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 One hundred and ninety-four

Picnic lunch at the park: French bread, sliced chicken, fresh mozzarella, cheddar cheese, strawberries, steamed carrots, sliced apple, and (missing from the picture) yesterday's whole wheat oatmeal raisin cookies.

Dinner: Turkey cheese burgers on whole grain sandwich thins, bruscetta, green beans, and cantaloupe.

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.