Summer Recipes

I have some summer recipes to share with you, but first I have a few pictures from our day.  Today we both took the day off from work as last week was incredibly busy for us and Caleb had worked for eight straight days.  It was great to have a day where to we didn't have to be anywhere.  After a sit-down breakfast of whole-wheat blueberry pancakes, we leisurely read and did a few light chores around the house.  We had plans to work outside in the yard, but it poured rain most of the day.  Instead, we went on an umbrella walk and ended up at the library.  We took shelter there and sat down for a while browsing through the new book section.  We ended up checking out several books because we had holds to pick up, so on the walk home we carefully tried to shelter the books, which were thankfully stowed in a sturdy plastic bag.  Our clothes were pretty wet, but Micah and books arrived dry!

While Micah napped, we munched on sandwiches while watching a movie from the library on Caleb's laptop on our covered porch.  When the rain let up, Caleb planted our last garden starts (miniature bell peppers, banana peppers, basil, and cucumbers).  After a while, he disappeared with the car and came back with a surprise for me: some marked-down flowers and potting soil!  He got some ceramic pots (and one unused camping cooking pot!) out of the shed and we planted some flower pots to decorate our porch.  Caleb didn't let the rain stop him from grilling either  - here is our dinner and Micah posing with his dinner of nectarine, potato, and asparagus.

We also tried out a recipe for a light, summery
potato salad that Caleb tried as a sample at the grocery store the other day.  The recipe is posted below.  At my request, Caleb roasted some marshmallows for us over the coals in the grill - they tasted almost as good as the campfire variety!  Now, on to the recipes.

Tangy Fruit Salad
These fruits keep their shape and color well which is helpful when making the salad ahead of time, but other fruits can be substituted based on what you have on hand.  Last time I added diced mango, which was delicious (although there was lots of extra "juice").  
Strawberries, sliced (or blueberries)
Grapes, halved
Canteloupe or honeydew melon, cubed
Kiwi, sliced
6 oz container lemon flavored yogurt
Mix ingredients together and chill.

Basil Potato Salad 
I made several substitutions based on what I had on hand - see my notes.
Red potatoes, cubed and cooked (I used russets)
Shallots, chopped (I used red onion)
Fresh basil leaves, chopped
Grape tomatoes, halved (I used diced "normal" tomatoes)
Olive oil
White wine vinegar (I used plain white vinegar, although I'm sure it wasn't as flavorful)
Salt and pepper to taste
Mix first four ingredients together and add olive oil, vinegar, and seasonings to taste.  Chill before serving.

Dairy-Free Ice Cream 
Commercial dairy-free ice creams and sorbets are quite expensive, so I was pleased to find a cheaper alternative.  It is deliciously creamy!  This recipe is also a good alternative for those of you (particularly pregnant women and young children) who are concerned about consuming raw egg products traditionally found in homemade ice cream.
1 can coconut milk (full-fat)
1 1/4 cup dairy-free milk (rice or soy)
1/2 cup sugar
1 Tbs. vanilla
Whisk ingredients together in a bowl until blended, then chill for 2 hours or more before turning in an ice cream maker.  Follow manufacturer's directions for operating the ice cream maker.  After the ice cream is frozen, mix in your add ins - mint extract, candy, fresh fruit or jam, etc.  For a hard ice cream, place ice cream in the freezer for an additional several hours.  Makes one quart.

What's been cooking lately...

I've had a request from a few people to share some of my recipes.

I feel like I have spent a significant amount of time researching recipes over the past few years, but don't have much to show for it!  Anyone else feel that way?  The internet gives me way too many choices, and I usually spend more time than is necessary searching for the best version of whatever it is I want to make.

As I think back over the two years we've been married so far, I realize that my menu-planning has been through several stages. In the honeymoon stage, I fumbled my way through trying to plan recipes that would appeal to both of our tastes and mostly made recipes from my trusty recipe box that I assembled growing up.  I baked a lot of breads and desserts because that's what new homemakers do, and I packed my husband elaborate lunches that dirtied up 11 different tupperware containers of all shapes and size for one meal.  That was a fun stage, but quite time-consuming!   Once I'd settled in a little more, I started trying a whole bunch of recipes for things I had never made before that sounded delicious, frequenting blogs like The Pioneer Woman.  I turned out chicken cordon bleu, alfredo sauce, cajun chicken pasta, fried chicken, chow mein, clam chowder, and coconut cream pie.  Then I began to realize why I didn't grow up eating these dishes...I had never used so much butter or heavy cream in my life, and it started to take its toll!

Then I entered the penny-pinching stage and filled my time scouring the web for coupons, sales, and cheap recipes.  I tried my hand at planning meals by month and doing one big grocery shop a month.  By the last ten days of those months, we would be out of bread and vegetables and milk and would live on spaghetti!  This phase was followed by the morning-sickness phase (don't remember what we ate but it wasn't fancy!), the eating-healthy-because-I'm-growing-a-baby-second-trimester phase, and the I'm-always-hungry-third-trimester phase.  Once we woke up from the sleep-deprived fog when Micah was two months old, we started a healthy eating phase that we're still riding the wave of.  The past few months have had me experimenting with my diet to help pinpoint some food sensitives for Micah, so I've delved into dairy-free cooking, with some short stints of cooking without eggs, nuts, gluten, soy, etc.  It has been a challenge at times to find recipes that don't use the offensive ingredients, aren't expensive, and provide some variety.

Well, now you are thoroughly bored.  Time to move on to a few recipes.

For those of you looking for weight watcher's recipes, my favorite go-to blog is Skinny Taste.
We've liked most of the recipes we've tried from that site.  Our favorite has been
Crockpot Santa Fe Chicken.
It's flavorful (cilantro adds some zip) and reheats well.  The recipe suggests serving it over rice, but we often use it to top a dinner-size salad.
We also love the Cajun Chicken Pasta on the Lighter Side.  It is very filling and is spicy hot!  The recipe calls for light cream cheese, but I just used plain yogurt because that is what I had on hand, and it worked well both times I tried it.
The Baked Potato Soup is surprisingly delicious too...don't tell your family until after they have tried it, but most of the soup is comprised of cauliflower instead of potatoes.  We topped ours with a few fake bacon bits instead of the real bacon that is called for, and it was still yummy.  We added extra crunch by topping each bowl with a generous portion of fresh chopped onions.  This recipe calls for light sour cream, but again, I substituted plain yogurt with no ill effect.
Our least favorite recipe from this site is the Zucchini Enchiladas.  Tortillas stuffed with soggy zucchini.

Just a few nights ago, we tried this Italian Turkey Soup.  Ground turkey and italian seasoning make a delicious soup that reminds me of minestrone.  I threw in 2 cups of shredded zucchini I had in the freezer and a little pasta and it helped thicken it up.

Caleb loves BBQ pork sandwiches, but the last time we made them there was so much fat on the pork roast that I wanted to try something different.  This Pulled Chicken Sandwich recipe was pretty good and is much leaner.

For a sweet treat, we love this Banana Bread recipe.  I couldn't tell it doesn't have oil or butter in it (applesauce is used instead).

Side note: you probably know that applesauce can be used as a substitute for oil and eggs.  I've discovered it doesn't work quite as well when you are making a recipe for applesauce muffins that calls for applesauce already, and then you replace the oil and eggs called for with additional applesauce.  That is not a muffin, that is flour and applesauce combined.  The end.