Recipes- First Half of July

I have not been good about keeping up with my recipes, but here is a list of what we've tried over the past couple weeks. I probably missed somethings, but these were the most memorable! I even remembered to take a few pictures this time...

1. Spinach and Feta Pasta (http://allrecipes.com/recipe/sukis-spinach-and-feta-pasta/detail.aspx) - I love the Hippie with a Benz omelet from Cafe Patachou, and I was thinking how easy it would be to make this at home! So I bought feta, tomatoes, mushroom and spinach for omelets in the morning, but wanted to leftover ingredients somehow so I came looked up this pasta. Very tasty and very easy! I did not add the feta cheese until after the meal was in a bowl, more as a garnish. I also would recommend cooking the mushrooms a little longer than the spinach and tomatoes. MAKE AGAIN

2. Egg Rolls (http://allrecipes.com/recipe/best-egg-rolls/detail.aspx), Fried Rice (http://www.food.com/recipe/benihana-japanese-fried-rice-71472) - I've made this fried rice before, it was good, but the real hit of the meal was the homemade egg rolls... I loved these! I would definitely make these again, although wrapping them was a little time consuming, it was worth it. Everything else was pretty simple. Also, I could only find spring roll wrappers, so we had to make do with that, but they were still good. MAKE AGAIN

3. Pot Roast (http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/paula-deen/pot-roast-recipe/index.html) - This is one of our favorites, Ben loves this and I love how easy it is. We never usually add the wine (because I don't have it on hand) and I usually add potatoes and carrots to the crock pot for the last hour or so of cooking. MAKE AGAIN

4. Spinach Lasagna - I actually made this twice over the past three weeks, neither time really following a recipe. I had a spinach recipe that I loved but couldn't find it so I just followed the box directions and made adjustments. One time I did just spinach and the second time I did beef and spinach. Lucy loves it, so that is a hit for me because she's getting veggies, meat, dairy and grains all in one dish! MAKE AGAIN

5. Steak Sandwiches, Sweet Potato Fries and Corn - After seeing a Penn Station commerical one day, I was eager to trying making some steak subs at home. I wasn't sure what type of meat it was and how to slice it up, when low and behold they had pre-packaged steak sub meat at the grocery store! They basically had already sliced up steak and frozen it and you just had to heat it up on the stove... very easy. I like this meal because although it wasn't super healthy, I felt better about eating this than going to Penn Station - I used whole grain bread, added sauteed peppers, and had sweet potatoe tater tots and corn on the side instead of greasy french fries. I might try a friend's recipe I saw for this one next time.

6. Paula Deen Chicken Nuggets (http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/paula-deen/chicken-nuggets-with-honey-mustard-dipping-sauce-recipe/index.html), Green Beans (http://allrecipes.com/recipe/country-green-beans/detail.aspx), Mashed Potatoes - this is one of Ben's favorite meals, but it's pretty time consuming so it's not one of my favorites to prepare. The chicken nuggets are amazing however, and I would definitely recommend them, it just takes time to coat each piece of chick with the crushed chips. The green beans were a new recipe and a hit, I didn't have bacon or ham so I used bacon bits and oddly enough it turned out good! MAKE AGAIN

7. Flank Steak, Broccoli and Brown Rice- The flank steak recipe is one I got from my good friend Jane. It's really easy and really delicious. You just slice up the flank steak into thin strips, marinate (we used teriyaki flavor) for an hour or so and then grill for about 5 minutes. We added it with broccoli and brown rice and it was almost like a delicious stir fry. MAKE AGAIN

8. Flat Iron Steak (http://allrecipes.com/recipe/perfect-flat-iron-steak/detail.aspx), Salad, Pasta Salad (box) - I was in the mood for red meat these past couple weeks (can you tell)! This flat iron steak was a cheaper steak at the grocery so I thought we'd try it out. I didn't love the flavor and probably won't buy it again, knowing that the flank steak was similarly priced and much tastier.

9. BLT w/ avocado, chips and strawberry shortcake - Last but not least, I needed something for this past weekend that would be simple and BLT's sounded good so I made these up, and had some delicious strawberry shortcake (but really with angel food cake) for dessert! MAKE AGAIN

Phew! That's a lot, but as I was planning out meals for this next week I've already started looking back at my old meals, I'll be glad to have this to look back on!