You may have noticed I’ve posting less often than usual. I normally try to get about two recipes up per week, but between the exhaustion and nausea of the past several months, I just haven’t spent any time in the kitchen…yep, I’m pregnant!! Apolinaras and I are just so completely thrilled and excited to welcome a little girl to our family in early September!!

I’m 22 weeks along and happy to report that now that I’m in the second trimester, I’m finally starting to feel like myself again. My energy has returned, and although I still find myself heading to bed earlier than usual, I’m working out regularly once more and wanting more than just cereal or bagels for dinner. And, my little belly bump is starting to make an appearance as well – it’s taken awhile because I’m so tall, but here I am 5 months along!

As far as cravings go, one night I sent Apolinaras out to get French fries, and another day at work I couldn’t think of anything but an asiago bagel with cream cheese and had to immediately run across the street to Au Bon Pain to pick one up. We’ll see what the remaining months bring!

I already know what my first post-baby meal with be though – sushi! I miss it so much. I’ve had the cooked stuff several times, and while it’s not quite the same, it has been holding me over. And, one of the first meals I whipped up once I finally felt like cooking again were these delicious sushi-inspired spring rolls. I filled the wrappers with shrimp, cucumber, avocado, edamame, and brown rice, and dipped the rolls in soy sauce with wasabi – so good!

Sushi Spring Rolls
Printable Recipe

Ingredients:
2 1/2 cups cooked brown rice (1 cup uncooked)
1/4 cup seasoned rice vinegar
1 cup chopped cucumber
1 cup chopped avocado
1 cup cooked shrimp, chopped
1 cup frozen edamame, thawed
12 spring roll wrappers
Soy sauce and wasabi to taste

Directions:
Stir brown rice and rice vinegar in a large bowl until well mixed; stir in cucumber, avocado, shrimp, and edamame. Place one spring roll wrapper in warm water for about 10 seconds and lay on a flat surface one pliable. Place about 1/2 cup filling in each wrapper and roll up according to package directions (for tips on filling and rolling spring roll wrappers click here). Mix desired amount of soy sauce and wasabi and serve alongside the sushi spring rolls. Makes 6 servings.

Nutrition: 217 calories, 5.2g fat, 3.5g fiber, 12.6g protein per serving
Cost: $0.98 per serving

Apolinaras and I enjoyed a fun Spanish themed dinner party last week. Elina hosted and made fideos with ham, shrimp, and clams, which was just delicious, and Shannon covered dessert and brought cupcakes filled with dulce de leche and topped with almond cream cheese frosting! I decided to whip up a couple of tapas.

The first was spicy Spanish potatoes. Meghan very kindly typed out the recipe for me from one of her cookbooks when I told her they were one of my very favorite tapas, ummm, only about 2 years ago! I tend to collect more recipes than I actually have time to make, but I’m glad I finally found the perfect occasion to make these potatoes because they really hit the spot.

My second contribution was these manchego stuffed Spanish meatballs. I mixed organic ground beef and pork with sweet paprika, panko, egg, and garlic, and stuffed each meatball with a small chunk of Spanich manchego cheese. Then I topped them with a diced tomato sauce that also had roasted red peppers, sun dried tomatoes, and sherry vinegar in the mix. Yum, what a fun little party appetizer!

Manchego Stuffed Spanish Meatballs
Printable Recipe

Ingredients:

Sauce:
1 15-ounce can diced tomatoes
1 cup low sodium chicken broth
1/2 cup chopped roasted red peppers
1/2 cup sun dried tomatoes
1 tablespoon sherry vinegar
1/2 teaspoon salt

Meatballs:
1 pound ground sirloin (93% fat free)
1 pound ground pork
1 large egg
3/4 cup panko
3 garlic cloves, minced
1 tablespoon sweet paprika
1 teaspoon salt
6 ounces machengo cheese, cut into 40 small chunks
1 tablespoon olive oil

Directions:
To make the sauce, place diced tomatoes, chicken broth, roasted red peppers, sun dried tomatoes, sherry vinegar, and salt in a food processor and pulse for 1 to 2 minutes or until smooth.

To make the meatballs, place ground sirloin, ground pork, egg, panko, garlic, paprika, and salt in a large bowl and knead with your hands until well mixed. Shape into 40 meatballs and put one piece of cheese in the middle of each one, making sure to seal the cheese in well. Heat olive oil over medium high heat in a large nonstick skillet and cook until browned on all sides, working in batches as needed. Add the pureed sauce mixture to pan, along with all the meatballs, and reduce heat to low. Simmer for 15 to 20 minutes or until meatballs are cooked through. Remove meatballs from the pan and simmer sauce an additional 5 to 10 minutes, to thicken, if needed. To serve, spoon sauce over meatballs. Makes 20 servings of 2 meatballs each.

Nutrition: 152 calories, 10.3g fat, 0.6g fiber, 11.3g protein per serving
Cost: $1.05 per serving

I was craving a nice light summer snack the other night while I was reading and really wanted to munch on some of these cucumber hummus appetizers. Unfortunately, there was no hummus in the fridge or chickpeas in the cupboard and I was about to make some boring old popcorn, but then I spotted a tub of feta and these new Mediterranean inspired cucumber apps were born! I topped the crisp cucumbers with a creamy feta and pecorino romano cheese spread and then sprinkled on a healthy dose of chopped sun dried tomatoes and toasted pine nuts. Yum, these were very tasty and even fairly healthy little bites.

By the way, am I the only one who can never spell Mediterranean correctly? I’m always so off that my spell check never even has any recommendations!

Mediterranean Cucumber Appetizers
Printable Recipe

Ingredients:
1 cup crumbled feta
1/3 cup finely grated pecorino romano cheese
1/4 cup milk
1 large English cucumber, cut into slices (I had 30)
1/2 cup finely chopped sun dried tomatoes
3 tablespoons toasted pine nuts

Directions:
Place feta, pecorino romano, and milk in a food processor and pulse until smooth, about 1 minute. Evenly cover cucumber slices with the feta spread. Top evenly with sun dried tomatoes and pine nuts. Makes 6 servings.

Nutrition: 138 calories, 10.1g fat, 1.2g fiber, 6.5g protein per serving
Cost: $0.88 per serving

After submitting all my dessert recipes to the Pillsbury Bake-Off (please cross your fingers for me!), I had a few extra ingredients in the fridge to use – one package of pie crusts and one roll of cookie dough. I had developed so many sweet treats that I stuffed the cookie dough in the back of a drawer and took out the pie crusts instead with an appetizer idea in mind.

I combined caramelized onions, mushrooms, and spinach to make a yummy filling for little mini tarts made with a mini muffin pan. Then I topped the tartlets with blue cheese. These were so cute and perfect for a party, or in our case, dinner!

p.s. Don’t forget to get in your bids for the Bloggers Bake for Hope Bake Sale that benefits Susan G. Komen for the Cure!

Caramelized Onion and Mushroom Tartlets with Blue Cheese
Printable Recipe

Ingredients:
1 tablespoon butter
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 yellow onions, thinly sliced
8 ounces sliced mushrooms, chopped
2 garlic cloves, minced
4 ounces baby spinach
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup crumbled blue cheese
1 box Pillsbury Refrigerated Pie Crusts (15 ounces), softened according to package directions

Directions:
Heat butter and 1 tablespoon olive oil over medium heat in a large nonstick skillet. Add onions, cover pan, and cook for 25 minutes, stirring every 5 minutes, or until onions are caramelized.

Meanwhile, heat remaining 1 tablespoon olive oil over medium high heat in a large nonstick skillet. Add mushrooms and sauté 5 to 7 minutes or until tender; add garlic and sauté 1 additional minute. Place cooked mushrooms in a large bowl. Add baby spinach to the same skillet and stir until wilted, about 2 minutes. Add spinach to the large bowl with the mushrooms. Mix in caramelized onions and salt.

Heat oven to 375˚F. Unroll pie crusts and place on a flat work surface. Use a 2 1/2-inch round cutter to cut 12 rounds from each crust. Press each round in the bottom of 24 cups of an ungreased mini-muffin cup pan and press dough up the sides to form cups. Fill evenly with caramelized onion mushroom filling and bake at 375˚F for 15 to 20 minutes or until crust is golden brown. Cool for 5 minutes and remove from mini-muffin cups. Sprinkle evenly with blue cheese. Makes 12 servings.

Nutrition: 138 calories, 10.1g fat, 0.7g fiber, 2.7g protein per serving
Cost: $0.68 per serving