The year is officially half over! I can’t believe it. Time needs to S L O W down. My children are growing entirely too fast.
This past weekend, I helped give a baby shower for a dear friend. I made these Mini Key Lime Cheesecakes. They were fantastic, if I do say so myself. I followed the recipe for the most part, though I did replace a third of the called for amount with reduced fat cream cheese. I also added a little extra key lime juice. Whipped cream and toasted coconut complemented the luscious limeyness (okay, not really a word, but don’t know how else to describe it).
Big kudos though to my friend, Cindy, who impressed us all with her fruit carving skills. Unfortunately, I snapped the picture before we added the pacifier to the cantaloupe head. I made a peanut butter yogurt dip for the fruit that was equal parts plain Greek yogurt, peanut butter with a little milk and honey added.
I definitely spent some time in the kitchen yesterday prepping for this morning’s television segment on healthy makeovers of some of children’s favorite foods. Expect a blog post shortly about the time I go on air with all the details and recipes.
Of course before I could start prepping all of my food, I had to clean off my counters, which resulted in the above Toasted Coconut and Chocolate Banana Bread. The container of toasted coconut leftover from my mini key lime cheesecakes, a few squares of Swiss orange essence chocolate my parents brought back from a recent trip and 3 overripe bananas were begging to be put together into something fabulous. And it was.
You could say it was a successful week around here with all the cooking and experimenting going on. I haven’t had a week like that in a long time, and it was great. The Slow Cooker Thai Chicken and Vegetable recipe that I made was wonderful. I enjoyed the leftovers several times. Towards the end of the week though, the plan fell apart as I got busy doing other projects.
Here is what is on tap for this week (with a few repeats from this past week that didn’t get made):
Monday: Leftovers (incredible Jamaican food from a family friend)
Tuesday: Cheesy Beany Zucchini Quesadillas with Sliced Fresh Peaches
Wednesday: Homemade Pizza Bar with Roasted Vegetables and Fresh Watermelon
Thursday: Family cookout (probably bringing Applegate hot dogs and Chili Slaw!)
Friday: Family dinner (not sure what I’ll bring just yet)
Saturday: Pumped Up Sunny Sesame Salmon Bites with Roasted Sweet Potatoes and Broccoli
Sunday: Simple Supper
Hope everyone has a safe and happy 4th of July! For more menu planning inspiration, go to Menu Plan Monday on I’m an Organizing Junkie!
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