Day 11

Breakfast: buttermilk waffles, Nutella, strawberries, goat cheese, blackberries, honey


Lunch: pepperoni pizza, lettuce


Snack: milk chocolate

Notes:
• Not sure if frozen pizza fits in the parameters of this challenge; does it count as eating out?
• Woke up late... again, so no dinner.

Oven Roasted Vegetables: Recipe

I have no idea if anyone would even care about the recipes for the food I've been photographing, but I figure I could throw one or two in here as they seem relevant. So...

OVEN ROASTED VEGETABLES


This is one of my favorite go-to recipes for a fast, healthy meal. It's super simple, not too messy, and endlessly customizable. I'm including below just the version of the recipe I made tonight, but I've tried this countless other ways (as described in the notes) and it's always delicious!

Ingredients:
• 6 small red potatoes
• 1/2 yellow bell pepper
• 2 medium carrots
• 3 Tb olive oil or melted butter
• kosher salt
• pepper
• paprika
• parsley
• herbs de provence

Directions:
Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Line a small rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper; pour half the oil or butter into the bottom of the pan and spread evenly around (I just use the vegetables themselves to push around any pooled oil or butter).

Chop potatoes in quarters; slice bell pepper and carrots into 1/2 – 1 inch pieces. Spread the vegetables on the pan in an even layer, making sure to put cut sides down. Brush the rest of the oil or butter on the tops of the vegetables with a pastry brush. Sprinkle with salt, pepper, and paprika. I improvised and threw a bit of parsley and herbs de provence on there too – have fun with it!

Bake for 25 - 30 minutes or until potatoes and carrots are browned and fork-tender. Serves 2 as a meal, 4 as a side-dish.

Notes:
• You can use really any vegetables in this, like zucchini, mushrooms, tomatoes, onions, etc.
• If you need to bump up the protein, slice up some breakfast sausage links into 1/2 inch chunks and throw them in with the rest before baking.
• Get creative with the spices!
• You can also modify this recipe for larger or smaller batches, as needed.

Day 10

Breakfast: strawberries, sweetened condensed milk


Snack: colby jack cheese


Lunch: potatoes, yellow pepper, carrots, mixed pasta, meat sauce


Snack: milk chocolate

Notes:
• Woke up SUPER late, so no dinner.
• I'm having ~girl cravings~ for carbohydrates like no one's business and it's really making it difficult to make good food choices.

Day 09

Breakfast: granola, raspberries, milk


Snack: raspberry yogurt pretzels


Lunch: blueberry pancakes, blueberries, maple syrup, bacon


Snack: chocolate ice cream

Notes:
• Blueberry pancakes were surprisingly tasty; I might look into other pancake add-ins.
• Again, I ate lunch so late it was basically dinner.

Recipes!!!

Pardon this interruption to our regularly scheduled meal cataloging, but I just spent way too long making this and I think it's relevant enough to post here.

Now that I'm making more food I found that I need a better way to organize my recipes. As it is, I just have a folder of bookmarks on my computer and an open computer takes up way too much counter space in an already too-small kitchen. So when we went out shopping this afternoon, I tried to find some good recipe systems, but I either found something too complicated, too simple, or too expensive. The best deal I found was $6 for 25 really ugly recipe cards which is just preposterous!

Ultimately, we came home empty handed but I was determined to make what I wanted myself and voilà! Recipe cards :D


I you want, you can download them to use yourself. I made two versions: one for printing directly on 4x6 notecards – front and back – and another for a regular 8.5x11 size paper (you cut and fold into a 4x6 size that also conveniently stands up on its own).

• 4x6 Version (Googledoc)
• 8.5x11 Version (Googledoc)

Now all I have to do is pick up a 3-ring photo album with 4x6 size clear plastic slots and I'm ready to cook :)

Let me know what you think!! I'd be more than happy to make another version, too, if you have suggestions.

Day 08

Breakfast toast, goat cheese, honey, strawberries


Lunch: cheese tortellini, meat sauce, red onions, green pepper, mushrooms, spinach, garlic bread


Snack: raspberry yogurt pretzels


Snack: corn puffs

Notes:
• First time eating out became a carb overload!
• I waited too late (and ate too much) for lunch so dinner was out.
• Go back to that organic foods store in the mall!!

Day 07

Breakfast: apple, peanut butter


Snack: popover, vanilla glaze


Lunch: summer sausage, potatoes, snap peas, red pepper, orange, sweetened condensed milk


Snack: mint chocolate cookie ice cream


Dinner: cous cous, chorizo, red pepper, lettuce

Notes:
• There has to be a way to make home-made frosting the right consistency.
• The smaller cutie oranges are tastier than the bigger mandarin ones.

Day 06

Breakfast: cinnamon sugar popovers, strawberries


Snack: milk chocolate


Lunch: hot dogs, beans, corn, tomatoes, bread


Snack: banana, Nutella


Dinner: sausage ravioli, cheese tortellini, sausage, tomatoes

Notes:
• Successful popovers were successful!!
• Pork and beans revamp = EPIC FAIL; DO NOT WANT!

Day 05

Breakfast: bread, goat cheese, honey, peanut butter, banana, blackberries


Lunch: chorizo and red pepper empanadas, lettuce


Snack: mint chocolate cookie ice cream

Notes:
• Should have toasted the bread for the goat cheese half.
• Forgot to put the cheese INSIDE the empanadas :(
• The empanadas definitely needed to bake for less than 15 minutes.
• Woke up late; no time for dinner.