Weekend Yummies

This last week we had the kitchen to ourselves, so I ended up getting into a little bit of a cooking craze.  I made several things that I knew Jon would love and surprised him with them. I think several factors contribute to me cooking and baking less, but it was nice to spend some considerable time doing something I love to do.  Since these recipes are all from the same website, I'll share them with you as well as her pictures because they're much prettier than any of mine would have turned out!  

Saturday night I made an interesting Spinach and Quinoa Salad with grapefruit and avocado.  I have been using quinoa more recently in different recipes and both of us are really enjoying it.  Jon loved the nutrition facts of quinoa and told me I need to eat more of it, especially since I don't always get enough protein.

The second thing I made was later on that night for a midnight snack/date.  One of our favorite places to eat out at is Bonefish Grill.  We discovered the tasty place when we met up with some of my relatives there.  One of our favorites is Bang Bang Shrimp and since they have a special price for it on Wednesdays, we always thought we'd go there for some shrimp and wine or one of their amazing desserts.  Well, I brought the date home and saved us some money as well as surprising Jon with the good copycat recipe. 

 Getting hungry yet? 

The last and our favorite, I think, was Mexican Carnitas.  For this, I brought home another of Jon's favorite restaurants: Chipotle.  On the same website, I found a recipe for spicy pork Carnitas with cilantro lime rice.  I changed a few things and used a bone-in pork shoulder because it was cheaper and I didn't find it a problem to push the garlic cloves into the meat nor shred it around the bone.  I also would have added more chipotle peppers into the crock pot while it was cooking, but if you have some good salsa, that should help it as well.  I also like to put coconut cream or milk into my rice, but didn't here, might be a nice extra taste to try!  I put this in the crock pot Sunday before church and by dinner it was complete. 

 This whole week we've been feasting on leftovers of the Carnitas and salad and look forward to some more tasty things, now to make room in our tiny little fridge.  I'm not yet sure what I'm making this weekend, but I have had a craving for macaroons.  I'm not sure what my deal with coconut is, but I've been crazier than ever about it.  Recently, I devoured a fresh/young coconut myself, drink coconut milk all the time, have coconut milk ice cream, drink coconut water, and even coconut creamer.  I'll let you know of any other recipes, coconut or non-coconut.  :)