For Cinco de Mayo we decided to stay in and grill some steak taco's with the goods that we scored from the farmers market this weekend. We got some beautiful grass-fed skirt steaks along with all of our fresh produce and herbs. I decided to try something new and marinade the steaks instead of doing a dry rub-we were not disappointed. I found this recipe on food.com and used both the steak marinade and the lime pickled red onion recipes.

I highly recommend these recipes. They were very easy and everything tasted so fresh.

For additional taco toppings, we also grilled some gigantic portabella mushrooms that were marinated in balsamic vinegar. And of course adobe chili sauce (we love spice), cheese, and a little arugula for some fresh greens.

I hope you all had a great weekend!

We are always looking for a new way to make pizza at home. I have previously posted a few recipes for phyllo dough pizza and grilled pizza. This new pizza is as quick and simple as it gets. Have you ever tried Flatout Flatbread Wraps? Well, the brand now makes thin crust flatbread artisan pizza. And they are delish.

We tried the Spicy Italian version and it def had a kick to it. But we love spicy, so it worked for us.

I would recommend keeping these in the fridge for when you have to make lunch or dinner on the fly. We used the grilling instructions, but if you do not have access to a grill, they can be made in the oven too!

With the days flying by and the weather finally getting nice, it is extra important to me to plan out meals to avoid eating at restaurants all the time. I usually plan 2 to 3 meals (because both the hubby and I love leftovers) and we stretch them out over the week. And of course, we try to make time for date night once a week too! Here is what is on the menu this week:

I only chose 2 meals this week because we still have a few leftovers from last week to finish. Hopefully I picked some winners-these are both new to us recipes!

Oh, and I almost forgot. Happy 6 months!

I hope everyone had a great weekend and a good Easter if you are in to that sort of thing. We broke out the grill this weekend to make it feel extra Spring-y. This post will be short and sweet. I just want to share with you the easiest fruit dip recipe ever. Pretty much everyone and their mom loves this stuff. Seriously. It is a crowd pleaser.

This was my Easter brunch contribution. Here is the dip recipe:

1-8oz tub cool whip, thawed (you can use light if you want)
1-6 oz container low fat vanilla yogurt (I used Dannon light n fit)
1-4 serving packet fat free vanilla pudding mix
1/2-14oz can of crushed pineapple in juice, drained

Mix all the ingredients together and refrigerate for a few hours. Serve with your favorite fruit and enjoy.

Side note: if you add the whole can of drained pineapple or some sliced strawberries and freeze in individual servings it makes a light ice cream-like treat that is pretty amazing (and low cal).

Time for a little Pinterest love...

Recipes first:

Tuscan Garlic Chicken

The pasta in this was delish. The chicken was just so-so. This is a very easy recipe though, I will definitely make it again, but I think I will sub shrimp in there for the protein.

Quinoa and Ground Turkey Stuffed Peppers

I love love love this recipe. Way better then my previous stuffed pepper recipe. And you will look super cool when you eat leftover quinoa in the lunchroom the next day.

I think this is super cute. I mean I can probably never pull this off, or even figure out how to tie it correctly, but I can try...

Totally making these for our little girl!

And just for fun...

Happy Wednesday!

This weekend has been a blur. We have been very busy with a bunch of house projects and then, not sure if you heard, but yesterday was St. Patrick's Day. Kind of a big deal around here since I married into an Irish family. Since I am out of commission in the drinking department, I thought I would make the food. We had:

Shepherds Pie (the recipe I showed you here)
Bangers & Mash (a recipe from Pinterest)
Irish Soda Bread (a la Wegmans-and it was seriously amazing)

This is the picture of the bangers and mash from the actual recipe-I served mine from a crockpot, so it made for a much less appealing photo. Oh well. My lack of profesh photo skills was outweighed by how ridiculously good this recipe was. I only want my mashed potatoes served with cabbage and bacon from now on. Period.

I hope you all had a great weekend!

This week is a big one for us. We have our 20 week ultrasound-fingers crossed we can find out the sex of the baby!

Girl or boy? We shall see...

After a looong week, it was time for a "drink" this weekend. Way back when, my hubby was a bartender, so his goal during our first pregnancy was to make some delicious mocktails for me. I think it's so he doesn't feel guilty while drinking a beer in front of me, but I will take it. His mocktails are delish!

The Faux-hito

The hubby made himself a mojito Friday evening and he whipped up a strawberry faux-hito (he named it himself) for me. His recipe:

Muddle together about 8 mint leaves, half a strawberry, and the juice of half a lime. The muddling is very important because it releases all the strawberry deliciousness. Add ice to the mix and 1/2 tsp stevia, then fill the glass with seltzer (you can use a flavored seltzer, but we just used regular and it worked fine). Stir and enjoy!

Of course, if you want to make this alcoholic, add a shot or so of rum to the mix!

The Pimmish Cup

I decided to take some of his ingredients and make my own mocktail on Sunday afternoon. I wanted something really fresh tasting, and I love drinks with cucumber in them like Pimm's Cups. Here is what I did:

Muddle together 1 sliced strawberry, about 8 mint leaves, 3 slices of cucumber, and the juice of half a lemon. Add ice and then top with equal parts ginger ale and seltzer.

For more of a Pimm's like taste I would use all ginger ale, but I was trying to reduced the amount of sugar in the drink. It came out really light and refreshing and I could definitely taste the cucumber!

We are huge fans of our town's farmer's market.  Since I have a normal person's schedule now, I can actually go every Saturday which is so exciting!  Here are some of our farmer's market purchases for this weekend:

We bought some fresh squash, romaine lettuce, raspberries, mushrooms, and onions as well as some skirt steak and hot pork sausages from the local grass-fed meat stand.  There is also a healthy dog treat stand, so we got the pups some good stuff since they accompanied us to the market.

We grilled everything up tonight and had a fabulous and fresh dinner to end our weekend.  We are really lucky with what our farmer's market has to offer.  Not only do they have a huge selection of fruits, veggies, and plants, but there is a local fresh fish stand, grass-fed meat, fresh breads, and cheeses are sold as well.  Super bonus: everyone is really dog friendly so these fools enjoyed themselves.

P.S. We tried to grill the romaine we bought to make a salad similar to this recipe that I posted way back here.  It actually turned out really well and it tasted like the one we love from a local restaurant.

I hope everyone had a great weekend!

So when I do, I like to make it count.  I had some overripe bananas, because someone bought way too many (I'll give you a hint, it wasn't Benny, Boo, or me), and I didn't want to waste them.  And I broke my blender a few weeks ago making a smoothie, so freezing them was out.  I decided I would make some muffins.  I used good ol' Martha's recipe.

She calls them Healthy Banana-Blueberry Muffins, but there is still a stick of butter in them and sugar.  I made them just as the recipe states except I didn't have wheat germ and I added some chopped pecans.  I analyzed them on a calorie count website and it says they have 198 calories, 8.9 g fat (that darn butter), 1.3 g fiber, and 3.2 g protein per muffin.  So they are better than eating a bakery muffin but not so hot compared to protein bar.  Regardless, they are delish, and easy to make if you are in the mood to bake!

P.S. Martha has a much prettier picture with her recipe.

Sometimes nightshift kills my eating habits and I tend to snack more then actually eat for real for real meals.  I have kind of been in a snack attack mode lately, so I wanted to share some of the things I just can't get enough of!

Buffalo Chicken Quinoa Bites
These are so easy to make it's silly.  They also reheat really well.  I made one tray of them and the hubs and I could not stop eating them.

Bear Naked Granola
Now that it's warmer out, I have been loving a cold breakfast of plain greek yogurt, fresh berries, granola, and a little stevia.  Yum!

Sabra Buffalo Style Hummus
My 2 favorite things.  Buffalo sauce and hummus.  Perfect.  I have to remind myself not to eat the whole tub at one sitting!