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50 day challenge : day 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17… (recipe: Tasty Spinach Salad)

Can you tell that I’m trying to get outside more and on the computer less this summer??

Day 11 :

The girls and I (and Averhy’s friend Lizzie) spent most of the afternoon at Pontious Berry Farm in White Heath – a gorgeous day, just perfect for blueberry picking!! The girls did a great job staying focused for a while (Lizzie counted as she picked, and got up to 404 berries!) and then had fun playing on the little playset there while I finished filling our pails.  We ended up with exactly 6 pounds of berries — about 18 cups!  Then the girls enjoyed feeding the ponies and horses before we headed home.

Breakfast : orange juice and blueberry-pomegranate juice; yogurt with 1 banana, blueberries, and flax seed; coffee with half and half and creamer

Lunch : ham and egg salad (1 egg, 1/2 c. cottage cheese, 1/4 c. chopped ham); leftover sweet potato fries; a handful of Aunt Helen’s New Ginger Cookies; water

Snack : fresh-picked blueberries!

Dinner : jalapeno polish sausage with guacamole; leftover broccoli salad; a handful of Aunt Helen’s New Ginger Cookies; water

Bedtime snack : milk; a few more ginger cookies

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Day 12 :

A hot one today… another great day for a visit to the pool I think!

Breakfast : scrambled eggs with ham, cheese, and guacamole; blueberry-pomegranate juice; coffee with creamer and half & half

Lunch : um…. I can’t remember!

Dinner : Paleo Pizza with avocado, garden tomato, sausage, olives

Bedtime cheat : ice cream with natural peanut butter

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Day 13 :

We had a great evening with our friends from small group, enjoying a hot and muggy evening and loud fireworks at the Tolono Fun Days!

Breakfast : omelet with avocado, ham, cheese, onion; blueberry-pomegranate juice; coffee

Snack : a delicious peach from the Farmer’s Market!

Lunch : a big bowl of peaches, strawberries, blueberries, and bananas

Dinner : bunless cheeseburger; spinach salad; grapes; strawberries; water; white zinfandel

Tasty Spinach Salad

2 (10 ounce) packages baby spinach, rinsed and dried
1 1/2 cups toasted, chopped pecans
8 ounces crumbled blue cheese
1 1/2 cups balsamic vinegar
1 clove garlic, crushed
2 teaspoons molasses
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
2/3 cup olive oil

Arrange spinach, pecans, and blue cheese in a bowl. In a small saucepan, warm the garlic in the olive oil to allow its flavor to diffuse into the oil. Then add molasses, vinegar and pepper. Whisking constantly, bring almost to a boil, remove from heat and cool until just warm. Pour into a shakeable container, shake and pour over salad. Serve immediately.

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Day 14 :

Breakfast : 1 breakfast bar; coffee

Lunch : 1 jalapeno brat; corn on the cob (nope, not paleo); spinach salad; fruit salad (peaches and blueberries); milk

Snack : 1 apple with natural peanut butter

Dinner : a delicious steak filet and sweet potato fries prepared by Sky… yum!

Bedtime cheat : ice cream with natural peanut butter and milk

Day 15 :

The girls and I took a quick trip up to the Chicago area today to visit my parents, and I also visited a good friend and her new son – such a cutie! In the afternoon, the girls had fun playing with their cousins Ethan and Kendall, while I picked some yummy black raspberries at Aunt Di’s house.

Breakfast : 2 breakfast bars; a handful of dried apricots and cashews; coffee

Lunch : a ham & swiss on rye (not paleo, I know); grapes; water

Dinner : Yummy Cakes; boiled zucchini (which was surprisingly good!! Reminds me of corn on the cob…); milk

Bedtime snack : yogurt with blueberries and black raspberries

Day 16 :

At 3:38am, I got the phone call that I’ve been waiting for… for about 2 weeks now… that Megan’s water broke and she was headed to the hospital!  So I loaded up the (sleeping) girls into the van and headed north to the Morris Hospital to meet Megan, Rob, and Vicky (after enjoying the sunrise as we drove, and then dropping off the girls at Julie’s house to play for the day).  It was a long day of waiting, but finally a bouncing baby boy entered the world at 3:39pm!!

Breakfast : 2 cups of coffee, an apple, 2 breakfast bars, green tea

Lunch : salad with chicken, cucumber, pepperoncini, onion, tomato; water

Dinner : pizza (yup, cheated.)

Day 17 :

Knew that today was going to be another day of waiting… this time waiting for Gary to arrive from London so we could get some family pics… so the girls and I decided to head over to the Brookfield Zoo with Mema, where we met Melanie and the cute kiddos she babysits (Gigi and Theo).  It was a gorgeous day and the kids had fun walking around and seeing the animals – especially the seals, gorillas, and elephant.  In the gorilla exhibit, we read about an incident back in 1996 when a little boy fell into the gorilla pen and was “rescued” by a gorilla — and that was on Averhy’s mind the rest of the day. Literally ALL DAY – it was the first thing she told Sky about when we got home around 7:30pm!  Hopefully she won’t have nightmares about it tonight… we just kept reminding her that it was a happy ending!

Breakfast : 1 breakfast bar, strawberries, yogurt, orange juice

Lunch : tuna salad, strawberries, pineapple, cheese, green tea

Dinner : feta-olive burgers topped with avocado on a coconut-flour bun, broccoli, carrots, sugar snap peas, milk

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