Food, Glorious Food

I have found a new hobby. 

In the past week and a half I have cooked: 

• Zucchini turkey burgers with caramelized onions, tomato, and spinach;
• Brussels sprouts with turkey bacon and garlic; 
• Arugula salad with watermelon and feta (pictured); 
• Mini quiches with caramelized onions, zucchini, tomatoes, cheese, and turkey bacon;
• Mini quiches with spinach, cheese, and turkey bacon; 
• Brown fried rice with onions, scallions, carrots, edamame, and egg;
• Spicy mayo shrimp;
• Garlic lime shrimp;
• Roasted summer veggies: yellow squash, zucchini, tomatoes, onion, and garlic;
• Stuffed mushrooms with turkey bacon, spinach, and cheese (pictured); and
• Coconut chicken salad.

And I have baked:

• An oatmeal bake with bananas and blueberries;
• Oatmeal cookies - chocolate chip, cranberry, and blueberry varieties (pictured);
• Blueberry scones (some with chocolate chips);
• Banana muffins (some with chocolate chips) - these are dangerously delicious... I might have eaten three in one day...; and
• Chocolate banana souffles.

Jason made banana chocolate chip waffles for me one morning this past weekend too. I had plans for other meals but two people can only eat so much. I started cooking to make healthier meals for us both and despite the fact that a lot of it doesn't sound all that healthy, it all is - at least when you give yourself the right serving size. I think the most fun part was finding ways to make every one of these things healthy (turkey alternatives to beef, wheat flour instead of white, less butter and more alternatives, etc). A lot of these were recipes that I found online, but I made my own twist on most of them.

If you had told me two months ago that I would love to cook and bake if I had free time, I would have laughed at you. But now that my schedule has changed and I have free time during the day, I'm loving it! Now if only I had space to entertain (and someone to clean the rest of the apartment I've neglected) so I could feed more people!

P.S. How do people cook with online recipes? This is the first time I can understand the usefulness of an iPad because my MacBook takes up half of our counter space (I wish I was exaggerating). But I still won't buy an iPad if that is the only use I get out of it. Maybe I could try my Kindle's awful "experimental" browser? Anyone have any other ideas?

P.P.S. I have another post lined up for Friday, so come back now, ya hear? I hope to be updating a bit more soon... and doing a bit of catching up!