Day Three hundred and forty-six

Dinner: Brown rice quesadillas (chicken, cheese, black beans, shredded zucchini, and butternut squash puree) topped with avocado and sour cream.  This is such a family favorite.  Here's the recipe:

Chicken Quesadillas

1 lb chicken breast
2 zucchini or yellow squash, shredded
1 can of black beans, drained and rinsed
1/2 cup orange pureed vegetable (pumpkin, butternut squash, sweet potato, even carrot would work)
taco seasoning (such as McCormick packet found in the spice aisle, or your favorite homemade blend)
shredded cheese (cheddar or mexican)
avocado (mashed)
sour cream
8 whole wheat or brown rice tortilla wraps, 6 or 8 inch work fine

Saute chicken and taco seasoning on the stove until cooked through, and shread or cut into chunks. Mix chicken, black beans, shredded zucchini, orange puree. Put tortilla on sprayed griddle or in frying pan, sprinkle with cheese, spoon on chicken and zucchini mixture. Top with a little more cheese and another tortilla on top like a sandwich. Cook until tortilla browns and cheese starts to melt; flip and brown other side. Top with sour cream and avocado, if desired.  Makes four tortilla "sandwiches."

Sandwich bread (recipe: Gluten Free on a Shoestring) made with the artisan gluten-free flour blend.  I like how this bread comes out, but I'm still experimenting to find the "perfect" loaf of bread.  I have lots of recipes to try until I decide.

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 Two hundred and eighty-eight

As I've mentioned, we've recently become gluten-free, and the learning curve is definitely noticeable.  I'll finish up these last few posts that occurred before we were gluten-free, and then I'll move on from there and explain what we're doing and how we've done it. Thanks for coming along on our journey.

Veggie baked ziti (whole grain pasta, baby spinach, zucchini, and fresh tomatoes).  My memory is failing me now, but I think I made two of these and froze one for future use (or perhaps this was the one I did freeze for future use- who knows).

Dinner: Veggie baked ziti and fresh peaches.

Dessert: Cream cheese swirl brownies (Pretty Life in the Suburbs).

Day Two hundred and eighty-six

We had a family BBQ at our house the other day.  My sister and her husband are in town, so it was my parents, grandparents, sister and husband, and my family.  A fun time, and full belly, were had by all.  ;)

Grilled veggies: Zucchini, yellow squash, and grape tomatoes, brushed first with white wine, and roasted on skewers on the grill.

Roasted red potatoes, drizzled with olive oil and rosemary from the garden.  These cook in packages of tin foil on the grill.

Cheeseburgers: Both turkey and beef.

Sauteed onions: My husband can't eat a burger without them.

My husband's burger: He was very proud of it.

Dinner: Cheeseburgers, corn, roasted potatoes, grilled veggies, and cantaloupe.

Day Two hundred and seventy

Dinner: Tortellini salad (fresh mozzarella, zucchini, our own garden tomatoes and basil, and a splash of olive oil).

Day Two hundred and sixty-eight

Dinner: Big salad (spinach, romaine, diced apples, cucumber, cherry tomatoes- from the garden!, zucchini, cucumber- from the garden!- steamed carrots and broccoli, canteloupe, and hard-boiled eggs.  Whew.  Some challah and light ranch on the side, and a cool dinner on a hot summer's eve was done.

Day Two hundred and forty-five

Dinner: Big Salad.  Steamed carrots and broccoli, fresh zucchini and red peppers, sliced hard-boiled eggs, baby spinach and romaine lettuce, homemade croutons (from ciabatta rolls), and fresh berries.

Day Two hundred and forty-one

Orzo salad (fresh zucchini, grilled grape tomatoes, garden basil, and red peppers)

Dinner: Orzo salad, grilled chicken, and honeydew.

Day Seventy-three

Two days until Thanksgiving... let the preparations begin! Sweet potatoes roasting, and cornbread baking.

Shredded carrots, for a carrot-herb biscuit. This is another pre-prep done for Thanksgiving. For this recipe, I measured and combined the dry ingredients, and shredded the carrots, but I won't do the rest of it till the morning of Turkey day.

Cornbread! Recipe: Sneaky chef. This cornbread will go in the stuffing. It was made with half white/half whole-wheat pastry flour, with a cauliflower-zucchini puree, some coarsely-chopped corn, and a little flax seed. May sound weird, but it is super moist and delicious.


Pumpkin pie pudding (Recipe: Cooking Light). This won't be on the Thanksgiving menu, but a friend of mine gave me some cooked sweet pumpkin from her garden, so I pureed it, made a double batch of this, and sent half home with her.


Breakfast for dinner: Spinach and cheese omelets and whole grain english muffins. After this, we had some sliced bananas, and then dipped into the pudding a little bit. ;)

Day Sixty-six

Dinner: Breaded, baked tilapia (thanks to my friend Christie for the Viennese breadcrumbs, they were very tasty!), quinoa pilaf (quinoa with diced yellow squash and zucchini), and steamed veggies. We had mango after this, but I forgot to cut it up before I photographed it.

Day Sixty-five

Dinner: Whole grain penne, fresh spinach, sun-dried tomatoes, and grilled chicken, in an alfredo sauce. This dish is inspired by a meal I used to love from Macaroni Grill. Yesterday when I made chicken for the fondue, I made an extra few breasts and saved them in the fridge for tonight. When I took them out of the fridge today, all cooked and ready to use, I really loved myself. ;) We had cut up apples after dinner.

Purees for the freezer: Butternut squash

Purees for the freezer: Zucchini/cauliflower

Day Forty

Dinner: Vegetarian chili (red and white beans, spices, diced tomatoes, butternut squash puree, corn, some leftover rice, a splash of maple syrup) with sour cream and shredded cheddar cheese, whole wheat cornbread (cauliflower, zucchini, and corn purees; recipe: Sneaky Chef), spinach salad, and bananas.

Day Thirty-eight

Dinner: Chicken souvlaki (chicken and zucchini; recipe: Cooking Light), whole wheat parmesan couscous, and sliced pears.

Baking project with my younger daughter: Munchy oat bars (recipe: Annabel Karmel, from one of her kids' cooking books). These were supposed to come out as "bars," but we found them to be really sticky, so it was more like clumpy trail mix. But, really yummy. Next time we'll use a little less butter and sugar, and see how they do.

Day Twenty-five

Dinner: Quesadillas (whole wheat wraps, grilled chicken, shredded zucchini, black beans, and melted mozzarella), sliced strawberries, and steamed carrots.

Day Nineteen

Zucchini carrot apple bread (recipe: Cooking Light). Thanks to Karen S. for the zucchini- one of these breads is for you! :)

Dinner: Ciabatta bread (dough made in bread machine).

Dinner: Tortellini Florentine soup (crockpot. Recipe from my friend Janna, who nabbed this from the Southern Living Slow Cooker Cookbook), and cut up honeydew.

Day Sixteen

Dinner: Chinese chicken and vegetables (broccoli, zucchini, carrots, and mushrooms) in a brown sauce over rice, and sliced apples.

Day Thirteen

Dinner: Whole wheat french bread. The dough is a bread machine recipe- pretty easy.

Dinner: Farmer's market lasagna (recipe: Parents magazine). Whole wheat lasagna noodles, part-skim ricotta and mozzarella, spinach, diced zucchini, yellow squash, red peppers, and shredded carrot. This made enough for two nights' worth of dinner... hooray!

Dinner: Mango chunks and blueberries.

Day Twelve

Vanilla yogurt. Very easy to make, using the Frugal Girl's cooler method.

Dinner: Big Salad. Romaine lettuce, chickpeas, sliced egg, zucchini, cucumber, carrots, and red peppers.

Day Nine

Dinner: Turkey cheeseburgers with shredded yellow squash and zucchini mixed in, steamed cauliflower, tortellini with vodka sauce, and fruit salad.