Day Three hundred and forty-six

Dinner: Brown rice quesadillas (chicken, cheese, black beans, shredded zucchini, and butternut squash puree) topped with avocado and sour cream.  This is such a family favorite.  Here's the recipe:

Chicken Quesadillas

1 lb chicken breast
2 zucchini or yellow squash, shredded
1 can of black beans, drained and rinsed
1/2 cup orange pureed vegetable (pumpkin, butternut squash, sweet potato, even carrot would work)
taco seasoning (such as McCormick packet found in the spice aisle, or your favorite homemade blend)
shredded cheese (cheddar or mexican)
avocado (mashed)
sour cream
8 whole wheat or brown rice tortilla wraps, 6 or 8 inch work fine

Saute chicken and taco seasoning on the stove until cooked through, and shread or cut into chunks. Mix chicken, black beans, shredded zucchini, orange puree. Put tortilla on sprayed griddle or in frying pan, sprinkle with cheese, spoon on chicken and zucchini mixture. Top with a little more cheese and another tortilla on top like a sandwich. Cook until tortilla browns and cheese starts to melt; flip and brown other side. Top with sour cream and avocado, if desired.  Makes four tortilla "sandwiches."

Sandwich bread (recipe: Gluten Free on a Shoestring) made with the artisan gluten-free flour blend.  I like how this bread comes out, but I'm still experimenting to find the "perfect" loaf of bread.  I have lots of recipes to try until I decide.

Day Three hundred and twenty-nine

Lunch: Shredded zucchini, black beans, and cheese inside of brown rice wraps, with sour cream.

Dinner: Broccoli and cheese soup (crockpot; recipe: Make it Fast Cook it Slow).

Day Two hundred and forty-four

Dinner: Chicken tacos (with pureed butternut squash, shredded zucchini, black beans, and diced tomatoes) with baby spinach, sour cream, shredded cheddar, and strawberries.

Day One hundred and ninety

Dinner: Chicken tacos (seasoned ground chicken breast, black beans, shredded yellow squash, diced tomatoes, and corn) with light cheddar and sour cream, baby spinach, and canteloupe. This picture is awful, but there wasn't much I could do about it. The taco shell cracked and fell over, and that was that.

Day Eighty-seven

Lemonade. Despite it being frigid here, my kids wanted to make lemonade after reading a storybook about a character who made some. So, their loving dad bought them half a dozen lemons, and away they went...

Dinner: Quesadillas (whole grain tortillas with diced chicken, pureed sweet potato, shredded zucchini, black beans, and diced tomatoes), guacamole, sour cream, jasmine rice, and clementines. A few weeks back when I made quesadillas, I tripled the recipe and froze the extra cooked chicken and sweet potato in two bags. Tonight I was fortunate enough to be able to defrost one, add some fresh ingredients, and heat up the griddle. It made for a much quicker dinner, and less mess, which I love!

Day Seventy-seven

Dinner: Chicken Quesadillas (whole grain tortillas, grilled chicken, black beans, shredded cheese, and 3/4 cup of the remaining sweet potatoes leftover from Thanksgiving), broccoli, and sour cream. According to my mom, who was there for dinner that night, you couldn't even taste the sweet potatoes.

Latkes. My daughter's teacher asked me to bring these into the classroom, so we whipped up a few batches to share with her friends.

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 Forty-four

Dinner: White wine and cheese bread (recipe: Cooking Light). This bread smelled SO good while I was photographing it that I almost bit it. Technically the recipe calls for beer, which is how I usually make it, but someone (ahem, husband) drank the last beer the last time he BBQed, and I did not know this.

Dinner: Salsa chicken and black bean soup garnished with avocado, sour cream, and shredded cheddar (recipe: Make it Fast, Cook it Slow), grapes, and steamed carrots. This soup was incredible. Highly recommend it!

Vanilla yogurt

Day Twenty-five

Dinner: Quesadillas (whole wheat wraps, grilled chicken, shredded zucchini, black beans, and melted mozzarella), sliced strawberries, and steamed carrots.