Bean Salad

This past Saturday we went to the beach with some friends. My friend brought this bean salad that was really good.
Well I revamped it and made it with our ribs the other night for dinner. It's so good I even ate it for lunch today too!

INGREDIENTS:
1-16 oz can of Black Beans
1-16 oz can of Pinto Beans
3- Bell Peppers (I used red, yellow & orange), cut in half. You'll only use half of each one.
Cilantro
1- Half of Red Onion
2- Limes
2-tsp The Pampered Chef Chili Lime Rub
2-tsp The Pampered Chef Southwest Seasoning Mix
Salt to taste

DIRECTIONS:
Rinse all of the beans in a strainer. Chop bell peppers to small view size pieces. Chop onion using TPC Food Chopper. Chop up the cilantro. Mix all of the ingredients in a bowl. Squeeze limes with Citrus Press into mixture. Refrigerate until ready to use, at least an hour. I liked it better over night, so I would prepare it early or the day before.

Published with Blogger-droid v1.7.2

Southwestern Chicken Salad

My mom was wanting me to make a salad tonight with a few different ingredients...After a bit of thought, I realized I could make a Southwestern Chicken Salad. One like I order at a local fast food chain, but with less than half the calories.
Here's what I came up with...


SOUTHWESTERN CHICKEN SALAD

• 4 BL/SL Chicken Breasts
• 1 Head of Romaine Lettuce
• 1 Bunch of Cilantro
• 1 Bunch of Green Onions
• 2 Cans of Black Beans
• 2 Cans of Yellow Corn
• 1 Jicama
• 4 Roma Tomatoes

DRESSING

• 1 C. Light Sour Cream
• 1 C. FF Milk
• 3 TBS. Hidden Valley Ranch Mix (my preference)
• 1 TBS. The Pampered Chef's Chipotle Rub

Mix all of the dressing ingredients together & let them sit in the refrigerator before starting on the salad so it can set up and the flavors can marry.

SALAD DIRECTIONS
BBQ the chicken, seasoning with The Pampered Chef's Southwestern Seasoning Mix. Set aside after cooked thoroughly! (You can check the temp with the Digital Pocket Thermometer.)
While the chicken is cooking, get all your vegis washed up. I like to put my lettuce & cilantro into the bowl of the Salad & Berries Spinner. Then I put the cilantro into the berries colander, spin. Then the lettuce into the salad colander and spin. It helps to get your green dry, which prevents a soggy, wilted salad!
Cut up all your green vegis and throw them into the 8-qt. Stainless Mixing Bowl (just an FYI, this bowl is my GO TO bowl for EVERYTHING! It is ginormous...and it will be discontinued soon!) Open up your beans & corn. Strain them both in the colander. Rinsing the black beans before spinning them. Toss them into the salad mix.
Now take your jicama & slice it in half. Taking the Serrated Peeler to the skin, makes it a breeze to clean up! Now slice it into 1/4" slices lengthwise, then again going the other way to make strips. Toss those into the bowl.
Cut your tomato to your liking, as well as the chicken. Toss them both in.
Toss the salad together. Serve on a dish and drizzle the dressing on top!

*just a reminder...I cook for a family of 7, 4 adults and 3 children. This recipe was specifically measured for around 10-1Cup servings. Please adapt for your family.*

Pasta Salad Revamp

Isn't that just gorgeous!?! I LOVE the new Bamboo Large Bowl! I have this recipe that I've been making for many years & people love it. Well last night I was looking at my Pampered Chef spices and decided to bring it up a notch =) The results were better than I expected...My family devoured it! Here's the recipe...

PASTA SALAD REVAMP

• 1lb Rotini (your choice, whole wheat, vegi, etc)
  
• 2lbs Frozen Vegis (California Blend is what I always use)
• 1 C. Mayo (I use light)
• 1 C. Sour Cream (I use light)
• 2 TBS Spinach & Smoky Red Pepper Oil Dipping Seasoning, by The Pampered Chef (you can click on the name to go to the product page & order)
• Salt to season

Bring a stock pot to boil, adding the frozen vegis just as the water comes to a boil. Once at a rumbling boil, add pasta & cook according to directions.
While those are cooking, mix the mayo, sour cream and Spinach & Smoky Red Pepper Oil Dipping Seasoning together in Small Batter Bowl, set aside.
Strain pasta and vegis. Add to a large bowl while still warm (this helps to mix the mayo & sour cream easily). Add the mayo mix and toss the salad.
You can either serve immediately (which is how I like it) or refrigerate it and serve cold (how Jose likes it).
I hope you enjoy!

Strawberry Pretzel Salad

Ok, in all honesty...I want to be part of Hungry Girl! I seriously LOVE what Lisa does with the foods, I love revamping & trying to make things "healthy" or just not so bad for you. I love the experimenting with things & just the whole flipping the switch.
With that being said, I have a recipe I want to share. There are quite a few recipes out there for Strawberry Pretzel Salad, but not one is "health-i-fied" (I know it's not a word, but whatev.).
I am meeting up with my Roof family tomorrow & my Grandpa is a diabetic. Not to mention, I am trying once again to keep my life style change on the "good side". So I've taken this salad, originally made by Paula Deen (probably not "The Original", but she has featured it) and I've revamped it to a healthier version.

Strawberry Pretzel Salad
Snyders Butter Snaps Pretzels
3/4 Cup Melted Butter
25 Packets of Splenda
1 (8 oz) pkg of Neutfella Cream Cheese
1 TBS of Vanilla
1 (8 oz) container of FF/SF Whip Topping
2 (3 oz) pkg of Sugar Free Strawberry Gelatin
2 cups Boiling Water
2 (10 oz) pkg of Strawberries (frozen)
1 (8oz) can Crushed Pineapple
Extra FF/SF Whip Topping

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.

For the crust, lay the pretzels in a single layer of a 9x13" pan, add butter & 5 packets of splenda (mixed together). Bake for 7 minutes. Set aside and allow to cool.

In a mixing bowl, beat together the cream cheese and the other 20 packets of splenda & vanilla. Fold in the whipped topping, and spread over the cooled crust. Refrigerate until well chilled.

In a small bowl, dissolve the gelatin in the boiling water (personally, I take the juice from the pineapple, then add water to make the 2 cups), and allow to cool slightly. Add the strawberries and pineapple, and pour over the cream cheese mixture. Refrigerate until serving time.

*Using the Butter Snap Pretzels helps you cut down on the amount of pretzels you are using. Replacing the Splenda for the sugar, cuts your sugar. FF/SF whip topping cuts fat & sugar. SF gelatin cuts more sugar. Because I'm not a scientific person & don't have time to figure out the calories, fat, etc. I can't give you the nutritional facts, but I can tell you, off hand, I'm cutting ALOT out & still enjoying an AWESOME desert!*

ENJOY

Snickers Salad

I have been DYING to make this salad. I had it first at MOTS & LOVED it. But, it's one of those salads you have to take to a potluck gathering or your introuble!

Snickers Salad
12 oz. tub Cool Whip, thawed
1 c. milk
1 large package french vanilla pudding mix, instant
6 Snicker Bars
3 apples, Granny Smith
Pretzels

Chop the snickers into small chunks.


In a mixing bowl, beat the milk and pudding mix for a few minutes, until mixed. Fold in the cool whip. Core & chop up the apples into bite-sized pieces ( toss with a dash of lemon juice to keep from turning brown). Add the candy bars and apples to the cool whip mixture & fold them in:


Refrigerate for a couple of hours, or overnight before serving. Add chopped pretzels to the top.

Shrimp Salad, Yummy Yummy

Jose wanted ceviche for dinner tonight, but I didn't have anything but the shrimp to make it. He did a pour out in the desert with 115* weather & was beat from the heat!
So I scrambled up a salad that turned out phenomenal!

Shrimp Salad
Shrimp
~Shrimp (I did 40 for Jose, Dominic & I)
~Lemon Pepper, Basil, Salt & Pepper
~Olive Oil
I placed the shrimp in a bag with about 1TBS of olive oil, the lemon pepper, basil, salt & pepper. Let that marinade about an hour or more.

Dressing
~1 Grapefruit, juiced into a bowl & zested (about 1 tsp)
~Strawberry Preserves
~1 TBS Olive Oil
~Salt & Pepper
Put it all into a bowl & whisk, set aside in fridge to let it all marry.


Salad
~Mixed Salad Greens
~1 Grapefruit cut up
~10 Strawberries quartered


Put the shrimp on top of the salad & drizzle with the dressing.


It was definitely a hit!

Apple Walnut Salad

I must confess, Stater Bros has this "Apple Walnut Salad" that I am in love with! I think I could eat it everyday, but it's pretty pricey ($5.99 per pound).
So, I've decided to make my own rendition of this salad =) Not to mention a good recipe for our upcoming Luau for Little!

Gala Apples
Celery
Craisins
Coconut
Walnuts
Sour Cream

Honestly, I'm not including measurements, because I just tossed it all together.
Cut your apples up to bite size peices. Celery, cut the stalk down the middle length wise then chop up. Toss the remaing ingredients into a bowl with the apples & celery. Add sour cream, just to moisten the salad...ENJOY!

Fish for dinner

Normally at this time of the year, I try to encorporate Jose's tradition of Lent into our family, but we're not doing it this year. I did buy some Red Snapper though to make one Friday & ended up making it last night, just because we are running low on food.
So here's what we had...
Red Snapper, individually wrapped. It's nicer this way, because you only make what you need rather than defrosting a bunch of fish & having lots of left overs.
I bbq'd these on the grill with salt & All Purpose Dill Mix. We really liked the taste the Dill Mix gave the fish!

Then my mom made us her 'famous' Jasmine Rice. Just plain with butter & salt.

A salad that our friend Karen made for the babyshower. She basically had cole slaw mix in a bowl with mayo. Well, I added some apples, plain yogurt & some splenda & mixed it all up. It came out fabulous!!!! I will definitely be making that one again!!!!!!!

Very easy & yummy!!!

BBQ Chicken Salad

So my SIL makes this AWESOME BBQ Chicken Salad! She made it a few weeks ago over at my house and I will be making it tonight.
It is SUPER simple & fast, Oh and VERY healthy!!!!
K, here it goes...

INGREDIENTS:
Chicken breast~ for your family
Lettuce~ whatever kind you like
Cilantro
1 Can of Corn
Ranch Dressing
BBQ Sauce~ your choice, Hunts Honey Hickory is what we like
Tortilla Strips~ you can either make these on your own or buy some chips or whatever crunchy

DIRECTIONS:
Bbq the chicken with some sauce. While the chicken is cooking, chop up the lettuce & cilantro, toss into bowl, add corn. Cut chicken into strips.
Place greens onto plate, lay chicken ontop & top with tortilla strips.
Add ranch dressing & a bit of bbq sauce.

On a side note, I think jicama would be really good in this!
Hope you enjoy!!!

Honey's Birthday Dinner

Last night was Jose's birthday. I didn't have any plans for dinner for him, because we were both gonna do seperate things. Well, I got sick and our plans changed. I went to the store after picking the kids up from school and bought stuff for his dinner.

Pasta & Shrimp in Butter-Garlic Sauce, Garlic Bread, Salad

PASTA
~1 lb of Pasta (I used Angel hair, but prefer Linguine for this dish)
*Cook As Directed

SHRIMP IN BUTTER-GARLIC SAUCE
~2lbs of Shrimp, de-veined & shell/tail removed
~1 stick of REAL butter
~6-8 garlic cloves (depending on your palate)
~Ground Pepper & Salt
~Parsley
*Melt the butter in pan on medium-high heat, you don't want to burn your butter. I add a bit of olive oil to help w/ the melting process. Press garlic and add to the butter/oil, grind in salt & pepper, add parsley. Mix it all up and toss in the shrimp. Cook just until they turn pink (you DO NOT want to overcook shrimp!).
*Toss all over Pasta

GARLIC BREAD
*Feel free to make your own, but we like this:

Cook according to package directions

SALAD
~Bag of mixed greens
~1-2 Cucumbers
~2-3 Tomatoes
Chop the bigger vegis up, toss into greens & enjoy!

Very easy, took about a total of 40 mins to do it all & it was a HIT!

Wednesday Night Dinner

I have really been feeling icky lately and did not want to make dinner.
Well, it doesn't always go as I want it to, and if I don't make dinner, then who will!?!
No one, that's right.
So what do you do when you don't want to make dinner, but still have a clan to feed?
Find something fast, simple and yummy.

Taco Salad
INGREDIENTS:
~1 1/2 lbs ground beef

~2 bags already mixed salad greens

~5 roma tomatoes

~homemade tortilla strips


DIRECTIONS:
Brown ground beef with seasonings (whatever you use). Let it cool.
Add the lettuce & chopped tomatoes to your bowl. Add the cooled ground beef.
Top with the tortilla strips, cheese and your favorite salad dressing.
Here's the end result before the toppings...