Day Four hundred and eleven

Lo mein (Brown rice spaghetti; Recipe: Gluten-Free on a Shoestring).

School lunch: Yogurt, PB&J on tapioca bread, fruit salad, baby carrots.

Day Four hundred and ten

Cornmeal griddle cakes with strawberry syrup (recipe: Cooking for Isaiah).  Another awesome recipe from this cookbook.

And an extra stack of them for the freezer.

Dinner: Eggplant spinach parm, sauteed yellow squash, salad, and fruit salad.  This is one of my favorite dinners, and I realized I've never shared my recipe. Here it is:

Slice one large eggplant into one-inch slices, and bake at 450 in a single layer on a greased baking sheet, 10 minutes on each side. Meanwhile, combine 1/2 cup of part-skim ricotta, 3 tablespoons of Parmesan cheese, one egg, a little salt and pepper, and a handful of parsley and basil in a bowl. Spray an 8×8 baking dish with cooking spray, and cover the bottom with your favorite marinara sauce. On top of the sauce, layer as follows: half of the eggplant, ricotta mixture, three cups of raw baby spinach, more sauce, remainder of eggplant, and more sauce. Top with two tablespoons of Parmesan and a handful (about 1/2 cup) of part-skim mozzarella. Bake at 350 for 30 minutes. To make it extra authentic, use your own homemade sauce, and don’t measure any of the ingredients as you go along. This came together quickly, my kids loved it, and I doubled the recipe and froze an extra tray of it for a future dinner. Serve with a green salad, and mangia!

School lunch: Sliced grilled chicken, crackers with a cheese stick, cucumber, and pineapple.

Day Four hundred and ten

Saturday morning breakfast: Hashbrown waffles (from one of my new favorite cookbooks, Cooking for Isaiah, which is gluten and dairy free.  By the way, these were incredible.  I highly recommend them), with scrambled spinach eggs, and fruit salad. 

Oatmeal cookies.  I didn't write the recipe source down in my notebook, but I know I printed it.  I'll update this one.

Day Three hundred and ninety-one: 2012

Today's post, although being written smack dab in the middle of March, is the first to feature food that was cooked in 2012.  In other words, I'm officially caught up with last year's photos and am moving forward.  The realization of that reality got me thinking.  We experienced a lot of changes throughout 2011, and began 2012 with a new outlook and approach, as far as food and health is concerned.  As we continue to explore and modify our lifestyle, I'm excited to see how it unfolds, share it here, and continue to get great ideas from others.  For health reasons we're considering a switch to dairy-free, at least temporarily, to see if it helps eliminate some residual symptoms we're still noticing.  Almond milk  will supplement dairy for the time being, as I aim to keep food enticing, no matter your food preferences and likes!  As always, thanks for being along on our journey, and please continue to share yours as well.

Best,
Stephanie

First breakfast of the year!  (Brown rice) Blueberry waffle, scrambled eggs, and fruit salad.

Day Three hundred and thirty-nine

Dinner: Chicken with mushrooms and carrots (crockpot; Make it Fast Cook it Slow) over brown rice (with cauliflower puree ala Double Delicious), and fruit salad.

Day Three hundred and thirty-eight

Breakfast: Chocolate strawberry flax-seed crepes.  I was thrilled to take the crepe recipe I've been using (Sneaky Chef) and find it translated perfectly with the artisan gluten-free flour blend.

Dinner: Brown rice pasta marinara, sun-dried tomato chicken sausage, green beans, and fruit salad.

Lunch for tomorrow: Leftover pasta with chicken sausage mixed in, green beans, fruit salad, and fresh mozzarella cheese.  My daughter's lunch doesn't often consist of dinner leftovers, but when it does, boy is it easy to assemble!

Day Three hundred and thirty-six

Breakfast: Cinnamon apple oatmeal.  I'm so glad gluten-free oats exist.  I'm not sure what I'd do without them!

Dinner: Turkey bacon grilled cheese on gluten-free bread, and fruit salad.  I want to say there was a veggie with this meal-- I think we may have had baby carrots while the grilled cheeses were toasting.

Day Three hundred and twenty-two

Dinner in a rush: Polenta slices, gluten-free chicken nuggets, fruit salad, and steamed carrots.

My daughter's lunch for tomorrow: Turkey, cheese, gluten-free crackers, red peppers, and grapes.

Day Three hundred and twenty-one

Lunch: Turkey and cheese melted on homemade gluten-free bread (recipe: Gluten-free on a shoestring), grapes, baby spinach, and ranch.

Dinner: Sweet potato and chicken apple sausage hash (recipe: Rachel Ray), fruit salad, and green beans.

My daughter's lunch for tomorrow: Rolls of deli turkey with a mozzarella stick, baby spinach with dip, grapes, and gluten-free pretzel sticks.

Day three hundred and twelve

Dinner: Gluten-free chicken nuggets, brown rice pilaf (with pureed cauliflower), green beans, and fruit salad.

Day three hundred and five

Dinner: Maple dijon chicken with sweet potatoes (crockpot; Recipe: Make it Fast Cook it Slow), fruit salad (frozen), and steamed broccoli.  I do not like mustard, so I did a little sleuthing online and found white wine to be a good substitution for the dijon.  It worked.

Another gluten-free first: BREAD!  I discovered this cookbook what has quickly become one of my new Bibles, "Gluten-free on a shoestring." In it, there is a great bread recipe.  This was delicious.

A kitchen staple: Vanilla yogurt.  I will always be indebted to the Frugal Girl for her no-frills method, which requires no more than a pot and a picnic cooler for awesome yogurt.

Day Two hundred and eighty

Breakfast: Cream of wheat with cinnamon and fresh strawberries.

Dinner: Baked salmon in a basil-olive oil marinade, "spinach brownies" (allrecipes.com; forever thanks to Julie!), and fruit salad.

Day Two hundred and forty-three

Dinner: Scrambled cheddar spinach eggs on a ciabatta roll, and fruit salad.  I had planned to try a new recipe which looked a bit more time consuming, but the afternoon got busy, so we opted for breakfast for dinner.

Day Two hundred and thirty-seven

Dinner: Spinach eggplant rollatini, Italian bread (compliments of my grandpa), and fruit salad. I made two 9x13 pans of the eggplant, and froze one for future use. It'll come in handy on a night when I don't have time to cook.

Day Two hundred and fifteen: Mother's Day

Lemon bundt cake (recipe: Wilton)

Broccoli cheddar quiche (before)


Mother's day brunch: Danish, turkey bacon, green beens with shallots (recipe: Cooking Light), broccoli cheddar quiche, fruit salad, chicken cutlets, and creamy potatoes au gratin (recipe: Allrecipes.com)

Day Two hundred and six

Breakfast: Oatmeal with chunks of apple, and blue agave. Halfway through her bowl, my little one decided she didn't like apples, so I pureed her apple chunks in the food processor and mixed it back into her oatmeal. Voila.

Sloppy joes (with pureed green veggies and cauliflower) on whole grain sandwich thins, with steamed carrots, and fruit salad.  Here's the recipe.

Day One hundred and ninety-one

Strawberry-banana bread (whole wheat). I've made this before with blueberries or chocolate chips, but never strawberries. However, we had a carton getting soft, so I chopped and threw them in. The extra loaf will go in the freezer.

Broccoli and cheese quiche, in a whole wheat crust.

Brunch for dinner: Quiche, strawberry-banana bread, and fruit salad.

Day One hundred and seventy-five

Breakfast: Oat bran blueberry applesauce muffins (recipe: Hodgson Mill) and fruit salad. My husband put some chocolate chips on the top of his, but they were really good even w/o the chocolate.

Dinner: We ate dinner at our friend's house, and brought this over: Fresh steamed broccoli and baby carrots, with a buttermilk-ranch dip (with pureed white beans; recipe: Deceptively Delicious).

Day One hundred and seventy-three

Dinner: Sliced turkey, sun-dried tomatoes, baby spinach, and melted cheese on a whole wheat sandwich thin; fruit salad (chunks of apple, pear, and grapes), baby carrots and red pepper. This is one of our "no cook" dinners, and I am working on integrating more of these into our busy nights.

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.