Aprovechar

I’m still on the road to recovery from anemia, though I am feeling somewhat better and was able (yay!) to do a run yesterday without the deep, sickening exhaustion that had been accompanying my exercise. (That was my first run—a short one, just a mile—after taking a week off from exercising while I get my iron level up.) It was such a relief to run and not feel like every step was a strain. And my mile time was down to 10.5 minutes—verrrry slow for a typical runner, but very quick for me. (Hey, I’ve mentioned part of my running thing is doing something I’m not good at, and sticking to it anyway, right?)  And actually, pleasingly, I could have even run faster, but I was trying to pace myself to see how my body was going to hold up on the run.

Below is my meal plan for the week—which remains higher in red meat (combined with Vitamin C for absorption) that I normally would consume, though all of my meat is sourced from either the wild or from organically grown, pastured sources—and most of the time from local sources.  Pastured meat appears to be healthier than factory-farmed meat due to the ways that animals process what they eat naturally (pastured) or what they eat in a factory farm (force-fed).  Pastured meat is higher in CLA, a form of fat that appears to be an antioxidant that may even help people lose weight. (I am skeptical of many nutritional claims.) As I’ve mentioned previously, I also feel it’s important to buy from pastured sources because if an animal is giving up its life to nurture mine, I feel responsible for making sure that the animal lived in decent, natural conditions before its death.  I think that’s only fair.

I’ve also been focusing on beans and greens, two other sources of iron, and that entirely healthy trend continues this week.

As always, my meal plan is gluten-free, egg-free, casein-free, and soy-free (plus oyster-free, but you know, that’s really not that hard to come by if you aren’t at the coast).  It’s also high in vegetables, low in processed foods, moderate in fat, and pretty healthy overall . . . oh, and tasty.

Sunday

Lunch:  Eat from the Whole Foods salad bar while grocery shopping.

Make Ahead: Breakfasts for the week–freeze ’em
Dinner: Simplicity Circle: Take gluten-free, egg-free almond-vanilla cupcakes with chocolate-amaretto icing

Monday

Dinner: Sweet & Sour Meatloaf with smashed red potatoes and turnips, steamed green beans with caramelized onions, and grapefruit/avocado salad

Tuesday

Dinner: Baked Potato of the Week: broccoli, gooey goat cheese, sauteed onions & mushrooms

Wednesday

Dinner: Sally works really late–eat leftovers at work

Thursday

To Do: Pick up CSA order!

Dinner: Margaret & Brett over for dinner: Chard-Feta Pasta with white wine and, for dessert, homemade, dairy-free, egg-free nutella spring rolls

Friday

Dinner: Pizza & Movie Night: Vegetarian Pissaladiere (onion and tapenade pizza)

Saturday

Brunch: Homemade gf, egg-free, etc. waffles with sauteed cranberry/orange pecan topping and chicken sausage

Snack: Citrus smoothies (Got a good citrus smoothie combo you love? Leave the ingredients or a link to the recipe in the comments for me!)

Dinner: Beanie Wienies for Grown-Ups (using grass-fed, organic beef hotdogs) with dairy-free, mayo-free, soy-free coleslaw

Sunday

To Do: Start incorporating vegetables, and especially greens, into breakfast–my March new activity of the month. (This new activity of the month developed from reading Meg Wolff’s blog about eating for cancer prevention/treatment.)

Breakfast:  Garlicky grits with sauteed chard (Make several servings to freeze a few for later breakfasts.)

Make Ahead: Breakfasts for work

Lunch: Go out to eat.

Dinner: Quick & Easy Parmesan Fish Fillets with baked sweet potato fries and pan-fried broccoli with lemon peel

As always, I’ll be submitting my menu plan to the Gluten-Free Menu Swap, which Natalie at Gluten-Free Mommy is hosting this week.