tasty Pinterest finds.

We had a blissfully low-key weekend these past couple of days, with nothing much on our agenda beyond lots of Olympics watching. No weddings, no showers, no travel, no work. Awesome.

It was also the first weekend in a while that hasn’t been miserably hot – enough so that I don’t want to go near my stove, or oven, or grill, or for that matter anything that kicks out additional heat. In other words – I haven’t been doing much cooking.

But this weekend, I was missing my kitchen and wanted to try out a couple of healthy-ish recipes to much on while we watched the USA start its quest for medals. I started off easy, with this “skinny” version of poolside dip. Awesome on Kashi crackers, pita crisps, or carrots chips. I cut the recipe in half and did 4 oz. of light cream cheese, and 4 oz. of fat free. It had to chill a couple hours to get nice and firm and not too soupy, but totally worth the wait.

Next up was a quinoa salad that was inspired by a salad I had at the Des Moines Art Museum a couple of months back. Their menu changes constantly so I couldn’t look it up after the fact, but recreated and tweaked from what I could remember. This is yummy on a bed of greens with a little extra dressing, but I often just eat it cold out of the fridge for a quick lunch option. I cook 1 cup of quinoa, add half a package of Uncle Ben’s 90-second wild/whole grain rice blend, a can of drained (no sugar added) mandarin oranges, a generous handful of Craisins, and about 1/3 cup of a light fruity viniagrette (this time I used a Pomegranate). Toss and chill. Then eat…and eat more. I love the fruity+nutty flavor and the little bit of crunch from the softened quinoa. Yum.

Finally, I tried Skinny Taste’s baked steak fries and between the two of us, we ate almost the whole pan. I have to say, this recipe is all spices for flavor, so I really didn’t feel too guilty, and I made a couple of additional substitutions to the recipe, like turkey bacon for regular bacon. I was unsure if the “skinny” version would pass the man test – but Page has already said he would eat these again!

Anyone else whipping up yummy summer (or Olympics viewing) food?