Day One hundred and thirty-one

Purees for the freezer: Green puree (which is a blend of spinach, broccoli, and peas; Recipe: Sneaky Chef).

Mini drop-meatballs (turkey). Meatballs take me forever to make, so I decided to make seven lbs. worth and freeze for future use. Given the giant bowl of turkey I had in front of me, I decided to make them drop meatballs, and save myself some time. I bake them to save myself the extra time of frying, and also they're so much healthier.


Dinner: Magic wontons (which are just the turkey meatballs from above, wrapped in wonton wrappers and lightly pan-fried; Recipe: Sneaky Chef), steamed veggies, and oranges.

Day One hundred and thirty

Breakfast: Whole wheat carrot apple muffins (recipe: Annabel Karmel), with fresh cantaloupe. My little daughter made these with me, she loves feeding carrots and apples into the food processor to be shredded. They were SO good!

Dinner: Leftovers- ended up using that turkey tetrazzini from the other night sooner than planned!

Day One hundred and twenty-nine

Dinner: Tilapia with pineapple-mango salsa (recipe: Allrecipes.com), whole wheat couscous, and steamed broccoli.

Day One hundred and twenty-eight

Dinner: Pizza, steamed vegetables, and fresh cantaloupe. We were supposed to have leftovers tonight, but no one was in the mood for boring leftovers on a Friday evening. So, my husband ordered pizza, and we all loved him for it!!

Day One hundred and twenty-seven

Dinner: Turkey tetrazzini (crockpot; recipe: Crockery Cookery), steamed carrots, and apples. We had a big bowl of leftover turkey breast from the other night's mini-Thanksgiving, and this was a good way to use up that extra turkey. I doubled the recipe and froze half to use for a future dinner.

Day One hundred and twenty-six

Whole wheat braided loaf (dough made in the bread machine). I used to be afraid of braiding bread, but thanks to my friend Christie, it's now a piece of cake. ;)

Bread: After.

Dinner: Spaghetti squash Parmesan (with butternut squash puree), mixed vegs, and sliced pear. This is my older daughter's absolute favorite meal. Her (known-to-be-very-picky) friend stayed for dinner and told her mom she "loved" this dinner. I was so thrilled to see a picky kid eating so healthy.

Here's the recipe.  It's inspired by my friend Danielle, who first made this dish for her boyfriend's birthday dinner.  It’s incredibly simple to make, and has an additional health boost hidden inside. To make this dish, cook both a spaghetti squash and butternut squash. Either wash, pierce with fork, and microwave each for 2-3 minutes per lb, or prepare the spaghetti squash as instructed here and butternut squash as instructed here. Next, scoop the spaghetti-like strands from the spaghetti squash into a 9 x 13 baking dish (I always prefer glass dishes). Gently mash the butternut squash, and mix 2/3 cup of butternut squash with one cup of your favorite marinara sauce. Mix well into spaghetti squash strands. Spread two cups of shredded light mozzarella cheese over the top of the baking dish, and cover with foil. Bake at 375 for 25-30 minutes, until bubbly. The butternut squash may seem like a surprising addition, but it mellows the tartness of marina, and makes it more

Day One hundred and twenty-five

Lunch: Spinach salad with hard-boiled eggs.

Dinner: Roasted turkey breast, mashed sweet potatoes, butternut squash, gravy, and healthy creamed spinach. Somehow, we ended up with a mini-Thanksgiving in the middle of a snow storm!


Purees for the freezer: Butternut squash

Day One hundred and twenty-four

Dinner: Three-bean turkey chili (with carrot puree, butternut squash puree, and shredded zucchini) served over brown rice, with light shredded cheddar and light sour cream; fresh sliced strawberries, and green beans. Perfect for a freezing cold evening!

Day One hundred and twenty-three

Dinner: Chicken or beef burgers (chicken for the girls and I; beef for my husband) on whole grain sandwich thins with romaine lettuce and tomato, egg noodles in a light cream sauce, vegetable medley, and orange slices. Eating vegetable medley is getting really old, but good vegetable options are so much more limited in the winter, and I feel better knowing we are at least getting variety. I vow to find something more interesting the next time I'm at the store!

Day One hundred and twenty-two

Dinner: Balsamic chicken and vegetables (crockpot; recipe: Make it Fast, Cook it Slow), quinoa with diced zucchini, and vegetable medley.

Day One hundred and twenty-one

Dinner: Turkey, brown rice, and vegetable casserole; salad, and cantaloupe.

Day One hundred and twenty

Breakfast: Whole wheat blueberry pancakes.

Dinner: Chicken potpie with a whole wheat biscuit crust (crockpot; recipe: Make it Fast, Cook it Slow), green salad with steamed veggies, and cantaloupe.

Day One hundred and nineteen

Breakfast: Egg white omelet with cheese inside of a whole wheat bagel thin, and strawberries.

Lunch: Steamed veggies (alongside leftovers from last night's dinner).

Dinner: Black bean veggie burgers (recipe: Double Delicious) on whole grain sandwich thins, and strawberry/blueberry fruit salad.

Day One hundred and eighteen

Barbecue chicken and cornbread casserole (crockpot; recipe: Make it Fast, Cook it Slow)

Dinner: BBQ chicken and cornbread casserole, green beans, and cantaloupe. This recipe was interesting-- the cornbread cooked in the crockpot right on top of the chicken. It was a little saucier than I'd like, but my husband, who loves BBQ, was all about it.

Day One hundred and seventeen

Breakfast: Strawberry-blueberry smoothies

Fruit salad. We were at my parents' for Sunday dinner, and fruit salad was my only "cooking" of the afternoon.

Day One hundred and sixteen

Breakfast: Oatmeal made with strawberries, skim milk, cinnamon, and a touch of maple syrup.

Dinner: Teriyaki chicken (with carrot puree, recipe: Double Delicious), over brown rice pilaf (with cauliflower puree, recipe: Double Delicious), vegetable medley, and orange slices.

Day One hundred and fifteen

Lunch: Scrambled eggs with shredded low fat cheese, carrot sticks, and sliced apple. I wasn't actually intending to make this for lunch, but when three eggs accidentally cracked as we took them out to boil for dinner, I decided eggs it was!


Veggies in the steamer-- two lbs. of organic baby carrots, two heads of broccoli, and two heads of cauliflower. Some of this ended up being...

Purees for the freezer: Cauliflower



Purees for the freezer: Carrot



And the rest of the steamed veggies ended up being...
Dinner: Big Salad (steamed broccoli, cauliflower, and carrots; romaine lettuce and baby spinach, garbanzo beans, crunchy noodles, and sliced hard-boiled eggs, with light ranch.


Fruit salad with "fairy dust" (aka cinnamon)

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.