Dani Spies

Anybody in need of an amazingly easy, absolutely delicious, & visually stunning recipe to make for their Valentine on Sunday??

Well, thanks to Kalyn over at Kalyn's Kitchen, I've got you covered!

Pre-Baby = Dani makes fast, easy, nutritious meals.

This Chicken Parmesan is a quick and d'lishes result of what you can create when you have some "head-start" ingredients on hand!

Remember those Basic Baked Chicken Breasts from last week?  Well, just look at how yummy they look NOW!

When it comes to weeknight meals, I often have to remind myself to KEEP IT SIMPLE!!  It seems that sometimes the most basic meals and techniques can also be the most satisfying...

Let's talk pasta (again).

Ever notice how easy it is to OVER eat pasta.  It just goes down SO easy and let's face it a serving of pasta is NOT exactly A LOT of food.

Let me show you what I mean.

Stir-fries are a bit of a contradiction. They are super fast to make IF and this is a BIG IF...

This is the salad that I have been ADDICTED to the past two weeks and am considering putting on the "Weekly Menu" for the third week in a row!

It's a simple spin off of a Chinese Chicken Salad and let me tell you...

*Not my most exciting photo, but I promise they taste great!

Okay, SO having a new born baby (that refuses to breast feed therefore forcing her mommy to not only feed baby when hungry but also be tied to a pump like a milk-maid every three hours around the the clock AND yes that includes the night time!) can be a rather time consuming role.  Certainly more time consuming than I could have ever anticipated.

With that being said, I am head over heels in love and truly enjoying my new Mommy role - I just haven't figured out how to do anything in the course of a day that is not associated with my new role (ie. blogging, showering, washing the dishes;)).

Now don't let me fool you... I haven't cooked a thing since Katie has joined the clan (it's been lots of peanut butter, bananas, and granola for me) BUT I  have a ton of recipes that haven't made it to the blog yet, so I figured I would dip into my "recipes not posted" file until I get back  into the kitchen!

As the days begin to grow longer and the temperatures warm up I know it's time to start cooking on the grill! 

Throwing dinner on the grill is one of the easiest ways to make a QUICK clean, simple, and d'lishes meal!

Although this video was suppose to be posted BEFORE the Super Bowl, I figured, "Hey... better late then never, right?". Besides, you don't need a football game as an excuse to make these Spicy Buffalo Chicken Meatballs (I promise)!

So here's the Lemon Herbed Chicken that I served along side my Trible Herbed Potato Salad.  This is yet another one of those SO GOOD, SO EASY meals.  i know I sound like a broken record sometimes, but what can I say... it's the truth!!

With football season kicking off this weekend I wanted to give you guys a little game time meal that you could feel good about eating!  These Buffalo Chicken Butter Lettuce Cups are the perfect dish!

Okay, so before we even get into the details about my Pan Seared Chicken w/ Balsamic Strawberries and Feta Cheese can we please discuss the shower curtain of a top I am wearing in this video?!?!

For those of you really trying to incorporate more QUICK and HEALTHY meals into your diet you have to play in the world of steaming. 

Okay, so soup was not on my cabbage agenda this week. 

I was planning braised red cabbage with apples and goat cheese served with some type of protein; possibly experimenting with chicken or pork moo shu, and/or whipping up an asian style cabbage salad. 

What changed things you ask?

This is the chicken that I served with my Red Cabbage Salad the other night.  I found this recipe on a blog called "Good Things Catered", Recipes from a casual cook turned caterer turned back again. 

I just sort of stumbled across this blog while searching for Asian style chicken recipes and decided to give it a go, after all blog recipes are where it's at these days;). 

Okay, so I got a little distracted with Valentine's Day (Chocolate Covered Strawberries can do that to me) but I haven't forgotten this months Food Focus... Quinoa!  

I've got more Quinoa recipes coming your way, starting with my Black Bean and Quinoa Pita Pockets! 

One thing that I find to be a HUGE HELP when it comes to sticking to a healthy game plan during a busy week, is a little pre-preppin'.  Although I sometimes opt to spend the extra hours at the beach or lounging with some friends, I'm usually pretty good about "setting up my week".