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Dalton and Lillian enjoy two petit fours I brought home from work.\u00a0After putting the kids to bed, I make a cup of tea and eat a few Oreos while Dalton and I watch Friends<\/em> on the couch before bed.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n
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Tuesday: Oatmeal with Berries, Fried Eggs and a Bagel, Apple, Leftover Orange Chicken with Fried Rice, Tikka Masala and Sheet-Pan Dinner for Lunch, Pasta with Caesar Salad and Garlic Bread, and Oreos and Ice Cream<\/h2>\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n
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My body wakes up before my alarm. While sipping a cup of black coffee, I get things organized for the day. Lillian wakes up and asks for a bowl of cereal. While she eats, I make a bowl of oatmeal topped with brown sugar, pumpkin pie spice, raspberries, and blackberries. Dalton wakes up and makes coffee.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Before heading out the door, I pack a lunch of orange chicken and fried rice leftovers from Saturday, plus a Honeycrisp apple to eat as a snack. As usual, I drink another cup of black coffee while commuting to work.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Dalton waits until returning home from school drop-off before frying three eggs to eat with half of a bagel while working.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Around 10 a.m. my stomach starts growling and I remember I packed the apple from home. While more expensive than most varieties, Honeycrisp apples just taste far better than most other varieties, in my opinion.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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I work through the morning and heat up the orange chicken with fried rice around noon. The Coke Zero gives me a little extra boost to help energize me through the rest of the work day. Dalton eats the remaining tikka masala with some of the leftover chicken from last night\u2019s sheet pan dinner. We heavily rely on leftovers to make for easy lunches.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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I steep a cup of mint tea around 3 p.m. and drink it while reading a few research articles. After packing up for the day, I leave the office to head to pick up the girls at school. We go on a walk around the neighborhood before dinner. Once home, Dalton offers to cook dinner while I play \u201ckitchen\u201d with the girls upstairs.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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He cooks penne pasta with meat sauce, prepares a Caesar salad, and toasts garlic bread. I usually don\u2019t mind cooking, but it is a nice treat to have the night off. Dalton and Lillian eat a few Oreos we bought previously while I clean up the kitchen.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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I have plans to meet two friends for dessert to discuss an upcoming baby shower we are planning. We meet at a local ice cream shop and I order a coffee cookie butter ice cream in a waffle cone ($6.18). Anytime cookie butter-flavored anything is on a menu, I am sold.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Once home, I get ready for bed and regret my ice cream choice.\u00a0I am wide awake, thanks to the caffeine in the coffee-flavored ice cream.\u00a0Oops!<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Wednesday: Banana, Eggs and Toast, Leftover Pasta, Coffees and Pumpkin Bread, Pigs in a Blanket, Caesar Salad, and Leftover Apple Crisp<\/h2>\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n
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I wake up early to go for a run with one of my neighbors. The five miles fly by as we catch up and watch the sun come up. Once home, Lillian and Dalton are sitting at the kitchen table coloring and drinking milk and coffee, respectively. I eat a banana while making my first cup of coffee. Soon after, I get out a frying pan to make some eggs to eat over a slice of toasted french bread with butter.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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I work from home on most Wednesdays, so after school drop-off I return home to begin working on research. It\u2019s a productive morning of writing project updates and planning for an upcoming meeting. Before I know it, it is time for lunch. Dalton reheats leftover penne pasta for both of us to eat.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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After lunch, we decide to move our workspace to a coffee shop less than a mile from our house. I order an iced honey bun latte with oat milk, he orders a cappuccino, and we split a slice of pumpkin bread ($15.46).\u00a0The honey bun latte is extra sweet with white chocolate, cinnamon, and honey. I drink black coffee at home, but like to indulge in fancy, sweet drinks when ordering from a coffee shop. We welcome the change of scenery as we finish up work for the day.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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I don\u2019t have the commute for work today, so I pick the girls up from school a little earlier than normal and we head to the Children\u2019s Museum for about an hour before heading home. We go to a weekly bible study on Wednesday nights. For convenience, we pull out a frozen box of Parmesan pigs-in-a-blanket (previously purchased) to bake, make a Caesar salad, and call it dinner. Once the girls are asleep, Dalton and I reheat the last little bit of the apple crisp from the weekend and eat it while relaxing before bed.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Thursday: Cereal, Banana Oatmeal, Leftover Sheet-Pan Dinner, Birria Chicken with Rice and Raw Vegetables, and Oreos<\/h2>\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n
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My alarm goes off and I walk to the kitchen to make a cup of coffee. The rest of the family soon joins me and Lillian requests a bowl of Cheerios. She eats another bowl after finishing her first. She must be going through a growth spurt because she has been eating a lot more than usual.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Dalton grabs a handful of dry cereal and I make a bowl of oatmeal using one of the last remaining bananas. The banana is very ripe with the right amount of \u201cblack spots\u201d \u2014 a nice, sweet touch to the creamy oatmeal.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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I pack up my lunch for the day and head out the door to work.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Mid-morning, one of my coworkers asks me to taste a chicken patty she\u2019s been working on \u2014 let\u2019s just say some projects taste better than others. It is raining and cold outside, so I decide to stay in at lunch.\u00a0I eat reheated chicken sausage and roasted vegetables with a side of balsamic vinaigrette and basil Triscuits and an apple.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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I want something sweet after my lunch so I find some leftover Halloween candy to eat. Reese\u2019s peanut butter cups are my all-time favorite candy, followed by Twix.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Once home after work, I heat olive oil in a skillet and saut\u00e9 chicken, onions, and red bell peppers. I find a leftover jar of birria sauce from last week and decide to make tonight\u2019s meal Mexican-inspired. I cook a pot of rice and pull out tortillas in our pantry. Dalton and I eat our birria chicken over rice, while Lillian prefers to eat hers in a tortilla. Some sliced red bell pepper and an English cucumber serve as our side dish to the meal.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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After dinner, we pull out the Oreos before starting the bedtime routine with the girls.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n