Our Weekly Menu {Gluten Free} 04.21.13

Hello sweet readers! Do you menu plan? Since we started intentionally menu planning, we are buying less, spending less, wasting less, eating out less and loving how much easier our weeknight dinner preparation has been! It takes the stress out of it for me, since I already know what I'm making.  My hubby and I plan the menu together with the kids interjecting their two cents. Keep checking back or Subscribe Via Email to have posts delivered free right to your inbox!

SUNDAY: Homemade Chicken Kale-Pesto Pizza with Sun Dried Tomatoes

MONDAY: Taco Salad

TUESDAY: Breakfast for Dinner; Millet Buckwheat Gluten Free Pancakes, bacon & fresh fruit

WEDNESDAY: Quinoa Pasta with grilled veggies and chicken sausage

THURSDAY: Turkey Meatloaf with Roasted Potatoes & steamed broccoli

FRIDAY: Cilantro Sesame Chicken with Wild Black Rice and veggies from our CSA box

SATURDAY: Family Birthday Party!

Check out all Our Weekly Menu posts for more ideas and inspiration.

Follow Wholesome Dinner Tonight on Pinterest where you can eat with your eyes!

I'm linking up with Jo-Lynne's, Gluten Free Weekly Meal Plan over at Musings of a Housewife

&

 Menu Plan Monday at orgjunkie.com

...click here for the recipe!

Pistachio Encrusted Chicken & Wild Black Rice Salad {Gluten Free}

We love pistachios and their toasty, salty bite.  This is a new and different way to dress up your chicken for dinner tonight.  The pistachio crust gives it a rich and toasted depth of flavor without being too heavy.  We paired our tasty chicken with some nutrient-packed wild rice.  A light dressing and a few sweet, chewy pieces of dried fruit made it the perfect accompaniment to the chicken. Have you ever tried black rice before?  It does take awhile to cook but it's worth the wait.  Enjoy!
Recipe: (serves 4-6)
Chicken:
4-5 chicken breasts
1 1/2 cups pistachios (shelled) (roasted and salted preferred)
1/2 cup millet flour (or flour of your choice)
1/4 teaspoon sea salt
1 tablespoon coconut sugar (or sugar of your choice)
1 egg, white only
light olive oil

Chicken Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350'F. Place chicken in a resealable plastic bag and pound until it's about 1/2-inch thick. Place the pounded chicken on a couple of paper towels to absorb any excess moisture.
2. In a small food processor or chopper, pulse the pistachios to a medium-fine consistency.
3. In a flat bottomed glass baking dish combine the pistachio pieces, flour, salt and sugar. In a separate dish add the egg white and whisk for a few seconds to loosen whites a little.
4. Dip each chicken breast into the egg white first, allow excess to drip off then gentle lay the chicken into the breading mixture, flipping to coat.
5. Place chicken on a baking sheet and bake at 350'F for 15-20 minutes, flippin gonce halfway through, or until chicken reaches an internal temperature of 165'F. Serve right away to enjoy that crispy, crunchy crust.


Wild rice salad:
1 3/4 cups wild rice {black rice}
4 1/4 cups water
1/2 teaspoon salt
the juice of 1 lime
2 teaspoon agave nectar<
1/3 English cucumber, diced
small handful of pistachios (roasted and salted preferred)
handful of dried cranberries
1/4 cup cilantro, chopped


Rice Directions:
1. Add rice and water to a pot over medium high heat and bring to a gentle boil. Once gently boiling, quickly reduce heat and simmer for 1 hr 15 mins until rice is split and soft. 2. Drain excess water, if any. Mix rice with rest of ingredients and serve warm or chilled. ...click here for the recipe!

Light and Fluffy Gluten-Free Cornbread

Have you been looking for a moist and delicious gluten-free cornbread recipe?  Today is the day!  This is my hubby's creation; the perfect blend of gluten free flours and slightly crunchy cornmeal come together to make a light and flavorful bread that actually holds together.  A slice of this goes perfectly with our Potato Kale Soup or Pumpkin Chili.  For an added treat we like to drizzle a bit of sweet local honey on top.  Enjoy!

Recipe: Makes one pie pan size cornbread loaf or 12 muffins
Ingredients:
dry mix:
3/4 cup medium grain organic cornmeal (we like Bob's Redmill)
1/2 cup rice flour
1/2 cup tapioca starch flour
1/2 cup millet flour
1 1/4 teaspoons sea salt
1 1/4 teaspoons xanthan gum
3 1/2 teaspoons aluminum-free baking powder
1/3 cup sugar

wet mix:
2 eggs
3 Tablespoons light olive oil
1/2 cup water
1/2 cup apple sauce

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350'F.  In a large mixing bowl, combine dry ingredients.
2. In a separate bowl combine wet ingredients, mixing well.  Add wet ingredients to the dry ones, stir to combine.
3. Pour into glass pie dish coated with cooking spray and bake at 350'F for about 24 minutes or until slightly golden and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.  If you prefer you can bake them as muffins at 350'F for about 15-18 minutes or until slightly golden and internal temperature is about 200 degrees.

...click here for the recipe!

Cashew Lime Chicken Satay {Gluten Free}

This is a spin off from our Chicken Almond Satay with the switch up of a few things, namely substituting cashews for the almonds.  It turned out to be very tasty and nutty and the dipping sauce is just the right balance of savory and sweet.  This chicken pairs well with our fresh Vegetable Spring Rolls for a fun Make Your Own Take Out dinner at home.  Enjoy!

Recipe: (makes ~10 chicken tenders)
Ingredients:
10-12 chicken tenders

Marinade Ingredients:
1 cup water
3-4 Tablespoons lime juice (~2 limes juiced)
2 Tablespoons tamari sauce
1/4 cup cilantro, chopped
1 clove garlic
1/2 cup cashews
1 Tablespoon light olive oil
1/4 teaspoon roasted sesame oil
1/2 teaspoon sea salt

Dipping Sauce Ingredients:
2 Tablespoons water
1 Tablespoons lime juice (~1 lime)
1 Tablespoon tamari
1/4 cup cilantro, chopped
1/2 Tablespoon light olive oil
1/8 teaspoon roasted sesame oil
1/3 teaspoon sea salt
1/3 c cashews
7 Tablespoons packed brown sugar

Directions:
1. Combine all Marinade ingredients in a blender and blend until smooth.   Place chicken tenders in a large bowl and cover with marinade, for up to one hour
2. Remove chicken from marinade (discard marinade) and grill on a hot grill or grill pan, flipping once until it reaches an internal temperature of 165'F.
3. Combine all the dipping sauce ingredients in a clean blender and blend until smooth.  Serve along side hot skewers.

...click here for the recipe!

Vegetable Spring Rolls {Gluten Free}

My hubby and I got to have a fun date day out a couple weeks ago for my birthday and one of our stops was at a fabulous Thai restaurant.  We ordered their fresh spring rolls and loved the crunchy fresh filling and chewy rice paper wrappers and tasty dipping sauce.  This is my husband's recreation of those and the whole fam loved them.  Serve them up with our Cashew lime Chicken Satay or Chicken Almond Satay for dinner tonight. Enjoy!

Recipe: (makes about 10 spring rolls)

Ingredients:

rice/tapioca paper "aka spring roll skin"

1 avocado, thinly sliced 

1 mango, sliced into thin matchsticks

4oz bean sprouts 

1/2 cucumber, sliced into thin matchsticks

2 medium carrots, sliced into thin matchsticks

4 large lettuce leaves, julienne

1/4 cup cilantro, chopped   

Dipping sauce:

equal parts agave nectar and fresh squeezed lime juice

Directions:

1. Submerge 1 paper in lukewarm water for about 5 seconds and place on a cutting board.  Place a second paper into the water again for about 5 seconds then lay the second paper on top of the first.  

2. Fill the roll as shown below with avocado, mango, bean sprouts, cucumber, carrots, lettuce and cilantro.

3. Roll it up like a burrito

4. Fold each side over then roll the rest of the way over.  The paper will stick to itself.

5. Repeat until you've used up all you tasty filling.  Slice each roll in half at an angle.  Serve with a drizzle of dipping sauce over the top.

...click here for the recipe!

Millet Buckwheat Pancakes {Gluten Free, Dairy Free}

We have always enjoyed homemade pancakes around here thanks to my hubby's love of baking and enjoying hot breakfasts.  Homemade, as in not from a store-bought mix, taste great.  In the last few years he's been perfecting his recipe for a gluten free version, remember his delicious Pumpkin Buckwheat Pancake recipe?  The combination of ingredients in these are always changing (I think that's half the fun of it for him) and this will likely not be his last version but it's certainly worth sharing with you.  They have such a wonderful light and fluffy texture you may not even guess they're gluten free and dairy free.  He mixes up the dry ingredients in a large batch ahead of time, which we store it in large mason jars in the pantry, to speed things up in the morning.  This recipe is written so that you can make a double batch of the dry ingredients at a time.  Top with your favorite fresh fruit or berry puree (recipe coming soon).  Enjoy!

Recipe: (makes about 40 3-4" pancakes)
Ingredients:

coconut oil or butter for your pan

Dry Ingredients:
2 cups white rice flour (Bob's Redmill organic is our favorite)
3/4 cup tapioca starch (again we like Bob's)
1 cup buckwheat flour (we choose Arrowhead Mills or Bob's)
2-1/2 cup millet flour (Bob's or Great River)
1-3/4 teaspoon sea salt
6 teaspoons aluminum free, GMO-free, baking powder

Wet Ingredients: 
2 Tablespoons light olive oil
1 egg (or egg substitute)
1 1/2 Tablespoons evaporated cane sugar
1/4 cup organic apple sauce
2 1/4 cup water

Directions:
1. Mix wet ingredients together in a large mixing bowl.
2. In a separate bowl, whisk together all the dry ingredients until well combined.  Divide dry mixture in half and save HALF of the dry mix for another day.
3. Add HALF of the dry ingredient mixture to the wet ingredient mixture, stir to combine.
4. Preheat a flat griddle over medium heat. Use a very light coating of coconut oil/butter on your griddle for every other batch of pancakes.

{Coconut oil doesn't add any flavor and it has a higher smoke point

 than other oils so it stays around instead of smoking/burning off}

5. Test to see if your pan is ready by flicking it lightly with water, if the water drips dance then your pan is hot and ready to use.  Pour with a 1/4 cup measuring cup into 3-4" pancakes onto the griddle.

6.  Cook for about 1 minute on each side or until just golden brown and flip-able.

7. Stack the pancakes in a pile so they can soften from the steam.  This makes them moist and just chewy enough to not know they are gluten free.

...click here for the recipe!