Williams-Sonoma wasn't lying when they said these are the.best. chocolate chip cookies around!  I needed a little study break this weekend (can we all celebrate that I'm finished with this semester of graduate school!) and spotted this recipe on Pinterest.  Seriously, these are heavenly!

You can follow the recipe here.  I used gluten free flour and I have to rave about that, too! I've always been a huge fan of Pamela's Products.  I use her baking and pancake mix for anything sweet (cookies, cake, and of course pancakes!) and her bread and flour mix for anything bread-y (bread, dough, crusts, etc.).  They've always done me right but I've had one small complaint which is that the pancake mix has almond flour.  I have a bestie who is allergic to nuts.  She loves desserts as much as I do so it's always a bummer when I make something g-free that she can't partake in! Anyway, I noticed at Whole Foods the other day that Pamela's had a new artisan mix (which is nut free), and I've been eager to try it!  On Pamela's website it advertises that the new mix is closer to a cup-for-cup replacement  for wheat flour (meaning you don't have to estimate with the salt and baking soda/powder amounts).  

Well, it's a hit!  The tell tale sign we were onto something is when my husband kept coming back for another spoonful of raw dough.  Even though the finished product is always good, the raw dough isn't always as appealing with g-free flours.  Now will someone please send me an equally delicious oatmeal cookie recipe, please?

Sunday Shopping.

I was thinking it might be fun to do a weekly meal planning series.  To kick it off, I'll tell you how we plan our weekly meals and what's most important to us in planning.

First, we HAVE to get our groceries over the weekend.  If that doesn't happen, the rest of our week is a total mess. Second, I plan a specific dinner menu for each night.  Mostly I'll only plan five nights worth to allow for anything that might come up.  The hubby sometimes forgets to tell me about business dinners, guys' night out, etc.  I also like to be able to switch the meals around within the week to accommodate other changes that crop up - like I just don't feel like fish tacos tonight!

A couple of other key elements for us are potential for leftovers and level of effort/time.  I used to cook 80% of the time but being in graduate school - particularly these last two semesters - has totally turned our night-time routine up-side-down!  Thank goodness for the hubby.  He's now on deck to cook the two nights I'm in school, and the reality is he winds up cooking the two nights in between, too, because I'm either exhausted or still doing reading/homework throughout the week.  So, given the current situation I try to plan at least one meal that will have enough leftovers for another night's dinner.  Alternatively, I try to think about what would make for good lunches.  And because I'm still doing the planning and shopping, I try to think about recipes that won't be too complicated or time consuming if he has to step in unexpectedly.  A quick note here - the hubby is a fantastic cook!  I mean, everything he makes is seriously good!  But you know how after years of doing it your own way, you tend to write yourself notes in shorthand, or you forget to document a change or shortcut from a recipe you've been making for forever?  The devil is in the details, and those darn details have started more than a few fights!

Finally, this is probably obvious, but it took some serious effort on my part to get it down.  I carefully check to see what we have left from the week prior so that we minimize anything in our fridge going bad.  This also helps me sequence the menus.  Call me crazy, but I also like to check the week's weather forecast.  At this very moment we happen to be having a downpour and lasagna sounds so comforting!  But the weather has been crazy, and what if it's 75 degrees on Monday night and lasagna winds up being way too heavy?  Details I tell you!

Anyway, on to this week's menu:

Sunday: Lasanga (I couldn't resist!)

I use my mom's recipe, which is traditional Sicilian style.  The hubby says there's too much cheese and not enough meat, but I've been eating it and making it this way my whole life.  I know the recipe by heart now but one of these days I'll write it up and post it.

Monday: Crab cakes and edamame

I love Trader Joe's Maryland style crab cakes.  Delish!  I like to serve it with edamame on the side - aso from TJ's.

Tuesday: Southwestern Quinoa

We love this recipe!  This is one of my go-to blogs for healthy recipes.  When we can find it (did you know the world is currently suffering from a shortage?!), I throw in shrimp.  Another shout-out to TJ's - we love their Red Argentinian uncooked, deveined shrimp.  This recipe makes for great weekday lunches, too! 

Wendesday: Tuna Melts

Yum!  The hubby likes to make open faced tuna melts.  We use sourdough bread (gluten-cheat!) and extra sharp cheddar cheese.

Thursday: Leftovers

Usually I plan leftovers more carefully, but I'll be dining alone Thursday evening, so I'll either eat leftover lasagna or leftover Southwestern Quinoa.

Friday and Saturday, as usual, we'll wing it!  What are some of your favorite weeknight dinners?

Cleanse.

Have you heard of the Dr. Oz 3 Day Detox Cleanse?  Well I've done it a few times - most recently this past weekend - and I'm a fan.    

The hubby and I did our first cleanse together after watching Fat Sick and Nearly Dead.  That one is a juice cleanse and we did it for five days.  The first time was great actually but each time after that was torture.  And by torture I mean by day three you're dreaming about the McDonalds french fries you haven't even eaten in 15 years!  I like the Dr. Oz cleanse because it doesn't strip out the fiber in the fruits and vegetables and frankly, three days is way easier than five!  Or seven, or 30...  

Unless you're planning to do a serious - I mean like 30 or 60 day - cleanse, it's not a good way to loose weight.  The first time we did the cleanse we both lost about 10 pounds, but I gained back half that as soon as we started eating regular food again.  A cleanse is a great way to reset your eating habits, or to jump start some other kind of health regimen.  I usually do them at the end of winter or if I've been particularly bad about eating gluten.  

We had a lot of the ingredients already (like the coconut oil, probiotic, and stevia) and there were a few things I just skipped (like the lavender and multivitamins) so I spent about $30 for all three days.  

Morning

I think the morning drink is my favorite.  It has bananas which I HATE but I use a half instead of a whole and it's not so bad.  If you squeeze a little extra lemon you can barely taste it.

Afternoon

You'll notice that I had to use a food processor for this one.  I have no idea how other people prepare it, but it is thick and there is a lot of it.  My poor immersion blender could barely stand up to the kale, cucumber and celery!

Evening

I also quite like the evening drink.  Who can turn down blueberries and mangos?

Bacon Pesto Mac and Cheese.

Word on the street is Martha Stewart has the best mac and cheese recipe out there.  Now, I've tried that recipe and it's pretty darn good!  But if Martha wins the traditional mac and cheese award, this recipe wins the most unique mac and cheese award.  I'm always on a search for new and easy recipes that will leave leftovers for another night's dinner or weekday lunches.  My girlfriend recommended Picky Palate for healthy recipes, and since then it's been one of my favorites.

See her recipe here.

Of course I used gluten free noodles - my favorite brand from Trader Joe's - the brown rice penne noodles.  I also don't use quite as much bacon.  The first time I tried the recipe I went out and bought cow's milk, but generally the hubby drinks almond milk and I don't drink any at all, so this time I used what we had - unsweetened almond breeze - and it worked great!

A few simple ingredients!

It came together in a couple of steps.

And voila!

What are your favorite blogs for healthy and easy recipes?

Kitchen Fail.

Over the past couple of weeks I've been cooking a lot, and I've had lots of planned posts about my successes in the kitchen!  Well, unfortunately, I have a few fails to report instead.  Now, I think it would be unfair to the author to blame my failed dinners on the cookbook and I still have high, HIGH hopes for this book.

Umm, not like the picture in the cookbook!

About five years ago I developed an allergy to gluten that caused me to break out unexpectedly in hives. Full.body.hives...  Anyway, it's been a long road trying to figure out what I can eat and the biggest surprise of all has been learning just how expensive gluten free food is!  I like to cook and bake but I like it to be easy and cheap, too! So I was thrilled when my mother-in-law gave me this book.

You just saw the result of my first attempt - butter cookies.  I'll save you the picture overload and just tell you that I rolled the dough too thin and the butter was probably too warm so they turned out ugly but still delicious!

My next attempt was ricotta gnocchi!  I'm afraid this one was both ugly and inedible...  It started off easy, with just a few ingredients.

I rolled them into a respectable looking ball.

I rolled them out into "ropes" and cut them into one inch pieces.  Stamping them with a fork was even kind of fun!

Here's where things went downhill.  I followed the instructions to drop them into boiling water 20 pieces at a time.  The book said it would take about 3 minutes to cook them and they'd rise to the top.  Well they rose to the top, but only after about 30 seconds each!  So I was faced with a dilemma, let them continue boiling for the three minutes or pull them out right as they rose to the surface?  

I tried both methods.  Unfortunately, neither produced the gnocchi I had been dreaming of!  So there you have it - a serious kitchen fail.  

I have since tried the recipe for chicken pot pie, which included making the dough from scratch.  At this point, I wasn't about to pause to take photos of another potentially failed recipe, but I am happy to report the pot pies were delish! Next time, I will take photos and share.

Do you have any go-to gluten free recipes?