QC

Monday 12/16 First day of finals.  Only two more days of school after this.  Some of us are more excited about that than others.

Sunday 12/15 Worked the youth group fundraiser table at the local Christmas fair and only deeply resented it a little bit.  Bonus!

Saturday 12/14 Made a cowl. For myself.  I have no idea where my kids even were.

Friday 12/13 Ordered pizza.  Watched TV. We are a cliche.

Thursday 12/12 More college news.  It's weird how quickly you adapt from jumping up and down and screaming.  But it never gets old.  Neither does hurling epithets at a computer whose operating system does not match your usual one.  Bill Gates is the devil.

Wednesday 12/11 No college responses tonight.  No homework (except to study for exams).  So, lovely baked eggs in spinach and Modern Family.

Tuesday 12/10 Everyone had lots of homework so I went next door and drank wine.

Monday 12/9 It began.

Sunday 12/8 We ate leftover fajitas from the party at every meal.

Saturday 12/7 Dads and kids camping group party at our house, which we hosted, which means I spent much of the day screaming at someone to pick their shit up.  I am an excellent mother.

Friday 12/6 I went to a Board Christmas party and made S stay home because she had a band competition the next day.  Brought her a leftover pork chop.  G went to see Bad Grandpa.  I could not be more proud.

Thursday 12/5 I previewed and rejected an entire Shakespeare poetry analysis (Wolsey's speech from Henry VIII) on the basis that there was absolutely no analysis in it and then taught four years of literary criticism in 15 minutes.  There were tears.  I'm not going to tell you whose.

Wednesday 12/4 Remembered to call!  I am an excellent mother!  Yay!  Plus, I've got lasagne in the crock pot, christmas decorations ready to go up, and I posted today.  Miracle of miracles.

Tuesday 12/3 Today I forgot to call one of the colleges G has applied to to check if they got her scores.  Which we have had to send twice.

Monday 12/2  Spent much of the day helping plan the care of a dear friend whose cancer choose Thanksgiving to appear in her brain.  Heavy heart.

Sunday 12/1 Ate vegetables and drank water.  Detox does not work quickly.  Hence the lack of Christmas decoration.

Wednesday 11/27-Saturday 11/30 Traveled to Houston and spent the weekend in a meat and wine soaked haze.

Tuesday 11/26 Shopped and cooked cornbread for Thanksgiving dressing and tomato soup for a sick friend. T wanted to know if I had time to go out to dinner with some in-town-at-the-last-minute friends.  I said no, I don't.  And then I went anyway and had a ball.  Dammit.

Monday 11/25 First day of Thanksgiving vacation.  I let everyone watch TV all day and then yelled at them for not finishing their chores.  A+

Sunday 11/24 S was out with her boyfriend, so G and I did what you should absolutely do if you have high cholesterol and it's 35 and raining out for the third straight day.  You should make brownies from a box and put chocolate chips and walnuts in them and then top them with vanilla ice cream.  No, food does not equal happiness.  Except when it does.

Saturday 11/23 Today, I let both of my children drive down to San Antonio to spend the night with a friend who is college there.  T said, as they were leaving, make good choices.  Letting go is not a problem.  Especially when you can track the GPS on their phones.  Tee hee.

Friday 11/22 I sat in 36 degree rain for almost an hour to watch a 4 and a half minute halftime show in which only half of the band could play because woodwinds can't play in the rain.  But despite the frostbitten toes, S performed beautifully.  Far as I can tell.

Thursday 11/21  I spent all day with my left foot on ice or elevated, hoping against hope that I could fix it in time to run a half-marathon this weekend.  But I can't.   So, I cried big, unreasonable, fat baby tears all afternoon.  Upside, Got 6 " done on the blanket.  Those will be the grief rows.

Wednesday 11/20 Tonight, I let the kids take a break from homework by trying just one song from the new Just Dance 2014.  That was 45 minutes ago.  

Tuesday 11/19 Took a dear friend to neuro-oncologist to hear not so great news.  Came home and was a much better parent for it.  My heart hurts.

Monday 11/18 Excellent parenting moments crystallized in fight with younger child.  

Sunday 11/17 Happy Birthday to me!

Saturday 11/16 G at tennis tournament, S at band competition.  UT game - dreadful.  Birthday dinner - delightful.

Friday 11/15 Yet another grown-up meeting with financial people.  God. Help. Me.  Another meeting to make changes to wills.  Offset by wonderful dinner party with friends. Oh, and a cortisone shot so I can run the half-marathon I've been training for for months.

Thursday 11/14 Five thousand meetings that got me no further than I was.  Harrumph.

Wednesday 11/13 Well-woman exam to make sure I survive to see my children leave me and appointment with lawyer to have wills drafted in case I have to leave them.  Banner day.

Tuesday 11/12 Slept off the hideous anxiety brought on by Monday.  Worked on blanket.

Monday 11/11 College applications submitted at 11:49

Friday - Sunday 11/8-10 My beloved church women's retreat.  Peace, spiritual talk, and booze.  Filling my cup back up.  My best friend refers to this as Vagina-ville.  She says that if she ever agrees to come, I will know she is dying.  Girl don't know what she's missing.

Thursday 11/7 College essays. 

Wednesday 11/6 My best friend's kid had an emergency appendectomy last night. Went to the hospital to sit with her.  Her daughter's leaving her, too.  When we're together, we spend a lot of time planning what we're going to do when they're gone.  Is that wrong?

Tuesday 11/5 Part of this transition from mom to whatever is figuring out what my next incarnation is.  That doesn't really mean anything, but I couldn't figure out what we did Tuesday.

Monday 11/4 Took kids to doc for shots.  Cleaned out my closet.  Woo. Fucking. Hoo.

Sunday 11/3 Watched football and worked several rows on G's blanket.

Saturday 11/2 Went to the symphony with a friend.  How does this help with letting go?  Think if it as practice for when there are no kids at home and can do ANYTHING YOU WANT ANYTIME YOU WANT TO!  

Friday 11/1 Met with financial planning guys because now that we have a kid going to college, we have to figure out how to PAY for college.  
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Friday 2/1
Business dinner.  Roasted tomato soup (I love you, Ina!) for the weekend.

Thursday 1/31
Chicken and black bean enchiladas, leftover rice from Monday.

Wednesday 1/30
Tortilla soup.

Tuesday 1/29 (Happy Anniversary to Me!  And T!)
Sesame noodles (Pioneer Woman) and eggrolls (thanks, Costco!)

Monday 1/28
Chicken sausage, Mexican rice, broccoli (from the garden!)

Sunday 1/27
Pork chops, parmesan mashed sweet and regular potatoes that no one ate but me, chopped salad.

Saturday 1/26
Tamales and tuna salad.

Friday 1/25
Peanut butter and jelly.

Thursday 1/24
Paninis on homemade (!) ciabatta, big salad.

Wednesday 1/23
Hard to imagine that I've been doing the QC for exactly a year, and we've yet to hit the most embarrassing dinner post ever.  But here it is.  Bread and butter, two slices of leftover bacon, and pound cake.  Bet you can guess how the challenge at the gym is going.

Tuesday 1/22
Had a lovely, lovely dinner out with a dear friend.  Seems weird to write that, but the project is over.  So it's okay to eat out.  It's a strange feeling.  Thai sesame noodles with veggies at the Satellite Cafe in Circle C.  Tasty.  Girls had ravioli (thanks, Costco).

Monday 1/21
Tennis night.  BLTs.

Sunday 1/20
Spicy peanut soup from Thai Kitchen.  T has terrible cedar allergies and has been working outside all day.  This was purely medicinal, I can assure you.

Saturday 1/19
Tuna salad sandwiches, I think.

Friday 1/18
Carolina crockpot barbecue in Brenham.

Thursday 1/17
I was out of town at my darling high school friend's house (no, she's not in high school, we're friends from high school).  It's canning time!  Pizza and salad.

Wednesday 1/16
Leftovers and snacks from the first Crafty Hour!

Tuesday 1/15
Day three of double for freezing: lasagna (I love you, Ina!)

Monday 1/14
Day two of double for freezing:  sausage with lentils and rice.  Spinach salad.

Sunday 1/13
Take out from Taco Cabana brought my my brother and his wife and the cousins.  Such a great routine.  We don't get to see them often enough and this gives us time to actually visit rather than cook and clean up.

Saturday 1/12
Symphony night - this is one of the things that illustrates the changes we've made.  Neither T nor I could think of anywhere we wanted to eat out.  The Thai place we love is great for take out but not the place to eat in, we were having Mexican food the next night with my brother and his family, and we weren't in the mood for our usual standby.  In the past, we would have just picked a place and gone even if it wasn't what we wanted.  Now, we just ate at home.

Tuna salad on sliced tomatoes and avocados.

Friday 1/11
Day one of double for freezing:  Jaques Pepin's Braised Beef in Red Wine.  From the crock pot, no less.  Need I say more?

Double for freezing is not a new concept for me, but my sister-in-law is having surgery next week so I'm doubling up on everything and taking the extras to them for her recovery.

Thursday 1/10
Upside to epic fail chicken is a leftover whole roast chicken.  Sauteed some onions and shredded the chicken and put it all together with some barbecue sauce - instant barbecue chicken tacos.  Cabbage and almond slaw.

Wednesday 1/9
 So excited, giddy even at the inaugural using of my gorgeous copper pot from France.  Which resulted in an epic fail roast chicken.  As in that bad boy took HOURS to cook.  It's been a long time since I roasted a whole chicken (shameful) and I didn't consult Ina (I should know better).  So we had the roasted potatoes and sauteed greens (mustard and bok choy, I think) that were supposed to go with it.  And had some Brie for our protein.  Not bad, as it turns out.

Tuesday 1/8
Chili dogs and roasted cauliflower.  Believe it or not, this shows growth.

Monday 1/7
Back to school night!  And my first annual knitting club TAMALADA.  Yes, it's January.  No, none of us have any Latino blood, but these girls can COOK!  I had tennis after, so the kids ate fresh, homemade tamales and a caesar salad.  Not a bad start to the week.

December Report
Well, I ran out of steam, didn't I?  This page is my favorite part of blogging.  In part because it keeps me honest, but in part, for me, because so many memories are built around the meals we shared or even meals we didn't.  This has become a little diary of life.  But life got pretty crazy and complicated in December.  I can tell you that we did not break the project, not even once during this month.  I had a late birthday lunch and two other Christmas celebration lunches, but we ate at home every night that there wasn't a party or an event.  This project wasn't ever intended to keep us from engaging in relationships with others, so I feel pretty okay with that.  That said, we actually did eat at home almost every night, and considering the level of crazy that we were all experiencing, that was a lot.  It was often sandwiches or cheese and crackers.  It was often really freaky combinations of frozen leftovers (I was trying to clean out the freezers for our trip), but it was always at home and we were always together.

Thursday 11/29
Everyone's out for the evening.  I'm having queso and chips.  Pathetic?  Maybe.  But admit it, you're a little jealous. I know you are.

Wednesday 11/28
Board meeting.  Hamburgers, sweet potato fries.

Tuesday 11/27
Sesame noodles with mixed Asian veggies, vegetarian egg rolls (thanks, Costco), roasted broccoli and cauliflower.  A meatless meal.  And no one noticed.  Mwah-ha-ha!

Monday 11/26
Knitting club and tennis.  Pickups.

Friday 11/23-Sunday 11/25
Leftovers from Thanksgiving - tamale dressing, mustard-crusted pork loin roast, smoked turkey, tamales, macaroni and cheese.  Sometimes we had a vegetable.  Sometimes we didn't.

Thursday 11/22 

Wednesday 11/21
Hatch green chili mac and cheese topped with breadcrumbs from an old church cookbook.  Life is good.

Tuesday 11/20
Carolina pork barbecue (crock pot), broccoli slaw.

Monday 11/19


Sunday 11/18


Saturday 11/17 
Mexican food and Daniel Craig.  Happy Birthday to Me!

Friday 11/16 Birthday Eve
Tennis mixer tonight, which I attended between errands and picking up gravel, which necessitated snacks from the mixer and a stop-gap convenience snack of Fritos and Bean Dip.  Which I deemed groceries for the evening because it's Birthday Eve.  And I was desperate.

Thursday 11/15
Homemade pizza (thanks, Ina) with florentine sauce.  Yes, I am a bad-ass.  I had a bunch of little tomatoes just starting to want to go squishy, so I threw them in the processor with a bag of baby spinach and three garlic cloves.  Pureed with some olive oil and salt and pepper.  It was awesome AND the presence of six ounces of fresh spinach actually rendered those pizzas a vegetable.  Mmm hmmm.  So, because they were a vegetable, I had to temper that with large chunks of fresh mozzarella.

Wednesday 11/14
Nursed my sweet mother-in-law after surgery today, so pick-ups at home.  G had ravioli (thanks, Costco), and I had something else.  Not entirely sure what.  It's feeling like it was peanut-butter-and jelly, so we'll go with that.

Tuesday 11/13
Fish tacos with slaw. Roasted cauliflower.  Yummy.

Monday 11/12
Tennis night.  Pick ups.

Sunday 11/11
Pork chops, rice pilaf with greens. Salad.

Saturday 11/10
Pizza.  Made with gluten.  If you're going to fall off the wagon, fall off big.  I'm just sayin'.

Friday 11/9
Chips and leftover guacamole.  Vanilla milkshake.

Thursday 11/8
Totally amazing sauteed vegetable quesadillas (flour for the kids, corn for me), roasted cauliflower.  Because every once in a while, you have an idea that surpasses even your usual awesomeness.  This was one of those times.

Wednesday 
Chicken stir-fry with brown rice, egg rolls.

Tuesday 11/6
Massive headache induced by Austerity Measures.  Campbells Chicken Noodle Soup, cheese and crackers, and a honeycrisp apple.  Kids had various versions of same or pickups.

Monday 11/5
What I said on Sunday.  The Cowboys were playing and I was really tired and the kids were at youth group.  So I had queso leftover from T's man night.  And wine.

Sunday 11/4
Grilled pork chop, sauteed mustard greens and kale, salad.  No starch, no alcohol.  If I have to pay, everybody has to pay.

Saturday 11/3
Yummy, yummy dinner at an old Houston favorite from way back.  Tony Mandola's.  Shrimp stuffed jalapenos, salad, and poblano stuffed with shellfish and mozzarella cheese on a bed of sauteed spinach in a tequila lime butter sauce.  Yes, please.  Cobbler for dessert.  Awesomely awesome, but I feel like crap today.  I just can't handle that much road food after a year of eating at home.  

Friday 11/2
Steak by dad, salad.

G and I took a mom-daughter jaunt down to the H-town for the weekend to see my parents and some dear, dear friends from high school. 

Thursday 11/1
Fresh mozzarella and pesto paninis.  Tomato soup from the freezer.  (Thanks, Ina).

Wednesday 10/31  Happy Halloween!

Kids are trick-or-treating.
Wait?  Aren't they like 14 and 16?
Yes.  I am so proud.  And one of them went as a laundry basket.  You can understand my need to make sure that they had a good meal.

Roasted chicken and mozzarella ravioli (thanks, Costco), marinara sauce (thanks, Central Market Organics), and leftover roasted veggies (thanks, Ina).

Tuesday 10/30
Fish tacos, broccoli slaw with cilantro and onions, roasted veggies with Ina sprinkles.

Monday 10/29
Knitting club and tennis night.  Taco calzones (taco meat and cheese inside leftover frozen pizza dough) and broccoli slaw.

Sunday 10/28
Hamburgers and sweet potato fries, spinach salad.

Saturday 10/27
S. was at a sleepover and G had her tennis friends over.  Chicken enchiladas, refried beans and caesar salad.

Friday 10/26
Yup.  Leftover tortilla soup.  I think.

Thursday 10/25
Band-O-Rama.  Yes, I said it.  Band night and it's a festivus.  Needless to say, we bailed so S. could go to lessons.  She had leftover spaghetti and I had leftover tortilla soup.

Wednesday 10/24
Board meeting. Crock pot pantry tortilla soup.  We'll see how it works out.  It was awesome.  And I ate it for most of the next three days.

Tuesday 10/23
UIL Band.  Spaghetti and meatsauce.  Gotta stock up.  Salad.

Monday 10/22
Egg rolls (thanks, Costco), wonton soup made with chicken broth and chard-en from the garden and wontons from Costco, honey-sesame green beans from the garden.

Sunday 10/21
Celebration dinner - sale sirloin steaks from the freezer (yay, Central Market!), roasted cauliflower, salad, homemade bread.  And homemade cake.  From scratch.  And it was good.  Really, really good.

Saturday 10/20
Picnic on the lawn at the Palmer Events Center before the symphony with R. and V.  Such a lovely night.  Cheese, wine, hummus, veggies, crackers, and pots de creme.  What's not to like?

Friday 10/19 
District tennis round 2.  Kids in San Antonio. Had a business luncheon and ate too much, which is what always happens when I eat out, so no dinner.  Just popcorn and a Diet Coke at the movies.  Go see Argo.  Awesome.

Thursday 10/18
District tennis and Daddy came home early!  BLTs and sweet potato chips.

Wednesday 10/17
Chalupas, homemade guacamole.

Tuesday 10/16
Ina's Chicken and Basil Hash, salad

Monday 10/15
Knitting club and tennis - quiche and green beans from the garden.

Sunday 10/14
Homemade oatmeal cookies and two glasses of wine.  It is what it is.

Saturday 10/13
Big Papa was in town for the tennis and band-a-palooza.  Steaks and salads.

Friday 10/12
Homecoming, not that anyone cares, but my dad's coming (yay!), so we'll have pulled pork tacos/sandwiches, broccoli slaw and sweet potato fries.  All at different times.  Sigh.

Thursday 10/11
ANOTHER meeting.  Spaghetti with meat sauce (my meat, their jar), whole wheat pasta, salad with balsamic vinaigrette.

Wednesday 10/10
My friend, Kevin's birthday, by which I mean, it was his birthday last week, and we got together this week, and I had a meeting and the kids had practice.  So, we ate out for Kevin's birthday.  Kind of a stretch, but I'm owning it.

Tuesday 10/9
Egg rolls and pot stickers.  Thanks, Costco!

Monday 10/8
Tennis night and a day off from school.  Pick ups.

Sunday 10/7
Chicken Noodle Soup and microwave nachos with my sweetie.  Nope.  No vegetable.

Saturday 10/6
See:  Friday 10/5.  Except that I don't care that G and T had stadium food for the UT game.  S ate next door, and I had lovingly prepared fajitas with black beans and rice.

Friday 10/5
I was on my church Women's Retreat.  It was AWESOME.  I was so happy and relaxed that I don't care what anyone had for dinner.  Even if it was Domino's Pizza.  Which I think it was.  The church women had a wonderful potluck.  I brought cheese.  And pickles.

Thursday 10/4
Homemade pizzas.  I love you, Ina.  Fastest, best pizza dough.  In the world.  Period.

Wednesday 10/3
Ligurian Fish Stew from Giada.  Eaten, but only in high dudgeon, by my children.  You will notice that most fish dishes are served during the week. When T is not here.  This is not an accident.

Tuesday 10/2
Tennis meet away.  I am not going to even think about what the kids all ate when the team bus stopped, nor do I want the poor person who ever waited on all fourteen of them to suffer any further.  I ate frozen tomato-basil soup (I love you, Ina) and homemade bread.  It was the no-knead 18-hour kind.  I was underwhelmed.

Monday 10/1
Read in Jennifer Reese of The Tipsy Baker's fabulous cookbook about a friend of hers who is a chef turned mom who NEVER repeats a dish when she cooks for her family.  That is not me.  Tennis for me and band for S.  Left a quiche and caesar salad for the kids.

Sunday 9/30
Stuffed peppers.  Had such big plans for these.  And they sucked.  Sad face.

Saturday 9/29
Salmon and Ina's Basil Chicken Hash.  Again.  So T could have some.  Yay!

Friday 9/28
I have no idea

Thursday 9/27
Grilled pork chops, sweet potato fries, salad (romaine and rest of the kale from yesterday).

Wednesday 9/26
I love you, Ina.  Italian Wedding Soup - had some leftover chicken meatball dough in the freezer and used kale instead of spinach.  One dish meal of wonderment.

Tuesday 9/25
Tennis meet.  BST's.  As in bacon, spinach and tomato on whole grain toast.  Broccoli slaw.  S had three helpings of the slaw.  Who knew?

Monday 9/24
Sesame udon noodles and veggie eggrolls.  Stealth Meatless Monday.

Sunday 9/23
Football!  Probably went 0-2 in my two fantasy football leagues, but it was a lovely pajama day nonetheless.  Leftover fajitas.

Saturday 9/22
Board orientation in the morning, girls' tennis meet in the afternoon, friends and family in the evening.  What a great day!  Fajitas, veggies, Mexican rice, fixin's, with sherbet and cookies for dessert.

Friday 9/21
Road trip to Houston today for a friend's MD Anderson visit.  Not great news, but not awful, met with tempered optimism.  Cancer sucks.  Frozen hamburger and carrots.

Thursday 9/20

Wednesday 9/19
Ina's Basil Chicken Hash.  Which was RIGHTEOUS.  And I even put some sweet potatoes and leeks in it, so we could be healthy and French all at the same time.  Mostly, I was trying to use up stuff from the farm box and leftover grilled chicken from the weekend.  It was great.  The recipe is in today's main post.  Also, arugula and romaine salad with sunflower sprouts and carrots (can you say farm box enough times?).

Tuesday 9/18
Crock-pot Carolina pulled pork loin.  Broccoli slaw with Cook's Illustrated Sweet and Tangy Coleslaw recipe.  Roasted cauliflower.

Monday 9/17
Spaghetti with homemade sauce from the freezer.  Green salad.

Sunday 9/16
Pick-ups.  I had cereal, T had Chicken Noodle Soup, and S had a leftover hamburger.

Saturday 9/15
Tennis team cookout!  T rocked the parenting house with a cookout for some of the tennis team kids.  He grilled chicken, burgers, and sausage, and had grapes, strawberries and chips for all.

Mama had an absolutely fabulous poo-poo platter of greatness from the Sea Ranch in South Padre Island, Texas.  Go there.  We ordered three different entrees and they brought them all on one platter, so we could have bits of each.  All Gulf Coast seafood.  And martinis.  Good stuff.

Friday 9/14
Good thing Mama stayed on the project because it was a home game.  With G working concessions (hello, health department) and S in the band, all they could manage was a quick trip to the Sonic.  Reality sets in.

Woo hoo!  Mama is going on a girls' trip to Padre!  Bought a bikini and everything.  Too bad there's a 50% chance of rain.  Oh well, who cares?  Mama's going on a girls' trip!  For dinner, we stopped at HEB and bought cheese, sausage and bread, carrots and hummus, and fruit.   A wonderful meal AND on the project. 

Thursday 9/13
G and S had study group, so she had frozen pizzas with her friends.  I had a meeting, so I had cereal.  Again.

Wednesday 9/12
Happy Hour!  Saw my wonderful teacher friends for a little reunion/happy hour.  Girls and I had cheese and crackers, veggies and dip, and kolaches!  Yay!

Tuesday 9/11
Tennis meet away in Wimberley until 8:30.  Mac and cheese from a box and a salad for the kids.

Monday 9/10
Back to School night and band.  Pick-ups.

Sunday 9/9
FF bean and cheese chalupas with homemade guacamole and home canned salsa.  Kids had dinner at youth group.

Saturday 9/8
First UT home game for us.  Snacks at home beforehand and hot dogs for some at the game.

Friday 9/7
First home high school game for us.  G worked the concession stand.  S worked the marimba for the band.  Very fun.  We ate something at home, but I have no idea what.

Thursday 9/6
Chalupas - bean and cheese.

Wednesday 9/5
LATE night of tennis away at Smithson Valley.  Oven-fried fish, roasted cauliflower, salad.

Tuesday 9/4
Grilled chicken, salad, and rice.

Monday 9/3
Homemade pizzas.

Sunday 9/2
Date night with my sweetie at Hyde Park Bar and Grill.  Got what I've been ordering for the last 20 years.  Half spinach salad.  Half order of fries.

Saturday 9/1
Homemade guacamole and chips.  That's it.  But there's football on.  Thanks be to God.

Friday 8/31
Houston trip to MD Anderson.  Kolaches from Hruskas in Ellinger.  Yes, I also had them for breakfast.  What's your point?  I had wine, too, so that's my fruit.

Thursday 8/30
Leftover buffet.

Wednesday 8/29
Board meeting.  Grilled pork chop, roasted cauliflower, sweet potato fries.  Yes, it's a beige/brown/orange color family meal, but they're all vegetables, right?

Tuesday 8/28
First tennis meet of the year at home.  Costco take and bake pizza and caesar salad.

Monday 8/27
First day of school!!!  Spaghetti and meat sauce, salad.

Sunday 8/26
Night before school starts.  Hot dogs on the grill and playing outside with the neighbors.  How summer should end.

Saturday 8/25
Law school reunion.  I hated law school.  The people I didn't hate were my two roommates and a small group of the only normal people there.  That said, my Seattle roommate comes to town with her oldest friend every year to interview at UT.  And so my other roommate and I use her success to eat at the Salt Lick and spend the night at the Four Seasons.  Which is amazing every time.  And that's why it's the only law school reunion I'll ever attend.  Love you, M and M and K!!!!

Friday 8/24
Happy hour at Chili's in Bastrop.  Went east for a tennis exhibition - we were the students, not the teachers, but fun nonetheless.  Met up with JFTB to catch up with her new gig.  I miss my other half!!

Thursday 8/23
Leek and greens quiche.  Potato leek soup.  Salad.  Virtually everything I made today contained bacon.  Sniff.  Swelling with pride.

Wednesday 8/22
Peanut butter and jelly sandwich.  It's the end of summer.  I don't even know where my children are, much less what they are eating.

Tuesday 8/21
Bean and cheese chalupas.

Monday 8/20
Frozen Amy's tamale verde, pita chips and hummus.

Sunday 8/19
Holla!  Ina's back in town.  Roasted tomato-basil soup and grilled cheese sandwiches.  What, what?

Saturday 8/18
Leftover buffet.

Friday 8/17
Houston trip to MD Anderson.  Came home to T grilling fajitas for a bunch of kids.  Awesome.

Thursday 8/16
Chalupas.  Again.

Wednesday 8/15
Crock-pot chicken tacos.  Homemade guacamole and home canned salsa.  Yep.  I'm a bad ass.

Tuesday 8/14
Homemade pizza with roasted veggies from the farm box.

Monday 8/13
Chili dogs - homemade chili from the freezer.  No vegetable.  Sticking it to the MAN.

Sunday 8/12
Kids at youth group.  Probably chips and salsa for dinner.

Saturday 8/11
Pick ups.

Friday 8/10
My best friend and her family came out for dinner and fun this afternoon.  We had ribs, sausage, and chicken on the barbie.  And beer.  And salad.  It was good.  And that is all.

Thursday 8/9
Board meeting.  Pork chops, parmesan polenta, and arugula salad.

Wednesday 8/8
Peanut butter and jelly sandwich, tostitos scoops, and an apple.

Tuesday 8/7
Spaghetti and sauce (chicken sausage).  Maybe there was a salad.  If so, I don't remember it.

Monday 8/6
Guacamole burgers.

Sunday 8/5
Sandwiches, I think.

Saturday 8/4
I refuse to go grocery shopping until everything gets unpacked.  So, frozen dinners of some kind.

Friday 8/3
Birthday party cookout with friends.  Burgers and beer.

Thursday 8/2
Arrived today from Colorado.  Empty fridge.  Late flight.  Emergency Mexican food at Texican Cafe.  I'm officially still on vacation until tomorrow.

Where the hell is July?
So, because I am inordinately blessed by generous parents who own a home in Colorado and by the pine pollen which makes my mom so miserable that she would rather be in Texas than Colorado in July (holla!), I get to spend four weeks in the Rocky Mountains.  I know, tough, right?  Project-wise, it was a tough call -- yes, we were on vacation, but we were also in a house, with a kitchen, etc.  And really?  How many people really get to be on vacation for a month? (Let's hear it for teachers!).  So, I took a vacation from menu-tracking, but we did mostly stick to the plan.  Over four weeks, we ate out seven times.  See how quickly you can fall into the old ways?  We had pizza twice, Italian twice, Chinese once, burgers once, and I had a really, really, really nice dinner at the Stanley Hotel where they filmed The Shining.  The meal involved several Black Orchids, my 45-year-old Baby Doll, three priests, and a bronze statue of a coyote.  Don't ask.  Totally worth it though.  I'm just saying.

Wednesday 7/4
Barbecue with close friends and fire works!  I brought Asian slaw.  Yummy.

Tuesday 7/3
Leftover buffet!  Hooray!

Monday 7/2
Grilled chicken, salad, mac and cheese.  From a box. Yeah, I said it.

Sunday 7/1
Happy 16th Birthday, G!  Steaks, roasted potatoes and veggies.  Chocolate cake.  Also yum.

Saturday 6/30
Quiche!  Local eggs, local squash from farmer's market, and leeks.  Yum.

Friday 6/29
San Antonio for tennis, Cooper’s BBQ for our out of town treat. 

Thursday 6/28
Pickups

Wednesday 6/27
Frozen pizza, salad

Tuesday 6/26
Homemade hamburgers, fresh tomatoes and homemade pickles

Monday 6/25
Pasta with yellow tomatoes and basil from the garden, chicken meatballs.  I love you, Ina.

Sunday 6/24
I have no idea.  But I know we didn't eat out.

Saturday 6/23
Birthday party.  Cocktail party food.

Friday 6/22
All by my lonesome tonight.  PB&J.

Thursday 6/21
Pickups.

Wednesday 6/20
Frozen egg rolls and chicken cilantro dumplings.  Thank you, Costco.

Tuesday 6/19
Quick Houston visit - dinner out.  Crab salad bruschetta.  Sounds awful.  Tasted amazing.

Monday 6/18
Spaghetti and marinara. From a jar.  Sorry.

Sunday 6/17
Steaks, roasted veggies, salad.

Saturday 6/16
Paninis.

Friday 6/15
Pickups

Thursday 6/14
Leftovers.

Wednesday 6/13
Honey roasted salmon, roasted potatoes, green beans, cornbread

Tuesday 6/12
Fish tacos, grilled veggies.

Monday 6/11 (Camp Sympathy Week)
G is supposed to be at camp this week, but instead is stuck here in summer school taking math, her least favorite subject.  She will thank me when she gets a scholarship and doesn't have math her senior year.  But she doesn't thank me now.  I'm just sayin'.  

So, this week she gets some of her favorite foods.

Chicken enchiladas, green salad.


Sunday 6/10
Chicken and rice soup and crackers with peanut butter. Not sure what anyone else had.  Not sure I care, either.

Saturday 6/9
First date night on the project.  Celebrated the advance copy of my friend Mike Fry's hilarious new teen/pre-teen book The Odd Squad.  Wonderful company and wonderful food at Bordeaux's in Kyle.

Friday 6/8
Microwave hamburgers, salad.

Thursday 6/7
Chicken tacos with the miraculous crock-pot taco meat.

Wednesday 6/6
Chicken sausages, sauteed peppers and onions.

Tuesday 6/5
Paninis with mozzarella, home-grown tomatoes (for some of us), fresh basil.  Yum.

Monday 6/4
Chicken lettuce wraps with extra veggies.  Super yum.

Sunday 6/3
Home late from the beach.  Pick-ups and cereal.

Saturday 6/2
Shrimp boil from the Old Bay website.  With El Campo smoked sausage, corn and potatoes and a green salad.  The perfect beach meal.

Friday 6/1
Fajitas at the beach house.  That sounded really awesome and fancy didn't it.  I don't actually have a beach house.  We just borrow one from some nice people every year.  Okay, we don't actually know them and we pay them an assload to use their house.  But it's lovely, and it's the official start to summer.  Hooray!!

Thursday 5/31
Vacation Food!  We're off to the beach for our yearly start to summer with some of our best friends and our godchildren.  G. has been planning her order at Taco Cabana since mid-April.

Wednesday 5/30
Grilled pork chops over the last of the chard from the garden and some baby spinach sautéed with the most gigantic leeks I have ever seen from the farm box.  Corn muffins from the freezer.  I love you, Ina.

Tuesday 5/29
Life changing.  All I'm saying.  Life changing chicken tacos, home-canned tomatillo salsa (as in canned TODAY),  zukes from the garden sautéed with some fairly elderly onion.

Monday 5/28
Tennis night - pick ups for T and the kids.

Sunday 5/27
Hot dogs and sweet potato fries.  S has a sleepover.  She planned the menu. I may try to sneak in some strawberries just to make myself feel better.

Saturday 5/26
Whole wheat spaghetti and sauce from freezer at my mother--in-law's house.  Because if you drop in on your teenager's training drive on the freeway, you better bring dinner.  With salad and strawberry shortcake.

Friday 5/25
Eighth grade dance, which I was mercifully not chaperoning.  Microwave nachos and homemade guacamole.

Thursday 5/24
Chinese:  Costco vegetarian egg rolls and chicken cilantro wontons.

Wednesday 5/23
Homemade macaroni and cheese, steamed broccoli.

Tuesday 5/22
North African chicken and chick pea stew, rest of the salad from Monday.

Monday 5/21
Massive cooking day - those cook-for-the-week folks may be onto something.  A dear friend just had knee surgery, and I had committed to  bringing by a couple of meals, so instead of just doing that, I doubled everything and we ate what they ate.  I cooked ALL DAY.  It was exhausting.  And sweaty.  And I had an interminable band parent meeting in the middle of it, but we survived.

Tonight:  Grilled chicken, grilled corn on the cob, and green salad from the end of the farm box.

Sunday 5/20
Frozen calamari from the Costco.  Not great, but not bad -- would probably have been MUCH better if I owned a deep fryer.  But, of course, everything would probably be better with a deep fryer.  Homemade tomato basil soup (I love you, Ina), green salad.

Saturday 5/19
S. and I had a very successful trip to the mall, so pick-ups (as in, you can eat whatever you can pick up).  So, sandwiches and leftovers.

Friday 5/18
Leftover lasagne, shrimp salad.

Thursday 5/17
Lasagne with greens, leeks and chicken Italian sausage.  Yum.

Wednesday 5/16
Leftover pizza.

Tuesday 5/15
It's really weird how all of our events clump together:  Winter is our anniversary, S's birthday, and Valentines; May is Mother's Day and T's birthday.  He requested take-out pizza from Tony's in South Austin.  Which tells me how much he loves me because I make homemade pizza every week, and he says he loves it.  Next opportunity to eat out:  May 31 trip to the coast.  G is already planning her meals.

Monday 5/14
Tandoori spiced pork chops, chard from the garden, burned up sweet potato fries.  Round two of Harvard School of Public Heath multigrain bread was a rousing success.  Key to life:  everything is better with salt and sugar (honey) in it.  Duh.

Sunday 5/13
Mother's Day has come and gone.  Pasta with butter and cheese, green beans from the garden.

Saturday 5/12
We're going out tonight for Mother's Day Eve.  I don't like to eat out on Mother's Day -- too crowded, too expensive, and usually bad food.

Friday 5/11
Kids were at relay for life, so I had old frozen walnut pancakes and sausage.  Yes, really.

Thursday 5/10
Spaghetti for the family.  I was invited to a fundraiser for Camp Allen by the Bishop,  and really, when the Bishop calls, you answer.  So, I got to have Mexican food.  Yay, Bishop!  Yay, Camp Allen!  Yay, Mexican food!!!

Wednesday 5/9
Leftovers.

Tuesday 5/8
Barbecue chicken pizza with homemade whole wheat crust, chicken, red onion, colby jack, with broccoli slaw.

Monday 5/7
Beef tacos, Mexican brown rice, black bean, corn, onion, radish (garden dregs), and celery chopped salad with lime vinaigrette.

Sunday 5/6
Multigrain bread baking a qualified success.  Turns out that the Harvard School of Public Health is not fond of salt or any other flavoring in their wholegrain bread.  Kids liked it as long as it had butter and jam/peanutella or something else on it.  Will have to manipulate seasonings.  As in add some.

Egg rolls, chicken cilantro dumplings (thanks, Costco) and arugula and romaine salad with the last of the Basil Green Goddess.

Saturday 5/5
One kid vanished to the neighbors + late lunch + symphony tickets = bowl of cereal a/k/a whatever you can make yourself.  Have at it.

Friday 5/4
Papa came to town and brought some gorgeous steaks!  Baby zucchini and yellow squash and spring onions from the farmers market and a green salad with farm box carrots and grocery store tomatoes was made perfect with Basil Green Goddess Dressing.  I love you, Ina.

Thursday 5/3
District middle school tennis. Frozen hamburgers for me and S., frozen pizza for T., and I have no idea what G. ate.

Wednesday 5/2 Local Day
Well, kind of.  Chicken breasts from God knows where marinated in homemade balsamic vinaigrette;  roasted green beans (garden - yay!), potatoes and zucchini from the farmer's market, onions from the grocery store; tomato, mozzarella and basil salad (basil from the garden).

Tuesday 5/1
Chili dogs (organic, uncured beef hotdogs) with chili from the freezer, whole wheat buns, steamed broccoli.

Monday 4/30
Drumline clinic, followed by drum lessons, followed by tennis.  Frozen spaghetti sauce and whole wheat capellini.  Broccoli only if T wants to steam it.  And I'm pretty sure he doesn't.

Sunday 4/29
Ceremony at the high school, so my mother-in-law was over.  Tri-tip sirloins (never heard of them, but on sale at Costco), polenta from Boggy Creek Farm, greens from the garden sauteed with garlic.  Yum.  All I'm sayin'.  MIL brought dessert from Central Market, without  my asking.  And it would have been rude to refuse.  So, I ate that piece of chocolate sheet cake and was grateful.  And then I had some more.

Saturday 4/28
Grilled cheese and tomato soup from the freezer.  Thanks, Ina.

Friday 4/27
Toast and beer.  Girls had paninis.

Thursday 4/26
Tunisian chicken, chick peas, carrots, rice.  Yummy.  Full post to come.

Wednesday 4/25
90 days!  We're 3/11ths of the way there!  Wow, that didn't sound anywhere near as exciting as I thought it would be.  Quiche, squash and spring onions, wholegrain toast.

Tuesday 4/24
Chicken enchiladas (chalupas for S), refried beans, salad.

Monday 4/23
Whole wheat pasta with broccoli and leftover chicken meatballs (thanks, Ina).  Salad and sweet potato fries (pre-TAKS request from the G).

Sunday 4/22
Leftovers.

Saturday 4/21
Fajitas with mom and my brother and his kids.  Neighbors came by - great time was had by all.

Friday 4/20
S had some friends over, so homemade pizza.

Thursday 4/19
Chili potatoes!  Finally!

Wednesday 4/18
Chili (turkey, ground sirloin, pork) potatoes made in advance with the delay setting on the oven, so that we will return from math tutoring to the wafting smell of spiced braised meat.  Nothing wrong with that.  Except that my hair appointment took almost three hours.  Black hair does not like to go blonde, even when 90 percent of them are gray to begin with.  Vegetable egg rolls, chicken/cilantro potstickers, steamed broccoli.  Thank you, Costco.

Tuesday 4/17
Gown day for S.  Okay, me, too.  Nothing wrong with lying on the couch watching HGTV.  And not showering.  Don't judge.  Upside:  homemade vegetarian calzones with spinach, bell peppers, onions and fresh tomatoes.

Monday 4/16
Pork chops marinated in the last of the too-garlicky chimichurri, greens (some very sad looking bok choy, the last of a box of baby spinach), and maybe brown rice pilaf.  Or maybe not.  Salad.  It is with great sadness that we report the loss of bok choy late last week.  Bok choy was beloved by his many cousins in the cruciferous family, including Green and Red Cabbage, Napa Cabbage, and Brussels Sprouts, with whom he was not close.  Mr. Choy provided many vitamins and minerals to many family meals, and he will be missed.  Donations may be made to your local food bank.  Rest in Peace, Bok.  We hope to see you one day in heaven.  Or a quiche.  Whichever.

Sunday 4/15
I had a birthday party.  T and S. had frozen lasagne (homemade, then frozen).  G. had chicken ravioli.  I had guacamole and chips and a leftover hamburger.  Not my best weekend.

Saturday 4/14
Hamburgers, salad, chips.

Friday 4/13
Beer, chips and salsa, and toast with peanutella.  Why?  Because it's Friday.  And JFTB, DAC, and I made a condolence call right before dinner.  And so, JFTB had to come over and have happy hours.  T and G had box mac and cheese.

Thursday 4/12
Tennis meet for S.  Beef tacos, green salad with fresh lettuce from a friend's garden and carrots from the local box.  Homemade honey mustard dressing.  Three out of four family members agree. . . .

Wednesday 4/11
Leftover spaghetti.

Tuesday 4/10
Grilled lemon pepper chicken breasts, sweet potato fries, garden salad with the last of the lemon dill dressing.

Monday 4/9
Tennis night and T is home!  Yay!  Made homemade spaghetti sauce.  What happens after that is up to them.  Boy, I almost never get to say that.  Feels good.

Sunday 4/8
The carnitas we were supposed to have last night but didn't finish cooking until two hours after we had to leave for church.  But they were delicious tonight.  Bonus:  so much easier to just scoop all the fat off the top of the gravy after a night in the fridge.  Made them much less greasy.  Also, an all farm box salad.

Saturday 4/7
Homemade pizza in a pinch.

Friday 4/6
I don't know because we're having a tea party but with homemade lemonade and cookies for this afternoon.  The kids are too old to want to dye eggs anymore, but they can get behind cookies.  My super-awesome blog guru and teacher BFF is coming over with her little ones for lemonade and cookies to see all the new gardens.  I'm providing the lemonade and cookies.  She's bringing the vodka.  What?  You can't have lemonade without vodka.  Duh.  Leftovers again - egg salad and noodles for everyone.  Yay!

Thursday 4/5
File this under "and I wonder why I can't lose any weight".  Again.  Egg salad with beautiful blue organic eggs from the farm box, chopped celery, onion, and my own bread and butter pickles, mayo, whole grain mustard, a splash of cider vinegar and my friend Tom's fresh dill.  On whole grain bread, with arugula, tomatoes, a slice of onion.  Decedent and awesome pre-church dinner.  Except for the onion. That stayed with me all the way through the service.  Apologies to everyone sitting in my pew. G. was at a softball game, S. had leftover egg rolls and sesame noodles.

Wednesday 4/4
What we were supposed to have Monday.  Do dee doo doo.

Tuesday 4/3
What we were supposed to have yesterday.  Tra la. Okay, so I lied.  Again.  S's appointments and lessons were close enough today that I could run home and accomplish different stages of dinner.  Tonight was fish tacos (oven-baked catfish) with broccoli, cauliflower, carrot and red cabbage slaw from a bag.  I'm really on the fence about the bag veggies and the sterilizing process of the greens in the bag.  But on the other hand, it would have taken me 7 hours to julienne each of those little veggies into bits, and cut up that way with some honey-balsamic dressing (homemade), the kids ate the shit out of it.  Used half a bag last night and will throw the rest in with the noodles tonight.

Monday 4/2
Sesame noodles with bok choy, veggie egg rolls.  Tennis night.  I'm going to have to hustle.  Okay, so I lied.  Turned out G had a team dinner, and I am too mean to cook dinner for just one person, so S had a BST (bacon, spinach, and tomato sandwich) and I had a tuna sandwich.  Not pretty, but effective.  Chinese Tuesday.

Sunday 4/1
Green chili mac and cheese and spinach salad.  But last night's recipe made so much that I had to recycle it to feed T and the kids.  At some point cheese-a-palooza 2012 will have to come to an end.  Hopefully sooner rather than later.  Ugh.  Oh, Lord.  And I have to admit that I almost had it for lunch Monday, but thankfully had to go out for a meeting.

Saturday 3/31
Green chili mac and cheese and tomato soup.  Arugula and pear salad. Lovely night with friends before the symphony.

Friday 3/30
Tennis tournament all day.  The district track meet.  Then back to tennis.  11 hours in the sun.  I'm beat.  Microwave nachos and beer.

Thursday 3/29
Quiche with greens and asparagus.  Tomato soup.

Wednesday 3/28
Ina's Roasted Tomato Basil Soup with optional frozen chicken meatballs (for S.) from Ina's Italian Wedding Soup.  Whole grain smoked fontina grilled cheese (for dipping in the tomato soup).  Fontina is leftover from the stuffed chicken breasts and needs to be opened.  Spinach salad.  And to complete the trifecta, made Ina's Corn Muffins for tomorrow's breakfast.

Tuesday 3/27
Super lean seared flank steak with chimichurri sauce (thank you, Argentina), roasted asparagus, salad.  Yes, a lean meat and two vegetables.  And it's a Tuesday!  Couple of things on the chimichurri:  when you're making it, it doesn't smell garlicky enough until after you add the vinegar and oil.  I added some extra garlic, which was TOO much.  Stick to the 8 cloves.  Second, I found the mix a little bit oily; I think I'll go with a 2/3 oil, 1/3 vinegar or lemon juice next time.  It just needed a little more acid for my taste.  But it's really, really pretty.



Monday 3/26
Some dear, dear friends who moved away FIVE years ago, and whom we haven't seen in three and a half years are in town and put together a reunion dinner.  Yay!  Salt Lick Barbecue.  Yay!  Don't get me wrong, but it's amazing how much forcing yourself to eat at home makes you dread eating out a little bit.  After our Arizona experience, we're a little worried about how we're going to feel tomorrow. Those food hangovers are no fun.  But we're going to enjoy it while we can.  Next opportunity to eat out:  Mother's Day.

Sunday 3/25 
Carnitas (see 1/27 for the link) and homemade tortillas.  Yes, and that's after spending two whole days building gardens and cages for our new raised beds.  I am, I am, I am superman.  And tomorrow, I will be paralyzed and unable to stand up from the soreness.

Crudites from the farm box (carrots and snap peas, celery from the grocery store).  This is my nod to a neat idea from peace and love in the kitchen.  Great blog with great recipes, but the neatest thing is that she always tries to have three bowls on the table for dinner:  a bowl of fruit, a green salad, and a bowl of crudites.  She says that way there is always something to eat if you don't like what's served, and you can make sure your kids (and you) have ready access to healthy fruits and veggies.

Speaking of which, looking back through this week, it's a laundry list of saturated fats, meats, and ugh, pizza.  Maybe that's why my annual physical showed that my cholesterol is a little elevated.  Hmmm.  Wonder why.  So, we're back on the healthy train starting this week starting Tuesday.  No, this isn't related at all to the weight loss challenge at the gym and the fact that I am almost pathologically competitive.  Not at all.

Saturday 3/24
A new Schlotzsky's opened up this week next to the gas station at one of our two stoplights.  No, we haven't eaten there, but it's been mentioned about 37 times since Tuesday.  Just sayin'.  Hamburgers and chips.  G made her own BLT again and had leftover enchiladas.

Friday 3/23
G. and the girls' tennis team dinner.  Chicken enchilada casserole (really, you skip ONE step and have to call it a casserole?), caesar salad, homemade pop-tarts, chips and guacamole.  You remember when you were a kid and you went to other people's houses and even if it was normal food, it tasted weird because your mom didn't make it?  I think there was a little bit of that.  But they ate it.  And they are the nicest, sweetest bunch of girls - so grateful to have that as a support structure for G.

Thursday 3/22
Nummy num nums.  S had a tennis meet at the high school and then had to go back to the middle school to get in some more hurdle time before the track meet tomorrow night.  So, tonight - BLT's!  Whole grain bread, sliced organic tomatoes, romaine from the farm box, and low sodium bacon.  With snap peas and carrots (also from the farm box) and hummus.  And a couple of potato chips.  But who's counting?

Wednesday 3/21
One of those days.  Pizza from the Costco.  And a salad.  I'm sorry.  It was take-n-bake, allowable under the project.   I did have to cook it.  By which I mean take it out of the box and preheat the oven and stuff.  Oof.

Tuesday 3/20
Something to do with the leftover chicken meatballs in the freezer - probably Italian Wedding Soup.  Only I don't have any spinach.  Or celery.  Or carrots.  And of course, S. has a presentation at the honor roll ceremony, which won't be done til after 8.  How about a plate of leftover meatballs?  Woo hoo!  Defaulted to Pantry Tortilla Soup, but still pretty tasty on short notice.

Monday 3/19
Whole wheat capellini, chicken sausage spaghetti sauce (freezer), salad.  Also successfully navigated homemade peanut nutella, apple cinnamon filling.  All for . . . homemade poptarts.  Links and recipes to come.

Sunday 3/18
Greek chicken roulades - butterflied chicken breasts stuffed with spinach, garlic, scallions, and feta (or fontina for G who doesn't like feta), rice pilaf, roasted asparagus.  I am awesome.  There was much rejoicing from everyone that we are back on the project.  Which should last about three days.

AND, ta-da!  My stove is fixed.  Yay, T!

Saturday 3/17
Turkey and crackers.  Applesauce.

Friday 3/16
We got in at 1 am.  I made it to the grocery for lunch meat and greens.  Thank God the neighbors were cooking fajitas.  A nice welcome back.

Thursday 3/15
Airport.  The most-uninspired turkey sandwich ever.

Wednesday 3/14
(Lunch) Now, I don't usually get it together to report on lunch, but I had the best Greek Salad I have ever eaten in my life at BRICK in the Arizona Center in Phoenix.  Best dressing, best feta and house-made preserved lemons.  In the salad!  Go there.  There was also a very nice 4 Peaks Hefeweissen.  Which I drank.  At lunch.  Sue me.  I also ate a whole margarita pizza. 

Goodyear Park.  I had a hot dog,  And another Hefeweissen.  Great night!

Tuesday 3/13
Phoenix.  Great little sandwich place called the Corner Bakery.  Nice - like Panerra Bread, but local.  Lots of salad, sandwiches, soups, with combos.  I had a chicken pomodoro panini (yum) and a caesar salad.  Kids and T had variations on the same thing.

Monday 3/12
Grand Canyon.  Now, before you judge, there's is literally only ONE purveyor of services in GCNP, so the choice of food is not so much a choice, but a selection, if you will.  At the recommendation of the kid at the front desk, we ate a semi-respectable meal at the Bright Angel Lodge.  I had a the grilled chicken/pepper jack sandwich.  G had a burger, S had a steak (she ordered better than the rest of us) and T had something completely forgettable.

Sunday 3/11
Flew into Phoenix and landed at about 5.  Two hour drive to Sedona for dinner.  Kids insisted on stopping.  At Wendy's.  For a "snack".  Everybody had a small hamburger.  Just because we could.

Sedona.  Dinner was at a wonderful Italian place south of Sedona, Cucina Rustica.  I had the Linguine Angelica - homemade linguine, arugula, roasted tomatoes, and shrimp in a lemon, white-wine sauce.  Divine.  And a house salad with a really weird soy-sauce based dressing.  Not bad, just weird.  Kids and T all had different pasta dishes. Everyone loved it.

Saturday 3/10
Burgers on the grill with leftover chips.  My super-fab neighbor, K, suggested that we have an all-girls game night with my kids and S and L, some other neighbor grown-ups.  For that, I cut up some broccoli florets and had the sugar snap peas from the farmers market that were going to be left for the house sitter.  Made Paula Deen's Southwest Dip.  Not Arizona, but mighty fine.  Thanks, neighbors, for cheering us up A LOT!

Friday 3/9
Brisket tacos (HEB shredded beef) with cilantro and onion, guacamole.  This entry is not in green because we're not on our vacation.  Sniff.  Feeling sorry for yourself will be noted in purple.

Thursday 3/8
Leftovers - one, maybe two servings of Carolina BBQ, one quesadilla, one panini, two heads of broccoli, some yellowing spinach and two romaine hearts.  Yuck, but it's all for a good cause.

We leave tomorrow for Arizona for Spring Break.  Hooray!  If you've been counting, it's been since February 6th.  I'll still track where we are and what we're eating - just keeping it real.  Non-project food will be noted in green.

Wednesday 3/7
Math tutoring.  Make to order paninis (on the panini maker) on ciabatta from the Boggy Creek Farm Wednesday market.  And carrots that I saw being pulled out of the ground at 10:30 this morning.  The best place EVER!   So psyched about my new gardens that it makes even the idiot at Natural Gardener worth it.

Tuesday 3/6
Track meet, so help me Jesus.  Crock pot Carolina BBQ.  And it's Tuesday, so no mandatory vegetable, but I'll probably make some kind of slaw.  No slaw.  No fruit.  Just BBQ on a bun.  The track meet was long.  And cold.  And windy.  

Monday 3/5
Tennis meet, track practice, drum lesson, oh, and did I mention that my oven is broken?  I did?  Well, it's still broken.  Grilled chicken with citrus herb marinade (using the leftover herbs from Friday, which are kind of on their last legs but not ooky yet), asparagus ($0.97 at HEB, what?!) in the microwave steamer with some lemon pepper and a little butter.  Maybe a salad.  Maybe not.  Um, let me just tell you that we may be using that marinade on everything including desserts for the rest of our lives.  That garlic and citrus kicked that chicken's ass.  Had asparagus as described, spinach/apple/sliced almond/feta salad.  AND some corn muffins I found in the freezer, which I heated up in foil ON THE GRILL.  Girlfriend don't need no oven.  

Sunday 3/4
Burgers on the grill at my sister-in-law's place, dill potato salad, black bean salad (my contribution) and birthday cake.  Chocolate.  Yum.

Saturday 3/3
Pre-Symphony fruit and cheese for my mother--in-law's birthday.  Beautiful performance!

Friday 3/2
Ina's herb-marinated skirt steak (link is in main post), crock pot baked potatoes (weird, but OK), salad, and ice cream sandwich cake.  Super fun and all the more so because of the week we had.

Thursday 3/1 (or 2/30 if that's how you roll)
Because things couldn't get any better, turns out there was a track meet.  Leftover skirt steak (G).  Leftover quiche.  And chips and salsa.  And a mini ice cream sandwich. And a nutter butter.  Okay, two.  Whatever.  I'm really tired.

Wednesday 2/29
Marinated, grilled skirt steak sandwiches on ciabatte with arugula salad.  Freaking awesome.  And even more awesome with lunch today.  Would have been awesomer if I had remembered the arugula salad with balsamic dressing.  Instead had mixed salad from the school lunch line.  Not bad, but not arugula.

Tuesday 2/28
Leek and greens quiche.  At 8:30 at night.  Because the band directors have figured out that the middle school parents haul ass as soon as their kids are done and have started putting them in the middle of the program.

Monday 2/27
Garlic chicken thighs from crock pot with juices reduced to make gravy, garlic parsley egg noodles, and broccoli.  Not bad.  Would have been better if my oven and stove had not shut down in the middle of preparing not one night's meal, but two.  Doh!

Sunday 2/26
Spaghetti with meat sauce for kids and T.  I was at a fundraiser for my nephew's school.  At which they served Salt Lick BBQ, which I ate.  Because I was raising funds.

Saturday 2/25
Bacon cheeseburgers (really!) - had some super-lean organic sirloin and some low-sodium bacon that needed to be used.  Frozen sweet potato fries, salad on burger.  Not bad at all.  Not Hut's.  Or Dan's.  Or Whataburger.  Or really, anywhere with a deep fryer.  But still.

Friday 2/24
Giada's Ligurian Fish Stew, over rice, with biscuits.  We decided there were enough vegetables in the soup.  Jenn did it.  We had mint tea for dessert.  That's green.

Thursday 2/23
Track meet - Amy's frozen spinach pizzas.  Probably at 9:30 pm.  The first track meet is always a slow march to Bataan.

Wednesday 2/22
S is incredibly overtired after two sleepovers in one weekend, and track, and staying up too late reading, and honestly from being 14.  She started to cry when I picked her up from track, fell immediately to sleep, and cried again when I woke her up to go to tutoring.  She cried again when she returned from tutoring because she didn't finish all her homework and still doesn't understand how to do it, etc., etc.  I had to think fast.  When in doubt, bacon.  Emergency dinner Rx = pancakes, bacon and scrambled eggs.  That did the trick.  For about 10 minutes.  And then I had to do high school algebra.

Tuesday 2/21
Leftover chicken from Sunday, pasta, spinach.  I'm typing this one in advance - we'll see how it goes.  Ended up using some leftover broccoli instead of spinach.  Boiled pasta, heated some oil and sauteed garlic, then added cooked chicken and cooked broccoli.  Tossed with pasta and added parmesan cheese.  The girls loved it - a lot.  I thought it was okay.

Monday 2/20
Peanut butter and jelly sandwich.

Sunday 2/19
Flat chicken (grilled chicken butterflied up the backbone and grilled open), roasted vegetables, salad, chocolate chip cookies.

Saturday 2/18
Wheat thins, cream cheese, jalapeno jelly.  And maybe a couple of slices of turkey.  Clearly, pride is not an issue.

Friday 2/17
S has a bunch of girls over for a belated birthday sleepover.  By request, we're having Costco take and bake pizza, salad, and the $2.00 off red velvet cake.  I really did make the homemade effort with the strawberry cake for her real birthday.  It is possible that cake is not one of my talents.  I'm not giving up, but I'm taking on a healthy dose of realism.

And yes, if you're keeping track, that's pizza twice in four days.  Don't judge.

Thursday 2/16
So, you know those times when you get together with friends and it seems like the food was absolutely amazing, but it may just have been that you love the people you were with so much that it made the food good no matter what?   Tonight was like that.  Only, I think the food pretty much rocked, too!  Flaxseed chips with yogurt horseradish sauce (thanks, S), Daube a la Provencale (French pot roast), parmesan polenta, salad with apples, candied pecans, and pickled onions (thanks, D), cornbread (thanks, C), roasted root vegetables (thanks, V), and chocolate dipped mandarin slices (thanks, R.  Sorry I ate 15 of them).  What a great night!

Wednesday 2/15
So, if you've been following along, you'll know that I was on a diet of liquid foods and lemon drops today.  For the kids, chili potatoes (baked potato topped with chili, frozen from Super Bowl Sunday).  For T and me, potato soup.  With cheese.  That's all.  Okay, and a little bacon.  Chopped up really small.  So I didn't have to chew.

Tuesday 2/14 Happy Valentine's Day
Homemade pizzas.  I could lie and tell you they were heart shaped.  But I won't.  For the dough, Barefoot Contessa's pissaladiere recipe.  Central Market marinara sauce which, for the record, was not all the way to moldy, and fresh mozzarella which, for the record, was only a couple of days past its expiration date.  We all survived.

Monday 2/13
Brisket enchiladas.  Which sounds way more impressive than it is.  Brisket was frozen from Christmas.  And I used Pioneer Woman's Simple, Perfect Enchiladas recipe to doctor the sauce and added the can of green chilis to the brisket.  Waaaaaay worth the little extra effort to jazz up the canned stuff.  And I didn't even roll them - I just stacked them.  It sounds fancier to call them New Mexico style, but really, I'm just to lazy to roll them.  With FF refried black beans and a salad.

Sunday 2/12
Wicked!  No. Not Sean Penn.  We're off to the Broadway (well, not really) show!  Frozen egg rolls and sesame noodles.  Again.  I didn't say it was going to be pretty.

Saturday 2/11
One child out, the other outside in the cold.  Grilled chicken marinated in balsamic vinaigrette, roasted red peppers and cauliflower, and Eureka!  sweet potato fries.  From the freezer!  I gotta own it.  I don't like sweet potatoes - starches shouldn't be sweet.  They should be crisp and salty and deadly, like a parmesan polenta or potato chips.  But I know the way the wind blows.  The sweet potato is much better for you, full of vitamins, blah, blah.  Saw the Alexia Sea Salt and Black Pepper fries in the freezer at the Sunflower Market (go there).  They were great.  Will admit that I had to have a little ketchup with them, but I could learn to like them.  What do you know?  A new chapter.

Friday 2/10
The darker side of not eating out.  T had a bowl of cereal.  I had microwave nachos and a bunch of wine.  Discuss.

Thursday 2/9
Chicken/mozzarella ravioli (Costco) and homemade spaghetti sauce (freezer).  Quick weeknight meal.  I had a meeting.

Wednesday 2/8
Quiche - love, love, love quiche.  Easy way to get greens into your diet.  Because everything is edible if you pack it in a pie shell and flavor it with a little bit of bacon.  Bacon makes everything better. Arugula salad with apples and feta

Tuesday 2/7
Italian Wedding Soup from Ina Garten (Barefoot Contessa).  The most delightful combination of baked chicken meatballs, pasta, and greens.  Happiness in a bowl.  More on my complete and total love affair with Ina coming soon.

Monday 2/6
Calzones from Tony's Pizza for S's birthday.  Really nice that we get two celebrations in two weeks, but it's a long, slow slog til our first out of town trip on March 9th.

Sunday 2/5
Homemade chili, 7-layer dip (thanks to my sister-in-law), chips, queso, wings (didn't make those but T's concession to the Super Bowl), homemade strawberry cake and strawberry frosting for S.

Saturday 2/4
Mall with G, an adventure fraught with potential danger, but which ended up being really fun.  Got home so late, but had managed to thaw a quart of Ina's Tomato Basil soup, and what do you have to have with tomato soup?  Grilled cheese sandwiches!  And the rest of the caesar salad from Wednesday.

Friday 2/3
Spaghetti with tomato/chicken basil sausage sauce (frozen and thawed), sauteed/steamed chard and mustard greens with garlic.

Thursday 2/2
Chinese night!  Again!  A very rough approximation of The Pioneer Woman's sesame noodles and egg rolls from the Costco.  See a pattern here?

Wednesday 2/1
Make and bake pizza and caesar salad from the Costco.  It wasn't prepared for me in a restaurant, but I realized that this skirted the very, very edge of being against the rules.  But I was totally out of food, had been to two practices and math tutoring, and was still at the Costco at 6:45 at night.  What can you do?  I figured it wasn't any different from a frozen pizza, which does require you to think about whether you want it or not, requires you to heat up the oven and follow some directions, and requires you to get out a plate and do some dishes.  So I'm going to say that it's okay.  Might be a little bit judge, jury, and executioner, but what the hell.  It's good to be the king!

Tuesday 1/31
Roasted bone-in chicken breasts and something else.  A totally unforgettable meal.  So unforgettable that I've forgotten what we had with the chicken.  Some nights you're the superstar, some nights you're the paparazzi in the back row.  Whatevs.

Monday 1/30
Good Lord!  For the second week in a row, the basketball game lasted forever.  Happily, I had planned on leftovers anyway.  Made fresh tortillas (um, how many days in a row is an addiction?) and heated up the mexican rice and carnitas from Friday.

Sunday 1/29
Happy Anniversary!  Went out for Chinese.  Because I had a gift card.

Saturday 1/28
Peanut butter and jelly sandwiches.  I'm not kidding.  They had homemade strawberry jam, does that help?  No?

Friday 1/27
Carnitas.  In the crock pot.  Yum.  Not just yum, but amazing yum.  Even more amazing yum if you shred the meat and put it in a pyrex casserole, strain the juice and pour the juice halfway up the meat in the pyrex, and stick it in the oven on 400 until the meat tops are brown and the juice has evaporated.  It's an extra step - not essential but give it those crispy edges.  And homemade tortillas which I've never done before.  This is why you need to have friends over for dinner every once in a while.  It forces you to challenge yourself.  And clean the bathroom.

Thursday 1/26
I was down one child tonight.  Sounds like this should be a little easier, right?  S and I went to her basketball game and stayed for unexpected concession stand duty.  Don't get me started on concession stand duty.  So, the planned, lovely pasta and greens turned into spaghetti with butter, parmesan cheese and pepper.  Since it wasn't Biggest Loser Night, I had to add a vegetable, so I just stirred a half a container of baby spinach into the pasta with the butter.  It was mighty swell.

Also had a very successful day canning tomatillo salsa.  More on that later.

Wednesday 1/25
Math tutoring night!  Wednesdays are always a challenge as the kids' math tutoring, which can't start until after tennis and basketball/track/tennis practice, doesn't end until 7.  And it's in town.  So, Wednesday dinner have to be either quick or make-ahead.  Tonight's was quick, and it's an old favorite - tortilla soup.

Tuesday 1/24
So, last night we had chili dogs - the chili we had a few weeks ago.  Made double and froze the leftovers.  Whole wheat hot dog buns and uncured beef hot dogs.  Tuesday nights don't even start until after basketball practice, another regular appointment, and drum lessons.  Some days, I pull it together in time to have something hot waiting when we get back.  Some days, it's chili dogs.

And here's the dirty little secret:  On Tuesdays, no vegetable.  Because it's Biggest Loser night, and we're sticking it to the man.

Monday 1/23
Tonight, I had tennis and the girls were babysitting, but I was able to make dinner before we all went our separate ways.  I made this sauteed catfish, which had I actually followed the recipe might have been really good.  I forgot to add the lemon juice to the sauce, which made it very, very rich with the already coated fish.  I also didn't have pecans, so used walnuts.  The girls loved it.  I served it with steamed green beans and roasted peppers and onions.