Day Four hundred and eight

Dinner: Pasta pesto salad (brown rice fusilli with pesto, mozzarella, and grape tomatoes), chicken spinach sausage, fresh pineapple, and steamed veggies.

School lunch: Rolled deli turkey and cheddar, ants on a log, pretzel sticks, and an orange.

Day Three hundred and forty-five



Breakfast: Scrambled eggs with cheese in a brown rice wrap, and fresh pineapple.

Dinner: Turkey legs.  Being that this is too cave-man for me, I ate leftovers, and made sure to fed the girls vegetables and fruit to balance it out.

Lunchpail muffins (recipe: The Eat-Clean Diet for Family and Kids).  I added blueberries.  These will go in the freezer to be used as a lunchbox add-in, or school snack.

Day Three hundred and forty-two

Dinner: Quesadillas (black bean, zucchini, tomatoes, and cheese in brown rice wraps) with sour cream.  Brown rice wraps are SO good- they come out nice and crisp on the griddle. This was delicious.

School lunch for tomorrow: Yogurt, granola, fresh pineapple, whole grain tortilla chips, and celery.

Day Three hundred and forty-one

Parmesan basil focaccia (recipe: Gluten Free on a Shoestring) made with the artisan gluten-free flour blend.  I've moved my basil plant indoors so that we can enjoy it year-round, and this was a great way to use some up.

Dinner: Turkey burgers (with green pureed vegetables, ala Sneaky Chef), Parmesan basil focaccia, baby spinach and tomatoes, and fresh pineapple.

School lunch for tomorrow: Diced chicken with celery, apple slices, gluten-free sandwich bread, and fresh mozzarella.

Day Three hundred and nineteen

Dinner: Turkey tacos with avocado, baby spinach, tomatoes, cheddar, and sour cream.

My daughter's gluten-free lunch for tomorrow: Edamame crackers, mozzarella stick, baby carrots and red peppers, fresh pineapple, and a blueberry muffin (just out of the freezer, hence the ice crystals).

Homemade cottage cheese.  I wanted my own organic cottage cheese, but I don't recommend making it.  I hate how store-bought cottage cheese has so many additives, and I read how making your own is *so* easy.  It was... BUT.  Using a quart and a half of milk yielded this tiny amount of cottage cheese, and it did not taste appetizing.  Experiment, failed.  Oh well.

Day Two hundred and seventy-eight

Dinner: Turkey sloppy joes (with diced apple, pureed butternut squash, and shredded zucchini) on ciabatta rolls, with steamed vegetables and fresh pineapple.  This meal came right out of the freezer, and I'd made a double batch of sloppy joes a while back and froze a bag of it.  Tonight I stirred in shredded zucchini and it was ready to go.  Usually I made whole wheat rolls to go with this, but we were out all day, so there wasn't time.

Turkey sloppy joes:

1 diced apple
1 lb. lean turkey
1/2 small green pepper, diced (I usually omit this)
1 c tomato sauce
2 tbsp ketchup
1 tsbp white vinegar
1 1/2 tsp worcestershire sauce
2 tsp sugar
1/2 cup pureed orange vegetable- (butternut squash, pumpkin, sweet potato, or carrot all work well).

Saute meat, onions, apple, and pepper 8 mins, or till brown. Drain. Add the rest of the ingredients, mix well and break up meat w/wooden spoon. Simmer on med-low, uncovered, 10 mins, stir occasionally.

Serves 4-6 people, serve over buns, eng. muffins, etc.

Day Two hundred and twenty-three

Vanilla yogurt. A friend recently asked me why I make my own yogurt. It tastes delicious, there's nothing mysterious or artificial in it, and making it costs half the price of buying it. It's little more than heating milk; waiting for it to cool; adding sugar, vanilla, and starter (leftover yogurt); and letting it sit in a water bath for a few hours. See the Frugal Girl's site for instructions.

Dinner: Chicken stew (crockpot), homemade french bread that my daughter and I kneaded together (recipe: Frugal Girl), and fresh pineapple. I followed the traditional beef stew recipe from Make it Fast, Cook it Slow, but I substituted chicken (and chicken stock) in place of the beef ingredients. This was really delicious (and resulted in two days of leftovers to enjoy) during this cool, rainy week.

Day One hundred and sixty-eight

Breakfast: Pumpkin whole grain waffles (with wheat germ and flax seed), scrambled egg whites with spinach, and sliced pear. I made a double batch of these waffles and froze two breakfast's worth for future mornings.

Dinner: Chicken fried (brown) rice (recipe: Cooking Light), steamed broccoli, and fresh pineapple.