Kale Salad

My favorite salads have always been the kind that are great even as leftovers. This simple kale salad recipe is good fresh and just as good the next day after sitting in the fridge.

Ingredients:

1 head of kale
1/4 cup of grapeseed oil
2 TBS of honey
1/2 cup craisins
4 TBS pinenuts (or sunflower seeds)


Instructions:

Tear kale leaves from stems and rinse/wash under cold water. Place in a bowl.

Mix together the rest of the ingredients (grapeseed oil, honey, craisins and pinenuts) in a separate, smaller bowl. Pour mixture over kale.

With clean hands, massage everything together for about 5 minutes to blend the flavors and soften the kale.

Enjoy!

Gypsy Style Lentil Soup

This chilly weather was a perfect excuse to make soup. So here is another one of my childhood favorites. And it's so simple to make! My 2-year-old was super excited when he saw this for dinner last night. He loves it with crackers and ate his entire bowl. He was so full, he didn't want dessert. I normally make this in a crock pot on high for 4 hours, but it can also simmer for 2 hours on the stove instead.

Ingredients:

1 cup of dry lentils
5 cups of water
8 oz can of tomato sauce
1 cup of finely diced carrots
1/2 cup of chopped onion
1 cup of ham scraps
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp marjoram


Instructions: Combine all the ingredients in the crock pot and cook it on high for 4 hours.

When serving, I like to top it with a dollop of sour cream and a dash of nutmeg. (Ignore how much sour cream I topped my bowl with in the photo, I think I got carried away...)

Potato Bread

Who doesn't love homemade bread? Potato bread has definitely been my favorite growing up and I already made it a zillion times for my husband and 2-year-old son. As soon as it's out of the oven, the three of us can eat a whole loaf in one evening! It's hard to resist!

Ingredients: (for 2 loaves)

2 small potatoes
1 TBS yeast
1 ¾ cups milk
3 TBS butter
4 TBS sugar
½ tsp salt
5 cups flour

Instructions:

Cut up and boil the potatoes, then mash and whip together. Set aside.

Scald the milk and put it into a large bowl, add in butter sugar and salt. When mixture is cooled to lukewarm, add the yeast and potatoes.

Add the flour and knead well. Let the dough rise, then punch down and put it into two greased loaf pans. Let the dough rise again.

Put them in the oven (preheated at 375 degrees) for 35-45 minutes.

Enjoy!!

Easy, Delicious Granola

Homemade granola has been near the top of my list of cravings throughout my pregnancy, just under anything that's made of chocolate. I'm 32 weeks along right now and I lost count of how many times I have made this in the past few months. It has been the perfect snack for whenever I needed it. So I thought it was only fair to share this along with many other favorites.

So let's get started!

Ingredients I use:

- 8 cups of oats
- 2 to 3 cups of nuts (I used almond slivers and chopped walnuts)
- 2 cups of coconut shavings (unsweetened)
- 1/2 cup of brown sugar

- 1 cup of vegetable oil
- 1/2 cup of honey
- 2 tsp of vanilla extract

- 2 cups of dried cranberries

Note: This does yield a lot of granola, so you may want to cut the recipe in half, unless you intend to use this to make granola bars or if you are a big, hungry pregnant lady like myself. I don't know how, but I swear, I manage to eat all of this within 2 weeks.


Instructions:

Mix together the oats, nuts, coconut and brown sugar in a large bowl. Then combine the oil, honey and vanilla in a separate, smaller bowl and stir that into the oats mix.


Spread about 3 cups of the mix onto a baking sheet (you can do two baking sheets at a time) and put that in the oven (preheated at 300 degrees) for 8-10 minutes.


Remove the tray(s) from the oven and stir the granola around a bit (make sure nothing is sticking to the tray) and make sure it is evenly spread out on the baking sheet again. Return to the oven for another 8-10 minutes.


By this time the granola should look slightly toasted and the house should start smelling heavenly. Remove the trays and pour the granola into another large bowl. Repeat these steps with what's left of the untoasted granola.

Now add the dried cranberries and you're done! Enjoy! I love eating this with vanilla yogurt. Makes one happy and satisfied pregnant mama.

Be sure to store this in an airtight container.