Monday, February 28, 2011

Day One hundred and fifty-six

Breakfast: Cream of wheat with strawberries and maple syrup.

Breakfast: Scrambled egg white with cheese.

Dinner: Mandarin apricot pork (crockpot; Recipe: Make it Fast, Cook it Slow) over whole grain spaghetti; steamed broccoli, and oranges. This looked and smelled so good but since I don't eat pork, I had to trust my family to enjoy it on my behalf. ;)

My daughter's plate, once the pork had been sliced and made kid-friendly.




Day One hundred and fifty-five

Dinner: Turkey cheeseburgers on whole grain sandwich thins, homemade steak fries ("Freedom Fries; recipe: Sneaky Chef), and steamed broccoli.

Friday, February 25, 2011

Day One hundred and fifty-four

Dinner: Big Salad (steamed broccoli and carrots, romaine lettuce, baby spinach, cucumbers, red pepper, chickpeas, crunchy noodles, hard boiled eggs, grape tomatoes, and strawberries.

Thursday, February 24, 2011

Day One hundred and fifty-three

Lunch: Garden vegetable soup

Dinner: Garden vegetable soup, with turkey meatballs (I thawed a bag I had made a while back-- these are the Sneaky Chef meatballs with pureed green vegetables), and leftover whole wheat penne from a few nights ago. A lovely way to use up leftovers yet have a "new" dinner, without too much cooking.

Day One hundred and fifty-two

Lunch: Pizza muffins on whole grain sandwich thins, peas, and sliced apple. My daughter didn't want to eat pizza for lunch, until I offered to let her make it... then she helped, and promptly gobbled it up. Perfection.


Dinner: Chicken enchiladas on whole grain tortillas (with pureed butternut squash and cauliflower), fresh strawberries, and steamed broccoli. This was another night when the freezer saved me-- I'd previously made a batch of grilled chicken and frozen it for future use. After thawing and turning it into enchilladas, dinner was made without a dishful of dirty pots and pans.


Tuesday, February 22, 2011

Day One hundred and fifty-one

Dinner: Brinner (aka breakfast for dinner). Whole grain sandwich thins, cheddar spinach omelet (half eggs, half egg whites), turkey sausage patties, and fruit salad.

Day One hundred and fifty

A repurposed dinner: Chicken orzo vegetable soup (chicken was leftover from yesterday's rotisserie chicken, orzo was leftover from dinner from a few night's ago, and soup was from yesterday's lunch). Perfect way to use up a mish-mosh of leftovers.

Monday, February 21, 2011

Day One hundred and forty-nine

Breakfast: Banana blueberry strawberry oatmeal with a drizzle of maple syrup and cinnamon.

Lunch: Garden vegetable soup, baked grilled cheese, and pineapple. I realize this is an awful picture, but I was in a rush and didn't get to take a better one.

Dinner: Rotisserie chicken, whole grain penne with sun-dried tomato alfredo sauce, salad, and grapes.

Day One hundred and forty-eight

Breakfast: The Eggman. Whole wheat bagel thins, cheese omelet, fresh strawberries and pineapple.

Saturday, February 19, 2011

Day One hundred and forty-seven

Happy Birthday to my littlest one. She wanted an animal theme for her birthday this year, and I saw this cake in Parents magazine and saved the design so we could recreate it at home. We had a blast doing this together.



Vanilla buttermilk cake (recipe: Allrecipes.com)


Buttercream icing (recipe from my friend Sarah).

Dinner: A defrosted a jar of turkey chili I'd made a few weeks back. We (and the table) were so frosting-covered that I didn't even remember to take a picture. Oops.

Friday, February 18, 2011

Wednesday, February 16, 2011

Day One hundred and forty-five

Breakfast: Banana Blueberry Oat Bran muffins (loosely based on Barefoot Contessa's "Chunky Banana Muffins"), with orange slices and skim milk.


Cinnamon Sugar Rattlesnacks (aka Roasted Chickpeas; recipe: Sneaky Chef).

Dinner: Indonesian peanut butter chicken (crockpot) with matchstick carrots and red peppers (with pureed butternut squash; Recipe [sans squash]: Make it Fast, Cook it Slow), over chow mein noodles, with steamed broccoli, and fruit salad.

Tuesday, February 15, 2011

Day One hundred and forty-four

Dinner: Chicken piccata over orzo (Recipe: Cooking Light), with steamed carrots, green beans, fresh pineapple, and strawberries.

Day One hundred and forty-three

Breakfast: Scrambled egg with light cheddar on a whole grain sandwich thin, and fresh strawberries.
Dinner: Sunday dinner at my grandparents' house... no cooking here!

Day One hundred and forty-two

Lunch: A fresh batch of garden vegetable soup, and turkey melties (turkey and american cheese melted on a whole grain sandwich thin).
Dinner: Leftovers

Thursday, February 10, 2011

Day One hundred and forty-one

Purees: Purple (aka baby spinach and wild bluerries). I used this for the cupcake/brownies, below, and then tried something new with the extra. Instead of freezing in little glass jars like I usually do, I used a muffin tin and spooned in 1/4 c. portions. Once it is frozen, I'll pop them out and put them in a freezer bag. Wonder if it'll make it easier to store/defrost.


Mini brownies (whole wheat, spinach and blueberry puree). These are for my daughter's Valentine's party tomorrow. Wonder if any of the kids will ever guess the spinach! Luckily the chocolate disguises it all.


Chocolate donuts (whole wheat, spinach and blueberry puree). These are for my other daughter's Valentine's party tomorrow, and also to celebrate her bday in class.


And, after all that baking, there was no time to make dinner, so we had sliced up strawberries and cheerios mixed into yogurt. My kids thought I'd lost it, but it was quick and didn't further the mess in the kitchen. Oh, and it counted as vegetarian night. Yay!

Day One hundred and forty

Lunch: Garden vegetable soup, baked grilled cheese with light cheddar, and orange slices.


Dinner: Rotisserie chicken (thank you, Sam's club), whole wheat rotini with light alfredo, and sauteed spinach and carrots (thank you, husband). This was my cooking night-off.


Tuesday, February 8, 2011

Day One hundred and thirty-nine

Vanilla yogurt


Another batch of garden vegetable soup


Lunch: Garden vegetable soup (I threw in some turkey and parmesan cheese for protein), and grapes.


A double batch of Eggplant spinach rollatini-- one for tonight, one for the freezer.



Dinner: Eggplant spinach rollatini (with shredded zucchini), vegetable medley, and apples.

Day One hundred and thirty-eight

Dinner: Turkey and black bean burritos (with shredded zucchini and pureed sweet potato, on whole grain wraps), green beans, and fresh strawberries. This was one of those freezer-saved-me dinners. I was not in the mood to cook what I had planned, and did not want to end up eating take-out. I dug into the chest freezer and pulled out a bag of turkey taco meat of which I had made extra a while back. I defrosted it, along with a bag of shredded zucchini from the summer's garden harvest, and dinner was ready before I knew it. Phew.

Sunday, February 6, 2011

Day One hundred and thirty-seven

Breakfast: Pink pancakes (whole grains, beet puree, shredded apple, and strawberries; Recipe: Deceptively Delicious).


Pink pancakes with a drizzle of chocolate or maple syrup. Normally we would have a protein with pancakes such as eggs, but these have ricotta in them so they were okay to stand alone. I let my kids use a drizzle of chocolate on these, they were so tickled to have "strawberries and chocolate" for breakfast, and didn't care that they also had pureed beets. Loved it.
Dinner: At my parents house, so no pics here.

Day One hundred and thirty-six

Lunch: Another batch of garden vegetable soup, this time I tossed in some egg noodles (leftover from the chicken marsala), and a little turkey. Everyone here loves this soup, and I think I am addicted to it. Thank goodness it is so healthy!!

Dinner A: Mini cheese ravioli with marinara sauce, blanched spinach, and turkey bacon. Yes, I am aware that turkey bacon doesn't go with pasta, and that this is THE most random meal, but there is a reason. We were planning to have breakfast for dinner and I'd already thawed the turkey bacon, and then we were in the mood for pasta.

Dinner B: Actual breakfast for dinner (my husband still wanted it, so he carried it through). Eggs-over-easy with cheese, spinach, and turkey bacon, served on a whole grain bagel thin.

Day One hundred and thirty-five

Lunch: Garden vegetable soup, with parmesan cheese and whole wheat crackers. This soup is so easy to make, it's a tomato/chicken broth base, you toss in whatever veggies you have on hand, and it's really hearty and healthy. It's loosely based on the original "Zero point soup" made so popular in the 90's by Weight Watchers.
Dinner: Leftover chicken marsala, we used the extras from the double batch I'd made.

Day One hundred and thirty-four

Birthday dessert: Chocolate "donuts." These are one of our favorite desserts, for a few reasons. They taste amazing, but even better, they don't wreck your day. These are the Sneaky Chef's famous "brownie/cupcakes" with pureed spinach and blueberries in them, and they are 100% also whole grain. I'll including a link to the recipe here, as it is worth making!!
Dinner: We ate at my parents before going down to the city for a project of my husband's, so no pics here.

Wednesday, February 2, 2011

Day One hundred and thirty-three

Snow day project: Cotton ball snowmen and gingerbread men (Recipe: Kid Concoctions. We didn't eat these, but the dough did need to be cooked on the stove, so it's fair that they get to share the spotlight w/our other food of the day.


Breakfast: Oatmeal with strawberries and blueberries (frozen), drizzled with a little maple syrup and cinnamon.

Dinner: Alien green ravioli (homemade ravioli with edamame and light cream filling; Recipe: Rachel Ray) with broccoli, and bananas.



Tuesday, February 1, 2011

Day One hundred and thirty-two

Snow day lunch: Baked grilled cheese and apples (low fat cheddar), steamed baby carrots, and grapes.

Dinner: Chicken marsala over egg noodles, sauteed collard greens, and strawberries. Since this meal was time-intensive, I doubled the recipe so that we can have it again w/o all the cooking. Whew.