I have been really proud of myself housekeeping-mommy-being healthy-wise. In spite of house suck I have been making dinner consistently for my family, and they have been ROCKING meals at that.

When house suck is finished I am going to do a 2-week “Cleanse” and get a lot mroe hard-core about healthy eating. I will also be working out at the gym with Brigitte. Until then, I am getting used to the idea and trying to correct my thinking patterns and some of my habits so it isn’t such a shock. I have been replacing most of my grains with whole-grain varieties and trying to watch what I eat. I am also striving to make very balanced meals that my family will like, which is trickier than you would think.

My last three meals have been such a success of thrift and inventiveness, I had to share. (I know, I know…Another blog with posts about recipes. Sorry!) First off, I hate leftovers. I rarely ever end up keeping them and when I do, I often end up just throwing it out. I had an idea to make my roasted winter vegetables stretch over three meals and I DID IT!

Day 1
Marinated sirloin and gravy over long grain rice
Roasted winter vegetables (Yams, squash, carrots, red potatoes, onions and turnips)

Lunch Day 2
Soup and Turkey sandwiches on whole-grain bread with mixed greens and vinaigrette dressing
(Take the left over veggies, add chicken stock, 4 pieces of whole grain bread (To thicken it) then grind in a food mill or processor until smooth. Then add 1 can evaporated milk and 1 cup 1% milk. Heat until bubbling and serve) Not using cream and using the whole grain bread, makes this soup so much healthier.

Dinner Day 2
Cut chicken breasts into strips. Put in 3 cups wild rice into a casserole dish pour4-5 cups liquid (In this case I took the 3 cups of soup left over from lunch and 1 cup chicken stock and some water. This way I didn’t have to play around with spicing the dish.)
Cover with foil and bake on 400 until the rice is tender. Wild rice takes longer to cook, so I let mine cook for 2 hours.

It was all so freaking good and I felt awesome because I finally made use of leftovers in completely different ways.

I also made shortbread thumbprint cookies with my boys. Make a basic shortbread, refrigerate, roll them into balls, put in an eggwash, roll in coconut and then fill with assorted jams. In my case: Apricot, strawberry and blueberry.
These are NOT healthy, but the process was soothing to my soul and the boys LOVED it.
I think the “Deal” James was trying to make with Christopher is indicitive of the success of them.

“Christopher, if you let me have the rest of your cookies, I’ll do your homework for the rest of the year.”

“Ok, but only if you call me Optimus Prime and let me have your bike.”

Needless to say, I nipped that little arragement in the bud. However, they still might have come to some kind of agreement because James keeps referring to Christopher as, “Oh, Mighty One.”

Sigh.