Menu Monday – December 16, 2013
Time again for another Menu Plan Monday! Thank goodness for menu planning. With this busy holiday season, having a plan means never having to wonder what is for dinner. So much less stressful for for the mamma! 🙂
Heather is hosting the Gluten Free Menu Swap over at Celiac Family this week. The theme is “Christmas and Holiday Favorites.” I think everyone has standard things they make every year. In our family, we have our Christmas dinner on Christmas Eve and open family gifts. On Christmas morning there are the socks from Santa along with one or two things that Santa left under the tree followed by brunch. For both meals, the treats are usually a mix of different Christmas cookies like Allergen Free Brownie Bites, Jam Filled Thumbprints, Ginger Snap Biscotti, Lemon Shortbread Cookies, Ginger Snap Cookies, Apple Cardamom Biscotti, Basic Cut-Out Sugar Cookie, Candy Cane Cookies, Peanut Butter Blossom Cookies, Pecan Pie Bars, Russian Tea Cakes, Shortbread Cookies, Snickerdoodles and Spritz. I don’t make ALL those cookies, of course, but we usually have the cutouts, and then everyone gets to pick their favorite for us to bake together. My grandparents were Swedish, so on Christmas Eve we usually have Potato Pudding, a roast or Swedish sausage, lingonberry sauce, cranberry relish, lefse, Swedish “Rye” Bread, various pickles, and a big salad. I like to add crisp roasted Brussel sprouts or other veggie to the mix. What are your favorite holiday goodies?
Other Christmas season favorites you might find at our house:
Maple-Brown Sugar Bacon Wrapped Smokies
Hot Chocolate, Slow Cooker and Dairy Free
Chicken (or Turkey) Wild Rice Soup
Pumpkin Cinnamon Rolls
Slow Cooker French Toast Casserole
Apple-Cranberry Pork Chops, Slow Cooker
Freezer cooking this week: I’ll continue to work on my Christmas baking a bit at a time and stashing it in the freezer for the holiday. I’ll also be putting Beef and Butternut in the freezer for another day.
Printable grocery list for this week’s dinners.
Monday: Balsamic Glazed Chicken with Riced Cauliflower and sautéed asparagus (from the freezer)
Tuesday: Shrimp Pad Thai with Broccoli
Wednesday: Beef and Butternut Stew with Date Nut Bread
For the freezer: Make a second batch of Beef and Butternut Stew for freezer while assembling dinner. Package the freezer meal in a gallon sized freezer bag. Remove as much air as possible, seal, label and freeze.
Thursday: Braised Mediterranean Chicken with kale salad topped with Basic Vinaigrette
Friday: Taco Pizza with Simple Arugula Garden Salad
For some AMAZING desserts for the holiday season check out the Supergrain Dessert E-Book from Attune Foods.
I love all the yummy “favorites”. Hope you have a great week!