Day Four hundred (Wow).

I cannot believe I've been doing this for four hundred days. Wow.

The other day, we were in the mood for a smoothie but not our usual kind.  I surveyed the freezer and made a judgment call.  After a few items were tossed into the blender and a scuffle over who got to press the blender buttons occurred, and we had a "Sunny Smoothie," as we dubbed it.  To quote my husband and daughter, “It was the best smoothie ever.”

To make this one, grab your blender and combine 1 c. vanilla yogurt (I used Greek), 1 c. orange juice, 1 1/2 c. frozen mango chunks, and two bananas. Sprinkle generously with cinnamon (about one teaspoon) and blend until smooth. This was a nice and thick, sweet but not over-the-top, and really filling. It’ll definitely be a part of my smoothie repertoire from now on.

Day Three hundred and ninety-nine

Breakfast: Pumpkin waffles.

Lunch: Grilled cheese waffle sandwiches with carrots and apple slices.  This is not technically a waffle- it is a cheese sandwich made with the tapioca bread I baked a few days ago (any slice of bread, gluten-free or not, would do) and then put into the waffle maker to become the shape of a waffle.  My younger daughter is delighted when I make these.

Day Three hundred and ninety-eight

Pumpkin bread.  I know I make this all the time- I was bringing it to a friend's house for dinner.

Tapioca bread.  Both loaves get sliced and go into the freezer, and taken out as needed.

Dinner: Salad bar (spinach, romaine, apples, cucumbers, steamed carrots and broccoli, kidney beans, shredded cheddar, hard-boiled eggs, ranch dressing).

Dinner: Assembled.

Day Three hundred and ninety-seven

Dinner: Chicken corn chowder (crockpot; Make it Fast Cook it Slow).

Day Three hundred and ninety-six

These look like chocolate chip cookies to me.  And although I keep track of everything I cook in a yellow speckled composition notebook, I didn't write anything down for this day.  Mysterious.  I'm sure these are my favorite Alton Brown cookies, and I think I may have been bringing them to a party or something.

School lunch: Leftover sliced chicken, cottage cheese, apple slices, steamed broccoli, and edamame crackers.

Day Three hundred and ninety-five

Ricotta gnocchi, rolled out, ready to be sliced, formed, and boiled. 

Gnocchi, a closer look.

About half were put on a cookie sheet, frozen, and put into a ziploc bag afterwards.   These made a nice meal about a month later. The rest...

Became dinner, alongside steamed broccoli and orange slices. Since these were made with so much cheese, I felt comfortable with them serving as the main course.  We went meatless.

Day Three hundred and ninety-four

Breakfast: Bob's Hot Cereal with cinnamon and peaches.

Buns (hamburger, more specifically).

Buns (post oven).

Dinner: Turkey cheeseburgers on above-mentioned buns, steamed veggies, sweet potato fries, and mango chunks.

Day Three hundred and ninety-three

Dinner: Turkey and white bean tacos.  The meat came from a batch I'd previously made and frozen, so I just prepped the fresh ingredients before dinner.  Easy!

School lunch: Hard-boiled eggs, mini orange, carrot sticks, cheese and crackers.

Day Three hundred and ninety-two

Breakfast (and extras for the freezer): Power sticks (peanut butter cereal bars; recipe: Weight Watchers).  My older daughter made these, and was SO proud of herself.  Extras work well wrapped in waxed paper and stored in a ziploc bag.

Day Three hundred and ninety-one: 2012

Today's post, although being written smack dab in the middle of March, is the first to feature food that was cooked in 2012.  In other words, I'm officially caught up with last year's photos and am moving forward.  The realization of that reality got me thinking.  We experienced a lot of changes throughout 2011, and began 2012 with a new outlook and approach, as far as food and health is concerned.  As we continue to explore and modify our lifestyle, I'm excited to see how it unfolds, share it here, and continue to get great ideas from others.  For health reasons we're considering a switch to dairy-free, at least temporarily, to see if it helps eliminate some residual symptoms we're still noticing.  Almond milk  will supplement dairy for the time being, as I aim to keep food enticing, no matter your food preferences and likes!  As always, thanks for being along on our journey, and please continue to share yours as well.

Best,
Stephanie

First breakfast of the year!  (Brown rice) Blueberry waffle, scrambled eggs, and fruit salad.

Day Three hundred and ninety: New Year's Eve

Lunch: Brown rice wrap, pumpkin puree, cheese, and spinach.  This is my current favorite lunch.

Brown sugar cookies, to be turned into the crust for a...

Cheesecake.  Family recipe, and it would not be the holidays without it.

Dinner (Carnivore-Lite): Grilled chicken, roasted rosemary potatoes, and sesame broccoli.  My dad is picky about most everything I make, and he was raving about the broccoli.  The recipe is definitely a keeper.

Dinner: (Carnivore-De-Lite): Steak, roasted rosemary potatoes, and sesame broccoli.

Cheesecake, up close and personal.

Day Three hundred and eighty-nine

Blueberry muffins. I  have to update this for which recipe I used.  Where are my kitchen notes?

Day Three hundred and eighty-eight

Another round of pumpkin bread- headed to a holiday open house.

Broccoli and cheese quiche.  Yum.

Day Three hundred and eighty-seven: Christmas morning

A Christmas morning tradition: Monkey bread.  Being this is our first gluten-free year, I did some research and found this to be the best recipe. Since we like ours in a round, I doubled the brown rice flour recipe from You Won't Believe it's Gluten-Free, adjusted the baking time, and used an angel-food pan. It came out perfectly, and we had plenty leftover.

Monkey bread: An aerial view.

Mmm, crunchy and goeey, all at once.

Breakfast: Monkey bread, scrambled spinach cheese eggs, and blueberries.

Christmas dinner: Lasagna.  My grandma always makes the lasagna, but since we needed a gluten-free version, we made it ourselves.  I'm proud to say my daughter actually made this.  I showed her how with the first layer, and she took it from there. She was so excited to say that she made the lasagna.  It's layered with spinach instead of meat.

Day Three hundred and eighty-six

Pizza and a movie.  Spinach pizza, with lots of fresh basil leaves under the cheese.