Beer Bread and Egg Salad Sandwiches

This was good.  Each recipe was super yummy and when combined made for one dang good sandwich!  And that's all I have to say about that.

Honey Beer Bread
What you'll need:

3 cups flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons sugar
1 12oz can beer (any beer)
2 tablespoons butter
3 tablespoons honey

Preheat oven to 350. In a large bowl, sift together flour, baking powder, salt and sugar (I just used a fork).  Heat 2 tablespoons honey in the microwave for 15 seconds and pour warm honey and beer into flour.  Mix with a wooden spoon until just combined, don't over work.  Spray a loaf pan with cooking spray and add dough to pan.  It's a little sticky, but spread out so its even in the bottom.  Add butter and last tablespoon honey to a small bowl and microwave for about 25 seconds or until butter is melted.  Evenly pour honey butter over bread dough.  Bake for 50-60 minutes or until a nice golden crust forms and toothpick inserts easily and comes out clean.  Let cool and slice.

Egg Salad

What you'll need:

9 hard boiled eggs, cooled 

1/2 cup precooked and crumbled bacon

1/2 cup plain greek yogurt

1/4 cup mayo

1 tablespoon yellow mustard

1 teaspoon ground mustard

1 teaspoon black pepper

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon celery seed

2 tablespoons pickle juice

1 teaspoon dried dill

Peel eggs.  Add to a large bowl and mash with a potato masher until whites are broke up into small pieces.  Add all remaining ingredients to eggs and mix together until a well combined and a sort of paste forms.  Slap a couple spoons full onto beer bread or any bread.

I prepared all this ahead of time, so it was a quick grab and go dinner.  We actually played volleyball with the neighbors last night, who just set up a volleyball net in their backyard, so we combined dinners with them.  And the best part is there was just enough left over for lunch.  Hope everyone had a fun filled weekend.  It actually feels like summer now!  Enjoy!

Pea Potato Salad

What do you do when you can't decide which salad to make? Answer: You mix em' up into a new awesome salad.  I couldn't decide if I wanted to make Pea and Cheese salad or a bacon potato salad, so I made both...in a way.  It turned out really good, and I will totally make it again.

What you'll need:

6 cups potatoes (6 cups when they are cooked and diced)
6 eggs
1 cup cheddar diced
2 stalks celery diced
1 cup bacon crumbles
1/4 green onion chopped
2 cups frozen peas (not defrosted)

Dressing
1 cup greek yogurt
1/4 cup mayo
1 tablespoon yellow mustard
2 tablespoons pickle juice
1 teaspoon black pepper
1 teaspoon dried ground mustard
1 tablespoon dried dill
1 teaspoon salt

Removed peas from freezer and set aside to thaw a bit.  (Do not defrost in microwave.  You want them still a little froze to hold together when you mix into salad).  In a large pot, boil potatoes until fork tender.  Place eggs into cold water a second pot and bring to a boil.  Once boiling, time for 15 minutes then run under cold water.  Slice raw bacon into pieces and cook.  Sometimes I like to chop before I cook so I don't have to crumble it up once its cooked.  Scissors work really well to do this.

In a large bowl, add diced potato, celery, bacon, diced cheese and green onion.  Mix up your dressing and pour over salad.  Gently fold into salad until well combined.  Slice eggs and add with peas.  Gently fold those in now.  You want to be as easy as you can to not smash peas, eggs, or cooked potatoes.

There you have it.  A hybrid summer salad that is awesome! Enjoy!

Creamy Balsamic Pasta Salad

Friday night brats and a thrown together pasta salad.  This is one of those salads that you just dump stuff in a bowl, wing a dressing and have something better than you expected.  That is my favorite way to cook.  No recipe inspiration, just plain old dump cook.  Thanks mom for teaching me the way!  I mentioned our Friday night plans to go to the Spokane Indians game, we got there and it was sold out.  Bummer.  So we went to this little brewery that just opened up called the Budge Brothers.  They have potential, but need a little work.  You can tell that it's two brothers living their dream and neither them have a lady by the way they have their space is designed.  Just a few chairs around the of perimeter of the room, and a big open space where tables should be.  Kind of awkward.  But we did meet both brothers, which was cool.  Best of luck to them!  On to the salad!

What you'll need:
1 avocado diced
1/2 cucumber quartered and diced
1 head broccoli cut into small pieces
1/2 can olives halved
1 cup feta
1/4 cup fresh basil chopped
2-3 cups cherry tomatoes halved
3 cups pasta uncooked

Dressing:
1/2 cup plain greek yogurt
1/4 cup mayo (I always use the olive oil kind)
2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 tablespoon honey
1 teaspoon black pepper
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon celery seed
1 tablespoon lemon lemon juice

Cook pasta.  Once done, strain and run cold water over to cool completely.  Set aside.  In a large bowl add first 7 ingredients and cooled pasta.  In a smaller bowl, mix all dressing ingredients until smooth.  Pour over pasta and fold until everything is well coated and combined.  Place in fridge at let sit at least 2 hours before serving.  It really tastes 100 times better if you let it sit.  Trust me on that one!

I had to share this photo.  This is what I happens when I'm photographing blog pictures and Kam decides what he's making should be blogged too.  Artistic wiener photos.  I never know what I'll find when I dump the camera.  Thanks hun!

Left overs for lunch!  It's saturday morning and my coffee just finished brewing....have a fun weekend friends!  Enjoy!

Fortune Friday

Broccoli Salad

This would be broccoli salad favorite #1.  I think this salad is just about on everyone's top 5.  It's just so good.  Salty, sweet, crunchy and all kinds of other flavor wonders!  I made this salad a few summers ago to just have around to snack on.  I went to work and came home to Kameron and our good friend Pat having ate all of it.  So I made another batch and threatened both of them!

What you'll need:
4 heads broccoli
1 cup thick cup bacon (any bacon will do tho)
1 cup feta crumbles or shredded cheddar
1 cup nuts (walnuts, pistachio, cashews, sunflower or a combination)
1/2 cup chopped green onions
1 cup dried cranberries
1 cup plain greek yogurt
1/2 cup mayo
1/4 cup sugar
2 tablespoons cider vinegar
2 tablespoons honey
1-2 teaspoons sesame seed oil (add one and taste to see if you need more)

Cut broccoli florets down into tiny bite sized bits. Add to a large bowl. You should end up with around 8 cups.  Cook bacon.  Allow to cool.  Add feta, nuts, green onions, and cranberries to bowl.  Crumble bacon and add to bowl.  I removed most of the fat from mine as a crumbled it.

In a smaller bowl, mix yogurt, mayo, sugar, vinegar, honey and sesame seed oil.  Mix until smooth.  Let sit about 10 minutes so sugar will dissolve.  Add to broccoli and fold until broccoli is evenly coated and everything is evenly distributed.  Chill for a few hours before serving.

This is another one of those salads that can almost be a full meal deal. Enjoy!

He Jumped!!!!

Its no shock that Dexter loves to swim.  He first started swimming when he was about 5 months old, and has been a water hound ever sense.  But, he would never jump in.  We had tried a few different times to get him to jump off docks and he never wanted anything to do with it.  Yesterday we went over to a friends house to swim in their pool.  They didn't care if Dex got in, so we slightly pull/encourage him in the first time.  Then he kind of fell in a few more times.  Eventually he just jumped and it was game on.  We would help him out of the pool over and over again and a minute later he was right back in.  He even started following us off the diving board.  It was a ton of fun and I'm glad I grabbed my camera at the last second before we left our house.

This is my favorite pic of him after his first swim.

Here his is jumping in after me.  That's my splash.

This is a little blurry, but I love his face.

One happy dude!  Yes I have a swim suit on, it just has no straps, incase your were wondering.  Tomorrow is Friday Friday!!  We are going to a Spokane Indians Baseball game, sounds like a fun way to spend a Friday night to me!  I will be spending my weekend cooking, making up for the lack there of from the past week!  Later friends!

Fortune Friday