Avocado Lettuce Salad

This recipe is adapted from Cuisine At Home.  It's a great side dish that offers the best of guacamole and a crunchy salad.  It compliments any mexican meal.  Okay, it compliments anything if you love guacamole like I do!

1 lb bacon, cooked and crumbled
4 avocados
6 Tbs mayonnaise
1/4 cup fresh lime juice
1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
salt and pepper to taste
8 cups shredded Romain lettuce
4 roma tomatoes, diced
2/3 cup sliced scallions
2/3 cup chopped fresh cilantro
1/4 cup seeded, minced jalepenos (optional)

Mash avocados in a large bowl until smooth.  Add mayonnaise, lime juice, and lemon juice.  Season with salt and pepper.

Stir lettuce, tomatoes, scallions, cilantro, jalapenos, and bacon into avocado mixture until combined.

A couple notes:  If you like it really crunchy, you may want to use iceberg lettuce.  I like Romaine because there is still crunch to it, but it has more nutrients than iceberg lettuce.

The jalepeno's will add some heat.  I left them out because my kids are not big fans of hot-spicy food.

This recipe makes a lot!  I actually made a 1/2 batch for my family of 4.  My daughter tried it, but she is my picky one and didn't want seconds.  The rest of us all had a second helping and there was still a serving left over.

Enjoy, and please let me know what you think!

SRC: Avocado Cup Salad

It's my favorite time of the month again... The Secret Recipe Club Reveal Day!  I just love browsing through my assigned blog each month, I'm always so inspired.  There are so many talented people and amazing recipes to try.  This month I had The Ginger Snap Girl.  I was already in love when I saw the name of the blog, don't you just want to know about her by the name alone?  Besides, I love ginger, and my beloved cat's name is Ginger as well.  Gloria is the Ginger Snap Girl and she and her husband and their 3 cats live in Southern California.  I really enjoyed reading her "About Me" page.  She's a great writer, amazing in the kitchen, and takes some most beautiful pictures.  She notes that in her family it's all about the food and whose bringing what.  That's how I feel about our celebrations and gatherings too, we just might be soul sisters.  :D

Okay, on to the recipe...
I chose Avocado cup salad.

Don't they look amazing?!  Well, Avocado's are one of my favorite things.

Here's what you'll need:

1 teaspoon olive oil
1 cup fresh or frozen sweet corn (I cut mine right off the cob)
1/2 red, yellow or orange pepper, diced
2 roma or plum tomatoes, cut in half, seeded and diced
1/4 cup red onion finely diced
1 teaspoon plus 1/4 teaspoon cilantro
1/2 anaheim green chile or jalapeno (if you like spicy), finely diced
2 limes
1 small jicama*, peeled and cut into matchstick size strips (about 2 cups)
2 small to medium sized ripe avocados, peeled, pitted and sliced in half lengthwise
2 green onions, thinly sliced at an angle
Tortilla chips, broken in pieces for garnish

Start by making the corn salsa. Heat a small non stick skillet on medium high heat and add the olive oil  corn, red, yellow or orange pepper, and the chile. (I also added the red onion here since I prefer mine cooked a bit.)  Saute stirring occasionally until the corn, pepper and chile begin to take on roasted appearance, about 10 minutes. Set aside to cool.

Once mixture is cool, add tomato, 1 teaspoon of cilantro, the roasted corn mixture to a medium bowl and stir together. Squeeze the juice of one lime on the salsa and season with salt and pepper if desired and stir.

Next make the jicama slaw by combining the jicama, juice of one lime and remaining 1/4 teaspoon of cilantro in a small bowl. Stir to combine.

Next assemble your ingredients.  You could do individual plates for a main dish, or you could put it together on a serving platter like I did as we had it as a side.  Put the jicama on the bottom, then top with your avocado halves.  Then load them up with your corn salsa.  Finish with a sprinkle of sliced green onion and crushed tortilla chips.  

Enjoy!  

*Jicama was a new ingredient for us.  It's pronounced hik-uh-muh.  I've had it before at a restaurant but I've never bought or prepared it.  I'm always encouraging my kids to try something new, so this was a great opportunity.  I do confess, if you are one of my local friends, I had to go to 3 stores to find it!  But, I'm so glad I persevered.  It just added a nice texture and flavor to the salad.  It's kind of the texture of a crisp apple, but not as sweet as an apple.  

Red, White and Blue Salad

4th of July is almost here!  So many festive foods to make and not enough time!  Here's an awesome salad I adapted from Real Mom Kitchen.  Great tasting and good for you.


1 head lettuce, I used romaine and and some mixed greens from my garden
1 cup glazed walnuts
2 cups sliced strawberries
1 ½ cups blueberries
crumbled feta cheese

Dressing:
1/2  cup Extra Virgin Olive Oil

1/2 cup persian lime oil
1/2 cup coconut vinegar
1 tsp dry mustard
1 tsp salt
1/2 cup chopped onion
1 Tbs poppy seeds

Glaze your walnuts.  Put the walnuts and 1 Tbs honey in a saucepan on medium and stir to coat.  Let them cook for about 5 minutes or so.  The honey will become a bit foamy in the pan, then they are finished.  Place on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper to cool

Prepare your salad.  Place your lettuce on a serving platter.  Next add your cooled walnuts.  Then add your strawberries, cheese, and blueberries.  As you can see from the picture, I kept mine separated for a nice presentation, but this will still be beautiful with everything layered.  

 

Make the dressing.  Combine all ingredients in a blender and mix well.  

I know the oil and vinegar I chose are in the unique category and not everyone has that sitting around.  You can substitute regular olive oil and red-wine vinegar too, it will have a very different flavor, but very good.  If you do that, you will probably need to sweeten it.  I would use honey or maple syrup, and you could also just use sugar.  Check out the dressing recipe at Real Mom Kitchen.  

What are you making for the 4th?  I'd love to hear from you!

Chellie

Traverse City Film Festival Green Room Cabbage Salad

This wonderful salad was adapted from Fustini's Kitchen.  Do you know Fustinis?  Fustinis is an Oil and Vinegar shop.  Yep, that's all they sell.  You can taste everything and I didn't find one single one I didn't like!  Some of these vinegars are amazing and smooth.  You literally could drink it straight up.  For my local friends, they have locations in Holland, Ann Arbor, Traverse City, and Petoskey MI.  But if you're not local, you can order online.  Of course you can't taste it first, but you will not be disappointed!  There are so many different flavors and they really add something special to your dishes.

So here's a recipe that I adapted from them.  As I was checking out, they gave me a couple recipe cards that went along with the selections I had purchased.  (The customer service was fantastic!)

Ingredients:
1/2 head shredded cabbage
1 red bell pepper sliced
3 carrots julienned (or grated)
fresh blackberries
Persian Lime Oil
Coconut Balsamic
sea salt and ground pepper to taste
(makes about 6 side salads)

Mix cabbage and carrots together in a large bowl and toss with equal parts of oil and vinegar.  Add salt and pepper to taste

Divide on to plates or serving bowls and top with sliced red peppers and fresh blackberries.  Drizzle with more of the Persian lime/coconut dressing.

St. Patricks Day Mystery Dinner (pt. 1)

                             


It's about a week away from St. Patricks day!  I am not irish, but I love a reason to celebrate.  :-)  Last year we did a mystery dinner with the kids for Valentine's Day.  They loved it so much they asked to do it again, so this year, we are doing it on St. Patrick's day.

I will post many more pictures after the event, but I will try to give you a good description here.

Here's our menu so far:

Shamrock Shake  (this will be a green veggie salad in a jar w/dressing that they will shake to mix)
4-leaf clover         (mini-pizza in a clover shape, I'll use a cookie cutter)
Leprechaun Pie    (shepherds pie, recipe found here)
Pot of gold           (lemon jello in a lime pot)
over the rainbow   (fruit kebab in the colors of the rainbow.  strawberry, cantelope, banana, kiwi, blueberry
                                grape)
emerald isle           (green punch)
digging for gold     (spoon)
Blarney Stone       (fork)
St. Pat's sword       (knife)
Irish kiss                (napkin)


Dessert is yet to be determined, both what it is and what I'll call it.  Although, I may just do it as it.  There is alot of balance here, vegetables, starch, meat, fruit, etc.    I will be making a menu with all the fun names, and a 1st, 2nd, and 3rd course.  The kids will put the items they want in which course.   You'll notice some of the items are utensils!  It's always fun to see how it all ends up.  I will definitely keep you posted as we get closer to the event!

Irish blessings to you all.

BBQ Chicken Quinoa Salad

This Salad was sooo yummy!  I really like quinoa, but I haven't done a ton of things with it, so I'm always looking for ideas.  Plus, I bought a giant bag from Costco.

This recipe comes from What's Gaby cooking.  It calls for bbq sauce, but I have to say, I didn't actually use it because my chicken was plenty bbq.  I hope you enjoy!

1 cup cooked quinoa
1/2 cup corn
1/2 cup black beans, rinsed and drained
1 cup shredded BBQ chicken
1 avocado, chopped
2 tbsp White Cheddar cheese, shredded
2-4 tbsp BBQ sauce
2 scallions, chopped
cilantro for garnish

In a large bowl, toss together the quinoa, corn, black beans, chicken and avocado. Season with salt and pepper.

Transfer mixture onto a bowl and top with shredded cheese, BBQ sauce, scallions and cilantro.
Serve warm or at room temperature

Caprese Salad on a stick

I love Caprese salad!  This was a great appetizer, of course I couldn't only eat one.  :-)

1 pt grape tomatoes
Fresh mozzarella balls
Fresh basil
toothpicks

For the dressing:
EVOO
Balsamic Vinegar
1 clove garlic

Depending on the size of your basil leaves, you may be able to use 1 basil leaf per "stick".  For me, I had to cut some of mine into large pieces.  All you do is thread the tomato, cheese, and basil on a toothpick.  Easy peasy!  I laid them all out on a plate and drizzled the dressing across them.  If you can't find mozzarella balls, you can use any type of fresh mozzarella.  I bought mine in the log form and cut it into cubes.  It worked just as well.

Dressing:
Crush 1 clove of garlic and put it in your dressing bottle.  Then pour in your oil and vinegar and shake it up.  I use about 3 parts oil to 1 part vinegar.  If you like it less tangy, use less vinegar.

Tropical Taco Salad

Grilled chicken (I brushed mine with olive oil and a little taco seasoning), about 2 cups cut into bite size pieces
Green leaf or boston bibb lettuce
Grape or cherry tomatoes, halved
1 Avocado
2 cups black beans
2 ears roasted corn, cut off the cob
Grilled mango
Orange bell pepper

Dressing:
1/3 cup chopped fresh cilantro
2/3 cup light sour cream
2 tbs salsa (you choose how hot)
1 tsp chili powder
1 tsp smoked paprika (use smoked or leave it out, regular will not give you the same flavor)
juice of 1 lime
salt to taste

First grill your chicken, corn and mango. Use a little olive oil on the corn.
Chop your chicken, mango, pepper, and avacado into bite size pieces, and cut the corn off the cobb.
Combine the lettuce, veggies, chicken, beans and mango together. Make your dressing and toss together.

For the dressing, I combined everything in a food processor.

This salad was absolutely delicious! Could be a main salad or a side salad.

Tomato Salad

Tomatoes are one of my favorite things, especially home grown. There is nothing like them!
Here's a simple yet elegant way to enjoy them.

1 large tomato
6 fresh basil leaves
Shaved Parmesan cheese
Extra Virgin Olive Oil
Balsamic Vinegar

Slice the tomato. Sprinkle fresh basil* and parmesan cheese over top. Mix the oil and vinegar together and drizzle over the top. You'll want about 3 parts Olive Oil to 1 part Vinegar. I mix them together before topping the salad.

*Tip for slicing basil. Lay your basil leaves on top of each other, then roll them up and carefully slice.

Turkey Wraps

These are a great lunch, or a nice main course when it's too hot to cook!
I used left over turkey meat from one that that we roasted.

Turkey cut into bite size pieces
2 stalkes celery chopped
1 apple chopped
1/2 cup mayonnaise
squirt of dijon mustard
2 tsp thyme
salt and pepper to taste
handful of craisins
Tortilla shells (whole wheat are great too!)

Combine all the ingredients except tortillas. Mix well. You may want to adjust the amount of mayo or mustard depending on your tastes. Wrap it up and enjoy!

Apple-Celery Salad with Pomegranate and Pecans

This salad was inspired from one I saw on simplebites.net.  She used fennel instead of celery.  I would have loved to try that, but celery was what I had.  So feel free to try either.  And, if you've not tried Pomegranates... you are so missing out!  Many people won't try them because they don't know what to do with them, or how to eat them...that was me.  But, I have seen the light!  I can tell you step by step how to cut a pomegranate, but why should I when you can find it here?  
1/2 cup pecans, toasted
2 med. apples
 2-3 stalks celery
1/2 cup pomegranate seeds
2-3 Tablespoons Clementine Vinigrette
salt & and pepper to taste


1.  Wash celery
2.  Chop apple
3.  In a medium bowl, combine celery, apple, pecans and pomegranates and toss to combine.
4.  Drizzle with clementine vinigrette, season lightly with salt and pepper and mix well. Serve at once.

Clementine-Coriander Vinigrette

I found this on simplebites.net.  Very bright and fresh.  


2 ripe clementines or 1 orange
a pinch of coriander
a pinch of salt
a pinch of pepper
2 Tbs extra virgin olive oil


Squeeze the juice of the clementines or orange into a bowl.  Add the seasonings and Olive oil, and whisk until combined.

Slow Roasted Tomatoes

Is anyone overloaded with tomatoes from their garden?  I did not get the pleasure of having a garden this year.  There was just too many other projects going on and we never got around to it.  I was really quite sad, but God has really blessed me!  He really does care about the details.  I've had 2 people pour out their generosity on us.  I've been blessed with tomatoes among other garden veggies and I'm so very grateful!!  I am getting to enjoy fresh tomatoes as well as make sauce and even freeze some because of them.  There is nothing like a home grown tomato and I LOVE them, they are truly a favorite!  I'm thinking maybe I won't do a garden next year either, it's worked out quite well for me this year.  :-)  Only kidding, I will do another one, hopefully next year, and I will remember the generosity poured on me and will 'pay it forward'.  Feel free to keep me accountable to that!  Now, if you have lots of tomatoes and want another idea, here you go!

These are super delicious!

about 20 Roma tomatoes (really, you can use any, I used Roma this time)

1 Tbs Olive oil

salt

coriander

Preheat oven to 200.  Cut the stem end off of the tomatos and slice them in half length wise.  In a bowl, toss with the olive oil.  Lay out on a large rimmed baking sheet and sprinkle with Salt and Coriander.  A pinch of salt should cover about 4-6 tomatoes.  Place in the oven for 4-6 hours, or more if you wish.  The inside should still be juicy.  Serve at room temp.  Store in a container in the fridge.  They are great alone, or put them on your salads, serve it in pasta, put some fresh shaved parmesan on top with some basil, olive oil, and balsamic vinegar, the possibilities are endless.  The flavor is oh so yummy!  I can't describe it, you'll just have to try it. 

Caprese Salad

4 vine-ripened tomatoes

8 oz fresh mozzarella cheese (preferably the kind packagedin water)

basil leaves (definitely fresh!)

fresh cracked pepper

salt

olive oil

balsamic vinegar

Slice tomatoes, you should get about 4 slices per tomato. I chose to slice mine in half again, but be creative in how you want to arrange them.  Sprinkle with salt and pepper.  Then add your mozzarella cheese and basil leaves. Drizzle olive oil and balsamic vinegar over the top.  Great summer salad!

If you want to, you can mix your olive oil and vinegar prior to drizzling.  You want about 3-4 parts oil to 1 part vinegar

Another tip if you like your basil leaves chopped smaller:  Stack the basil leaves all going in the same direction, gently roll them, then gently slice them crosswise.  You'll end up with little shreds of basil.  Just be careful because it bruises really easily, then it turns black and doesn't look quite as appetizing. 

cucumber-celery salad

Another one from Everyday Food.  And a salad my 3 yr old can eat, yet still very satisfying for the grown ups!  I usually throw celery leaves out, I never thought of eating them before... I'm not sure why, they are quite tasty, and I've always liked celery seed (for soups) and celery salt. 

2 tbs Olive Oil
2 tsp red wine vinegar
salt and pepper to taste
2 celery stalks, thinly sliced plus 1/4 cup celery leaves
1 english cucumber halved and thinly sliced
1 shallot (optional, this is good if you like some kick, but my little ones don't like raw onion flaver)

Combine the celery, leaves, and cucumber.  In a seperate bowl mix together the vinegar, oil, salt & pepper and mix well.  Then toss with the salad.  Enjoy!

Black bean and corn salad

I was looking for something fresh and healthy to serve as a side with my Mojito BBQ Chicken, and craving something a bit mexican.  I found this salad on allrecipes.com and adapted it. I could not stop eating it!  And with the avacado I knew it wouldn't last long, so I just continued to stuff myself because I couldn't stand the thought of throwing any of it away!  Yes, I have a food addiction.  This was great as a salad, and, I could totally see dipping some chips in it too.

I've posted the actual recipe, but, I did not have enough of all the ingredients so I actually made do with what I had.  I halved the recipe, used 1/2 red bell pepper, and 1 1/2 avacodo... its just what I had in the house.  It all worked well.

1/3 cup fresh lime juice

1/2 cup olive oil
1 clove garlic, minced
1 teaspoon salt
2 (15 ounce) cans black beans, rinsed and drained
1 1/2 cups frozen corn kernels
1 avocado - peeled, pitted and diced
1 red bell pepper, chopped
2 tomatoes, chopped
6 green onions, thinly sliced
1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro (optional)


Directions
1.Place lime juice, olive oil, garlic, and salt, in a small jar. Cover with lid, and shake until ingredients are well mixed.

2.In a salad bowl, combine beans, corn, avocado, bell pepper, tomatoes, green onions, and cilantro. Shake lime dressing, and pour it over the salad. Stir salad to coat vegetables and beans with dressing, and serve.

Spinach Salad with Warm Bacon Dressing

This one is straight off the Pioneer Woman's website.  I had it tonight for the first time and it was fabulous!  Now, don't let the title of "salad" fool you, this is not a healthy recipe.  While some of the ingredients are beneficial, like the spinach, and egg does have protein, (and we get fresh eggs from a guy that raises chickens, so they are super good.  Have you ever had a fresh egg?) but the bacon... well, not so much.  My philosophy has always been everything in moderation. 

3 whole eggs

7 slices thick cut pepperd bacon

1 whole red onion (small)

1 package mushrooms, white button

8 ounces baby spinach, washed, dried and stems removed

3 tbs red wine vinegar

2 tbs sugar

1/2 tsp dijon mustard

1 dash of salt

Cook eggs:  cober with water, bring to a boil, then turn off heat and allow to sit in water for 20  minutes.  Drain off water and add ice on top of eggs.

Fry bacon until cripsy/chewy.  Remove to a paper towel.  Remove 3 tbs grease and set aside.  (yes, the unhealthy part)  Add 2 additional tbs of grease to a seperate skillet over medium heat. 

Slice red onions very thinly, then add to skillet.  Cook slowly until  onions are caramelized and reduced.  Remove to a plate and set aside.

Slice mushrooms and add them to the same skillet.  Cook slowly until caramelized and brown.  Remove to a plate and set aside.

Chop bacon.  Peel and slice eggs.

Dressing:

Add 3 tbs bacon grease, vinegar, sugar, and dijon to a small saucepan or skillet over medium low heat.  Whisk mixture together and heat thoroughly.

Add spinach to a large bowl.  Arrange onions, mushrooms, and bacon on top.  Pur hot dressing over teh top; toss to combine.  Arrange eggs over the top and serve.  Serves 6.

You may have noticed no mushrooms in the picture.  I actually do not like mushrooms, so I just made it without.   But, true spinach salad does contain the mushrooms. 

Chicken Taco Salad

This is meal #2 from once a month cooking:

4 boneless skinless chicken breasts cooked and chopped
1 14 oz can diced tomatoes w/ green chilis
1 packet taco seasoning
1 cup grated cheddar cheese
lettuce (I prefer romaine, spinach, or spring mix)
2 tomatoes
1 avacado
cilantro
1 bag tortilla chips

Put first 3 ingredients in a slow cooker for 4-5 hours. 
Make salad with lettuce, cheese, tomatoes, avacados, cilantro.  Put meat mixture on top and crushed tortilla chips.  Serve with Salsa and Sour cream. 

Next time I will add black beans and corn too.   mmm mmm good!