I love looking at recipes. We eat pretty much the same thing each week, but browsing recipes is one of my favorite pastimes. Thank goodness for Pinterest. What did a nursing mother do before the invention of the internet or smartphones!? We pretty much eat the same thing every week, but I’ve been trying to get a little bit more creative in the kitchen by using recipes that use the ingredients we purchase at the store on a weekly basis. I’d love to have smoked salmon with lemon-grilled asparagus alongside truffle-garlic mashed potatoes for dinner every night… but we’d rather save up $$ for vacations (and college), so we keep it simple.

Recipes We’ve Made (and liked)

Let’s start with cookies, shall we? I made a double batch of Peas & Thank You Totally Oatmeal Scotchies for our small group last week.

My cookies were not as pretty, but boy were they tasty.

• TIP: refrigerate your dough for at least 30 min before baking. I baked in batches and the last batch (that had been in the fridge the longest) was the least crumbly!
• TIP: don’t use thicker types of rolled oats (i.e. Trader Joe’s GF oats). I made a second batch with TJ’s oats and while they delicious, they are also a crumbly mess. The quick cooking Kroger brand oats (not instant and also not GF) held together better.

Last Sunday, I made a huge batch of Brittany’s Vegetable Lentil Soup.

It is everything I love in a lentil soup- hearty, warm and filling. Great job, Brittany!

We have also made this White Chicken Chili twice! It’s delicious with a squeeze of fresh lime!

This Chopped Winter Salad recipe from Real Simple is stellar. With chunks of sweet roasted butternut squash and salty feta cheese and kalamata olives, this salad is satisfying and packed with flavor.

I’ve been experimenting with 2-ingredient Banana Pancakes ever since I saw them on the Carrots ‘n Cake blog.

My favorite combo is 1 medium to large Banana [mashed], 1 Egg + 1 Egg White [beaten], a pinch of Baking POWDER, and cinnamon to taste. Mix your “batter” well. Heat a pan over medium-high heat, add some fat (cooking spray, butter or my favorite- Coconut Oil) and cook for 3-5 minutes on the first side (the top should have tiny little bubbles and should be pretty much set), and cook on the second side for 2-3 minutes. Serve with peanut butter. YUM

Recipes to Try

• Vegan, Sugar-Free Carrot Ice Cream. I’m looking for excuses to break out the ice cream maker…
• Wild Rice Salad with Miso Dressing we need more miso in our lives, STAT. And just take a minute to browse through the posts on Sprouted Kitchen- BEAU-TI-FUL.
• Butternut Squash Baked Ziti from my mommy friend Nicole at Making Good Choices.

I’m going to go eat some more cookies (seriously) while I browse Pinterest for dinner ideas! I’m guessing we’re not actually going to be eating anything new for dinner tonight, but at least I’ll have more dinner inspiration, right?

Do you have any recipes that you want to make? What are some of your go-to recipes? 

Cooking actual meals hasn’t been a regular activity in our house in quite some time. I’ve had quite the range of aversions during this pregnancy. Saturday was the first time in nearly 2 months when I ate peanut butter and had some coffee (decaf). For a few weeks, I lived off of potatoes, dry cereal and cottage cheese. Vegetables and fruits were MIA for a while, and the smell of garlic made me cringe. When the aversions were at their peak, preparing the “raw” ingredients to cook a meal was completely unappealing. While the end product sounded good, I had absolutely NO desire to actually make the meal. I ate almost an entire pack of (nitrate free) bacon one week, and I made the same sandwich (cheese, tomato, bacon, mustard) 4 times in that week. As the weeks have passed, the aversions have lessened, and my appetite has returned to a more “normal” place.

In honor of a returning appetite and a desire to feed this growing baby well, I have made a return to cooking!!! And, in honor of spring break, Daniel is actually able to help me eat some of the meals! (Usually, he eats lunch and dinner on campus because he gets free meals for working ON campus.)

On Saturday, I made Kalyn’s Stuffed Cabbage Casserole that was posted on Skinnytaste.com

I subbed ground turkey for the ground beef, and only put cheese on half (I didn’t really think the cheese added too much in terms of flavor). We made the entire recipe (10 servings) and froze half! I’m glad to have a nutritionally balanced meal waiting for me in the freezer if I’m ever short on time!

On Sunday morning, I whipped up some Gluten Free Buckwheat Pancakes that Angela posted at Oh She Glows.

I made a few subs in this recipe as well: I used canned pumpkin in place of the mashed banana (about 1/4c.), I used 1% milk instead of almond milk, I used 2TB of sugar in place of the maple syrup, and I didn’t add vanilla bean or blueberries. These pancakes were DELICIOUS! Daniel thought they had that “gluten free taste”, but he agreed that the texture was pretty good! No more hockey-puck pancakes, yay!!

On Monday, I’m making another Skinnytaste.com recipe, Chicken, Shittake and Wild Rice Soup.

The only substitutions I’m making in this recipe are: omitting the flour (I’ll see how thick it is, I may do a cornstarch thickener at the very end if it needs a little bit of oomph), and I’m using baby Portabella mushrooms (sauteed with the onion) in place of Shiitake (they were $2 cheaper at the grocery store).

I’m planning on making a grilled Miso-Talapia recipe with grilled asparagus, and if anything is photo worthy, I’ll post it! We’re happy to be eating more normal meals, I pray that my appetite stays normal and that my aversions continue to subside!

Have a great week!

Hope you all had a wonderful weekend! We had a great weekend at the Cooper house.

Daniel took Silas to the dog park on Friday, Silas got muddy, and Daniel gave him a bath. What a great husband! On Saturday, Daniel and I went to Kentucky Fit Club with the lovely Ashley. We did Insanity: Pure Cardio. I was pretty mad that ShaunT didn’t let us stretch our calves, at all. Considering most of the moves were done on the balls of our feet, I thought it was RUDE that we didn’t get adequate stretching!

After showering and grabbing lunch, I headed to the grocery. Does anyone want to read about meal-planning? We stick to a pretty tight budget ($50-60 per week), so meal planning is an ESSENTIAL part to each week. Here’s what we’re having this week:

• Black Eyed Peas, Pork & Kale (made this tonight, TONS of leftovers!)
• Vegetarian Enchiladas (loosely based off of this recipe)
• Frittata of some type (probably broccoli-cheese)
• 2 Do-it-Yourself Dinners
• Leftovers

I make other things throughout the week (roasted sweet potatoes, broccoli soup, broiled tofu, rice, etc.), but I always try to cook at least 2 new recipes each week so that we don’t get too bored.

Anyways, back to our weekend fun. I had a special blog-related “assignment”, and that post will be coming later this week! Here’s a sneak peek:

Daniel and I also had a date night complete with Kroger sushi!

We also went out to see Crazy, Stupid Love at the $1 theater. AND we got Orange Leaf afterwards, YUM.

Sunday was filled with church, life group, photo editing, belly rubs (for Silas), and delicious food!

I also forgot to mention, we got a DISHWASHER last weekend from our neighbors! I can’t even begin to explain how excited I am to not have to stand at the sink for 20 minutes each night (or for an hour on the weekends because we put off doing the dishes…)

This will be the final post about our St. Louis adventure. Did you miss a post about our trip?

• A post including an awesome WORKOUT that we did in St. Louis!
• What a Weekend! (Post about our trip to the ZOO!)
• St. Louis Trip- The Dogs
• St. Louis- The Schlafly Experince

Let’s recap some of the delicious things we ate on our trip to St. Louis.

For lunch on Friday, we decided to stop at the Jay C Food Stores Grocery in Princeton, Indiana. Jay C is a division of Kroger, so we were happy to see many familiar brands (and prices!)

We bought a “Manager Special” loaf of Udi’s Gluten Free Whole Grain Bread. ($4.59 marked down to $1.90? YES PLEASE! However, I should keep a $1 off Any Udi’s Product Coupon in my purse- this loaf would have cost under a dollar!)

We also bought a bit of Lemon Pepper Turkey and some Farmers Cheese at the deli.  We tossed a couple of packets of mustard and ketchup into our bag from the salad bar, and we also picked up some awesome neon-colored Gatorade G2 drinks. We had bananas and peanut butter in the car to round out the meal!

We ate on a flat rock that was outside of the Jay C’s parking lot. Classy. Silas enjoyed a few bowls of water, and we all had a lovely picnic lunch!

Friday night was our first night in St. Louis, and we were all pretty hungry when we headed to Schlafly for dinner.

Breakfast on Saturday morning was light, since Tyler, Daniel and I wanted to get in a workout at the playground at Lafayette Park. We had a “second breakfast” before we headed to the St. Louis zoo on Saturday afternoon.

We should have brought some more snacks along with us on our zoo trip, we were all pretty darn hungry after visiting with all of the animals!

A trip to Trader Joe’s was a must- we stocked up on some bananas, peanut butter, 2 Buck Chuck and some chocolate for our personal snack stash. And because Trader Joe’s is awesome- we had numerous free samples including: hot coffee, a free WINE TASTING, and some other yummy things that I can’t remember…We also hit up another grocery, Dierbergs, for the rest of the supplies for lunches and dinners.

On Saturday night, Tyler and Emily made Grecian Steak- thin cuts of Sirloin seared with Greek Spices and Olive Oil, topped with Feta and Olives. We had the Grecian steak alongside some blanched green beans and a glass of red wine.

However, before the delicious meal was served some high-class munching occurred- some homebrewed beer (made by Tyler and Emily’s friend) and a cheese tasting featuring Manchego Cheese and a Garlicy Salami from Trader Joe’s.

On Sunday morning, before we headed to church at The Journey (an Acts 29 Church), Tyler had a biscuit craving and he whipped up some delicious homemade biscuits. However, because biscuits are full of gluten, I happily dug into my bowl of oatmeal. We had a wonderful time worshipping together at The Journey, and we had a wonderfully relaxing Sunday. We spent time napping, we spent time by the pool as the boys talked theology, and we had a delicous dinner that I forgot to photograph.

Emily and Tyler made us quick and easy Black Bean Tostadas, but I think everyone would agree that the highlight of the meal was Jack’s Special Fresh Salsa. DELICIOUS.

I think that’s a pretty good wrap up of the meals that we had with our friends- but stay tuned for a delicious Vegetarian Chili recipe tomorrow! One huge last thank you to Tyler, Emily and Apollo for a memorable trip to St. Louis!

I read a good number of blogs. I get a LOT of recipe ideas from those blogs, but rarely do I ever make what the other bloggers make. Why not? Usually, I don’t have enough of the ingredients on hand. Additionally, I usually opt to get “staples” instead of fancy ingredients on my weekly grocery trip. Being on a tight grocery budget isn’t necessarily fun, but this week, some of my favorite bloggers posted delicious and economical eats! If you don’t care about recipes, scroll down to the bottom of the post for some silly zucchini squash pictures!

First up- “Roasted Pesto Potatoes” from Chelsey at Clean Eating Chelsey

Chelsey posted this recipe for pesto from another lovely blogger named Jenna at Eat, Live Run- so I clicked on over to Jenna’s site to check it out.

Here’s how we made our pesto:

Basil Pesto

Ingredients

• Big bunch of basil- about 1 cup, packed
• 2 garlic cloves (mmmm stinky!)
• 2 TBSP white miso (check out Jenna’s post for why miso makes this GREAT!)
• 3 “parsley ice cubes” (which I think equals like 1 full tablespoon of chopped parsley)
• 2 TBSP nutritional yeast

Directions

Put everything into a food processor and let it whir! Scrape down the sides as needed, add water as needed until you get the desired thickness!

I then followed Chelsey’s directions for roasting the potatoes- here’s our final product!

Another one of my favorite bloggers is Mama Pea over at Peas and Thank You. Mama Pea is always whipping up super healthy meals for her husband and two ADORABLE girls. Just to show you a glimpse of the “Pea-family”- here is one of the girls, Lulu singing “BAH BAH PICKLE”. (it’s the second video- although the first video is wonderful as well!)

Mama Pea has a recipe series called “Recipe Makeover” where she remakes a recipe that a reader requests! This week’s recipe? A remake of Trader Joe’s Spicy Black Bean Dip.

Click on over to see all of the step-by-step instructions- here’s what our version looked like (I seriously need some better blogging plates/bowls…)

I’ve got a few other recipes up my sleeve for this week (Cooper Originals!), but we’ll see how they actually turn out.

We’ve had a bit of “zucchini overload” this summer. I love zucchini, but we just can’t manage to eat EVERY veggie that comes off of that plant! Enter- OPERATION FREEZE:

Then, I found ANOTHER gigantic zucchini in the garden, and tried to convince Silas to pose with it for a photo- I didn’t have much luck.

And THEN, after a hot and sweaty Run on Saturday night, I found this giant (and proceeded to take self-timed photos using the garbage can as my stand):

…. and we’ll be eating zucchini all week….