Week 48, day 5

Breakfast: fried eggs and toast for most of us but Phyllis, who was throwing up in the middle of the night, had leftover oatmeal

Lunch: leftovers after church. Dai got a cinnamon roll from the church breed and the girls split it for dessert. Jason and I split the last piece of black bottom banan cream pie. It was so much better! We learned that is definitely something that you want to make ahead of time.

Dinner: baked ziti and canned green beans.

Prep ahead: Turkey soup with carrots, onions, celery, fresh parsley and potatoes.  We used the last of the leftover turkey in the soup.

Week 48, Day 4

Breakfast: fried eggs and toasted onion bagle halves - except Dai didn't want her half so Phyllis had it and Dai had rye toast.  Dai also had canned apricots.  The girls have consumed a number of mandarin oranges, too, this morning.

Lunch: leftovers - again

Dinner: split pea soup and corn bread at The Tervalons. 

Week 48, Day 3

Breakfast: Pumpkin pie as is tradition, but I did not have any because I actually felt sluggish after eating dessert yesterday.  We also had oatmeal.  We still let the girls have sugar and riasins but I just had raisins.

Lunch: leftovers, but to be honest the girls hardly ate.  They have been filling up on mandarin oranges though.

Dinner: leftovers at the Tervalon's

Week 48, Day 2 - THANKSGIVING

Breakfast: we woke and started preparing food for dinner the  took a break to have eggs and sausage for breakfast.  Dai actually cooked the sausage and when that was done, Jason cooked fried eggs to order.  Dai also had rye toast and Phyllis and I split the last CSA apple.

Lunch: We had orange juice (because we forgot it at breakfast)  Triscuits, saltines, summer sausage, Dubliner cheese, olives and an Oreo for lunch.

Dinner: We made caramelized onions (Phyllis's request,) creamed leeks to use up the CSA leeks, butternut and fennel roast, mashed potatoes and gravy, yams with marshmallows on top, cranberry jelly (Dai's request but I know that Larry loves it, too,) stuffing (a lot of mushrooms, so we shall see how that comes out,) the rolls Jason made last night, pumpkin pie, a green salad, black bottom banana cream pie and, of course, turkey.  We did our turkey a little differently - we cut out the back bone and thus it laid more flat and then we added a cranberry glaze at the end.  He used the drippings and some reserved glaze to make a wonderful sauce.  This helped if the meat was a little dry.  It is from Cook's Kitchen, so it is good if not traditional.  The black bottom pie was a huge hit.  We still have so much leftovers!

It was truly enjoyable cooking with the girls and Jason.  

Week 48, Day 1

Breakfast: I made breakfast burritos for Jason and I.  I  forgot salsa on mine so used mild Taco Bell sauce as I ate.  I also ate a CSA apple.  I am going to miss those.  The girls toasted leftover pancakes.  We had a can of whip cream left from when the Mancini's came over so I let them have some of that.

Lunch: cheaty pasta with meatballs using spaghetti noodles

Dinner: peanut butter and homemade strawberry jam sandwiches on homemade wheat bread for Jason, Dai and Cress.  Phyllis had a peanut butter and banana sandwich on a church baguette.  I had an onion bagel with cream cheese, tomatoes and capers.

Prep ahead: two pumpkin pies and honey wheat rolls. 

Week 47, Day 7

Breakfast: Dai is making pumpkin pancakes.  The recipe calls for baking powder, which we always have to grind because we bought it in bulk and it clumps and few things are grosser than a bite of baking powder.  This was fortunate since she also has to grind the whole allspice.  I will have leftover oatmeal because it has 3T of brown sugar in it.

Sugarless is getting easier.  Yesterday, Dai bought a churro at Costco with her own money.  She ripped off a piece for Cress, then a piece for Phyllis then I asked for one, "but smaller than Phyllis's pice."  She ripped it off, I was reaching for it when Phyllis reminded me that it has sugar.  I passed without a great deal of regret or pangs and genuinely thanked her for the reminder.  On Sunday I had a mint - only later realizing that probably had sugar in it, but otherwise I am doing really well, I think. But Thursday, I will blow it.  And Friday.  It is my goal to only do sugary foods for special occasions - birthdays, holidays, camping trips - as a habit.

Lunch:  Dai had a ham on church rye and half a CSA bell pepper.  Cressida had a ham on homemade wheat.  I had chicken salad on homemade wheat.  I also made lemonade for lunch.  Only Cressida drank some.

Dinner: leftover soup and I pressure cooked some CSA cabbage.  It was weeks old, but cabbage holds up well.  Dai ate at a friends' house, but Phyllis and Cress and I all loved it and we ate it with vinegar.  My pressure cooker is dying though, sometimes it wastes all it's water instead of sealing.  It lost most of its water this time, too, so it smelled burned but luckily it tasted fine.  

Week 47, Day 6

Breakfast: We had oatmeal with dates.  Cress loves it but Phyllis detests it so much that she would rather go without breakfast.  Dai thinks it is ok, but not her favorite.  I think it is fine.  I was reading about how much added sugar Americans consume and it is more than 130 pounds per year per person, a third of which comes from soda.  That is absurd.  I had all the family guess and Jason guessed 20 pounds and thought that was likely way too high.  So, I think beginning in January, we will have no sugar on our oatmeal - only dried or fresh fruit with our oatmeal.  Today we had no sugar but I think that wasn't the main complaint.

Lunch:  The girls all had a tomato sandwich and then Dai and Cress had a second and Phyllis's second was chicken salad.  I had a chicken salad sandwich.  We all had some summer sausage to finish up the remnant.

Dinner:  We had whit bean and kale soup.  Not the girls' favorite, so much so that Cressida didn't eat any.  We also had Chinese chicken napa cabbage salad.  I know these may not seem to match but I had a CSA head of lettuce to use up.  It wasn't too big and we have no leftovers.  We also had no sesame seeds so we did not have those as called for in the salad.

Prep Ahead: Daitarih pureed her pumpkin in batches.  We got at least 32 cups.  

Week 47, Day 5

Breakfast: the girls and Jason had breakfast burritos.  I had some leftover squash and fennel stuff.

Lunch: Jason, Dai and I had chicken salad sandwiches.  They used church rolls and I used homemade bread.  Phyllis ate leftover mashed potatoes and gravy in  her church bread bowl.  Cressida did not eat as usual.  As snacks, though, even she had a mandarin orange.  Dessert was a cookie from Abuela's.

Dinner: Bean burritos with cheese, lettuce, tomato, salsa or Taco Bell sauce and sour cream to customize it.  We also finished off the mandarin oranges with dinner. Cookie for dessert.

Prep ahead: I started another batch of beans since we didn't have much leftover.  Daitarih roasted her pumpkin.  She got this very large pumpkin from school last Wednesday.  Actually she and Phyllis both did and they carried them most of the way home from school.  Near the end, Dai enlisted the help of the UPS man.  

Week 47, Day 4

Breakfast: Crispix. Dai was still hungry so she had leftover oatmeal.  I also had a bagel with cream cheese and I gave her a quarter of it.  When we got home from Chinese, Cress was hungry.  Jason said that Phyllis was, too, so he made burritos for the girls.

Lunch: grilling at Abuela's house - hamburgers and hot dogs.  A really nice afternoon.

Dinner: Dai had leftover oatmeal.  Phyllis and I had leftover mashed potatoes and gravy.  Cress had a leftover chicken cutlet.  Jason is still stuffed so he didn't eat.   I finished the Crispix after dinner because I had the munchies but did not want to eat the cookies Abuela sent us home with.

Prep ahead: beets have been cooked

Week 47, Day 3

Breakfast: Cold cereal.  I got Crispix and Golden Grahams yesterday on a whim.  They were on sale.  I ate some cereal yesterday when I was seriously craving munchies/sugar.  I ate Crispix which isn't too sugary.  Jason like Golden Grahams but I do not.  This morning all the girls and Jason had Golden Grahams.  I only let them have one bowl of "breakfast candy" as I called it, but I made (well Dai finished it, I just started the water) oatmeal for if they were still hungry.  Cress and Dai both had oatmeal.  I ate oatmeal for breakfast but with no sugar or anything.  Still trying to avoid candy, desserts, etc until Thanksgiving.

Last night, when I told the girls that they could have cold cereal for breakfast, Phyllis asked, "And a burrito, right?"  She knows cold cereal doesn't last, but this morning she only ate cold cereal.

Lunch:  I made lunches.  Everyone got a ham sandwich.  Jason's was on church sourdough with smoked Czech cheese, Dubliner cheese, jalapeños, mustard and lettuce.  Cressida's was a half a sandwich on church sourdough.  Phyllis's was on church baguette piece.  She doesn't love that bread, but we have it, so we used it.  Dai had hers on church rye bread.  Cress and Dai each took half a CSA bell pepper and Phyllis took a whole one.  Each girls had a CSA apple.  Dai had a banana, too.

Dinner: breaded chicken made by Heather Castro. She was going to have it for dinner yesterday but then her sister in law wanted to take them to chinese for dinner. Since she was leaving this afternoon for Utah, she gave us her mashed potatoes, breaded chicken and gravy. Since I had mear already in the crockpot, I put it in the fridge for dinner today. Today I peeled some old CSA celery root (I had two unused) and added that to the mashed potatoes (much to dai's chagrin.)  I also made this recipe Jason got last week or so in his email from America's Test Kitchen: winter squash and fennel roast. I had to get dried cranberries and granny apples specifically for it, and peel a butternut squash but it was well worth it. So good! We used three fennel bulbs from the CSA, two from this week and one from a while ago. We also had a salad with CSA lettuce, half an english cucumber, half a CSA bell pepper, a carrot, tomatoes and the shredded broccoli slaw on top. I felt good about all that CSA stuff tonight.

 Prep ahead: I made homemade wheat bread today. I am so glad to have an electric mill. I could buy wheat flour but I like that the wheat is fresh ground and I think that stays good longer. 

Week 47, Day 2

Breakfast: burritos.  We aren't terribly creative here, but it works for us.

Lunch: Cress is having a pizza party at school so no lunch for her.  I had a chicken salad sandwich and two CSA apples.  Those are good, whatever variety it is.  Dai and Phyllis packed their own lunches and I forgot to ask them what they packed - again.

Dinner: Osso Busco (apparently the schmancy name for beef crosscut shanks) cooked in a slow cooker with spices, garlic, beef broth and tomatoes after being seared.  I also made roasted vegetables, carrots, potatoes and parsnips but I had take Dai to swim, so I needed Phyllis to take them out of the oven.  She was scared about that, so I said that she could just turn the oven off and leave them in there, but they were really overcooked when I got home 20 minutes later.  I was so bummed and I just could not let it go.  Phyllis kept telling me, "This part is good.  That one isn't very burned. I still like them."  I know she was trying to make me feel better but it didn't.  When I told her so, then she burst into tears and said that she felt like it was her fault.  I think I had been earlier clear that she had followed instructions but I had given poor instructions so it was not her fault.  But, I restated again.  She also made a salad for dinner and we had feta on the side.

Prep ahead: banana bread for Phyllis's party tomorrow.  She needs 28 pieces of a finger food so Jason cut into 14 slices and then cut those in half.  Even if she brings some home, I will not get any because I am avoiding sugars.  

Week 47, Day 1

Breakfast: breakfast burritos

Lunch: Jason and I had leftover soup.  Cressida had a turkey sanwich and the other two had ham sandwiches on sourdough.  Technically, Cress only had a half, which she does often.  Cress's produce was pickles, prunes and a carrot.  Phyllis and Dai had ham sadnwiches on church bread.  Phyllis had a carrot

Dinner: I made cheaty pasts but with Costco frozen meatballs.  There is none leftover.  I made three meatballs per person but I think I should do four or five next time.  We also had a salad with lettuce, tomatoes and carrots.  On the side options were toasted pine nuts and feta.  

Week 46, Day 7

Breakfast: breakfast burritos and I had the last pear and Roma with cream

Lunch: Cressida had a raisin bagel with cream cheese, a guava, half a CSA bell pepper, and the last of the heirloom cherry tomatoes and cookies from Holden Mancini.  Dai had a turkey sandwich on a church roll, a banana (pretty ripe and brown - which is because I taught them "banana sugar" not "banana  bruise"), a guava and an apple and candy from Halloween.  Phyllis had pinto bean casserole, leftover banana squash (so two hot containers), two CSA carrots and an apple and a Halloween candy.  Actually, three hot containers because she took hot tea in a thermos.  Unfortunately, putting the lid on it got cross threaded and she was trying with all her might to unscrew it and holding it to her when the lid did come of and tea splashed all over her.  Poor girls got quite a bad burn on her chest.

I had a kind of late/lazy morning.  I asked Cressida if it would be okay if she bought lunch.  She said it was okay if it wasn't fish.  I mentioned that they were obligated to have a vegetarian option even if the non vegetarian option was fish (usually a grilled cheese or a bean burrito) which got her to talking about hot lunch and she said, "I do it like when I pack a lunch. I get a meat and three produce." I am unsure if she actually has time to eat all three, but am glad to hear that she thinks like that.

I made short ribs but I can't remember how I made them last time and the procedure I found this time was too long and they got really overcooked.

Dinner: sourdough toast and curried squash soup.  Dai, Jason and I liked it well enough.  Phyllis and Cress not so much.  Phyllis did eat hers so that she could have dessert.  

Week 46, Day 6

Breakfast: I had a breakfast burrito and Roma with creamer.  The others had oatmeal cooked by Dai.  I have been having a lot of headaches and am pretty sure that sugar is a factor, so I am avoiding it.  Oatmeal doesn't work well with that.

Lunches: The girls and I had turkey sandwiches on church rolls.  The girls all had CSA bell peppers.  Cressida and I had apples and I had broccoli, too. Phyllis had the last pomegranate and an apple.  Dai had apple and a whole carrot. I had a baked potato for snack.  Jason took leftover pinto bean casserole.

Dinner:  We shopped in the evening and so we did not get home until after 6 so I sliced up some summer sausage, some Dubliner cheese, some smoked Czech cheese, a can of Vienna sausages and quartered some Bartlett pears.  We quartered some church rolls (mustard optional) and had saltines, too.  All those items (except the bread and crackers) were splurge items at Grocery Outlet.  Then we just kind of put little sandwiches together and ate that with water to drink.  It was pretty good.

Week 46, day 5

Breakfast: crepes with powdered sugar and lemon juice basin still does powdered sugar and butter which my kids did when they were little but they have seen the light.

Lunch: Jason made pinto bean casserole. It is nice to have him cook and have it ready for us when we get home. When I thought that today, it made me think about Esau selling his birthright for a pot of lentils.  But cress didn't est which is pretty normal for her after primary; sister rocks must give the a lot of snacks. Phyllis had some casserole but not much and Dai had a sandwich on a church roll. I had a bagel and a half with cream chees, tomatoes and capers.

Dinner: pinto bean casserole again. Jason made it for lunch but he thought maybe he added too much corn. He eyeballed it. Ice cream for dessert.

Prep ahead: Jason cooked the chard

Week 46, Day 4

Breakfast: Burritos

Lunch: Dai and Phyllis were at the Stake Activity Days event and they ate there.  Jason, Cress and I had burgers and fries at Five Guys.

Dinner: leftover pinto bean casserole.  We started cooking new beans but our pressure cooker has been having issues with sealing, so we had to restart it and so we couldn't use them for dinner tonight. Ice cream for dessert.  

Week 46, Day 3

Breakfaast: breakfast burritos (yes, we eat a lot of eggs.)

Lunch:  Cressida had a PBH on a church roll.  She also had a CSA apple, CSA broccoli, and CSA radishes (but she decided they were too spicy.)  Dai and Phyllis packed their own lunches and I forgot to ask what they packed.  I imagine it was pretty similar to what Cressida had but I am not positive.

Dinner: I made pinto bean casserole tonight  It had pintos, tomatoes, corn and taco seasoning all mixed together and poured it over tortilla chips and then cheese on top of it all.  Served with sour cream, jalapeños and sour cream.  It was fine.  But Cress, Dai and Phyllis had parties so they ate pizza at the parties and thus did not eat at home.  

Week 46, day 2

breakfast: oatmeal made by Dai

Lunch: Dai and I had chicken salad sandwiches at home.  Dai had hers on rye bread and I had mine on the last of the store bought sourdough.  Cressida had cucumbers, apples, broccoli and PBH on homemade bread.  Phyllis took leftover spaghetti, carrots, apple and a pomegranate.

Dinner: Turkey sandwiches. Dai's and Jason's on church rye and the other two on homemade bread.  I didn't have a salad but I did have ice-cream.  Thursday's are crazy with math club, Seim and Jason's saxophone lessons. We had some crackers and chicken salad and apples and persimmons before went to swim. Cressida wa

Week 46 day 1

Breakfast: Breakfast burritos

Lunch: Jason took care of lunches for the girls and i forgot to ask what was packed for them.

Dinner: Spaghetti with canned sauce and fresh basil.  Totally cheating.  Dai was sick and threw up a lot all night.  Phyllis didn't feel great.  So we did have leftovers but we had to toss two plates of spaghetti.

Week 45, Day 7

Breakfast: Phyllis mad breakfast burritos for Cressida and herself.  Dai fried two eggs for herself and I had leftover stroganoff.

Lunch: Cressida and Phyllis had being burritos using homemade refried beans. They were season only with chicken broth that they were cooked in, which is how Cressida likes them. Cressida had Taco Bell sauce on hers. Phyllis had sour cream on hers. Daitarih and I had leftover beef stroganoff. I also let the girls have a "Candy day" and they really ate a lot of candy.

Dinner: Homemade potato leek soup. I used the California pizza kitchen recipe again, but tweaked it because it was so thin last time. We shall see. Phyllis and Daitarih peeled potatoes for me, while I cut up the leaks.I actually had to go pick up Cressida from gymnastics before the soup is ready. I left the girls to cut up the last two potatoes after they finished peeling them and add them to the soup. It's fun to cook with my daughters. Ice cream for dessert.

Week 45, Day 6

Breakfast: Jason and Phyllis had breakfast burritos.  Dai and Cressida had fried eggs.  I had fried eggs and toast.  I was going to get out a jar of apricots but the girls all had toast, so I didn't.

Lunch: Taco bell.  Jason took burrito stuff to work.

Dinner: Beef stroganoff with banana squash and a salad with romaine lettuce, CSA radishes, cucumbers, tomatoes and a CSA yellow bell pepper.  The Mancini family joined us for dinner and games tonight and they brought a homemade pumpkin pie made from a pumpkin that Bonnie baked down herself.

I was able to work with my children on the meal.  Phyllis washed the mushrooms, made beef broth from bouillion and mixed the flour and bouillon.  Cressida sliced mushrooms.  Dai made the salad.  Dai said, "I think cooking is going to be a major hobby."  Score! I hope that my kids do cook.  Cressida said, "I love when we are all working together as a family."  I have heard that sentiment before - be it cooking, yard work or housecleaning.  If only I could use that enthusiasm better. 

Week 45, day 5

Breakfast: breakfast burritos and larry's home canned apricots

Lunch: Dai and Phyllis had a turkey sandwich on her church roll. Tobreth have left over but not squash and ice cream. Jason had quesadillas.

Dinner: pot roast with potatoes onions and carrots. Followed by ice cream for dessert.

Week 45, Day 4

Breakfast: burritos. Jason made hours before Chinese class. He and Phyllis have bears after cleaning the chapel.

Lunch: turkey sandwiches. Jason and daitarih had it on church rye bread. The rest of us on sourdough. We also had CSA bell peppers.

Dinner: leftover pasta

Week 45, Day 3

Breakfast: I let the girls have Honeycomb cereal again today.

Lunch:  Dai had a turkey sandwich on rye.  Cress's turkey sandwich was on sourdough (from the store!) and Phyllis's was on church baguette.  When we get a baguette, we cut it into sandwich size pieces and freeze it.  All three had a CSA bell pepper, CSA broccoli and CSA carrots.  I had cold cereal.  Not wise, but so good!  Jason took the greens and the last of the white bean soup.

Dinner:  Cheaty pasta with shells and frozen spinach.  Honestly, not the best batch ever.  I think I overcooked the noodles a little.  We also had a roast CSA butternut squash and a salad made from CSA lettuce, CSA bell peppers, CSA radishes, heirloom tomatoes, a diced CSA golden beet and CSA broccoli.  I forgot cucumber even though I had them.

Prep ahead: I cooked the pinto beans in chicken broth.  

Week 45, Day 2

Breakfast: I let the girls have Honeycomb cereal, but only one bowl.  Then they could have fruit or something.  Phyllis chose oatmeal.  At least when they are hungry they are willing to eat real food.

Lunch:  Cressida had a turkey sandwich with apples, persimmons and prunes.  Phyllis and Dai had a turkey sandwich on a church roll with apples, carrots, a bell pepper, and had pumpkin seeds.

Dinner: Leftover soup and toast and the rest of the spaghetti squash.

Prep ahead: Jason cooked the chard and made kale chips.  He steamed the golden beets.  I cut up the broccoli for lunches.  I started beans soaking and rinsed them and resoled them.  

Week 45, Day 1

Breakfast: breakfast burritos

Lunch: Elise and I had soup and panzanella and persimmons.  Cressida and Dai also took panzanella.  Phyllis took stuffing.  Cressida has been getting some of her own produce ready in the morning the last couple days.  Today she picked prunes, a CSA apple and a persimmon.  Phyllis had an apple, a CSA beet and a carrot. Dai had an apple, a persimmon and a CSA beet.  Jason ate stuffing.

Dinner: Sourdough toast and soup.  Cress and Dai also had spaghetti squash.  

Week 44, Day 7

Breakfast: Oatmeal for the girls but I had toast.

Lunch: Cressida had a PBH, a CSA apple, half a CSA bell pepper and a CSA apple.  Phyllis and Dai packed their lunches after I left and I don't know what and I forgot to ask them. Everyone took some Halloween candy for dessert.

Dinner:  White bean and kale soup with sourdough toast.  

Week 44, day 6

Breakfast: stove cooked oatmeal. It was nice of Jason to do it stove top but I was only able to get a few bites of cressida's. Cressida had a guava with breakfast. 

Lunch: Cressida used her own money to get hot Lunch and she took CSA Romanesco for snack. I took a ham sandwich on church rolls with lettuce and tomatoes and guavas. Dai and Phyllis had ham sandwiches on church rolls. Dai had carrots, CSA ranesco and a CSA apple. Phyllis had three carrots. 

Dinner: we had Elise and the missionaries for dinner. We did a cross run roat in the crockpot. I was grateful Elsie was here to start it. She put in a lot of carrots. We also used celery root from the last three weeks (yes, one each week for a total of three) and mashed it with potatoes. It isnt mashed potatoes but it was petty good, but Dai and cress didn't dig it. We also had a salad with romaine and CSA tomatoes and half an english cucumber. 

Week 44, day 5

Breakfast: oatmeal for Jason and Cressida. Fat Sunday for the rest of us.

Lunch: jason had leftover pizza and a ham sandwich. No one else are

Dinner: we ate at dad's and Susan's place. Jason was working so it was just the girls and I. There was a HUGE surprise: Elise was there and coming home with me for three nights!  Susan made a chicken in mushroom sauce that was really good. She also had veggie sticks before hand with a homemade dip. I brought butternut squash and Elise made s'mores brownies for dessert. Once we wanted to get together once a month but it hasn't panned out to be as regular as I had once hoped.

Prep ahead: I made a white bean and kale soup.  I need to add the tomatoes and sausage when I rewarm it for dinner.

Week 44, day 4

Breakfast: breakfast burritos for cress and I. Completely out of eggs now. Oatmeal for the others.

Lunch: jack in the box

Dinner: spaghetti squash and can while watching movies as a family.