This week has been flying, but because I planned ahead, I’ve managed to keep things on track at the house. Smoothies have found their way into my belly each morning this week. I’m pretty comfortable in concluding that the worse a smoothie looks, the better it will taste. I have had some pretty funky looking things in my smoothie cup this week, but it has tasted soooo good!

Last night’s dinner was a success. My youngest is perennially picky. She informed me, however, that she has been liking our dinners lately [even though hers is always modified in some fashion] and making healthier choices at school. That’s major for her–I only craved junk when I was pregnant with her and it seems that was because she had a powerful sweet tooth even before she had teeth.

I made Crockpot Balsamic Glazed Drumsticks last night. I found the recipe at Who Needs A Cape? and those smarties had adapted a recipe from Mark’s Daily Apple to make it slow cooker ready.

I appreciate the effort to make an already pretty easy recipe even easier.

I marinated the drumsticks overnight, dumped them in the slow cooker in the morning and it made our dinner while I went to work.

A handful of hours later, we arrived home to some awesome smells coming from our kitchen.

And, when we cracked the lid on the crockpot, these beauties were just lazing around waiting for us to put them to good use.

My husband and I ate them as they were in the crockpot. My girls, however, became a little creative.

My youngest is not one for sauces, condiments, crazy spices or anything else resembling creativity in the kitchen. She likes her food plain, crunchy over mushy and relatively bland. Given her proclivity for turning up her nose to all things wonderful, we set aside some drumsticks for her.

They were dusted with breadcrumbs and baked in the oven.

She put together her own sides for her dinner and the end result looked pretty darned delicious.

I’m a fan when she eats the entire thing and that there isn’t much processed food on her plate to be found.

I’m sure the Progresso breadcrumbs aren’t 100% okey dokey, but the fresh fruit and corn balance out the plate.

She even seemed relatively proud of herself that she was eating something similar to what everyone else was eating and that some of us coveted her side dishes.

My older daughter also took her turn at culinary creativity.

She removed the chicken from the bone and used it to top her favorite pasta type–orzo.

She has been eating orzo since she was in a high chair. She loved orzo with carrots, zucchini and yellow squash.

I swear she’d have eaten her weight in it every day if I had let her. Had I had cauliflower ready to go, I’m sure she would have enjoyed cauliflower ‘rice’ beneath the chicken too. Come to think of it, I should have made that for myself!

She also put together a salad with Romaine, Annie’s dressing, goat cheese and strawberries. She, too, ate what she’d put on her plate and didn’t mind working the main dish into something that made her happy.

I’m happy there is fruit, veggies and chicken on her plate. Both girls expend a ton of energy at school and in their activities, so it’s nice to be able to pull together dinners they find good enough to experiment with and eat.

Tonight is Meatball Wednesday! I have a HUGE container of Paleo Crockpot Marinara waiting to envelope those little beauties. My mouth is watering just thinking about it!

YUM!