Hi friends, happy Monday to you! I hope you are all doing well. I’ve now been on the Autoimmune Protocol diet for 3 weeks now and it’s going okay. I’ve been really stretched in my cooking abilities trying to keep things tasty and interesting. I still can’t get used to eating meat with every meal but I’m doing it. On the bright side of things, I’ve lost 23 pounds in the last 8 months and about 9 of those pounds are from the last month alone since starting this new eating plan 🙂
I can’t have any refined sugars (the withdrawals were something awful!) but once and awhile I can have a little pure maple syrup so last week for a treat I made this delicious baked cinnamon apple recipe. It was my first “sweet” treat since starting the diet. Yum!
What I’ve been really craving though most of all is some crunchy treats especially ones that don’t involve carrots or celery. Potato chips and popcorn for instance. And while I can no longer have those things I was so happy to find these crunchy apple chips (just plain baked apples) at a grocery store in the city that I almost cried. They were so good and hit the spot.
Last week I participated in an awesome recipe exchange. If you missed it, I shared these yummy Cherry Snowball Christmas Cookies. After I posted the recipe to the Organizing Junkie Facebook page it was shared over 1,000 times!! That’s the first time something like that has happened to me. Thank you so much to everyone who took the time to share it with family and friends. I hope you all enjoy them as much as my family did! Also I’ve had the chance to check out some of the other featured recipes and there are so many great ones and many that are quick and easy which I love. See all the holiday recipe links at the bottom of my post HERE.
I hope you all have a deliciously organized week. Take 15 minutes to plan your menu, you’ll be so glad you did!
My Weekly Menu Plan:
Monday: Lemon and Thyme Chicken Breasts served with rice and broccoli
Tuesday: Crockpot Honey Pork and Apples
Wednesday: Bacon-Arugula Burgers
Thursday: Leftover buffet
Friday: Chicken and Zucchini Poppers served with baked potatoes and carrots
Saturday: Homemade Breach Machine Dough Pizza for the family and Lemon Dill Salmon for me
Sunday: YOYO (you’re on your own)
WHAT’S ON YOUR MENU PLAN THIS WEEK? JOIN US!
Menu Plan Guidelines, banner selections and recipe helpers are here.
More family favorite recipes here.
Don’t forget to join the growing Menu Plan Monday Facebook Page!!
My favorite menu planning resource:
Cathy @ Chief Family Officer says
I love Bare Fruit chips! I do Subscribe & Save from Amazon and get them delivered to my door 🙂
Thanks as always for hosting!
Connie says
Thanks so much for hosting. Your snow balls are beautiful!! I participate in subscribe and save, too, so I am headed there to check out the apple chips :-). Have a blessed week!!
http://www.theprairiemom.com/blog/planning-my-week-1272014/
Janet says
Way to go hanging in there with the new eating plan. Changing our eating habits isn’t easy. I hope you will begin to feel some real benefits from eating this way and feel encouraged in your journey.
Laura says
Thanks Janet, your encouragement means so much to me!
Keri says
I love those apple chips. I think they make other varieties too, like banana.
Waking Up Bagtas says
Hello. Hope you are ready for the upcoming holiday festivities. Thanks for hosting another great party. Have a great day!
Happy Holidays,
Aubrie B. @ Waking Up Bagtas
Robin says
Hang in there, it can’t be easy! Especially when you have a family to cook for. I have had health issues over the years, and could definitely ramp up my eating habits, so I’m thinking of trying this. Is there a book you would recommend? I heard Practical Paleo is good, but wondered what you found helpful. Have a wonderful Christmas!!