Food Blogging in My Future?

Uh, probably not.  So since getting back to this blogging business and sharing my attempt at healthy eating, I've had people ask questions about what I'm eating.  I'm going to share this week's recipes with you, but before I do there are some things you should know.

     1)  I do not make up my own recipes.  I am a recipe follower.  I find recipes with ingredients that I like and recognize, then read the directions.  If it's not too complicated I give it a whirl.  Key point -- I have to recognize the ingredients.  I once thought I would branch out of my comfort zone and purchase saffron for a recipe, thinking I would add to my spice cabinet.  That was until I got to the spice aisle and a small container of saffron was $19 and some change.  Uh, no thanks.  I'll stick to what I know.
     2)  I often have culinary disasters.  It takes me forever to cook or make anything because I have terrible knife skills and tend to cook everything too hot which sometimes causes small fires.  Just one, in my oven, and it wasn't really my fault, the coil was faulty.
     3)  I'm trying.  In opposition to #1, I am trying to branch out and try new things.  I'm still not purchasing saffron any time soon, but I am attempting to expand my palate.

I love Pinterest.  It took me a long time to love it, but now that I understand how it works, I'm on Pinterest daily.  I use it primarily for recipes, entertaining and education.  Occasionally I'll look up hair styles I wish I had, home decor that would look good in a house that's nicer than mine and outfits that are way trendier than I am, but mostly I stick to recipes.  That being said, the three things I prepared tonight are all Pinterest recipes.  It is very easy to get lost on Pinterest and to find things way too difficult to execute (at least for me), but if you're patient you'll find what you're looking for.

I posted on Facebook last week that I was trying Overnight, Refrigerator Oatmeal for the first time.  I've discovered I love it!  I can make it the night before (important because I am not a morning person) and enjoy it in the morning.  Since I typically have a breakfast burrito from Sonic, where the carhops may or may not recognize me and know my name, making my own breakfast is a big deal.  Last week I tried blueberry and maple syrup, this week it's apple and cinnamon.  I found this recipe at The Yummy Life.  There are several flavors to try, I'll eventually work my way through them.  It's very easy to do and once you get in a rhythm it doesn't take long.

For lunch for the rest of this week I am going Greek so to speak....or maybe Italian, but that didn't rhyme.  Since one of my get healthy goals was to reduce my carbs I'm trying not to eat bread.  That rules out sandwiches for lunch.  And since I'm not big on big leafy salads all the time, I have to be a little out of the box.  I found a recipe for Antipasto "No Bread" Roll-Ups on Organize Yourself Skinny.  There are some new ingredients involved here for me.  I like hummus, but haven't had red pepper hummus and I've not had roasted red peppers either, so this will be a bit of an adventure.  My ham and turkey aren't smoked like the recipe called for, but here's how it turned out...

I paired my roll-ups with a cucumber Greek salad that I found on Belle of the Kitchen.  The new ingredient for me here is Feta cheese.  The gamble with all of these new ingredients is if I don't like it it's a waste of money and when you're talking about $4.50 for about a cup of cheese, that's a risk.  In this case I decided it was worth the risk, I would just be cautious about how much I used until I knew I liked it.  I wanted to make a different recipe that included a creamy dill dressing (using Greek yogurt) but I didn't have any dill and a third trip to the grocery store in two days was out of the question.  This is plan B...

Put it all together, add a few olives on the side and voila....

I'm sure I'm not doing all of this healthy eating thing right.  I know I have a lot to learn, but I'm trying to make use of what I have already learned to at least make decisions that keep me away from the drive through.  According to my probably unreliable bathroom scale, I'm down a little.  Down is good.  I appreciate all of the support and kind comments I've received, it is helping me maintain the stick-to-it-ness that often eludes me....