When I was pregnant, I used to daydream about how amazing maternity leave would be. I pictured my house sparkling clean - who wouldn't have time to clean if they didn't have to leave to go to work? I'd think of all the books I would read while up at night with the baby and the amazing meals I'd make while I was home all day.
I have no idea what the hell I was thinking.
Turns out, maternity leave IS amazing - but not for any of those reasons. It's amazing because I spend my days with my sweet girl. I feed her, play with her, sing her songs, and read her books. I bathe her, calm her cries, and do her laundry. And I love every minute of it. But it doesn't leave much time for the book reading, meal making and house cleaning.
I tell you all of this to say that I'm not spending much time in the kitchen lately. Every minute I spend cooking is time I could spend with Blaire. And really, there's nothing I'd rather do than be with my girl. Because I need to lose this baby weight, take out isn't the best option. I find eating healthy is much easier when I cook for myself. So, I've been looking for quick, healthy meals to prepare. Here are a few good ones I've tried recently.
Chicken Pot Pie Biscuit Cups
I almost vetoed this recipe without even trying it because it includes an ingredient I'm not crazy about - canned cream of chicken soup. I have an aversion to cream of anything soup. It just says icky casserole to me and it's pretty high in sodium. However, I took a leap of faith on this recipe and I'm glad I did.
These were so easy to make and relatively healthy with the reduced fat biscuits, soup and cheese. I did modify the recipe slightly by adding a little skim milk to the soup to thin it out - maybe 1/4 cup. Also, I found that using half a biscuit for each cup allowed for a much better biscuit to filling ratio. I just tore each biscuit in half and stretched each half into the muffin tin to form a crust. Tastier & healthier! These are a great way to add veggies to your diet. I think you could probably even get picky kids to eat some veggies when they are inside these cute biscuit cups.
These were so easy to make and relatively healthy with the reduced fat biscuits, soup and cheese. I did modify the recipe slightly by adding a little skim milk to the soup to thin it out - maybe 1/4 cup. Also, I found that using half a biscuit for each cup allowed for a much better biscuit to filling ratio. I just tore each biscuit in half and stretched each half into the muffin tin to form a crust. Tastier & healthier! These are a great way to add veggies to your diet. I think you could probably even get picky kids to eat some veggies when they are inside these cute biscuit cups.
Asian Turkey Burgers with Broccoli Slaw
Danielle at A Day in the Life introduced me to this great recipe - thanks Danielle! If you're looking for healthy recipes, check out her blog. She's a great cook and is always whipping up nutritious, creative meals for her family. And oh my goodness, are her boys cute!
I made some modifications to the recipe to make it healthier and to suit my preferences. Here's my modified recipe:
Turkey Burgers
1 lb of ground turkey, extra lean
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 t. ginger, grated
1 t. chili paste (I used sambal oelek)
2 T. cilantro, finely chopped
2 scallions, finely diced
juice of 1 lime
1 t. of lime zest
Salt and pepper
Combine all ingredients in a bowl and mix to combine. Form ground turkey mixture into patties. Grill or pan fry until cooked through and juices run clear. Serve with broccoli slaw as a side or on top with toasted buns.
1 bag broccoli slaw
1/4 cup light mayo
Juice of 1 lime
1 bunch of cilantro, chopped
1 t. chili paste (I used sambal oelek)
1 T. sesame oil
salt and pepper
Combine all ingredients in a bowl and mix to coat. Cover with plastic wrap and let rest 20 minutes so that the flavors mingle before serving.
Southwest Chicken Wraps
Another good Pinterest recipe. These were delish! To be fair, they're really just quesadillas folded into wraps but regardless, they were tasty and took about 10 minutes to make. A great weeknight meal.
Posts
13 comments:
We made the chicken wraps last night...so good!!
Look at you cooking momma!! I will try those-even though we didn't get a Blaire pic with this post ;)
I've been needing a new turkey burger recipe, so I'm definitely going to have to try this. The chicken wraps sound good, too!
I have to make those biscuit cups. YUM!
Oh man, I really need to make those biscuits. They look amazing.
YUM! I am still having my stron chicken aversion, but I think those biscuit cups would be the perfect fall food to get me over it!
Also, since you're not busy with your newborn or anything ;), I have a request- more Blaire pictures please! I need to see that cutie!
Oh I thought the same thing pre-baby. I thought maternity leave would be like a nice, long vacation where I could do whatever "I" wanted to do. Tisk, tisk say my boys! Good for you for still managing to whip up some yummy recipes, while tending to bon bebe!
Thanks for your incredibly kinds words. I'm blushing (:
OMG...chicken pot pie biscuits and southwest wraps...I die. All of that looks completely amazing.
I loooove chicken pot pie!!! Look at you - you said you don't have time to cook but I see 3 new recipes! That's WAY more than I've done in the past month! Go Melissa! Super Mom! haha!
YUM! I always love your recipe/cooking posts. You find the best stuff. Thanks for sharing! I'm adding these all to my list.
Very rarely does someone do a food blog where I think every single recipe looks amazing - but this one is the exception! I am trying all of these...
I'mg oing to start calling you "the recipe lady" you find and share (thank the Lawd) the BEST recipes!!! :)
I'm making the Pumpkin Muffins you shared a few days back, today. :) mmmm
Melissa, thanks for sharing these 3 recipes you found. I love trying new recipes and tonight I made the pot pie cups. They were a hit! I even have enough for leftovers. Thanks again!
Post a Comment