Day One hundred and fourteen

Dinner: Turkey and black bean tacos (with pureed sweet potato), romaine lettuce, shredded cheddar cheese, light sour cream, and avocado; and a side of frozen blueberries. This is one of those meals where I could just kiss myself for thinking ahead. Last week when I made turkey nachos, I froze two extra batches of taco meat. When my afternoon went awry today and I had to abandon my original dinner plan, I quickly thawed a batch of taco meat, prepped the sides, and bam, dinner. I will also thank my husband for investing in the chest freezer, allowing us to have space to store said taco meat. ;)

Day One hundred and thirteen

Snow day breakfast: Blintzes, turkey sausage, spinach and cheese eggs, and oranges. My husband shopped for and planned the breakfast, and the pancakes I planned to make were tabled for another day. Weekday snow days are always treated like holidays around here.

Vanilla yogurt. This goes from the pot to six jars, and cools in a water bath for a few hours in a cooler, ala the Frugal Girl.

Dinner: Potato and cheese soup garnished with shredded cheddar and light sour cream (crockpot: recipe: my friend Lynn, who now expects to be famous ;), leftover sliced grilled chicken from a few nights ago, cheddar drop biscuits (recipe: Cooking Light), vegetable medley, and fresh cantaloupe.

Day One hundred and twelve

Lunch: Chicken tortilla soup (Recipe: modified from Rachel Ray). This is one of the quickest lunches, and was perfect since my daughter was home sick from school and needed something steamy.

Breakfast: Pineapple orange smoothie.

Dinner: Chicken patties on whole wheat buns with romaine lettuce, mozzarella sticks, and leftover asparagus. My daughter had seen chicken patties at school, and never having had them before, begged to have them one night for dinner. My husband was so kind as to indulge her, and she loved them.

Day One hundred and eleven

Breadcrumbs. I toss stale whole wheat bread into the food processor every once in a while, and freeze these jars of breadcrumbs for when I make meatloaf, meatballs, etc. My daughter's friend was watching me do this, and asked why. I said, "In case we're planning to be Hansel and Gretel later," but he didn't get it. Oh, well.

Dinner: Was supposed to be leftovers, but my parents came over, and were so kind as to bring dinner from the diner. Woo hoo!

Day One hundred and ten

Breakfast pizza (Recipe: Doubly Delicious). This came out really well, almost like a fast quiche. I added fresh spinach to it, which was a nice health bonus in addition to the pureed cauliflower and zucchini that was mixed into the eggs and milk.

Breakfast: Breakfast pizza and honeydew. My kids were so happy to see fresh fruit!

Dinner: Leftovers

Day One hundred and nine

Smiley face dinner: Grilled chicken, asparagus, and triple-stuffed broccoli and cheese potatoes (recipe: Sneaky Chef; This is one of our favorite potato recipes- it has pureed white bean and is the bomb!!)

Meat-eater's dinner (aka my husband): Steak, triple-stuffed potato, asparagus, sauteed onions, and a horseradish sauce. Inspired by all of the cooking, my husband devised his own herb steak rub.

Kids' cooking project, aka Dessert: Brownies. My husband wanted to make these with the kids, which was so cute. We had them with fresh strawberries, which were so sweet that they were gobbled before we remembered to take a picture. Always the creative thinker, my daughter suggested using a plastic strawberry from her play kitchen to use in the picture. ;)

Day One hundred and eight

Breakfast: Blueberry-pineapple-banana smoothies (with homemade yogurt), along with the omelet muffins from yesterday.

Dinner: Leftovers.

Day One hundred and seven

Broccoli and cheese omelet muffins. My friend Kristi turned me on to these-- they are cool b/c they are carb free, which doesn't matter to us too much, but it's nice for an occasional change. There are tons of recipes online-- they're very easy to make.

Kids' cooking project: Oatmeal raisin cookies (recipe: Annabel Karmel). I made these w/my younger daughter and a friend of hers, and they had such fun baking together.


Dinner: Nachos (turkey taco meat with pureed sweet potato, salsa from our favorite Mexican restaurant, refried beans, mashed avocado, cheese sauce, sour cream, and green beans). Don't ask where the chips are- somehow they didn't make it into the picture.

Day One hundred and six

Asian coconut soup (chicken, tofu, carrots, snap peas and noodles)

Dinner: Thai coconut soup and fruit salad

Whole wheat bread (bread machine)

Day One hundred and five

Dinner: Turkey cheeseburgers topped with turkey bacon and sliced avocado, steamed veggies, steak fries, and oranges.

Day One hundred and four

Whole wheat sandwich bread (bread machine; recipe from my friend Sarah)

Dinner: Bourbon chicken (this was pre-made, it was a quick dinner), mini ravioli with vodka sauce, steamed carrots, corn, and...

Fruit salad. I give credit to Dole for this, and thank goodness for frozen fruit salad in the winter, b/c everything "fresh" in the store did not look fresh.

Day One hundred and three

Dinner: Whole grain penne, chicken, spinach, and sun-dried tomatoes in an alfredo sauce. This meal is one of my family's favorites, and can be put together quite quickly.

Day One hundred and two

Cheesecake (Recipe: Apparently this is the famous Lindy's cheesecake recipe, which my mom got from "Aunt Rose," who is the aunt of an ex-boyfriend of hers from her teenage years. My copy of the recipe is frayed and worn, which I love). I put it in the oven before I even made breakfast, which is why it appears before our eggs.

Breakfast: Scrambled cheddar eggs, apple turnover, and cantaloupe.

Ribbon cookies. My mom made these, so technically they did not come out of my kitchen... but they were sitting alongside the cheesecake and she worked really hard on them, so I thought they deserved to be here, too.