Sunday, November 28, 2010

Day Seventy-five: Thanksgiving

Cornbread and chicken-apple sausage stuffing... about to go into the turkey

The turkey... just stuffed and headed for the oven. We roasted it breast-side down for the first 1 1/2 hrs, and then breast-side up for the rest of the time.

The turkey... all roasted and ready to be carved. Carving is my dad's contribution to the meal. :)

Indian corn pudding... made by my mom
Carrot-herb biscuits... these are a tradition in my family, and SO yummy. Made with half whole-wheat pastry flour.
Pumpkin soup, made by my mom. Garnished with sour cream, toasted pumpkin seeds, and applewood bacon.
Sweet potato casserole... with marshmallows


Butternut squash... made by my grandma


The stuffing (from inside the turkey)


Gravy.. made by my mom


Mashed potatoes

Green beans with carmelized shallots

The meal... turkey, gravy, green beans, stuffing, cornbread pudding, biscuits, sweet potatoes, mashed potatoes, and butternut squash. I'm full just typing that out!

The aftermath. I don't normally put pictures of people up, but when my husband fell asleep with his head in his dish, I felt I'd done my job. ;)

Pecan pie. As a rule, nothing store-bought goes on the table; but my husband woke up wanting pecan pie, and ran out to buy it while the turkey was roasting.

Maple pumpkin fudge, made by my mom

Apple pie, made by my grandma

Pumpkin pie, also by grandma


Thanksgiving butter cookies... also by grandma.

Saturday, November 27, 2010

Day Seventy-four

Chicken apple sausage. This will be part of tomorrow's cornbread stuffing.

"The Yummiest Mashed Potatoes Ever" (according to the recipe). I'd have to agree! They have sour cream, cream cheese, a little pureed white bean in here. Also for Thanksgiving dinner tomorrow.

Another one for tomorrow... Sweet Potatoes... to be garnished with marshmallows, of course.


Whole wheat french bread (dough- bread machine). This isn't for Thanksgiving; just the night's dinner.


Dinner: Four cheese whole grain pasta bake, french bread, and green beans.

Tuesday, November 23, 2010

Day Seventy-three

Two days until Thanksgiving... let the preparations begin! Sweet potatoes roasting, and cornbread baking.


Shredded carrots, for a carrot-herb biscuit. This is another pre-prep done for Thanksgiving. For this recipe, I measured and combined the dry ingredients, and shredded the carrots, but I won't do the rest of it till the morning of Turkey day.

Cornbread! Recipe: Sneaky chef. This cornbread will go in the stuffing. It was made with half white/half whole-wheat pastry flour, with a cauliflower-zucchini puree, some coarsely-chopped corn, and a little flax seed. May sound weird, but it is super moist and delicious.


Pumpkin pie pudding (Recipe: Cooking Light). This won't be on the Thanksgiving menu, but a friend of mine gave me some cooked sweet pumpkin from her garden, so I pureed it, made a double batch of this, and sent half home with her.


Breakfast for dinner: Spinach and cheese omelets and whole grain english muffins. After this, we had some sliced bananas, and then dipped into the pudding a little bit. ;)

Monday, November 22, 2010

Day Seventy-two

Mashed potatoes. This was for my daughter's school Thanksgiving feast. The recipe made such a large bowl that I kept some extra at home for dinner. (Score!)

Dinner: Leftover mish-mosh. Spaghetti from the other night, mashed potatoes from earlier, turkey hot dogs, and steamed broccoli.


Blueberry sorbet (recipe: Sneaky Chef). This really counts as fruit, as it is blueberries, cranberry pomegranate juice, and a splash of honey, pureed in the food processor. I love that my kids call it "dessert," though.

Sunday, November 21, 2010

Day Seventy-one

Dinner: Turkey and black bean tacos (with butternut squash puree), served with baby spinach, cheddar, sour cream, and salsa. Mangoes, blueberries, and sliced apples followed dinner. To be fair, I should mention that my husband made the turkey and assembled everything (except this taco).

Day Seventy

Baking: Braided mozzarella cheese bread. My girls helped make the dough and knead this, and we had a blast doing so. (Recipe: Frugal girl, although she uses cheddar. Mozzarella went better with our dinner).
Breakfast: Blueberry maple oatmeal


Dinner: Vegetable minestrone soup. Recipe: Make it Fast, Cook it Slow. I loved how this looked in the crockpot before it was cooked.


Dinner: Vegetable minestrone soup with parmesan cheese and whole-grain noodles


Dinner sides: cheese bread, and frozen strawberries

Saturday, November 20, 2010

Day Sixty-nine

Sick-day Lunch: My girls were home sick, so in keeping with tradition, I made them Annie's mac & cheese, served with spinach, ranch dip, and frozen peaches. Yes, they were lucky enough to get it on a tray in bed!

Dinner: Bourbon chicken, steamed carrots, green beans, and rice. Normally I make brown rice, but I was really craving buttery white rice for some reason!


Day Sixty-eight

Birthday breakfast: My daughter requested scrambled cheese eggs, which we had with whole grain english muffins, and mangoes.

Birthday dinner: Another request- whole grain spaghetti, turkey meatballs, and sugar snap peas.


Wednesday, November 17, 2010

Day Sixty-seven

Three dozen birthdays cupcakes, for my daughter's school party tomorrow. (Don't count them, or else you'll notice there are three missing. Let's just say we are firm believers in quality control.) ;) (Recipe: Buttermilk vanilla cupcakes from Allrecipes.com; icing is a cream cheese/buttercream recipe I've had for a while).


Lunch: Pizza muffins (whole grain english muffins, light mozzarella), frozen wild blueberries, baby spinach, and ranch dip.

Dinner was leftovers, and thank goodness, b/c I'm still scraping icing off the counters at 9 pm!!

Tuesday, November 16, 2010

Day Sixty-six

Dinner: Breaded, baked tilapia (thanks to my friend Christie for the Viennese breadcrumbs, they were very tasty!), quinoa pilaf (quinoa with diced yellow squash and zucchini), and steamed veggies. We had mango after this, but I forgot to cut it up before I photographed it.

Monday, November 15, 2010

Day Sixty-five

Dinner: Whole grain penne, fresh spinach, sun-dried tomatoes, and grilled chicken, in an alfredo sauce. This dish is inspired by a meal I used to love from Macaroni Grill. Yesterday when I made chicken for the fondue, I made an extra few breasts and saved them in the fridge for tonight. When I took them out of the fridge today, all cooked and ready to use, I really loved myself. ;) We had cut up apples after dinner.


Purees for the freezer: Butternut squash

Purees for the freezer: Zucchini/cauliflower



Sunday, November 14, 2010

Day Sixty-four

Breakfast: Maple french toast sticks (with sweet potato puree; Recipe: Sneaky Chef)

Breakfast: French toast sticks, turkey bacon, pineapple, and grapes


Dinner: Fondue night. Cheese and white wine fondue


Grilled chicken and steamed broccoli, cauliflower, and carrots


Cheddar biscuits (think Red Lobster biscuits, but these are half whole wheat and all natural; recipe: Fix, Freeze, Feast)


Dinner: Cheese fondue, grilled chicken, steamed veggies, and cheddar biscuits


Last but not least, fruit salad. My husband made this- mangos, strawberries, and blueberries