Take'n it easy...

Well, how was your weekends?  Ours was fantastically lazy.  I read and cooked, Kam lounged and watched baseball and the Olympics and Dex pouted waiting for his next walk.  Remember I mentioned something on Friday about possibly going to the peach festival?  Yep, didn't do that.  But I did manage to get over to Joann's Fabric and take advantage of their sale.  I got some $20 dollar-a-yard upholstery fabric for about $6 per yard.  Score!

Friday night I made a really yummy pasta salad and Saturday was pizza on the bbq.  I thought I'd share the main components that went into each, because they were both really good!

Ham and Honey Mustard Pasta Salad:
Cubed ham
Carrots, celery, red and green pepper
Graded cheddar
Honey mustard salad dressing combined with a little light mayo and low fat greek yogurt (and a few spices)
Served my favorite way for any pasta salad: on a bed of greens.  Usually I just use spinach, but this time I had my all time fav on hand... ARUGLA! So good.

Peach Prosciutto Pizza:
Pizza Crust
Red Sauce
Prosciutto
Mozzarella
walnuts
Fresh Peaches
topped with fresh basil and arugula

Hope you all have a good week planned.  We are going tonight to get locking gas caps because some butt nuggets keep syphoning gas from our neighborhood.  I know we've been hit at least twice.  On a better note, we sold our little floral love seat on craigslist last night!  Woop!  I thought I was going to have to give it away, but nope, cash in my pocket.  Have a great week everyone!

Portuguese Sausage Panzanella with Honey Mustard Vinaigrette

Long name, tasty results.  I've just recently become aware of this particular style of salad. There is this awesome little pizza place here in Spokane called South Perry Pizza, and on their facebook updates one day they mentioned the special was Panzanella.  So I researched it and have seen different recipes here and there, so I decided it was time I try it for myself.  I was planning on making a pasta salad with a left over Portuguese sausage link I had, but I figured it was time to give Panzanella a go.  I'm glad I did.  It's really sort of like fancy croutons, but different in some way.  I don't know, just try it!

What you'll need:

1 large or 2 small Portuguese Sausage link/s (or any sausage) cooked or grilled

1 cup cherry tomatoes halved

1 cup black olives halved

1 cup diced cucumber

3-4 cups fresh spinach (I could only fit 3 in my bowl, use 4 if you can)

1 cup white beans (any sort like cannellini or great northern)

1 cup feta crumbles

1 cup fresh basil leaves, lightly packed

1 small loaf sourdough or french bread

3 tablespoons olive oil

1/2 teaspoon granulated garlic

Dressing:

3 tablespoons olive oil

3 tablespoons red wine vinegar

2 tablespoon dijon mustard

1 teaspoon fresh cracked black pepper

Slice off ends of bread and cut into 1 1/2 inch thick slices.  Mix olive oil and granulated garlic together and brush over each side of bead.  You can either grill on the bbq with your sausage or broil in the oven, just make sure its nice and toasted!  In a large bowl add all other salad ingredients.  Whisk together dressing and allow to sit for a few minutes.

Once sausage and bread are nice and grilled, allow to cool enough to handle.  Slice sausage into bite size pieces. Add to bowl.  Break bread into smaller pieces, only using crusts and discarding center. When you toss with dressing, the parts with no crust turn to mush.  Add about 3 cups of crusts to bowl.  Toss with dressing.

My sorry excuse for a garden.  My tomato plant is looking pretty good tho, it's not pictured. 

Who knew Jalapeno flowers were so pretty.

If I were (or when I do) to make this salad again, I think I would remove the center of the bread before I grilled it, that way it could get toasty on 4 sides.  Trust me on discarding that center part.  Other than that, this salad was delicious.  You could skip the sausage and have it for more of a side dish, or use any other meat you choose.  As you know, I'm a big fan of the one stop meal deal!  Also, if you have leftovers, remove any of the left over bread before refrigerating. The bread is yummy, but it's only a one time shot type of yummy.  Other than that, go for it!  Enjoy!

Avocado Potato Salad

Ok, so I said I wasn't done with this whole avocado dressing thing.  I was skimming through some recipes on tastespotting last night and was inspired.  Someone had made a sort of mexican themed potato salad, but their dressing was weird and all wrong.  Actually the whole salad seemed a little off, but it was just enough to spark my creative mind, which in turn became this...

What you'll need:

2 pounds red potatoes
1 cup diced red pepper
1 can black beans, rinsed and drained
1 cup frozen or fresh corn
1 cup cherry tomatoes halved
1 cup cotija cheese

Dressing
2 medium avocados
1/2 of lime juice
1/2 teaspoon of cumin
1 teaspoon green tabasco sauce (optional)
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons pickled jalapeno juice (or just pickle juice.  if you skip the tabasco, use three)
1 tablespoon water

Boil potatoes until fork tender.  Set aside and allow to cool.  Once cooled, dice into small pieces and add to large bowl.  Add remaining ingredients.  In your food processor or blender add all dressing ingredients and blend until smooth.  If after a few minutes it still seems too think, add another tablespoon of water.  Once smooth, pour over salad and gently mix until everything is nice and coated.  Chill for an hour or eat when its still a little warm, either way, you will be in love.

So this is Avocado dressing #2.  Still not done experimenting with this.  I'm wondering if this whole idea can completely substitute mayonnaise permanently?  Too bad avocados are so expensive, especially in the winter.  Maybe I need to move to Yuma.

Hope all of you have some fun plans for the weekend.  I have about 15 different projects to either start or finish, time is ticking and the days are FLYING by.  I can't wait to take pictures of all the hand made wedding creations, and share them all.  I'm so excited! =)  Happy weekend! Enjoy!

Tuna* Pasta Salad with Avocado Dressing

*Because this is the last jar of home canned tuna, this recipe is dedicated to my dad. Because he is out, and now we are too.

This is such a basic dish.  Who hasn't had only pasta, tuna, and some sort of cream soup in the cupboard, and thrown together tuna noodle casserole.  When I was ages 16 through 20 I worked at a little home daycare, and I'm pretty sure I ate the left overs from the kid's tuna noodle at least once a week.  I don't think I've had it since.  So a tuna salad sounded good last night, brought on by my dad talking about his lack of tuna all weekend. I read somewhere yesterday about substituting mayo or yogurt in salad dressings for pureed avocado.  I was so intrigued that I had to think of something to try it with.  So here goes...

What you'll need:
4 cups pasta (use your favorite)
2 cans tuna (1 jar home canned, if possible)
1 cup diced cucumber
1 cup frozen peas (not defrosted)
1 cup cheese cubed (I used sharp cheddar)
1/4 cup fresh basil sliced thin
1 cup diced tomato (cherry tomatoes halved would be best)

Dressing:
1 avocado
1/2 of a lime juice
1/2 cup plain greek yogurt
1/4 cup fresh basil
1 tablespoon honey
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 clove garlic
1 tablespoons white vinegar
1/4 teaspoon cumin
2 tablespoons pasta water (reserved from the cooked pasta)

Cook pasta with about a teaspoon salt in the water.  Once desired doneness, reserve at least 2 tablespoons of the starchy water for the dressing and run pasta under cold water. Once pasta is cool, add all salad ingredients into a large bowl.  In a blender or food processor add all dressing ingredients and blend until smooth.  Pour over salad and fold until everything is coated.  Be gentle to try and not break up the tuna chunks too much.

I'm thinking I might be experimenting further with the avocado dressing thing.  You don't get a lot of avocado flavor, but there is something really tasty and creamy going on there.  Yep, your definitely going to see that a few more times.  I think I might add a diced avocado to the salad next time to get a little more of the avocado flavor involved, but not totally necessary.  Enjoy!

Asian Chicken Salad

There are probably 100 different ways to make this salad, and as many different ingredients you could throw in as well.  This is the "I'm grouchy and starving and want this in my face as quickly as possible" version.  But whether it's well thought out or thrown together, its perfectly yummy either way!

What you'll need:

1 cup carrots
4 cups cabbage
2 green onions chopped
2 packs ramen ( 1 cooked, 1 raw)

1 pound chicken tenders grilled and cooled

3/4 cup slivered almond

1/2 cup cilantro

Dressing:

1 tablespoon sesame seed oil
4 tablespoon honey
2 tablespoons cider vinegar
1 tablespoon soy sauce
1/2 cup plain greek yogurt
1/2 of a lime juice
1 teaspoon Sriracha hot sauce (optional)

In a medium pot, bring 3 cups water to a boil and cook 1 packet ramen noodles without the seasoning packet.  Break noodles in half, then quarters before cooking.  Once cooked, rinse with cold water to cool.  Set aside.

In a small bowl mix together dressing.  Add honey to the bowl first and place into microwave for 15 seconds so honey will mix together with other ingredients.  Add all ingredients, mix until combined and set aside.

Break cooled chicken into bite sized pieces. In a large bowl, add chicken, cabbage, carrots, green onion, cilantro and almonds.  Add cooked noodles and dressing.  Toss to coat.  Place in fridge and allow to chill for about an hour.  Just before serving break up dry ramen noodles into little chunks and toss in.

Another one dish meal? Yes please!  This is one of those dishes that I only make once a year because I always forget about it...and it's one of our favs!  Enjoy!

Taco Turkey Burgers & Black Bean Vinaigrette Salad

There are a number of things that I used to cook long before I started this blog.  Long before.  Yummy dishes that we made a bunch of times then forgot about.  These taco turkey burgers came back to me the other day.  Way back when (when we were living in Friday Harbor, around 2006) we made these burgers all the time...then just forget about them.  I used to just plain old taco seasoning, this time I opted to make my own.  You could totally grab a packet of taco seasoning and skip most of the spice ingredients I have listed.  Either way, these are really good, full flavor, and best of all, quick and easy!  I think I'm going to try and go deep into my brain and try and remember the archives of foods I used to cook.  Then revamp them...

What you'll need:

For the burgers
1 pound ground turkey (I used the extra lean)
1 egg

3/4 cup feta

1 cup crushed tortilla chips

1/2 cup chopped onion

1/2 can black beans, rinsed

1 tablespoon ground coriander
2 teaspoons chile powder
1 teaspoon cumin
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon pepper
1/2 cup chopped cilantro
1 teaspoon hot sauce
1/2 a lime juice

Put all ingredients into a bowl and mix until evenly combined.  Split into 4 or 5 burgers, and make patties.  Heat up grill over medium high.  Grill on each side for 5 minutes or until no long pink in the middle.  Serve with our without bun.  You can add whatever toppings you'd like, but we just left ours plain with a little mayo on the bun.  I did remove the center of my bun so it was hollow and just the crust left.  Easier to bite through and less calories/carbs.

For the salad:
1/2 can black beans
1 avocado
1 cup cherry tomatoes halved
2 tablespoons cider vinegar
2 tablespoons honey
1 teaspoon green tabasco (optional)
1/2 a lime juice
1/2 head romaine chopped

Add vinegar, honey, tabasco and lime into a small bowl and mix until honey has dissolved into lime and vinegar.  Add in beans, avocado and tomatoes and toss to coat.  Evenly distribute onto a bed of lettuce.  The liquid will serve as your dressing.  You could also add lettuce into the bowl and toss everything together to be sure lettuce gets well coated.

Great dinner.  Fairly healthy.  Really filling.  I love the flavor of the corn chips and the spices mixed into the meat.  I wasn't sure what I was making when I created the salad, but it turned out pretty good.  Sweet, sour and spicy.  The creamy avocado and sweet tomatoes worked really well with the vinaigrette.  Good stuff.  Enjoy!