Day Two hundred and thirty-three

Orzo salad, for a BBQ at a friend's house.

Day Two hundred and thirty-two

Breakfast: Fruit salad oatmeal, sweetened with blue agave.

Coconut pineapple ice. This was so easy to make- 1 (20 oz) can of pineapple in its own juice, 1 (14 oz) can of light coconut milk, 1/2 c. sugar, 1/2 c. skim milk, and 1/2 c. half and half. Mix well, and freeze, stirring occasionally, or freeze in an ice cream machine.

Day Two hundred and thirty-one

Dinner: Whole wheat penne, grilled chicken, and blanched spinach in an alfredo sauce; fresh strawberries.

Day Two hundred and thirty

Dinner: "School lunch." My daughter doesn't buy school lunch more than once or twice a month, but was begging the other night to have the "a chicken nugget shaped as a burger" and tater tots. So, I found acceptable versions of them in the store and we had a "school lunch" dinner night. Chicken patties on whole wheat potato rolls, tater tots, cucumbers and carrots, and watermelon. Compromise. ;)

Day Two hundred and twenty-nine

Lunch: My daughter was begging for mac & cheese, so I whipped up a box of Annie's. It has pureed cauliflower in it, but one would never know.

Homemade pizza, with a half whole wheat crust. I was really bummed about this pizza, but I fretted for nothing. My main reason for making pizza dough was that I had a ball of fresh mozzarella needing to be used up. When I got out said ball of cheese, it was green. Darnit. I had to use cheddar, but it actually tasted great. The fresh basil from the garden combined with the cheddar was an interesting combination.


Dinner: Cheddar basil pizza, steamed veggies, fresh watermelon.

Day Two hundred and twenty-eight

Dinner: At a friend's BBQ.

Day Two hundred and twenty-seven

Dinner: Leftovers. :)

Day Two hundred and twenty-six

Dinner: Macaroni and cheese (crockpot; recipe: Make it Fast, Cook it Slow) with pureed cauliflower (ala Sneaky Chef), steamed broccoli, and fresh strawberries. Usually M&C wouldn't be enough protein to suffice as dinner, but this recipe has an egg, 4 c. of milk, and 4. c of cheese, so I let it slide. Also, my husband wasn't home for dinner, so I didn't have to see his sad face when he saw no meat on his plate. ;)

Day Two hundred and twenty-five

Flourless peanut butter chocolate chip cookies. These were so simple and so good!

So good, in fact, that I will share the recipe right here, which I don't normally do. In a mixing bowl, cream together 1 c. creamy PB, 1 1/4 c. powdered sugar, 1 t. vanilla, 1 egg, and 1/2 c. chocolate chips. Form into 1 in. balls, flatten with fork, and bake on greased cookie sheet at 325 for 10 mins. Yields about 2 dozen, and I promise they won't last long.

Day Two hundred and twenty-four

Dinner: Whole grain baked ziti with ground chicken, steamed spinach, pineapple, and french bread (leftover from yesterday). This was one of those meals where I actually kissed myself (no matter how strange that sounds). Quite a while back, I'd made an extra baked ziti and froze it for a rainy day. This meal was actually on a rainy day (ha) and I was sick with something flu-like, so a homemade meal without anything other than popping it into the oven was SO welcomed. Kudos to my husband for heating it, putting dinner on a plate, and taking the photo!!

Day Two hundred and twenty-three

Vanilla yogurt. A friend recently asked me why I make my own yogurt. It tastes delicious, there's nothing mysterious or artificial in it, and making it costs half the price of buying it. It's little more than heating milk; waiting for it to cool; adding sugar, vanilla, and starter (leftover yogurt); and letting it sit in a water bath for a few hours. See the Frugal Girl's site for instructions.

Dinner: Chicken stew (crockpot), homemade french bread that my daughter and I kneaded together (recipe: Frugal Girl), and fresh pineapple. I followed the traditional beef stew recipe from Make it Fast, Cook it Slow, but I substituted chicken (and chicken stock) in place of the beef ingredients. This was really delicious (and resulted in two days of leftovers to enjoy) during this cool, rainy week.

Day Two hundred and twenty-two

Dinner at my grandparents, kitchen closed again! :)

Day Two hundred and twenty-one

Dinner at a friend's birthday party, kitchen closed!

Day Two hundred and twenty

Dinner: Leftovers from the week

A Day in the life of "a year in the life of a kitchen" (Day Two hundred and nineteen)

This was a day with an insane amount of cooking. In addition to making breakfast, lunch, and dinner, I had to make food to bring to my daughter's school for an event, we baked a bread, and then I decided to make ice pops with my little one. Whew. Here's a peak at our day (and please excuse the spacing-- blogger won't let me alter it no matter what I try!)

First, we began with a broccoli and cheese quiche, which went to school with my daughter for teacher appreciation day:

Since the oven was already on, I decided to make some egg cups (eggs, diced turkey bacon leftover from Mother's Day, broccoli, and red peppers). Two went into my daughter's lunchbox, and the rest stayed home for our lunch:

Next we went grocery shopping, and came home with lots of fresh vegetables, so I decided to make: lunch-- A veggie and pita chip platter with low fat vegetable dip:

Then we made ice pops, based on an idea I saw in BJ's member magazine. Starting with 5 oz. dixie cups and popsicle sticks (both purchased just for this occasion):
We blended three cups of fresh fruit:

One tbsp. of sugar, and one tsp. of lemon juice:


To make our ice pop mixture:


It went into the freezer:

And three hours later, out came after-dinner ice pops!

Next we baked a loaf of potato bread (half whole grain) which would later accompany dinner:

My husband came home, and offered to filet and brown the chicken breasts:

At dinner-time, the bread was sliced:

And finally, we ate dinner: Grilled chicken with fresh mozzarella, baby spinach, and grape tomatoes on potato bread, honeydew, and fresh vegetables with dip.

Then I put my feet up!