My favorite summer dinner

I ♥ a good salad!!  I especially love salads in the summer!!  There is always so much delicious produce in the garden or on sale at the grocery store!!  I use whatever is in my refrigerator needing to be used up....I especially love strawberries, but they weren't on sale this week.

 

Summer Salad

 

Pictured above....sunflower seeds, pecans, feta cheese, cucumbers, diced peaches, blueberries, carrots, avocado.  We also love to add strawberries, craisens, mandarin oranges, bell peppers....really you could add anything you have sitting in your fridge.  Just add dressing(I prefer a squeeze of fresh lemon juice..some salt and pepper).  Serve with some grilled chicken, steak, or pork chops and there you go....a delicious, quick and healthy meal that won't heat up your house :)

 

What is your favorite go-to summer dinner?

a few Thanksgiving Foods

 Like I said in my last post.....I have very few Thanksgiving type recipes.  Here are a few recipes that I LOVE...that would be welcome on my Thanksgiving table or on my table anytime:)

 

Dinner Rolls

 

Grape Salad

 

Crusty Rolls

  

Boston Market Cornbread

 

Broccoli Salad

Wonton Salad

I LOVE salad!!  I had this salad at a friend's house and it is delicious and SO pretty.

Wonton Salad

Ingredients:

4 chicken breasts, cooked and shredded or chopped

1 head lettuce (I used half green leaf and 1/2 spinach)

2-3 green onions chopped

toasted almonds

1 can mandarin oranges (I can't remember the can size...11ish oz.)

1/2 pkg. wonton wrappers cut into quarters and fried (cut from corner to corner so that you have triangular pieces)

Dressing: 

2 TBL vinegar

1/2 cup sugar

1 1/2 tsp salt

1/2 cup oil (I used canola)

Directions:  Mix salad ingredients together(except wonton wrappers).  Mix dressing ingredients with fork until sugar is dissolved.  Toss salad with dressing.  Top with fried wontons.



Chicken Taco Salad

I used more of my shredded Crock pot Chicken for this recipe. A friend of mine gave me a recipe for chicken tacos that is similar to this that I can't wait to try. I adapted the taco recipe for this.

Chicken Taco Salad

Ingredients:

• 3 slices bacon
• 1 1/2 cups shredded chicken
• 2 T brown sugar
• 1 cup salsa
• lettuce
• toppings: sliced olives, chopped avocado, black beans, salsa, ranch dip(sour cream with the ranch powder mixed in), fried corn tortilla strips, a squeeze of lime

Directions: Cut the bacon up into small pieces and fry in a large frying pan until cooked. Drain bacon reserving 2 T of the bacon grease in the pan. Add the chicken to the bacon grease and cook until warm. Add the brown sugar, salsa and bacon to the chicken. Place the chicken mixture on top of each bowl of lettuce and top with your favorite toppings. I liked using the ranch dip rather than regular sour cream.

For the tortilla strips, I cut corn tortillas into strips and fried them in my 'cool' new frying thing my husband gave me for Christmas, then put them in a zip-loc bag with some cumin and garlic salt. Shake and serve. I have also(before the cool new frying thing) cooked them on a baking sheet. Spray them with cooking spray, sprinkle with cumin and garlic salt and bake at 425 until they start to brown and crisp up. I turn them once or twice with a spatula.

Grape Salad

Grapes went on sale again! I had bought everything to make this salad last time grapes were on sale, but the kids got into the grapes and they were gone before I got the chance. This is something that my husband's family has every year for Thanksgiving. It is SO yummy!! When I started to make this I realized that my family had eaten the slivered almonds that I had bought to make this the first time. Oh well, I made it anyway without them. With four young boys, I decided the battle at the grocery store was not going to be worth going back for the almonds!!

Grape Salad

Ingredients:

• 2-3 pounds Grapes
• 8 oz. softened cream cheese
• 1 jar marshmallow cream
• 1 cup cool whip
• 1 small package of slivered almonds

Directions: Beat together the cream cheese, marshmallow cream and cool whip until creamy. Stir in grapes and almonds. The amount of grapes you use will depend on the grape to cream mixture you want. I like lots of cream mixture per grape:)

Chicken Strips served 2 ways & Blog Award

I can't believe that it has been a week since I posted last, I have lots of great excuses:). Here are a couple quick and easy dinner ideas for you.

Cajun Chicken Strips

Ingredients:

• 2 boneless skinless chicken breasts
• 1 T. Cajun seasoning
• 2 eggs, beaten
• 1-2 t. hot pepper sauce (I use Frank's Red Hot)
• 1 cup bread crumbs
• 2 T. canola oil
• 3 T. butter

Directions: Rinse and dry chicken. Place chicken between two sheets of plastic wrap on a cutting board. Pound chicken breast until about 1/4 - 1/2 inch thick. Cut chicken into strips. Mix chicken with Cajun seasoning until coated. Heat oil and butter in large skillet. Dip chicken strips into the eggs beaten with the hot pepper sauce. Coat the chicken with bread crumbs. Cook chicken in the hot oil and butter until cooked through, about 5-6 minutes per side. Remove chicken and continue to the next recipes.

Pasta with Cajun Chicken Strips and Grape Tomatoes

Ingredients:

• Half of chicken from recipe above (1 chicken breast)
• drippings from cooking the chicken
• 1 pound angel hair spaghetti noodles
• 1/2 cup cooking liquid, reserve when you drain the pasta
• 3 cups grape tomatoes, cut in half
• 1/2 cup Parmesan cheese
• Mozzarella cheese to grate on top

Directions: Cook pasta according to directions. Add tomatoes to the drippings from the chicken and cook until the tomatoes are soft and beginning to brown. Add pasta and 1/2 cup pasta water. Add Parmesan cheese and heat through. Serve with the chicken and grated mozzarella cheese.

Cajun Chicken Salad

Ingredients:

• 1 head of your favorite lettuce (I used green leaf)
• leftover Cajun chicken strips, chopped and warm
• 1 pint strawberries, washed and sliced
• 1 cup chopped walnuts (almonds would also be great)
• grated mozzarella cheese
• your favorite dressing (I love this salad with Brianna's Home Style Poppy Seed Dressing)

Directions: Wash, dry and chop(or tear) lettuce. Top with the other ingredients.

One last thing we want to pass along the blog award that we got from Lisa last week! Thanks again Lisa!!

We are passing it on to the following blogs:

Candy at The Courageous Cook

AND

Aggie at Aggie's Kitchen

Check these blogs out for some delicious food:)!!

Taco Salad

It sure seems like we eat A LOT of Mexican food!! We love tacos! They are fast, easy and cheap.

Taco Salad

For the shell: Place a flour tortilla over a large(empty and clean) can. Spray the tortilla with cooking spray and bake at 375 for ~10 minutes. Keep an eye on it and when it just starts to turn brown and is crispy. After you take it out of the oven it will crisp a little more, so if it is still a little pliable when you take it out, that's okay.

Taco Meat: Cook 1 pound of hamburger. Drain off grease. While taco meat is cooking mix together the following(or you can just use a package of your favorite taco seasoning). 2 t. chili powder, 1 1/2 t. salt, 1 t. garlic powder, 1 t. corn starch, 1 t. ground cumin, 1 t. cayenne pepper(more or less according to taste). Add the seasoning to the meat and add approx. 1/4 cup water. Cook until hot.

Assemble: Use whatever you like and have on hand. I serve mine with lettuce, meat, beans(if I have them), cheese, sour cream and LOTS of salsa. This would be great with some of Amber's Pico!

We are finally starting to get a lot of tomatoes off our garden plants!! I am so excited to get making salsa, marinara, and spicy vegtable juice!! I have also been given a lot of zucchini! Tomorrow I will share 2 sweet and tasty zucchini dishes! This picture makes it look like I have more cheese than anythings else. Ha, Ha, maybe I do:)

Sweet Pork Salad

Our family LOVES Cafe Rio or Costa Vida...whichever happens to be nearby. We always order the sweet pork burrito or salad. My mom sent me this recipe awhile ago and we think it is pretty close to Cafe Rio.


Sweet Pork Ingredients:

• Pork Loin
• 1 can El Pato Tomato Sauce(yellow can found in the Latino section)
• 4 cans tomato sauce
• 2 cups brown sugar

Directions: Cook pork loin in crock pot until it can be shredded. Drain all liquid out of crock pot. Put tomato sauce, pato sauce and brown sugar into crock pot. Add shredded pork. Heat and serve. I usually cut this recipe in half and it still makes a lot of pork...mmm...but it is SO good!!
To assemble the salad...I put a flour tortilla in a bowl, add lettuce, cilantro black beans, salsa, lime cilantro rice, pork, cheese, and cilantro lime tomatillo ranch dressing. I also added some crunchy tortilla strips. To make the tortilla strips I cut up some corn tortillas into strips, fry in a little canola oil, drain and then shake in a gallon size ziploc bag with garlic salt and cumin.
Tomorrow I will post the recipe for the Cafe Rio style black beans and my cilantro lime tomatillo ranch dressing.