Day Two hundred and sixty-four

Dinner: Brown rice penne mac and cheese (crockpot; Make it Fast, Cook it Slow), chicken spinach sausage, mixed vegetables, and blueberries.

Day Three hundred and sixty-two

Dinner: Brown rice penne mac and cheese (crockpot; recipe: Make it Fast, Cook it Slow), chicken sausage, steamed veggies, and blueberries.  Not a dinner of champions, but it was a crazy afternoon, so this'll do.

Day Three hundred and forty-four

Dinner: Parmesan crusted chicken (with breadcrumbs made from stale gluten-free bread) steamed carrots, sauteed zucchini, and mac and cheese (brown rice pasta; crockpot; recipe: Make it Fast Cook it Slow).

School lunch for tomorrow: Cottage cheese, edamame crackers, a hard-boiled egg, strawberries, red pepper, and baby spinach.

Day Two hundred and thirty-nine

I credit my husband with this dinner:  Sauteed chicken, mac and cheese, steamed veggies, and peaches.

Day Ninety-nine

A really simple dinner: Turkey hot dogs, broccoli, and mac and cheese. My husband was responsible for this meal, but I was just happy to have a night off from cooking.

Day Seventy-nine

Maple spice muffins (Recipe: Doubly Delicious). These were really yummy.

Gingerbread house. We do one every year, and the girls love doing it, but they always try to eat it immediately afterwards.

Honey whole wheat bread- this one came right out of the bread machine. This is our favorite bread.


Dinner: Homemade chicken nuggets, which I made in the crockpot (recipe: Make it Fast, Cook it Slow), whole grain mac & cheese with cauliflower and yellow squash puree (recipe: Sneaky Chef), green beans, and clementines.

My husband was craving steak, so he BBQ'ed this for himself. I take no credit or responsibility for it.

Chicken soup with egg noodles- my daughter wanted this for lunch for tomorrow, so I let it simmer on the stove during the day and poured it into a thermos for the next day.

Day Sixty-nine

Sick-day Lunch: My girls were home sick, so in keeping with tradition, I made them Annie's mac & cheese, served with spinach, ranch dip, and frozen peaches. Yes, they were lucky enough to get it on a tray in bed!

Dinner: Bourbon chicken, steamed carrots, green beans, and rice. Normally I make brown rice, but I was really craving buttery white rice for some reason!

Day Thirty-nine

Purees for the freezer: Butternut squash. This typically goes into pasta dishes, chili, etc.

Lunch: Annie's mac & cheese, baby spinach with ranch dip, and sliced apples. My girls were home sick w/colds, so I treated them to "boxed" mac & cheese. Sadly, they love it as much as the homemade kind. For it's ease, I do, too, but don't tell anyone. ;) Oh, and I had to make peas for my little one, b/c her spinach was "yuck."

Dinner: Hashbrown Casserole (crockpot; recipe: Make it Fast, Cook it Slow). This came out so well! I used spinach instead of the red peppers it called for, b/c I don't care for peppers in breakfast food, and steak fries instead of hash browns, b/c they are healthier, and it's what I had in my freezer, and Trader Joe's chicken apple sausage, b/c they are just about the only ones to make a poultry sausage and not put it in a pork casing).


Using up my basil plants before the next freeze: Pesto sauce. I think my recipe is from Cooking Light. I add everything but the cheese, then freeze in jars. Each jar is enough for one lb. of pasta.

Day Thirty-one

Dinner: Turkey hot dogs, whole wheat rotini made into mac and cheese (with pureed cauliflower; recipe: Sneaky Chef), steamed edamame, and sliced apples. I will admit that this is the turkey hot dog that caused an adult tantrum. 'Nuff said.

Day Six

I did not take into account that when my younger daughter looked at her teddy bear burger, her first reaction would be, "don't cut off his ears!!!" Oops. But, she went on to finish the whole burger, which is quite unusual for her.

Dinner: Chicken apple teddy bear burgers, homemade whole wheat mac & cheese (with pureed cauliflower), steamed mini broccoli and carrots, sliced strawberries.

Teddy bear burger recipe from Family Favorite Meals (Annabel Karmel)

Mac & cheese recipe from Sneaky Chef to the Rescue (Missy Chase Lapin)