Happy Valentine's Day!

Happy Valentine's Day!  I interrupt my normal schedule of posting to instead share a recipe with you.  This was on our table this morning. Breakfast for dinner, perhaps?

Buckwheat heart-shaped pancakes

¾ cup buckwheat

¾ cup flour (regular or gluten-free)

2 Tbsp sugar

1 Tbsp baking powder

½ tsp salt

1 ½ cup milk

2 egg whites
1 tsp vanilla (I added this in)

¼ cup melted butter

diced strawberries (optional)

In a medium-sized bowl, whisk dry ingredients together.  In a small bowl, whisk wet ingredients together.  Add wet ingredients to dry, mix until well blended.  Add strawberries.  Pour by ¼ cup onto greased, hot griddle or frying pan, in the shape of a heart.  Cook 2-4 minutes, until brown on edges and bubbling, and flip, repeating on other side.

Serve with syrup or powdered sugar, and enjoy!

(Original, non-heart shaped, non-strawberry recipe comes from a great, very family-friendly book, Gluten-Free Made Simple).

Day Three hundred and seventy-nine

Pink breakfast: Bob's Red Mill hot (gluten-free) cereal with strawberries and a drizzle of chocolate syrup.

School lunch: Cottage cheese, popcorn with almonds, a blueberry lunchpail muffin (from the freezer; recipe: Eat Clean Diet for Families and Kids), celery, and prunes.

Day Three hundred and fifty-two

Brownies (recipe: The ultimate gluten-free cookie book).  I made these for my daughter to bring in to her class for her birthday.  I was sure they'd never know it was gluten-free, so I was surprised when she told me, "Mom, the kids complained!"  I asked why, and she said, "They wished the brownies were bigger!"  PERFECT.

Dinner: Brown rice fusilli, steamed broccoli, strawberries, and gluten-free chicken nuggets.

Day Three hundred and twenty-eight

Breakfast: CREPES! I was delighted that I could use my regular recipe but substitute the artisan gluten-free flour blend, and they came out just as delicious.  We do a few variations of crepes, and these were filled with strawberries, a little chocolate sauce, and a sprinkle of flaxseeds.

Dinner: Traditional Stew (recipe: Make it Fast Cook it Slow).  I made a few changes to the recipe- I use chunks of chicken breast instead of beef, chicken broth instead of beef, and add potatoes.  This is always an easy and very comforting meal.

Day Three hundred and twenty-six

Lunch: Pizza muffins (with butternut squash mixed into the sauce) on gluten-free english muffins, baby spinach, and strawberries.

Dinner: Brown rice penne with chunks of chicken, sun-dried tomatoes, and spinach.

Tomorrow's school lunch: Leftover chicken from dinner, cheese with gluten-free crackers, baby spinach, and orange slices.

Day Two hundred and seventy-nine

Breakfast: Ciabatta roll, hard-boiled egg, and strawberries.

Day Two hundred and seventy-two

A quick lunch: Hard-boiled eggs, whole wheat bread, fresh mozzarella, spinach, baby carrots, and strawberries.

Dinner: Cheddar BLTs (with turkey bacon, on whole wheat).  I am proud to say that this was my first BLT... so tasty! Thanks to Jill for the idea!

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 Two hundred and eight

Lunch: Chicken salad on whole wheat potato bread with diced apples and celery, steamed carrots (leftover from last night's dinner), and strawberries.

Dinner: Breakfast for dinner: Pumpkin challah french toast, scrambled cheddar spinach eggs, and cantaloupe.

Day One hundred and ninety-seven

Dinner: Using a recipe from Allrecipes.com called, "Fettuccine with sweet pepper cream sauce," I modified this to meet the tastes of my family. I followed the recipe fairly closely, but added chicken, fresh green beans, and omitted the cayenne pepper. I served it over whole grain spaghetti, alongside strawberries, and it was awesome. Kudos to my friend Julie for sharing this recipe with me!

Day One hundred and ninety-four

Picnic lunch at the park: French bread, sliced chicken, fresh mozzarella, cheddar cheese, strawberries, steamed carrots, sliced apple, and (missing from the picture) yesterday's whole wheat oatmeal raisin cookies.

Dinner: Turkey cheese burgers on whole grain sandwich thins, bruscetta, green beans, and cantaloupe.

Day One hundred and eighty-one

Breakfast: Yogurt parfaits- vanilla yogurt, blueberries and strawberries, and granola.

Lunch: Spinach pizza bagels on whole grain bagel thins, steamed broccoli, and sliced pears.

Day One hundred and sixty

Breakfast: Cream of wheat with maple syrup and fresh strawberries.

Lunch: Spinach omelet on whole grain bagel thin with fresh strawberries.

Dinner: Turkey breast in a white wine sauce (crockpot; Recipe: Make it Fast, Cook it Slow), mashed potatoes, steamed broccoli, steamed yellow squash sticks, and grapes.

Day One hundred and fifty-two

Lunch: Pizza muffins on whole grain sandwich thins, peas, and sliced apple. My daughter didn't want to eat pizza for lunch, until I offered to let her make it... then she helped, and promptly gobbled it up. Perfection.

Dinner: Chicken enchiladas on whole grain tortillas (with pureed butternut squash and cauliflower), fresh strawberries, and steamed broccoli. This was another night when the freezer saved me-- I'd previously made a batch of grilled chicken and frozen it for future use. After thawing and turning it into enchilladas, dinner was made without a dishful of dirty pots and pans.

Day One hundred and forty-nine

Breakfast: Banana blueberry strawberry oatmeal with a drizzle of maple syrup and cinnamon.

Lunch: Garden vegetable soup, baked grilled cheese, and pineapple. I realize this is an awful picture, but I was in a rush and didn't get to take a better one.

Dinner: Rotisserie chicken, whole grain penne with sun-dried tomato alfredo sauce, salad, and grapes.

Day One hundred and forty-four

Dinner: Chicken piccata over orzo (Recipe: Cooking Light), with steamed carrots, green beans, fresh pineapple, and strawberries.

Day One hundred and thirty-eight

Dinner: Turkey and black bean burritos (with shredded zucchini and pureed sweet potato, on whole grain wraps), green beans, and fresh strawberries. This was one of those freezer-saved-me dinners. I was not in the mood to cook what I had planned, and did not want to end up eating take-out. I dug into the chest freezer and pulled out a bag of turkey taco meat of which I had made extra a while back. I defrosted it, along with a bag of shredded zucchini from the summer's garden harvest, and dinner was ready before I knew it. Phew.

Day One hundred and thirty-seven

Breakfast: Pink pancakes (whole grains, beet puree, shredded apple, and strawberries; Recipe: Deceptively Delicious).

Pink pancakes with a drizzle of chocolate or maple syrup. Normally we would have a protein with pancakes such as eggs, but these have ricotta in them so they were okay to stand alone. I let my kids use a drizzle of chocolate on these, they were so tickled to have "strawberries and chocolate" for breakfast, and didn't care that they also had pureed beets. Loved it.

Dinner: At my parents house, so no pics here.

Day One hundred and thirty-three

Snow day project: Cotton ball snowmen and gingerbread men (Recipe: Kid Concoctions. We didn't eat these, but the dough did need to be cooked on the stove, so it's fair that they get to share the spotlight w/our other food of the day.

Breakfast: Oatmeal with strawberries and blueberries (frozen), drizzled with a little maple syrup and cinnamon.

Dinner: Alien green ravioli (homemade ravioli with edamame and light cream filling; Recipe: Rachel Ray) with broccoli, and bananas.

Day One hundred and thirty-two

Snow day lunch: Baked grilled cheese and apples (low fat cheddar), steamed baby carrots, and grapes.

Dinner: Chicken marsala over egg noodles, sauteed collard greens, and strawberries. Since this meal was time-intensive, I doubled the recipe so that we can have it again w/o all the cooking. Whew.