Let the school years begin...

Remember THESE? Yeah, you NEED to make them...

I can't believe I have a child entering Kindergarten this week! I'm so excited for both of our sakes. And I'm also a little sad, not to have my Ryder guy with me all day long every day. Thank goodness this is only half days. And with soccer already begun, we're entering my favorite time of the year. So as the summer months are coming to a close, here are some dinners that I feel the need to make:

*Monday: Leftover night

*Tuesday: Night before first day of school dinner -- Homemade Pizzas (tomatoes, basil & fresh mozzarella for mine, please)

*Wednesday: Chicken Pasta Salad (see recipe below)-one of my favorite things in the world...

*Thursday: Can hardly wait for these Eggplant, Zucchini & Chickpea Wraps...YUMMY!

*Friday: Camping AGAIN! We had so much fun last week, we're going for round 2. Tonight we'll make classic foil dinners. I LOVE making these, because you can personalize them so much. I'm sure Ryder will go with the normal, meat, potatoes, carrots, corn. But I usually use chicken in mine, or sometimes I go with no meat. I love to add lots of fun veggies like squash, zucchini, peppers, onions, etc. With some good sauces/seasonings, this is one of my all time favorite summer meals.

*Saturday: Leftovers

*Sunday: Black Quinoa Salad with Mangos, Avocados & Tomatoes. I love how simple and fresh this recipe looks. All basic natural ingredients thrown together to make amazing flavors.

CASHEW CHICKEN SALAD

- 5 cups medium shell macaroni, cooked
- 2 cups seedless grapes, sliced in half
- 2 cups unpeeled, diced apples
- 1 cup cashews
- 1/2 cup grated onion (or diced green onion)
- 1/2 cup green pepper
- 1 cup diced celery
- 14 oz. can pineapple tidbits, drained
- 3 cups chicken breasts, cooked and diced
- 1 cup coleslaw dressing
- 1 cup mayonnaise

Mix all ingredients together and refrigerate before serving.
*I definitely don't use 2 whole cups of mayo/coleslaw dressing. I start with just a little, and keep adding until all ingredients are coated, but I don't like mine to be as saucy as some people may like. Play around with it...in fact you could make your own healthier version--a little olive oil, apple cider vinegar, salt & pepper could be just as yummy!

Recovery week.

I hope you had a great Easter. We sure did. And as I think about it, I had some pretty darn tasty food last week. Went to Smoque downtown (absolutely heavenly. Like-there IS a Smoque is Heaven). Ate some pretty luscious Carrot Cake. Not to mention those Easter cookies, super yummy meatballs and an Asparagus tart that is SO simple AND delicious. Oh-and then there were Annie's rolls. I still need that recipe...YUM! There's no way I'll top all those tasties this week...but we have to eat. So here's what it will be:

*Monday: Easter Dinner leftovers

*Tuesday: And more leftovers...I made a whole ham! And Annie made us keep the extra rolls...darn. ;)

*Wednesday: Chicken Fajitas with guacamole

*Thursday: Tortellini/Broccoli Salad

*Friday: Baked Potatoes with veggies on top

*Saturday: Leftovers

*Sunday: Salmon with Spinach & Peppers and Trader Joe's Basmati Rice