30 Days to a Food Revolution Day 28- The Celiac Family

30 Days to a Food Revolution Day 28- The Celiac Family Welcome to day 28 of 30 Days to a Food Revolution.  Our guest blogger today is Heather.  Heather, author and editor of CeliacFamily.com, is a military wife and mother of two young kids. She was introduced to the gluten-free diet after her son was diagnosed with Celiac Disease over five years ago. Although the tests for herself and her husband were inconclusive for Celiac Disease, they embarked on the gluten-free diet along with their son and daughter, too.  After discovering that they all felt much better without gluten in their lives, they never turned back. Instead, they enjoy trying new and healthier foods.

Heather’s Recipe: Time-Saving Chicken Kabobs

Heather’s Tip: Finding time for making a healthy meal.

30 Days to a Food Revolution Day 28- The Celiac Family

When Diane first sent me an email asking me if I would participate in the 30-Day Food Revolution, I immediately said yes. Then, I had to figure out what to write about.

I thought about my own challenges in continuing to make healthy food choices. I don’t have any problems choosing gluten-free foods. I don’t waver on that decision. However, like most families, we have a busy life. Even as a stay-at-home mom, finding time for the shopping and cooking is one of my biggest challenges. We all have days when we’re tired, stressed, and pressed for time. If I don’t have a good plan for preparing and eating healthy meals, I’ll turn to those comforting sweet and fatty, yet convenient, foods that I know should only be eaten in moderation, if at all.

Menu planning has been one of the best time-savers for me. A little time spent during the weekend saves me hours of time and energy at the grocery store and during the week when I’m cooking.

That being said, you don’t have to spend hours every week planning your meals. And if menu planning isn’t for you, try something else. Our lives change, and so do our needs, but don’t give up. Find what works for you.

Keep a list of quick recipes handy in the kitchen, and make sure you keep the basic ingredients stocked in your pantry or refrigerator, so you always have a quick meal to prepare.

Cook your meals on the weekend when you have a little more time. Weekends don’t work for you? Choose any night during the week when you can spend a couple hours cooking. Maybe you do this on the night you eat leftovers for dinner.

Cook double portions and freeze the second portion for the following week.

Get your kids in the kitchen. It may take some extra time when you start doing this, until you have a system that works for you and the kids. But, eventually, they should be able to save you time by helping with some of the prep work. Depending on their ages, they might be able to help with chopping, stirring, setting the table, or just getting foods out of the refrigerator and pantry for you. Make them your assistants.

Do your meal preparation in advance. My kids both have activities that take place right around the dinner hour. I’ve been able to get around this problem by doing most of the prep work before we walk out the door to go to soccer, dance, etc. Sometimes that means marinating the meat the night before. Sometimes it means using breakfast or lunchtime to chop up vegetables, put together a casserole, or fill up the slow-cooker. Sometimes, I simply set out the recipe, pans, appliances, and whatever utensils I need to get the meal started, so that it’s ready to go as soon as we get home. It seems like a simple thing to do, but I find that saving even 15 minutes can make dinner seem to run more smoothly.

Making shish kabobs is a great time-saving meal. You can cut up the meat and marinate it overnight, or even an hour before cooking if you forget. Many vegetables are very tolerant of being chopped and cooked later, so chop them up in advance, too. Use your time wisely. Find that needed 15 minutes of prep time whenever it works for you to get these ready. Then when you come home, pull them out of the refrigerator and cook them on the grill. Don’t have the option to grill outside? No problem. Cook them on a grill pan on the stove, a Panini grill, or large George Foreman grill.  Any of these will work. And the best part is that these will cook up in 10-15 minutes!

30 Days to a Food Revolution Day 28- The Celiac Family

Recipe:

Time-Saving Chicken Kabobs

Ingredients:

2.5 lbs. Chicken Breasts  – skinless, boneless, and cut into small cubes or strips

2 Sweet Peppers – core and seeds removed, cut into large chunks

Fresh Pineapple – core and skin removed, cut into large chunks

Marinade for chicken:

2 Tbsp honey

2 Tbsp prepared mustard

2 Tbsp cider vinegar

2 Tbsp olive oil

2 Tbsp pineapple juice or orange juice

1 Tbsp of soy sauce

You’ll also need skewers. If you’re using wooden skewers over a flame, be sure to soak the skewers for at least 30 minutes before placing on the grill. That will reduce the possibility of burning the sticks.

Directions:

  1. Cut the chicken into small cubes or long strips and place into a large bowl or zip-style plastic bag.
  2. Mix the ingredients for the marinade and pour over the chicken. Stir or massage it in to make sure the marinade has covered all the chicken pieces. Cover or seal tight and place in the refrigerator for a couple hours or even overnight.
  3. Prepare the peppers and pineapple and cut into large chunks.
  4. Once the chicken has marinated, carefully slide the chicken onto the skewers, alternating with pineapple and pepper chunks. Continue until all the food is skewered.
  5. Place the skewers on a moderately hot grill. Watch it carefully and turn every 3-4 minutes until the chicken is cooked through. It should finish cooking in 10-15 minutes.

30 Days to a Food Revolution Day 28- The Celiac Family

Additional Notes:

  • Using 10” bamboo skewers, I was able to get 8 skewers filled with this recipe.
  • Serve two skewers to each person over a bed of rice.
  • Another option is to skewer the chicken separate from the pineapple and peppers so that you have skewers with only chicken. Then you can place the chicken (skewer and all) in the marinade. But I wouldn’t recommend this method for wooden skewers over an open flame!
  • If you make the marinade with fresh pineapple juice, you don’t need to marinate it for very long. The acid in fresh pineapple works quickly at tenderizing the chicken.
  • For another idea on kabobs, check out my Beef Kabobs at Celiac Family.

Notable Links:

These posts had some time-saving meals and ideas, too:

Make your own instant food. – gluten free easily

Get organized and plan. – The Gluten-Free Homemaker

Breakfast can be quick and nutritious. – Whole Life Nutrition Kitchen

Eat a healthy lunch even when pressed for time. – Straight Into Bed Cakefree and Dried

Don’t forget:

In order to be entered to win one of 7 cookbooks, here’s what you need to do to gather entries into the drawing.  The more you do, the more chances you have to win!

  1. Leave a comment on this blog on as many of the 30 guest food bloggers as you like.  Each comment is an entry.
  2. Sign up for The W.H.O.L.E. Gang newsletter.
  3. Visit that guest blogger’s site and leave a comment there too.
  4. Tweet about this project using both of these in your tweet so I’ll find you  #30days2 #foodrevolution

When the initial 30 days of guest posts are over on June 4th, we’ll pick the winners.

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