I am totally in to salads. . .

Lately I have been really in to salads. I think it is because I love to load them up with basically every good thing I can think of- it is delicious, and I have the benefit of knowing I am still eating healthy! For example - today, I had a salad with:

romaine lettuce and baby spinach

roasted cashews

shredded carrots

mango

roast chicken

raspberries

blackberries

peas

cucumber

tomato

grapes

extra sharp cheddar cheese

Wow- delicious! So savory, no dressing was needed.

Apricot Chicken

1 cup apricot jam

8 ounces Russian salad dressing

1 package onion soup mix

Stir together and pour over 6 chicken breasts in a pan.

Bake at 350 for an hour.

Yum. Serve rice or on top of your salad. This is delish and easy!

Cake mix made yummy!

For Micah's birthday, he wanted a vanilla white chocolate cake. So I had to get creative with some add-ins and this turned out super yummy.

1 cake mix (vanilla)

1 box vanilla pudding

1/2 cup applesauce

1 cup sour cream

4 eggs

1 cup melted white chocolate chips

Mix this all together and bake at 350 for about 50-60 minutes, depending on your pan shape and size. I used a deeper casserole dish, per Micah's request, and it took 55 minutes to cook all the way through. I let it cool, then turned it over and frosted it with the below frosting recipe...

1/2 stick butter or margarine

8 ounces cream cheese (I used low fat and it worked fine for frosting)

2 T brown sugar

1 T vanilla

1 cup white chocolate chips (I do wish I had grated the white chocolate instead, but it still was super good!)

YUM! My husband, who rarely even partakes of cake, had seconds! Seconds! This is a big deal.

Protein packed pancakes

And yum.

2 eggs

1/2 cup cottage cheese

1/2 cup oats

splash of vanilla

(Clearly, I quadruple the recipe...)

Blend (in blender) and put about 1/8 to 1/4 cup on your greased pan as you normally make pancakes. These are delicious, light, and healthy! Yay!

Easy, delicious spinach quiche

Hmm... another spinach recipe. This is really good, and you could probably substitute a different vegetable if you wanted... Zucchini comes to mind!

1 10 ounce bag of frozen spinach

1/2 an onion chopped up

5 eggs

12 ounces of muenster or favorite cheese

Salt and pepper

Mix together with a fork. Dump in greased 9 inch pie pan. Bake at 350 for 30 minutes. Let sit for 10 minutes.

We served this with broccoli/apple/raisin/yogurt slaw and triple berry muffins.

I had several members of the family say this was the best quiche they ever had and please add this to the rotation of meals. Yippee!

Spinach Bisque

Or, more aptly named, cheesy soup with some healthiness thrown in!

Ingredients

1 (10 ounce) package of frozen chopped spinach, thawed and drained

1/2 cup chopped onion

1/4 cup butter melted

1/4 cup all purpose flour

2 cups low fat milk

1 cup water

1/2 tsp. salt

1/4 tsp. nutmeg

1 (16 ounce) package of cheese (we used a combo of swiss, muenster, and parmesan)

Use your slow-cooker! Yay! Put the spinach into the bottom. Add the chopped onion. In a bowl, whisk the butter and flour and then slowly add the milk and water. Stir in the nutmeg and salt. Pour the milky mixture into the slow cooker. Add the cubed or shredded cheese. Cover and cook on low for 5-6 hours. Blend in blender (or use an immersion blender). Serve and enjoy!

Bob LOVES this soup, he has added it to his love of cream of tomato soup, and that says it all!

Website

Check out this website, she has some yummy/do-doable recipes AND menu plans each month...

http://jamiecooksitup.blogspot.com/