What's Cooking Good Looking?!

One of the many discussions my gal Deir and I had during my Savannah visit this summer was regarding people actually USING the recipe pins shared on Pinterest. I've definitely used "pins," but more for home decorating and fashion inspiration. One thing I've been trying to do the last week or so is to find additional easy meals, as I'm trying to make sure I eat enough of what I need to sustain....and the antibiotic I'm on requires that I have food in my stomach. Thus over the last week, I've been checking and trying out a few of my food pins, plus adding in some other stand-bys and recipes from ripped out magazine pages.

Here's my disclaimer---I tend to ALTER everything when I cook (ie if I don't have a spice, I use something else...or I use cranberries instead of raisins based on preference, etc)...and I'm not an exact measure type of person--slightly rounded or slightly under is good enough. Plus I'm actually getting in the hang of how to alter some recipes to make just enough for one...or one plus next day's snack or lunch.

So what have I been eating throughout the last week or so?

Breakfast Burritos for dinner---an old stand-by & favorite. Chop & saute a potato, add 1-2 eggs, sprinkle with Tony's, mix in shredded cheese. Smother tortilla with homemade guac, salsa, & sour cream and layer in egg/cheese/potato mix. DELISH!

Waffles for breakfast or dinner. The great thing about waffles--super quick and they can be altered in so many ways. Most recent was adding pecans to the batter, slicing bananas on top, and serving with real maple syrup. Last week it was almond butter w/ sliced strawberries & powdered sugar. YUM! Similar to my once-a-week French Toast experience.

Quinoa w/ peaches, blueberries, a dash of coconut milk, & a bit of maple syrup. Healthy & filling.

4 Cheese Ravioli tossed w/ sauteed tomatoes (from the garden), kale, onion, garlic, & pesto. Altered from this summer's Real Simple magazine recipe.

Tilapia Fish Tacos w/ guac/sour cream sauce & broccoli slaw. Altered from here via Pinterest and absolutely AMAZING.

Creamy Avocado & White Bean Wrap using broccoli slaw. Altered from here via Pinterest.

Baked Apples infused w/ rum & stuffed w/ bisquick, oatmeal, cranberries, pecans, butter, & brown sugar. This arrived via a sweet tooth fix...and provided two days of breakfast.

Pumpkin Soup--actually made by my aunt and altered from this recipe in the Oregonian. Was pretty delish!

Pancakes in the muffin tin---FAIL! Didn't work, so don't try it.....it's supposed to produce lil pancake cups that you can fill with fruit. Instead it made pancake muffins that I cut in half and covered with homemade apple butter.

And then I've been sustaining on the usual stand-bys: almonds, bananas, smoothies, dried apples, cranberries, veggies & hummus, V-8 juice, and granola bars. Plus more coconut milk than usual--cause let me tell you, it sure helps get huge pills down much better than water! :) And two meals out: Happy Hour at Old Chicago (DELICIOUS & cheap!) and masuman curry at my favorite Thai restaurant in North Portland (Thai Ginger).

Other diet changes: I'm trying to cut back on some dairy products such as yogurt, cow milk, etc. I'm still sticking with eggs and some cheese in moderation, but am completely sticking with coconut milk and have switched to coconut milk based creamer for coffee. I bought coconut milk based yogurt...but I just couldn't do it...so as of right now I'm just going to do less overall. Somehow I'm back to realizing that most dairy products leave me feeling weighed down, make my face break out more, etc. So I'm going to try the less dairy way of life for a bit again, especially since I've added fish into my diet so I have a steadier stream of protein sources.

Next up on the menu to try?
Roasted Veggie & Black Bean Burritos--Deir made these in Savannah--delish!
BBQ Cranberry Chickpea Wrap--updated: turned out so-so, wouldn't make it again...
Quinoa Stuffed Acorn Squash

YUM! Happy eating y'all! Any other good recipes to share?!