Day 28...Being Diet Coke Free Is Worth It!

This morning I woke up with a desire to go to the Saugus Swap Meet. My boys were at a fundraiser golf tournament, so it was just me and my girl. Mackenzie and I got ourselves ready and headed for the Swap Meet. It was a hot day here in So Cal. While we were at the swap meet, Mackenzie's car read 102 degrees. Super dry heat too. We walked around bit and then decided to try to get something to drink. Being that we are diet coke and soda free, this made it very difficult. We were craving iced tea, but it was nowhere to be found. Mackenzie ended up getting a cup of their homemade lemonade and I got a bottle of water. It was refreshing but we still wanted an iced tea. Oh well. Being diet coke free was worth it.

After we bought a couple of treasures, we decided to go to Rattler's BBQ for a nice cool salad and a great big iced tea. In addition, we ordered some chicken wings for a little appetizer.  I was starving and ate my whole salad.  

BBQ Chicken Wings from Rattler's BBQ

After lunch I noticed that I forgot to take a picture of my yummy salad. Mackenzie offered her half eaten salad as a model. Ya, that wasn't gonna happen. It was no longer yummy looking!

After we got home, I realized that I needed to come up with some ideas for next week's dinners. No one in the house has any ideas, except Mikey, he wants me to make some chicken noodle soup. He is my soup boy. I'll make that no problem.  I've been looking through Pinterest and some gluten-free and/or clean eating websites. I found a couple of recipes but still not enough for the week. Hopefully, I won't be flying by the seat of my pants for recipes. 

As I was browsing websites, I ate some dehydrated mangos.  Mackenzie told me she was hungry so I had to start thinking about dinner for tonight. I settled on a pasta dish. I sautéed up some red/sweet onions & mushrooms in butter with salt and pepper. Smashed up some garlic and added them to the sauté mixture. I cooked them down until they were clear and set them to simmer while I cooked the brown rice GF pasta. 

Red & Sweet Onions w/ Mushrooms & Garlic 

Once the pasta was done, I mixed it in the skillet with the onion sauté. After that was all mixed up, I added some GF pasta sauce onto the top in the center and finished it with chunks of asiago cheese. I was quiet proud of my throw together dinner. Normally, I add butter to the pasta with garlic salt and call it a day. Today was different and MUCH better, if I do say so myself.

GF Brown Rice with Onion/Mushroom Sauté and GF Pasta Sauce

I really only make dinners like this when I know Brian isn't going to be home because he doesn't like red sauce. He doesn't like tomatoes at all, so it makes it hard for this Italian to refrain from making red sauce and tomato dishes. Tonight was easy and very much enjoyed. 

Now, I need to go back to figuring out my recipes for the rest of the week. I hope you were able to stay cool today. 

Until tomorrow,

Angela