Might just have to wait...

So, I know I have been slacking lately, but I do have quite a few recipes that need to be typed up and shared with some pictures. Unfortunately, in the later part of my pregnancy, I suffered from a little lack of motivation. I promise I will get better, but I might take it a little slow for a few weeks. The reason? Our new "Baby J" joined our family a couple of weeks early and I'm not sure how this whole "mother of two" thing will work for a while. I will be back though. In the meantime, if you have or find any great recipes, share them with me so I have a good list of things to try.

Asian Spinach Salad

Mmm...this was delicious. The flavors all together with the chicken and pasta made the perfect summer pasta salad. I was thinking this would be an easy something to bring to a potluck, but it also made the perfect main dish for dinner. Little B ate it pretty well and the Hubby and I gobbled it down. I found the recipe on This Week for Dinner, a new favorite cooking blog. Here's the link. Thanks for sharing Jane! I just made some minor modifications because of what I had, but nothing big. The recipe is below, with the things I did, or you can just follow the original. It's so good so you really should try this!

ASIAN SPINACH SALAD

For salad, toss together:

1 small bag of spinach
8 oz. bowtie pasta (cook, strain, cool)
2-4 Tbsp. Sesame seeds
1/2 C. Sunflower seeds
1 can sliced water chestnuts
3 chicken breasts – season heavily with lemon pepper, grill and cut into bite size pieces (I get really big chicken breasts from my grocery store, so I just cut up one of those, about 3/4 lb) (I also cooked it on the stove with a little cooking spray and lemon pepper, worked great!)
1 C. bean sprouts (I accidentally bought alfalfa sprouts, but I think they worked great)
(As to Jane's suggestion, I added about 3 green onions fresh from my garden and I think that really added to the goodness!)

Dressing:
(There was a bit of dressing left over in the bottom of the bowl once we were done, so next time I might try halving it to see if that will work)

1/2 C. Canola oil
1/2 C. sugar
1 tsp salt
1 tsp sesame oil
3 Tbsp soy sauce
2 Tbsp Seasoned Rice vinegar (unseasoned works too)
1/2 tsp sesame SEED oil
1 tsp grated fresh garlic
Mix all dressing ingredients and pour over salad. Store in refrigerator. It was good room temperature and chilled as leftovers the next day.
ENJOY!

Lime Fajitas

These were so good and refreshing! I loved the lime. My whole family ate them right up. I found this recipe on my friend's blog Erica's Pantry. Here's the link to the recipe.
I followed her recipe pretty closely, having to use the frying pan with a little cooking spray to cook the chicken and veggies. Try these! You won't be disappointed!

Cheeseburger-Zucchini Pie

I grew up eating cheeseburger pie made from the recipe on the back of the Bisquick box. It has been years since I had it and when I found this recipe, it looked so delicious to me. I like any recipe that has been made a little bit healthier by adding vegetables. I think my Little B even had seconds (amazing for him). I found the recipe on parents.com. I made some slight changes, so you can either use the recipe below, or just use the one at the link above.

CHEESEBURGER-ZUCCHINI PIE

Ingredients:

3/4 pound lean ground beef (I used ground turkey)
1 medium onion, peeled and chopped
1 medium zucchini (about 6 ounces), shredded
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1 cup shredded Italian cheese blend (again, I just used what I had on hand, colby jack)
1/2 cup heart-healthy reduced-fat biscuit mix (I found one the Jiffy makes, and it's a little less expensive than Bisquick)
1 cup milk
2 eggs

Directions:

Heat oven to 400°. Spray a 9-inch pie plate with nonstick cooking spray.

Spray a large nonstick skillet with nonstick cooking spray; heat over medium-high heat. Crumble in ground meat. Stir in onion and zucchini and cook for 6 minutes, or until cooked through, stirring occasionally. Season with salt and pepper. Spread beef mixture into the prepared 9-inch pie plate. Sprinkle the cheese over the top.

In a medium-size bowl, whisk together the biscuit mix, milk and eggs until smooth. Pour mixture over beef mixture.
Bake at 400° for 25 minutes or until a knife inserted in the center comes out clean. Allow to cool for 5 to 10 minutes. Cut into 8 wedges and serve.

Homemade Taco Shells

I can't believe I never thought of this before. Such a great idea and so much tastier than the store-bought shells. They also didn't break as easily. I found the idea here on Eating Well's website, or you can follow my modified recipe below.


HOMEMADE TACO SHELLS

Ingredients:

12 6-inch corn tortillas
Canola oil cooking spray
3/4 teaspoon chili powder, divided
1/4 teaspoon salt, divided


Directions:

Preheat oven to 375°F. Wrap 4 tortillas in a barely damp cloth or paper towel and microwave on High until steamed, about 30 seconds. Coat both sides with cooking spray; sprinkle a little chili powder and salt on one side.

Drape each tortilla over a panel on a baked-taco rack and bake until crispy and brown, 7 to 10 minutes. (They had a tip in case you didn't have a taco rack, like me, and here it is: You prepare the tortillas the same way, and then drape them over two bars on your oven rack. You might want to remove the rack and spray it with cooking spray first, which made it easier to remove them. Also, 7-10 minutes was a little long for my oven, just keep a close eye on them.)

Remove the shells from the rack and repeat the steaming a cooking with the remaining 8 tortillas.

No-Bake Macaroni and Cheese

Who doesn't love Mac and Cheese? The stuff from the box is easy, but I prefer homemade. I found this recipe on Eating Well's website, here's the link. My husband isn't a big fan of broccoli, so I put in cauliflower instead. It tasted pretty good. If I try it again I might try to find something to spice it up a little, but it was a good basic recipe.

(sorry about the low quality picture!)

Light Spaghetti Pie

This was pretty good. Maybe my family won't agree, but I don't think it was good enough to add to my list of regulars. There were some good elements to it and I'm not sure what it was that bugged me, but my family said it was good, so maybe you should give it a try and tell me what you think, or what changes you would make. I got it off of parents.com and here's the link.

Lemony Chicken and Orzo

I have been wanting to try this recipe for a long time! I actually had it scheduled for a while ago, but then half way through cooking ran into a road-block that I don't care to share. I was really good though. If you really like the taste of lemon, this is perfect. If you don't like it really strong, just add less. I used the full amount, but I think it would be good either way, depending on my mood. I got this one, again, off parents.com and here's the link. I didn't really make any changes, just cut the chicken down to about half of what it said. Try it and let me know what you think.