Fresh and Easy Asian Salad

This is a good one! Easy and quick to throw together! Not too much to it. Just throw and go! Now, of course, I didn't get a good picture, but I have a GREAT reason. I made this at 7am so that my husband would have dinner while I made the opening day of ECLIPSE. So, sorry if you are motivated by pictures, but believe me, this is EXTREMELY tasty!!

Combine the following:

1 bag (or head) of lettuce of your choice (romaine, butter, etc.)

1 8 oz can mandarin oranges, drained

1 pkg of grilled chicken strips (pre-cooked)

1 cup of Chow Main noodles

1 cup of snap peas, cooked to al dente

1.5 cups cooked and shelled edamame

1/2 red or yellow bell pepper chopped or sliced

(You could easily add almonds to this!)

Kraft Light Asian Toasted Sesame Dressing

Add dressing to individual servings, because you WILL have leftovers :)

ENJOY!

Poor Man's Greek Couscous Salad

Oh, this is a keeper. And I don't say that lightly. If I had enough of everything, I would have doubled the recipe and used it ALL week for lunches. Its easy, its fast, and its delicious! Nothing expensive to this dish. You'll see!

All you'll need

1 cup uncooked couscous (Whole wheat if possible!)

1 large tomato (seeded and finely chopped)

1 cup cucumber (finely chopped or not, if you like big chunks)

4 oz reduced fat Feta Cheese (or not reduced fat if you aren't health conscious)

1/2 cup zesty italian dressing, reduced fat (Kraft makes it, but use any italian you like)

1 tsp dried dill weed OR 1 T fresh dill (I used fresh)

All you'll do

Bring one cup of water to a boil. Remove from heat. Add your couscous, stir, then cover and let sit for 5 minutes. Remove lid, fluff with a fork, and allow to cool about 10 more minutes. In a medium sized bowl, add the remaining ingredients, toss well, and then refrigerate at least one hour prior to serving. The longer it sits in there, the better!

Serve, and of course, ENJOY :)

Options: Throw in some diced chicken to make it into a meal. Throw in some black olives if you have them on hand. Throw in some chopped onion if you'd like. ENDLESS possibilities with this.

Romantic Dinner for 2! PART ONE: White Bean and Feta Salad

This was an extremely easy salad that I threw together. I had 2 bags of dried white beans in my pantry and wanted to use them up. All you would need is about 1/2 can of white beans (I used Cannellini Beans). You don't have to arrange the salad the way I did, but for a romantic looking dish, try it out!

Ingredients:

1/2 cup of canned white beans, drained and rinsed (or cook your own dry beans)

6 oz of mixed spring greens

1.5 T Olive Oil

1 T Balsamic Vinegar (Plus some for drizzling)

1/4 t Dijon Mustard

Salt and Pepper

1 pint grape tomatoes

2 ounces Feta Cheese (I used black peppercorn feta)

1 T Sliced fresh Basil

Whisk the oil, vinegar, mustard, salt and pepper together

 

Place greens in a large bowl and pour dressing over them. Toss WELL. Get the dressing all over the salad! Then, divide among 2 plates (we had leftover salad, it could have made 4 small salads). I sliced about 7 tomatoes in half and edged the plate in them. I placed the sliced basil in the center of the plate, and then put the salad in the center of the ring. I drizzled some balsamic over the tomatoes, then topped the greens with the beans and feta.

 

So easy! Such a good "Starter" or side dish with any meal! Enjoy :) And look for Parts 2, 3 and 4 of this Valentine's Meal!

A Few Highlights from a Strange Week....

This week, I was able to be at home ONE night. No cooking Monday or Tuesday, cooking while babysitting Wednesday night, and a normal meal on Thursday. Not every single dish was a success, so I'm highlighting what we/I liked!

First up, a low fat version of spinach salad, really easy, really yummy! This recipe comes from Ellie Krieger at FoodNetwork.com

Spinach Salad with Warm Bacon and Apple Cider Dressing

10 oz baby spinach, washed

2 slices bacon, finely chopped

3 ounces canadian bacon, finely chopped (I used 5 ounces and omitted regular bacon)

2 tsp olive oil

1/2 red onion, sliced

1 pound button mushrooms (I used half a pound)

1 cup apple cider

2 T apple cider vinegar

1 t dijon mustard

Salt and Pepper

*I added a handful of honey toasted almonds, as well as a handful of craisins*

Place spinach into a large bowl. Cook bacon in a large skillet over medium heat for about 4 minutes, or until it is just crispy. Add Canadian bacon to the skillet and cook for 2 more minutes, stirring frequently. Remove meat from pan and place on a plate lined with paper towels. Drain any remaining fat from the skillet. 

Add olive oil and onions to the skillet and cook for about 2 minutes, or until onions soften slightly. Add mushrooms to the pan and cook, stirring frequently, for 2 more minutes. Put onions and mushrooms on top of the spinach. 

Add apple cider and vinegar to the skillet and turn the heat up to medium-high. Stir to scrape up any bits that are stuck to the bottom of the pan and cook for 8 to 10 minutes or until cider is reduced to about 1/2 cup.

Whisk in mustard, salt and pepper, to taste. Pour warm cider dressing over the mushrooms and spinach and toss until the vegetables are well coated. Sprinkle the bacon on top and serve.

We served this guy alongside Pasta Putenesca (featured early on in this blog!)

Next up, Mexican Night. I made some homemade BAKED tortilla chips with some tortilla soup and Turkey Burrito Burgers. The soup was nothing to write home about, but I'll share the chips and burgers with you!

Chili and Sea Salt Baked Tortilla Chips

12 whole wheat tortillas (or any corn or wheat tortilla you prefer_

Cooking Spray

Chili Powder

Salt

Any kind of salsa you want to dip in, or make your own using the recipe off of sizzleandspice.blogspot.com

All I did was spray the top of a tortilla, sprinkle some chili powder, stack a new one, and repeat. Once I had all 12 stacked up, I sliced them into eighths, put them on 2 baking sheets, and baked them at 400 degrees for about 10-12 minutes, watching closely to prevent them from burning!

Take them out, sprinkle with sea salt, or any salt, and serve alongside your salsa! Healthy and delicious! Use any spice you'd like before baking: Cumin, cayenne pepper, garlic powder etc.

The bean burgers. I will post these mainly because one of my best friends has requested that I do so. I enjoyed these, however, my husband had nothing fantastic to say about them. I did make 1 error, and that was that I added too much cooked rice to the meat, so they were falling apart, and I think thats what turned him off. Anyways, the taste is very Mexican, and personally, a perfect fit after the chips and salsa appetizer!

Turkey Bean Burrito Burgers (Rachael Ray)

1 cup (and 1 cup only!) leftover brown rice

1 pound ground turkey

1-15oz can pinto beans, rinsed and drained

Palmful chili powder

1.5 t cumin

1.5 t coriander

1 T grill seasoning

1 T Olive Oil

Optional Toppings such as avacado, roasted garlic, sour cream, jalepeno, red oinon, guacamole, etc.

Buns are optional as well, but I opted out

Combine your rice, meat, and beans with spices and grill seasoning. Form into patties. I ended up with 7. I know, right? Who makes an odd number. Anyways, add your oil to a large skillet over medium-high heat and cook patties 7-8 minutes on each side.

Mine fell apart in the skillet, so I baked them about 15 minutes at 375 to finish them off.

 

Yes, they resemble rice patties. Not my finest moment, but they tasted the same as they would have in perfect round circles.

Now.. here's the real reason they don't look perfect:

Trying to put dinner together with this little 1 and half year old was a trip! But worth it nonetheless! Who can resist that little boy?

Last on the list, and BEST, in my humble opinon:

Butternut Squash with Onion and Fennel

Nick and i both went crazy over this SIMPLE SIMPLE side dish!

1 medium-large butternut squash, peeled and cubed

1 sweet onion, sliced into wedges

1 bulb fennel, sliced into 1 inch pieces

3 T olive oil

1 t dried thyme

1/4 t cayenne pepper

All you do is put onion, fennel, and squash in a large bowl and toss with olive oil until all veggies look well covered in oil

Sprinkle with thyme and cayenne pepper and toss again

Spread onto baking sheet in a single layer, and bake 40 minutes at 400 degrees, stirring about halfway through. I took mine out at about 38 minutes- I could tell the squash was soft and onions were starting to brown.

WE LOVED THIS! Try it :)

I know this was a random post, but I had some flops this week, and I would never want to advertise a bad tasting dish to you! That was never my goal in blogging :) So enjoy these dishes however and with whatever you choose!

Better recipes next week, I promise :)

Autumn Fruit Salad... Seasonally Delicious!

So, this is actually a fruit salad I had forgotten about. I found it last fall while I was still at Auburn and LOVED IT. Totally forgot about it until recently when Kelsie brought it up. So... its back! And its delicious! Seriously- if you like fruit, you can't help but like this salad. TOO good!

Autumn Fruit Salad

2 Red delicious apples

1 Granny Smith apples

2 Bartlett pears

1/2 lb grapes

1/2 cup slivered/sliced almonds, toasted

1 banana

1 cup vanilla yogurt (I use Dannon Light and Fit- SOOO good!)

1 T apple cider (I bought the cheap just add water packets)

1 t cinnamon

1/2 t nutmeg (I actually didn't have this, so I couldn't add it...)

1/2 t ground ginger

Just core and dice up the apples. Same with the bears. Slice the banana, and cut the grapes in half.

Toss fruit with almonds.

In a separate bowl, mix yogurt with spices. Add to fruit bowl and toss GENTLY until well mixed.

Serve immediately, or refrigerate immediately. It will last in the fridge longer than you would expect cut fruit to last! Enjoy :)

Greek Pasta Bake: With "Leftovers Salad!"

So, this was another success. With tons and tons of leftovers! We could have served this to a family of 8 i think! (As long as no one wanted seconds, which is highly unlikely!) I had taken an oriental ramen noodle salad to Nick's sister's house this week for a dinner, so I had tons of leftover pine nuts, almonds, and sunflower seeds to use up in a salad! (ORIENTAL SALAD WAS AMAZING! No pictures, but I've got the recipe if anyone wants it!)

Anyways, this dinner was a delicious Football Saturday stay at home meal!

So back to the bake. Here it was, right out of the oven! Oh so yummy and the smell was to die for in the kitchen!

I threw together a lose salad, like i said, of torn iceberg lettuce (99 cents!), leftover almonds, pine nuts, sunflower seeds, remaining chopped onion and green pepper and olives from this dish, as well as the spanish chicken in the previous post. I added a little feta cheese leftover from this dish, some cherry tomatoes, and the salad was good to go!

I know, i know, but you want the recipe for the good stuff! Here it is!!

Greek Pasta Bake

1 package (12 oz) whole wheat penne pasta

4 cups cubed cooked chicken breast ( I bought about 2 lb of chicken, diced it, and cooked it myself- cheaper than pre-cooked chicken!)

1 can (29 oz) tomato sauce

1 can (14.5 oz) diced tomatoes, drained

1 package (10 oz) frozen chopped spinach, thawed and squeezed dry

2 cans (2.25 oz each) sliced black olives

1/2 red onion chopped

2 T chopped green bell pepper

1 t dried basil

1 t dried oregano

1/2 cup shredded skim mozzarella cheese

1/2 cup crumbled reduced fat feta cheese

- If using raw chicken, dice and cook through

- Cook pasta according to package, drain

-Combine chicken, pasta, tomato sauce, tomatoes, spinach, olives, onion, green pepper, basil, and oregano in a large bowl and mix well

-Transfer to a casserole dish or a 9X13 pan coated in cooking spray. Sprinkle with the cheeses and bake uncovered at 400 degrees for 25-30 minutes until cheese is melted.

Here she is peeking out of the oven!

Pull out, serve, and enjoy! SO SO good, and SO SO easy. Not pricy at all if you bargain shop on chicken! Here was Nick's plate: he added a little parmesan cheese to top it off!

ITS A KEEPER!