Menu Swap - May 19

I can't believe that we are already half way through May! At least the sun has finally arrived and I can toss my sweaters back into my closet. I can also relax for an extra day since it's the Victoria Day long weekend, but once again I will be spending the week house/dog sitting for friends, so once again, my menu for this week is not too difficult so that I can prepare things at home for the week and not have to worry about too much cross-contamination while I'm "away". The nice part is that I get to sleep in a bit and not worry about too much traffic - beats leaving 3 hours early so that I can skip the bridge traffic.

Since the sun has decided to grace us with its appearance and I will be going on a day long (but it will probably feel like 5 days) camping trip with a bunch of kindergarten students, I have decided to stick with easy to eat lunches, such as sandwiches. A while back I tried making a sandwich wrap bread recipe but something went wrong (I probably didn't spread it out enough) and so I haven't tried it again. However, Kate over at Gluten Free Gobsmacked has re-vamped her original recipe and it sounded so good that I decided to try once again and this time with success. I was trying to save the bread for tomorrow, but I simply couldn't resist placing my mini salad in it and wrapping it up, and I am so glad that I did because it was delicious and easy to wrap. I think that I will be making another batch tomorrow night so that I can guarantee a week's supply (or at least enough to get me to Tuesday's lunch). I plan on making my filling, wrapping it in the bread and then tightly wrapping the sandwich wrap in some wax paper, followed by saran wrap. Hopefully this will make it easy to eat while I'm on the go with a zillion 5-6 year olds. I can't wait!

Well, now that I've done my usual babbling, I should probably get on with this week's menu. As I said, this is my first week hosting the GF Menu Swap that Gluten Free Mommy started up, and my ingredient for the week is Avocado. Many of my friends think that I'm crazy because of my love for avocadoes. I honestly can't get enough of them, so on top of the excitement to have my sandwich wraps, I am really excited to have an excuse to go avocado crazy. Even now, full from my late night dinner wrap, I am drooling at the thought of another wrap but with avocado and sprouts, nice crisp lettuce, more avocado, fresh cucumber, did I mention the avocado? I am well known for lathering my sandwiches with avocado - it's a good thing that avocado is really good for us.

Avocado, aka alligator pear, is believed to have been cultivated back around 750 BCE. The trees are native to Mexico, as well as Central and South America. It is a part of the flowering plant family Lauraceae and is classified as a fruit because it has a seed (pit). One whole, medium sized avocado contains approximately 21 grams of fat, which is mainly monosaturated (a good fat). They contain 60% more potassium than bananas and are also high in B vitamins, vitamin E, and vitamin K and have a high mineral content that is good for our skin and hair (every time I hear this I think about an episode of Ellen from last month in which one of her guests had some avocado goop that she spread all over her hair - the Green Haired Monster!). I also discovered that avocadoes have the hightest fibre content of all fruits - this is really good for those of us either with CD or simply lacking in fibre. In the RAW Living world, avocadoes are very important and consumed on a regular daily basis for the above reasons - they make great cake icings!

During my travels on the internet, I found some notes on how to grow an avocado plant in the house. Save the pit from the avocado, wash it and either plant it in a large pot with soil or suspend the pit, with toothpicks embedded in the sides, pointed side up in a glass and fill the glass with water until the bottom quarter of the pit is covered. This will allow the pit to crack and absorb water so that it can germinate, and then sprout; all within about 4-6 weeks. Once the roots and stem become visible, you can plant the pit in a pot with soil.

Ok, that's my mini "science" lesson, now onto the food!

Menu for May 19 - 24

Monday
Lunch: quinoa tabouli

Dinner: black bean chili (found in Washburn & Butt's The Complete Gluten-Free Cookbook)

Tuesday

Lunch: avocado sandwich wrap

Dinner: leftover chili or tabouli - whatever is the easiest to serve/grab

Wednesday

Lunch: romaine lettuce leaves with Holy Moly Guacamole! & veggies and dip

Dinner: 10 minute pasta meal

Thursday

Lunch: green salad with goddess dressing

Dinner: toasted avocado & tomato sandwich, veggies on the side

Friday

Lunch: green salad

Dinner: grilled salmon & pepper fusilli

Saturday
Lunch: grilled salmon & pepper on a bed of greens
Dinner: avocado nori rolls

Over at Faking it Gluten Free Style, Terri sounds like she has a busy week ahead of her. Her menu, with chicken torilla soup and nachos, sounds yummy! Stay tuned because she is also working on some different culinary projects and has a top secret dessert for later on - my imagination is already running wild!

In the Lilac Kitchen, Esther has created her menu around the vegetables that have been growing in numbers her kitchen. She has 2 different recipe ideas using cauliflower, something that I really need to use more often, and a nice simple stirfry that should help to clear out some of those veggies. I hope that sun returns for to her soon!

Sally has created a wonderful menu with a great variety of vegetables through out the week over at Aprovechar. Her acai chocolate smoothie sounds dreamy.

Cooking, Illustrated just got a book on Persian cuisine and is excited to try something new this week. I can't wait to hear how it all goes and hopefully learn something new. She also has one of my favourite breakfast foods on her menu...PANCAKES! Happy cooking!

Happy early Birthday to Gluten Free Goodness, who will be celebrating on Friday. But never fear, she will still be cooking up a storm until then, venturing into the worlds of grilling, vegan, and east indian cooking. I hope that her tummy bug has cleared up by then so that she can enjoy herself. Also, be sure to check out GF Goodness's Oat Recipe Contest, it ends May 30.

Sea over at Book of Yum is after my own heart. She has a some great theme dinners for this week, in particular an Irish one with vegan pot pie - what irish girl wouldn't drool over a pot pie, and a vegan one at that! She has also posted a dip recipe that sounds like something I should have to go with my veggie snacks this week - the picture is amazing!

Over at One Beggar's Bread, Deborah is planning on making a stew to take to a sick friend - the best medicine is always fresh homemade soup/stew from a good friend in my opinion - that she saw on org junkies (she is the secon person to mention this site; I'm going to have to check it out). She has also shared a link to an avocado shake recipe that sounds yummy. I wish her the best with her "mostly GF, low carb, low budget" menu (any tips on keeping the budget low would be greatly appreciated!).

Asparagus Thin has also created a menu that has a different theme each night, and I think that she deserves a round of applause for including one dish with avocado even though she is not a fan. She has also included some interesting tidbits about the melon/gourd.

Ginger Lemon Girl not only does she have a fun menu planned for this week, but she already has everything prepared so - this is something that I can only dream of doing! She also has a link to 2 cake recipes that she made earlier this year and a couple more tasty sounding recipes to come - I know that I'll be watching out for those!

I think that Celticjig at Fresh Ginger is teasing us with her delicious sounding mac & cheese talk, thankfully she will be sharing this recipe with us soon. She has the upcoming week off and plans on experimenting with cooking, possibly trying Gobsmacked's Lavash Style Bread recipe - I hope she enjoys it as much as I have this weekend!

Gluten Free Sox has posted her fish taco recipe, which uses red snapper; one fish that I have yet to make with much success. I would also like to wish her a Happy 9th Anniversary and I hope that she has a wonderful dinner out for both that night and tomorrow night with friends.

Gluten Free Mommy has decided to implement phase 3 of the South Beach diet and is only 5lbs away from her goal weight - GO NATALIE!!! She has, as usual, created a wonderful menu this week that also takes her children's preferences into consideration. Be sure to check out her site for information on The Triangle Allergy and Intolerance meetup group.

Last but certainly not least, we have Angela's Kitchen. Angela appears to have a fun-filled week ahead, but she isn't letting this stop her from making some scrumptious meals for her family. In fact, tonight's crock pot dinner sounds like something that just might come in handy for family get togethers - take a look see!

I must say that hosting is a lot of fun, but it's also really difficult to sit and read such wonderful menus - I can't help but drool over so many delicious goodies! So check out all of these wonderful blogs because you don't know what you're missing!

Have a great GF week!