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.