A Gift of Time

If you’re anything like me, you’re in overdrive most of the time. There is always too much to do. There is always too little time.

Most of the time, I can’t fit a work-out in before I go to work. I love the days when I can, but most of the time it just doesn’t fit; unless I get up at 5:00 am and I don’t see that happening. I work daytime hours, usually getting home by five or five-thirty with just enough time to make dinner...sometimes a bit early and I can work-out quick before dinner. Otherwise, it's after dinner or even after Allison is in bed. Painful! 

The recurring question and one I need help with is: “what’s for dinner?” Usually there are no suggestions coming from other members of the family. I have the challenge of making something tasty that’s gluten-free and usually between 350-500 calories per serving. It can be difficult to make a variety of foods and not get into the same old rut of burgers, spaghetti and tacos/nachos.

That’s why I was thrilled last week to come across The Fresh20 on the Gluten-free Girl website! This site delivers five recipes, with a total of twenty ingredients, to make for the following week. That gives me two days for having burgers, spaghetti or tacos/nachos or one of the many soups I enjoy. The site even includes nutrition information for each meal! What a find!

Right now, they have a Gluten-free Girl special that’s $10 off per year. So for $40 per year, you get these recipes (with nutrition facts) delivered to you weekly, so you can get your groceries over the week-end. It’s called the Fresh20 because they use fresh ingredients whenever possible. This is the first week, so I can’t say I’m sold yet but all the recipes sound so good. The first weeks’ recipes include: 

• Roasted chicken with roasted root vegetables
• Scallop and garlic linguine with side salad
• Chicken Corn Chowder
• Chicken, Corn and Kale Enchiladas
• Salsa Stuffed Baked Potatoes

The only recipe that I’m going to change out this week is the Salsa Stuffed Baked Potatoes – I’d rather just have the loaded baked potatoes I make. We had the roasted chicken with roasted root vegetables last night. It was delicious. When I made that, I baked potatoes at the same time, put them in the fridge and made Baked Potato Soup with them tonight. Tomorrow we will try the linguine with a side salad.

The plan is to use some ingredients from the meal the night before in the next night’s meal. This way, you also save money on your grocery bill and who couldn’t use that? It’s nice to have one less thing to think about – one thing off my plate - a gift of time, really.

Roasted Chicken with Root Vegetables