day.  Yay!)

 

Wednesday:   XC practice/mommy works/Meet the Teacher Night at the elementary school

California Turkey Burgers, GF Hamburger Buns, Succotash and apricots

Treat & Dessert Week – Cooking for the freezer:  Make a double batch of Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Blondies.

 

Thursday:  XC practice/mommy works

Crock Pot Fajitas on corn tortillas with all the fixings.  Yum!

Treat & Dessert Week – Cooking for the freezer:  Make a double batch of Maple Cinnamon Granola.  

 

Friday:  First Girl’s XC meet

As we can’t eat most things at the fair, I am planning a State Fair themed dinner:  Corn Dogs, grilled corn on the cob, pickles, veggie sticks with Avocado Dip and Spudnut Clones (rolled in cinnamon sugar and cut into mini doughnut shapes like at the fair!)

Treat & Dessert Week – Cooking for the freezer: Catch up on any treats or dessert cooking/assembling that might not have happened, bake up a double batch of your family’s favorite  treat to freeze, or take a well deserved day off!  I hope you enjoyed stocking up your freezers with me the past few weeks. :)

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What is on everyone else’s plate this week?

Carrie from Ginger Lemon Girl has a new series on shopping for GF on a tight budget.  You can be sure I will be following the series!  Carrie cooks everything up for the week on Sunday or Monday night to make dinners easy-peasy for the rest of the week.  Brilliant!  Many of her meals this week are from her upcoming slow cooker cookbook (I can’t wait to get my hand on that!  So exciting!).  This week she is serving grassed burger, broccoli salad, GF brownies, slow cooker swedish meatballs, slow cooker barbecue chicken and white beans, and slow cooker sausage and spinach quinoa.  Yum!

Heather from Celiac Family has a great list of what to pack for your lunches and a tasty round up.  I can’t wait to check out all the links!  On Heather’s menu (which included not only dinners, but also breakfasts, lunches and snacks) she is serving grilled chicken breasts, easy garlic shrimp over quinoa, teriyaki chicken tenders, hamburgers with sweet potato fries and a leftovers night.  Sound delicious!

This is being shared at Menu Plan Monday at Organized Junkie.