Meal plans and the week ahead

This week doesn't look too busy in terms of plans yet... mostly because we have a lot of to be determined plans. Today we're headed to Kevin's parents' church for the last time before they close their doors and find a new location. The whole family will be there, so it'll be great to get a little extra time in with everyone. We all had a great time with everyone yesterday and Carson is so excited to see Rebecca again this morning. We'll also be stopping by the farmers market on our way and we may head down to Kensington Metropark for the afternoon, since we didn't get to go last weekend.... although I think we'll save that for another day and maybe just take our bikes out to Fenton and ride a bit then go over to my aunt's house to swim. We'll see. Monday night, I'm going biking with a friend of mine. Tuesday, there is an outdoor concert in Grand Blanc with Jimmy Buffett inspired music, so I would like to go to that. Thursday is Kevin's mountain biking night. Friday, I'll be picking up a CSA order. I didn't order too much this week, mostly herbs so that I can dehydrate them over the weekend. I ordered flat-leaf parsley, french tarragon, sage, purple basil, and dill weed. I also ordered a half-gallon of apple cider and some flour. Like I said, it was a small order. I'm planning to pick up some good, local, sustainable, non-ultra-pasteurized cream while I'm out at Westwind Milling to pick up the order, too (so I can make ice cream!!). And some good, local, sustainable cottage cheese, which is supposed to be really good for my gall bladder. Friday and Saturday are also the dates of the Gaines Rodeo, so we'll go out there one of the nights, not sure which yet. Probably Friday night. Saturday we're thinking about heading up to Bay City for the Tall Ships Celebration. We'll just see how everything play out, though.

I have been on a lacto-fermenting spree. :) Last week, I ended up lacto-fermenting more cucumbers (yellow ones this time along with the green ones!), grape leaves, green beans, and water kefir. I'm going to try getting a rhythm going on the water kefir making... maybe a new batch every couple of days or so. We'll see. Today, I'll be starting a batch of sauerkraut and I want to also start some dairy kefir since I got some grains from my SIL yesterday - thanks, Mary! I didn't get a chance to start some veggies in the dehydrator last week, so I'll be working on that today. I've already put onions and garlic in the dehydrator this morning and I'll add some trays later after I've steamed the sweet potatoes and sliced them. I'm planning to make my own onion powder and garlic powder again and the sweet potato slices will be for snacks - they taste like potato chips, but way healthier for you! I want to get to work on some other snacks this week, too. All of which to take with us to Cedar Point next week. I'm going to make some homemade larabars (from the Healthy Snacks to Go Ebook). I also want to make another batch of crunchy granola bars and some more fruit rolls (I think we'll try blueberry peach this week). I may also make some beef jerky with the flank steak we have in the freezer... we'll see how much time I end up with this week. I want to make a couple batches of blueberry zucchini bread and get it in the freezer... I need to pick up some white whole wheat flour and some whole wheat pastry flour first, though (I ran out of both)... so I can modify the recipe to make it healthier. I might also make a blueberry buckle and freeze it to take with us, too... for breakfasts in the mornings while we're at CP.

I've been making some changes in my diet this past week. Last Sunday, I had one of the worst experiences of my life. I thought I was having a heart attack - all the symptoms were there, but it ended up being a severe gallstone attack from what the doctors can tell. I've done a lot of reading on the subject and they don't really know what causes the gallstones to form. There are just so many things that could cause them to form. Some of which are the bad, processed fats and pop. So I'm done with both. I haven't had a drink of pop since last Sunday before my attack (long before the attack, that's not what caused it). I'm glad something good is coming out of that experience, at least. :) I thought I would see a big drop in the number on the scale this week with all the changes I've made, but when I checked Friday, was quite disappointed to see it barely moving. Although, when I checked this morning, I was down 3 1/2 pounds from last Sunday. (UPDATE - Monday morning, I checked and was down a total of 5 pounds! The bloating is going down!) I'll take it. I've been so weak, I haven't been exercising this past week at all. But I'm finally feeling more like myself again, so I'm getting back into the exercising a bit more this week. Hopefully we'll see some big drops in the numbers on the scale soon!

So here's the plan... I decided to take lunch plans off most of the days b/c I never seem to stick with the plans for lunch... we just take misc. leftovers most days.

Sunday ~ farmers market; church; Kensington Metropark?; biking/lake?
(dehydrate onions and garlic; steam and prep sweet potatoes for dehydrating; make sauerkraut; freeze blueberries; make water kefir; make blueberry zucchini bread; clean out top shelf in upstairs pantry; make yogurt?)
B: banana bread from freezer
L: TBD... maybe out to eat?
D: TBD... depends on what we decide for our plans... if we're home... grilled burgers with smoked gouda cheese; steamed green beans; fresh cherries and blueberries

Monday ~ going biking
(soak oats all day; make baked oatmeal for week in evening)
B: banana carob smoothies
D: stuffed peppers; cherries and blueberries

Tuesday ~ GB outdoor concert
(make water kefir; make dairy kefir; clean out top shelf in upstairs pantry)
B: baked oatmeal
D: crockpot salsa chicken

Wednesday ~ Kevin's mountain biking night
(make blueberry buckle; make yogurt; make dairy kefir)
B: yogurt; berries; granola
D: grilled salmon; grilled zucchini and yellow squash; grilled pineapple slices

Thursday ~ Kevin's mountain biking night; Zumba class
(make larabars; make crunchy granola bars; make water kefir)
B: baked oatmeal
D: misc. leftovers

Friday ~ CSA pickup; Gaines rodeo?
(make whey and cream cheese)
B: smoothies
D: grilled, marinated pork tenderloin; steamed green beans; fermented cucumber pickles; fresh fruit

Saturday ~ Gaines rodeo? Bay City Tall Ships?
(make blueberry bread)
B: scrambled eggs with veggies and cheese
L: TBD... zucchini lasagna if we're home
D: TBD... possibly crockpot cream cheese chicken