Good start to the weekend!

Friday night date night...

We tried MOD pizza...yummy!

Mini Mini Ben and Jerry's Cherry Garcia ice cream!

We watched some House and Breaking Bad...good times!

Broccoli Salad

I bought a lot of broccoli on sale last week. I noticed yesterday that it was still sitting in the crisper drawer, staring back at me. There was too much to just steam and eat plain (obviously I am the only one in my household who eats broccoli...), so I knew I had to take drastic measures. This called for some...broccoli salad!! I made up my recipe as I went along, using ingredients I had sitting around.

French Bread Pizza

This is not a healthy recipe, but it is super easy and really yummy. I don't think I've had french bread pizza since high school hot lunches, but it sounded really good so I thought I would make it! Great for those days you can't or won't or don't want to cook a "real" dinner (um, every day for me?!).

Teriyaki Chicken and Brown Rice

Cook some brown rice

The Best Crock Pot Turkey Chili

This is one of my favorite recipes to have for Sunday brunch with my family - it makes a lot and I always have yummy leftovers for lunches. It is also easy to make while I'm at work since it cooks for 8 hours. It makes the beans super soft, which is great because there are few things worse than crunchy beans (besides gory movies and the dentist). You can keep all the ingredients on hand -- ground turkey in the freezer and almost everything else in cans -- so another easy meal to whip up with minimal effort.

You can find the original recipe here. (I always omit the onion and no one notices, but I suppose most people would add it so I left it in...) Makes 9 servings - 260 calories each (303 grams). Serve with your favorite toppings -- cheese, cornbread, tortilla chips, etc.

Sunny Weekend

Got my hair cut on Friday!

Date night! Jeff had fish and chips and caesar salad

I had cobb salad...really good but I'm not a huge fan of blue cheese...

Today we went for a bike ride on the Burke Gilman Trail. Gorgeous day!

Easy Baked Salmon Fillets

This weekend I found some gorgeous Wild Caught Alaskan King Salmon Fillets on manager's special at Fred Meyer. I am slowly starting to get into eating more fish, since I previously have not eaten much seafood and didn't really like it. I usually go for the white fish (cod, sole, etc.), but I know salmon is very healthy and has lots of good Omega 3s and essential fatty acids, so I gave it another try. I found a super easy recipe from foodnetwork.com and cooked it up last night for dinner.

Spinach Smoothie II

One should never mess with success. My first spinach smoothie was a success, so I made another one a little different and this one a lot different. Not so good...the main problem was I got this stuff called Amazing Grass superfood powder (because it has lots of good-for-you stuff in it, so I could put it in smoothies and stuff) and it is NASTY! I thought protein powder was bad, but you can't hide this stuff! It smells like very pungent earthy lawn clippings and tastes awful. I thought a smoothie would hide it but it did not. Otherwise, I think this version of a spinach smoothie would be good. 

I used one yogurt, a banana, one scoop protein powder, frozen strawberries, and 4 cups spinach. Add water and enjoy (you won't have to plug your nose and drink it like I am...haha).

Whole Wheat Protein Pancakes

Breakfast for Dinner? I say yes! These pancakes are good for you and will leave you feeling full. Whole wheat flour and protein powder combine their forces for good...who could resist? You can also omit the protein powder if you don't have any; I'm sure they would still be filling. They are yummy too - firm from the egg but not too heavy. They would hold up well to any toppings you might come up with (be creative)! For example: peanut butter and banana, any fruit pie filling and whipped cream, butter and syrup, applesauce, etc.

Spinach Smoothie

Want to try those green superfood spinach smoothie recipes you've been seeing online, but kinda scared to? It sounds much grosser than it tastes, really. I like spinach, and I was still leery about making a smoothie with it. But I gave it a whirl (literally) and it turned out surprisingly well! It really just tasted like the fruits I added in - the banana, orange, and blueberry.

You can't even taste the spinach at all, so it doesn't give it a weird flavor or aftertaste. You could also add protein powder if you desire, but I didn't this time. I like that you use 4 whole cups of spinach for this smoothie and you barely even notice that you're eating spinach at all (just the weird color!).

 

 

Crock Pot Pork Country-Style Ribs

Mmm, so meaty!

Sometimes you just need a super-simple dinner that is ready when you get home and is warm and fills you up. That said, I am not usually much of a dinner-maker. My husband and I have cereal (or oatmeal for me) several nights a week. We both get up early (4:30 and 5 am), so we try to go to bed by 8:30 or 9 pm. I usually get home from work around 5:30 pm, so that doesn't leave a lot of time for preparing and eating a meal before bedtime. So, we eat easy-to-fix things. I sometimes make a pasta casserole or homemade pizza ahead of time, and then we have leftovers for a few lunches. But generally, we go for fast and easy on the weeknights- which this recipe is! It cooks all day while I'm at work.

Bread Machine Whole Wheat Pizza Dough

Buying a bread machine off of Craigslist was seriously one of the best decisions ever - for one reason: I can make really good (mostly) whole wheat pizza dough very easily! Basically dump all the stuff in and 90 minutes later it's ready to be put on the pizza pan, slathered in sauce, topped with cheese and whatever else, and 20 minutes later ready to eat. Couldn't be much easier! The recipe I use is a combination of two I found on food.com, modified to my liking: this one for the dough itself and this one for the spices added.

Cauliflower not included!