Recipe Round-Up

Wow, if this is nesting, I wish I could nest more often - I have been a powerhouse this week, getting things done. I have gone for my morning swim every day (have I mentioned how much I love that???), gotten most of the baby clothes sorted, done oodles of paperwork, managed at least an hour of knitting on the baby's blanket each day, made some food for the freezer for after the baby arrives, done some weeding in the garden (don't worry, I use adequate protection to avoid exposing myself to germs - as a cat owner, having to be worried that other peoples' cats have used my garden as a toilet REALLY bugs me), gotten Pk registered for her summer swim lessons and music class, and even managed to have a nap each day. This is great. If only I could manage another couple of weeks of this...

Anyway, onto the food round-up. I have tried some nice recipes and would like to share:

Over the past couple of weeks, I haven't done as many new internet recipes as usual because I was trying out my new cookbook. I heard Jonni McCoy interviewed on the radio and I was curious. Her other book, Miserly Moms, gives many, many tips for saving money on family expenses. I was intrigued because she was claiming that her recipes did not involve lots of sugar, starch (which is what I usually find in recipes that are "low cost") or chicken legs (which I detest - personal thing, I don't like dark meat and I hate meat on the bone - I know, I'm weird). Being the frugal girl I am trying to be, I bought this copy second hand and it was worth it. So far, we have tried three recipes - a salmon dip (which I used in a wrap for lunch at work which was great), Boston Chicken (easy and tasted really nice, Dh really liked that one) and broccoli beef (we had that for dinner last night and really enjoyed it served with some brown rice vermicelli). The cookbook has a lot of vegetarian recipes (not something that dh is willing to try and if I am honest, lentils work for me when they are served in an Indian restaurant but aren't something I desire to do much with at home other than to make my own hummus). I plan on exploring the crockpot section - there are some yummy sounding recipes there.

As I type, I am sitting here eating my lunch, a yummy veggie wrap from Michele at Frugal Granola. I added cheese and tomato to mine and it makes a very nice lunch!

Another set of recipes that really worked for us this week came from Life As Mom. The recipes are for marinades for chicken and you freeze the chicken right in the marinades and then you can pull the chicken out, defrost and they are ready to go on the grill. I can't tell you what they taste like yet but I will say, we made up enough for 9 family dinners (Pk usually shares mine so we packed them in bags of two large chicken breasts and got three different dinners of three different marinades) and it took us about half an hour and they smell amazing. We plan on doing more of this for sure!

This one comes from Laura at Heavenly Homemakers. I like to try and do a casserole at least once a week since I am finding the my stamina gets pretty low later in the day. If I can do the cooking earlier and then just pop something in the oven, it takes away the incentive to order in (something that we have done too much of lately). This Lasagna Casserole was super easy and is the kind of thing that everyone here will eat.

I also have an amazing rhubarb custard pie that I made this week. Sadly, I got the recipe from someone's blog last year and haven't been able to find it again. It is AMAZING. I don't feel right about posting someone else's recipe, especially when I can't give credit, so if you want the recipe, feel free to contact me.

I originally found this Baked Salmon recipe on someone's blog but I haven't been able to find it again although it looks like the person who posted it used this recipe (which is the very same). We liked this a lot and it was a nice change since we have two "go to" salmon recipes and really, they are getting tired.

Finally, on the subject of fish, I don't know about you but we find it hard to know what fish is safe to eat and what should be avoided, especially since I am pregnant and we have a little one. On the other hand, we don't want to just avoid fish and miss out on the health benefits. One book that I found fascinating and helpful was Bottomfeeder: How to Eat Ethically in a World of Vanishing Seafood by Taras Grescoe. I can't recommend it highly enough. It's an interesting blend of food-travel guide and ecology guide. I learned a lot and am trying to choose fish based on his guidelines (one warning, read this and you will never look at shrimp the same way again).

Bon appetite!