Let’s catch up … Monday, March 28th 2022

Have you bought groceries lately? Oh my gosh stuff is so EXPENSIVE and that’s if you can even find what you’re looking for. Over the next few weeks I’m going to be posting more casseroles and dinner ideas that you can buy ingredients in bulk.

I’ve already been shopping that way but last week I was ordering groceries and one meal’s worth of ingredients was over $100 when normally it would fall between $20-$30 dollars. It was actually cheaper for us to go to a restaurant. However, I know that I was cross contaminated from something because I had an allergic reaction to something but I don’t know what.

This week the casserole dish that I’m making is chicken spaghetti but I’m using spaghetti squash. I chose this dish because I already had a spaghetti squash on hand. I had a package of chicken tenders, already on hand, that I’ve been brining and will cook 1/2 to put in the chicken spaghetti and alternate with the other 1/2 as just cooked chicken. I NEVER buy chicken tenders but the grocery store at our lake house has very few options on chicken that are hormone or antibiotic free. I prefer chicken thighs I think they have more flavor and the way that I cook them the meat just falls apart like a brisket.

I’ve been CRAVING sushi lately and I just bought a new cookbook Sushi for beginners. Yes, I’m going to try to make my own sushi. The other day I almost went to Whole Foods to just grab some sushi but I remembered a few years ago a mom that we’re friends with got lead poisoning from eating their sushi everyday. Now I know something of too much is never a good idea but this way I know that it will be gluten free and low carb and I won’t feel like there are bugs in my skin! I’ve been doing so much research on this and I think that I have a good handle on making the sushi rice but by using cauliflower rice. I don’t know but we’ll see. I already have shrimp on hand so I’m going to start with some of those rolls.

Now the cookbook that I just bought is NOT gluten free but they do have a couple of suggestions here and there for substations to make the rolls gluten free.

A couple of things to keep in mind when eating sushi:

• Imitation crab meat is used a lot in sushi rolls and it is NOT gluten free.
• Soy sauce is NOT gluten free.
• Teriyaki sauce is not gluten free.

I’m really excited to get to work on some of these rolls and work on turning them into low carb recipes that I can share with you. I’ve finally found a tempura recipe to make from scratch and as you probably know most tempura batter is made with cornstarch but did you know that a single cup of cornstarch contains 115.7 grams of carbohydrates? When I’m REALLY counting carbs for Keto my daily goal is 15 net carbs. So that’s waaaaay over what I eat and will definitely spike my blood sugar. I’ve found 2 substitutes for cornstarch that have 0 grams of carbohydrates. I’ve never used either of these so I’ll let you know how that goes as well.

Okay, so now I’ve told you what my 2 recipes for the week are now I’ll tell you how I’m implementing them into our weekly menu. We always have them same thing for breakfast, we have them same thing for lunch for the week (I change up the salads every week) and then for dinner I’m going to alternate the spaghetti squash and baked chicken for Kricket. On nights that Kricket has baked chicken I’m going to have sushi. Kricket doesn’t like shrimp so she’s out on that but when I start getting into tuna I’m sure she’ll love that. If you saw my Spicy Tuna Bowl post then you probably remember how she DEVOURED that! Saturday nights are normally when I make a big dinner since we’re all together on that night but I don’t know maybe we’ll be eating out more?!

Kricket’s Breakfast:

• 1/3 cup blueberries
• 1 egg scrambled sprinkled with cheddar cheese
• 1/2 of a waffle
• 1/2 cup of Almond Milk

Kelly’s Breakfast:

• Black coffee
• 1/2 waffle
• Sugar free syrup

Kricket’s AM Snack:

• 4 crackers (I give her these gluten free quinoa crackers)
• Sliced string cheese

Kricket’s Lunch:

• I use the second 1/2 of her waffle for the bread on her sandwich.
• Chicken salad (1oz)
• 1/2 of a slice of tomato
• 1/2 slice of cheese (I’m currently using Munster cheese)
• 1/2 cup sliced strawberries
• 2 Tablespoons of a green vegetable (she’s eating sweet peas this week)
• 1/2 cup almond milk

Kelly’s Lunch:

• 85 grams of salad
• Mix salad mix with a tablespoon of Ken’s Creamy Caesar Dressing
• 1.5 oz of chicken salad
• Diet caffeine free Pepsi

Kricket PM Snack:

• 1/4 cup no sugar applesauce
• 1/2 cup almond milk

Kelly PM snack:

• “Toast” with 1 Tablespoon of creamy peanut butter
• For my “toast” I use the second 1/2 of my waffle from breakfast
• Tip: I have the Breville waffle maker and it makes HUGE waffles. The recipe that is use could easily make 2 waffles if you’re using a smaller waffle maker.
• Topochico or club soda (whichever I have on hand) with lime

Kricket Dinner:

• 2oz of main course (alternating between chicken spaghetti and baked chicken)
• 1/3 cup of sweet potatoes
• 2 tablespoons of veggies (she’s eating corn this week)
• 1/2 cup almond milk

Kelly Dinner:

• This week alternating between chicken spaghetti and gluten free/low carb California Roll made with Shrimp.
• Side salad on nights with sushi, served with ginger dressing
• Crispy asparagus on nights with chicken spaghetti

What to buy in bulk (Sam’s Club/Costco)

• Blueberries
• Strawberries
• Eggs
• Almond flour (if you can’t find it buy the club size on Amazon)
• Canned chicken (I love this one it’s the larger size and it’s antibiotic and hormone free)
• Cheese slices
• Salad Mix
• Topochico (I also just discovered this cherry limeade sparkling water. It delicious with ice. It’s a little too much if you don’t put ice in it)
• Gluten free crackers
• Applesauce
• Almond Milk
• String Cheese
• Shredded cheese
• Chicken
• Canned sweet peas
• Canned corn
• Shrimp

Last Week’s Amazon Orders:

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Disclosure: Some of the links included in this blog post are affiliate links, meaning that, at no additional cost to you, I may earn a commission if you click through the link and make a purchase.