MENU PLAN June Week 3

You can’t succeed if you aren’t willing to fail.  When it comes to cooking, this adage certainly rings true.  Perhaps you have been wanting to try the PCOS Diva Menu Plans, but maybe the recipes seem too complicated or you realize last minute that you don’t have all of the ingredients.  If you are used to heating up packaged dinners, it may be overwhelming to think about really getting your hands dirty in the kitchen.  But getting your hands dirty and cooking real food from scratch, is possibly the best thing you can do for yourself, your family and your PCOS.  So this week, make a commitment to try one of the recipes, make sure you have all of the ingredients and give it a go.  What’s the  worse that could happen? Your dog eats like a king this week. 😉

This week’s inCYST Nutrition 101 Featured vitamin is B6.  Be sure to read up on the benefits of B6 and other B vitamins on the inCYST blog!

MEATLESS MONDAY Tuna Salad – This isn’t just any tuna salad.  It is The Barefoot Contessa’s Tuna Salad and it is delicious served on a bed of spinach.  Both the spinach and tuna contain B6.  I am not sure I will be able to get fresh tuna at my market but I always have Trader Joe’s frozen tuna in my freezer.  I also think I may grill the tuna instead of pan fry.  I like my tuna not quite so raw as Ina Garten. I also tone down the wasabi so my kids enjoy the dish too.

TUESDAY – Roasted Red Peppers Stuffed with Kale and Rice I will add ground turkey to this dish, omit the diced red pepper and top the peppers with tomato sauce.  You can use spinach, kale, mustard greens or chard.  All these greens and the peppers are high in B6

WEDNESDAY Chicken and Strawberry Salad I typically make my own dressings but my youngest son loves Brianna’s Poppyseed Dressing.  It is made from canola oil which is much better than most soybean oil based supermarket dressings.   I will probably only use 1/4 cup of the poppyseed dressing because it does have a bit of sugar. I’ll serve on a bed of mixed greens with some baby spinach.  The celery and spinach both have B6

THURSDAY Grilled Steak with Crimini Mushroom Sauce and Roasted Cauliflower My oldest son loves mushrooms and steak.  We are celebrating his 11th birthday this week and his special dinner request is always “steak on the grill and salad.”  He loves mushrooms too so this will be an extra special treat.  If you have never had cauliflower before and are afraid to try it – try it roasted.  It is really wonderful. The mushrooms and cauliflower are the B6 winners.

FRIDAY Codfish Cakes with Sweet Potato Fries and Blueberry Cole Slaw Being a New England girl, I grew up on cod fish and especially cod fish cakes. Cod happens to be high in B6 as well as the cabbage in the slaw. For the cod cakes,  I’ll use my breadcrumbs made with Udi’s Gluten Free bread and serve with a little Trader Joes tarter sauce.  For the Sweet Potato Fries, I just peel a sweet potato and cut into french fry style pieces.  I’ll drizzle a few tablespoons of olive oil and then sprinkle with Himalayan Salt and bake at 375 until crispy.  You may need to check and flip them occasionally.  With the Blueberry Cole Slaw, since I don’t eat much soy, I will substitute 1/4c olive oil mayo and 1/4c greek yogurt,  I will also use 3 green onions instead of the red onion. It will give the slaw a milder flavor.