how are these things the same?

chicken tacos.  

strawberry kabobs.  

spinach, feta, and tomato pizzas.  

peach cobbler.  

baked ziti.

any guesses?

hold on to your hats, people.  some of you may have a hard time believing this, but i cooked ALL of those items within the last few days.  yes!  me!  and, and, and - none of them came from a lean cuisine box!  i KNOW!  crazy, isn't it?  i even took a few pictures as proof to those of you who are not believing that i strayed from my summertime menu of turkey sandwiches, strawberry yogurt, applesauce, and carrots.

strawberry kabobs 

(whipped cream added by mi madre - lord knows i wouldn't have!) 

baked ziti

(and a clean kitchen?  um, yeah.  i'm AWESOME!)

and you know what else?!  i made the ziti from SCRATCH with LEFTOVERS and things in my PANTRY and i added spinach to the sauce to make it HEALTHY.  it's kind of like i've grown up.  even if it was just for the last few days.