Day Three hundred and sixty-six

School lunch for the day: Fresh mozzarella cheese, edamame crackers, cut-up apples, carrots, and cashews.

Dinner: Turkey meatloaf (with green puree ala Sneaky Chef), mashed potatoes, steamed broccoli, and grapes.

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 twenty-three

Breakfast: Pumpkin granola breakfast cookies (recipe: Gluten free on a shoestring), scrambled eggs, and tangerine slices.

Dinner: Brown rice spaghetti, turkey meatballs (with green puree, ala Sneaky Chef), baby spinach, and grapes.

We went to a pumpkin festival in the afternoon, and my daughter was really bummed that we could't buy any of the baked goods for sale there, as the pumpkin pie looked great.  I promised  to make her one when we got home, and I always keep my promises.  This is my grandma's pumpkin pie recipe, and I just subbed gluten-free flour in the crust recipe.  It worked.

Day Two hundred and thirty-six

Breakfast: PB banana flax seed smoothies (recipe: Cooking Light).

Lunch: Grilled cheese and apples on whole wheat, steamed broccoli, and fresh blueberries.

Dinner: Turkey meatballs (with green puree ala Sneaky Chef), brown rice pilaf (with cauliflower puree, ala Double Delicious), steamed veggies, and fresh fruit. I had two bags of these meatballs in the freezer that I'd made as extras while back, and frozen. When my afternoon went awry due to a sick child, I was more than thrilled to be able to pull these out of the freezer and put together a quick dinner.

Day Two hundred and nine

Whole grain penne in chicken ragu (recipe: Rachel Ray mag) with shredded carrot, pureed green veggies, and marsala wine.

Dinner: Whole grain penne in chicken ragu, steamed vegetable medley, and sliced oranges.

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 fifty-nine

Lunch: Another batch of garden vegetable soup, this time with mini ravioli.

Dinner: Turkey meatball "parm" sandwiches (with green veggie puree; Recipe: Sneaky chef), fresh baby spinach, and orange slices. These were from a batch of meatballs I'd made a while back and frozen. This evening I did a quick defrost (a last minute doctor's appt prevented making dinner as planned), and threw it together on whole wheat bread with marinara and light mozzarella.

Day One hundred and thirty-one

Purees for the freezer: Green puree (which is a blend of spinach, broccoli, and peas; Recipe: Sneaky Chef).

Mini drop-meatballs (turkey). Meatballs take me forever to make, so I decided to make seven lbs. worth and freeze for future use. Given the giant bowl of turkey I had in front of me, I decided to make them drop meatballs, and save myself some time. I bake them to save myself the extra time of frying, and also they're so much healthier.


Dinner: Magic wontons (which are just the turkey meatballs from above, wrapped in wonton wrappers and lightly pan-fried; Recipe: Sneaky Chef), steamed veggies, and oranges.

Day Eighty-eight

Dinner: Turkey meatloaf (with pureed yellow squash and green puree), steamed carrots and green beans.

Dinner: Butternut squash soup (made from a batch I made a few weeks back, and had frozen).

Mini gingerbread house: My daughter made this in school so technically it wasn't made in my kitchen, but she was proud to have made it, so here it is.

Day Forty-eight

Dinner: Turkey cheeseburgers (with green puree; recipe: Sneaky Chef) on whole wheat buns, steak fries, steamed carrots, and grapes.

Appetizer: Bean dip. This was for a party I was going to that night, and I served it with tortilla chips. The recipe made extra, so I kept that aside, and used it as a filling for quesadillas the next day, on whole wheat tortillas.