These Are A Few of My Favorite Things: May 27

Happy (Almost) Friday!

We’ve been busy here this week enjoying the gorgeous weather, but I wanted to take a second and share with you a couple of my favorite things.

Favorite Thing #1: Iowagirleats.com

This is by far one (if not the) of the food blogs that I read on a daily basis. Kristin (who runs the blog) is a Des Moines native (another reason to love her ) and posts easy-to-follow & healthy recipes. She also has such a fun personality that makes her blog so fun to read.

I probably use her blog more than I use a cookbook or other recipes that I have acquired. She’s my go-to girl when I need something new to make or when I just need something quick to whip up with stuff we already have in the refrigerator.

In fact, I made a few of her recipes this week. First up, veggie enchiladas!

The goods:

* 1 Tablespoon butter

* 1/4 cup onion

* garlic salt

* red pepper flakes

* A few handfuls of spinach (I used fresh)

* 1 cup low-fat cottage cheese

* 1/2 greek yogurt

* Shredded cheese

* Tortillas (I used whole wheat)

* 1 can red enchilada sauce

* Fresh salsa to top it all off

You can hop on over here to find out how Kristin makes the recipe.

What I loved:

I loved the fact that this recipe (along with many of Kristin’s) was made with greek yogurt. I’ve just started using this in a lot of different recipes – it’s a great & healthy  substitute for sour cream, etc.

This recipe was also super easy to prepare and only takes 20 minutes or so to bake since there’s no meat! Plus!

What I would change:

When it was all baked and cheesy, the enchiladas were tasty! But, the only thing I would like to change is the red enchilada sauce. This is the only one I could find at the grocery store and it was loaded with lots of extra sodium and unnecessary ingredients. I try to shop by the rule “if I can’t read all the ingredients in the ingredient list, I don’t buy it.”

All in all, these veggie enchiladas are a must try!

After a meal like this I suggest your favorite ice cream (Blue Bunny white chocolate raspberry frozen yogurt, for me) in your favorite mug. Like so:

Yesterday, I relied on Kristin, yet again for our dinner plans. This time, I whipped up some easy, mayo-free chicken salad!

The goods:

I doubled this recipe so we would have extra for lunches.

* 2 chicken breasts, cooked & cut

* 2/3 cups dried cranberries

* 1/2 sliced almonds (I left these out since I didn’t have any on hand)

* Green onion

* 4 celery stalks, chopped

* Whole wheat Thin Bun for sandwhich

Dressing:

* 1 cup plain greek yogurt (I stocked up, obviously )

* 1 teaspoon curry powder

* 4 teaspoons soy sauce

* squeeze of a lemon

* salt, to taste

Again, you can go here to see how Kristin throws it all together, but it is so easy!

What I loved:

Um, everything! Again, I loved that the recipe used greek yogurt instead of mayo (which is a little weird, anyway). And, you couldn’t tell the difference anyway!

What I would change:

NOTHING! This will definitely be repeated later this summer!

Did you notice the chicken I used?! I just found this at Hy-Vee – antibiotic-free, cage-free chicken.  You can actually go online and trace your package of chicken to see which farm it came from! How cool!

Since we’re all about cookin’ here today, let me share with you my favorite thing #2.

My kitchen!

If you ever happened to see the kitchen in the apartment we lived in in Des Moines, you know that this is a huge upgrade. I love everything about it – the size, the stainless steel appliances, having our patio right off the back, etc.

Who doesn’t love a huge, organized pantry?!

My words to live by:

And, no fridge is complete without wedding invitations, funny magnets & cards from friends living far away.

Let’s Talk:

- Do you read any food blogs? What are your favs?

Food blogs are one of my favorite things to read and I read TONS of them! Obviously, my favorite is iowagirleats.com, but other favs include Eat Live Run & Emily Eats Clean.

- What do you keep on your refrigerator?

We like to keep ours pretty simple & tidy with just the things we think we need to see. At my parent’s house, though, nothing went on the fridge (except straight A report cards, of course )

- What are you doing for the holiday weekend?

Dillon, Kya & I are headed back to Des Moines for a fully packed weekend with friends! Be sure to check back Monday for the Weekend Rewind to see the trouble we caused!

Have a great weekend!

-Lindsey