Recipes and no sleep!

It's 6:30 am, I've been up for almost an hour...and Ethan is not even awake! My sleep has been so terrible lately, I wonder if it's pregnancy insomnia.

Actually I think one of the reasons why is that I haven't been able to craft as much and I have so many ideas floating in my head that want me to make them now that it's hard to suppress the creativity LOL. I think I need to start making little beanies for ball joint dolls because they are small and quick....except I only know of my cousin who has one but she lives an hour away! Maybe I'll have her compare her dolls head size to a fruit so I can make some here, mail them to her and she can take pictures for my Etsy shop. We'll see :D

Here are some random recipes I've made lately:

- Crispy Chicken with Creamy Orange Sauce: I marinated mine in a marinade of lemon, lime, garlic, orange juice...and uh I think that's it. I kinda just threw things in there. It was amazing. Ethan wouldn't try it.

- Slow Cooker Sweet Mustard Roast Beef: While I personally didn't care for it (I think I just don't like roast beef to be honest) my husband said it was really good with a mild sweet flavor that went well. My 16 month old tasted it then threw it across the room. But he hates meat so don't take that as any indication of flavor ;)

- Cheesecake Brownies: BEST BROWNIES EVER. I used Ghiradelli double chocolate brownies and added vanilla into the cheesecake mixture. They are super rich but soooooo good.

- Quinoa and Black Beans: This was terrible. I think my taste has been off this week too but I thought this was disgusting. So I added in some cheddar cheese, lime, salsa and sour cream and made it "southwestern". I thought it was ok - Craig liked it and Ethan...again, wouldn't touch it.

- Quinoa with Sweet Potato and Mushrooms: I LOVE LOVE LOVE this dish. But I love sweet potatoes, in fact I think I would make them almost nightly in different forms if I could....but Craig doesn't like them! How insane is that?! (he did also say he didn't like pesto but he requests pesto chicken almost weekly) He did like this dish though.

- Sweet Potato Burritos: This sounds so weird but it's SO GOOD. Craig of course didn't like it but it was one of my favorite meals yet.

- Spinach Ricotta Bites: I made these in the hopes that it would get Ethan to eat some veggies.....but nope it didint work. I think these make a tasty little snack but Craig just said they're alright. Can you tell we have different tastes? :) I added cheddar cheese and bacon to mine.

- Spicy White Lasagna: This was really really good, and normally I'm not a fan of sausage. Ethan even ate it!

Since I REALLY need to start writing my recipes down, I thought I'd post them on here to start off so I at least have them somewhere so I don't forget. I'll post these recipes soon, but here are some staples around our house:

- Pesto Chicken: It's just chicken that I bake with a half a jar of pesto, sometimes I even mix in sour cream if I'm really feeling daring. Then I mix it with cooked whole wheat spaghetti and yummyness ensues. Ethan actually ate the chicken last time I made it!

- Pulled Pork: YUM. This recipes was originally from Makeupalley, but I tweak it a bit and add less vinegar (Craig likes it that way) and just randomly throw in the spices for the rub. I'll look it over and see what I do so I can post it.

- Meatloaf: I used to just use those seasoning packets but that seemed so dumb since I have all the seasonings here. So last week when I made it I added my own seasonings, garlic, Italian breadcrumbs, worchestire and um...I'll have to check on the rest lol. But it was so much better then just a seasoning packet.

- Garlic Chicken: This is Craig's favorite recipe that he ALWAYS asks for when I ask him what he wants for dinner. It's evolved quite a lot so it's not quite as garlicky as it used to be....I like it better that way. I marinade chicken in a mixture of Italian Dressing, garlic and Lawrys Herb and Garlic Marinade which I really hate to use since it has high fructose corn syrup...but it makes for tasty chicken. Then I coat the chicken in a mixture of half whole wheat flour, half white flour, then egg, then a mixture of Italian breadcrumbs/flaxseed/garlic powder. Depending on how much time I have I either bake it at 350 for 40 minutes, or just cook it with some olive oil on the skillet. It's super juicy and flavorful and Ethan even took a bite of it last night when I made it!

I think this is the original garlic chicken recipe.

- Tacos: Tacos are easy around here, it's either chicken or that strips of beef ("sandwich meat" I think it says on the package) that sometimes I marinade in a mixture of salsa/lime/beer/garlic...but most of the time this is a last minute meal so I just throw the meat on the skillet with some taco seasoning and onions and call it done. We put it in a tortilla with lots of cheese, salsa, and sour cream. Super easy.

- Lasagna: I just use the directions on the box of whole wheat no cook lasagna noodles LOL. I do add in more seasonings, cheese and use more sauce and no water.