My Favorite Vegetable Salad: Chickpeas & Cukes

Ingredients:

* 2 cucumbers, peeled & diced

* 1-2 cups of grape tomatoes

* 1 can garbanzo beans, rinsed & drained

* 1/2 red onion, diced

* 1 cup crumbled feta cheese

* 2 TBS extra virgin olive oil

* 6 TBS lemon juice

* 1/2 tsp garlic salt

* 1/2-1 tsp black pepper

Directions:

- Layer the tomatoes, garbanzo beans, cucumbers, onion, and feta cheese.

- Combine the olive oil, lemon juice, garlic salt, and pepper.

- Pour over the layered vegetables and cheese.

- Cover and refrigerate 4 hours until ready to serve.

- Prior to serving, mix well to combine all ingredients.

Hint: No grape tomatoes? Substitute diced fresh tomatoes instead. Not a fan of feta cheese? How about mozzarella cubes instead? I like to eat this salad with wheat crackers or bagel chips. Definitely a kitchen favorite in my house - enjoy!!


This recipe is being shared at MomTrends Friday Food post - go check it out and see what other great cooks are making this week!

Pesto Chicken Pizzas

Ingredients:

• 1 cup fresh cilantro, minced
• 1 cup fresh parsley, minced
• 1/3 cup chopped walnuts
• 1/3 cup grated Parmesan cheese
• 2 garlic cloves
• 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
• pizza crust (home made or store bought)
• 1 cup diced, cooked chicken
• 2 cups diced tomatoes
• 1 can (2 1/4 oz) slice ripe olives, drained
• 1/4 cup diced red onion
• 1/2 cup shredded part-skim mozzarella cheese
• 1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese

Directions:

1. (Making the pesto.) In a blender: combine the cilantro, parsley, walnuts, Parmesan cheese, and garlic cloves. Cover and blend well. Once fully processed, add olive oil in a steady stream while continuing to blend.
2. Preheat oven to 425 degrees F.
3. Place pizza crust on prepared baking sheet. Top pizza crust with about pesto, spreading with the back of a spoon.
4. Next, sprinkle with chicken, tomatoes, olives, and cheese.
5. Bake at 425 degrees F for 12-15 minutes - or until cheese is melted.

Hint: The original recipe called for flour tortillas as the crust - that is my favorite pizza crust! We had been traveling all day and I didn't realize we didn't have any tortillas. Apparently our oldest thinks flour tortillas make great late night snacks...Any whoo... In 15 minutes I prepared a home made crust (recipe to follow). Being flexible in the kitchen can be very rewarding! Another way to save time would be to substitute prepared pesto sauce - instead of making it from scratch. Enjoy!!

I'm sharing this recipe at A Little Nosh for the Tastetastic Thursday 4/19 party - go see what other great ideas are being shared!!

Southwestern Burgers

Ingredients:

• 1 (4 oz) can green chilies
• 4 tsp ground cumin
• 1 tsp chili powder
• 3/4 tsp garlic powder
• 3/4 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp pepper
• 2 lbs ground beef
• 3/4 lb pork sausage
• 8 slices Pepper Jack cheese
• 8 hamburger buns, split & toasted
• 8 lettuce leaves
• 1 large tomato, sliced
• 1-2 ripe avocados, peeled & sliced
• optional mayo or mustard

Directions:

1. Combine in a large mixing bowl: green chilies, ground cumin, chili powder, garlic powder, salt, pepper, ground beef, and pork sausage. Mix well.
2. Shape into hamburger patties.
3. Grill on a preheated grill, covered - over medium heat for 5 minutes on each side. Internal meat temperature should reach 160 degrees F.
4. After cooking both sides of each hamburger, top burgers with 1 slice of Pepper Jack cheese. Cook uncovered for an additional 2 minutes so cheese can melt.
5. Serve on toasted buns with lettuce, tomato, avocado, and your choice of mayo or mustard.

This recipe is being shared on What's New Wednesday (5) over at Grateful Belly - AND - Whimsy Wednesdays over at The NY Melrose Family, go see what everyone else is sharing!!

Meatball Subs

Ingredients:

1 package frozen, Italian style meatballs

1 can diced tomatoes, undrained

1 can stewed tomatoes, undrained

1/2 tsp red pepper flakes

1 1/2 TBS balsamic vinegar

1 small can tomato sauce

1 medium red onion, cut into rings

*Ciabatta rolls*

*provolone cheese slices*

*banana peppers*

* Combine meatballs, tomatoes, red pepper flakes, balsamic vinegar, tomato sauce, and red onion in crock-pot. Cook on low 4-5 hours.

* Serve on warm ciabatta rolls with a slice of provolone cheese.

* I enjoyed mine with banana pepper rings on top...so yummy!

Grilled Fish Tacos with Fresh Salsa

Ingredients:

2 limes, juiced - divided

3 plum tomatoes, diced

1/2 medium onion, diced

1/2 cup cilantro, chopped

1/2 cup mayo

2 TBS milk

1 tsp minced garlic

1/4 tsp salt

2 cups thinly sliced Romaine lettuce

1 avocado, peeled & diced

10 corn tortillas

1 - 1 1/4 lbs. tilapia fillets

*black pepper*

1st - Prepare white sauce for tacos by combining mayo, milk, garlic, and 2 TBS of lime juice with a whisk until smooth.

2nd - Prepare salsa by combining remainder of lime juice with diced onion, diced tomatoes, chopped cilantro and salt.

3rd - Place lettuce and avocado each in a separate dish for easy taco assembly.

4th - Warm corn tortillas on a grill or griddle and set aside in a warmer or plastic dish with a lid.

5th - Heat grill or griddle to cook fillets over medium heat. Season tilapia fillets with black pepper. Cook fillets 3-4 minutes on each side, until fillets flake easily with a fork.

6th - Assemble tacos in corn tortillas: layer lettuce, fish, salsa, avocado, and sauce into tortilla.

This recipe is linked up to Friday Food - Click on the Momtrends box for more of this weeks recipes!!

Pasta Sauce Plus

Tonight we are eating Spaghetti for dinner. Spaghetti like my Mama used to make!

Since we are going to cook a batch of pasta sauce, I decided to go ahead and cook enough to have sauce in the freezer ready for the next time we want to eat pasta.

We put a lot of vegetables in our sauce, and when in doubt - we add more tomatoes.

Making a double batch of pasta sauce to use half now and freeze half for later is a wonderful way to make the kitchen a more productive place in our home.

Ingredients:
1-2 lbs ground beef, browned and drained
1 large green pepper, diced
1 large onion, diced
1 TBS minced garlic
1 (4 oz) can sliced mushrooms, drained
1 (26.5 oz) can prepared spaghetti sauce
1 (14.5 oz) can stewed tomatoes
1 (14.5 oz) can diced tomatoes with onions & green peppers
1 (15 oz) can tomato sauce
1 cup water
1/2 cup red cooking wine
2 tsp Italian seasoning blend
1 tsp sugar

- After browning ground beef and draining, combine with all other ingredients in the crock-pot.

- Stir occasionally while cooking on LOW for 3-4 hours.

- Divide prepared sauce. Use half for dinner and freeze the other half in a freezer safe zipper bag or freezer safe container with a lid. (Don't forget to label!)

Taco Pizza

Ingredients:

1 refrigerated pizza dough roll
1 8 oz can tomato sauce
1/2 cup prepared salsa
1-1 1/2 lb. ground beef, browned & drained
3 TBS taco seasoning
8 oz shredded taco blend cheese
2 roma tomatoes, sliced
2 green tomatoes, chopped
**sliced black olives, as desired**
**sour cream, as desired**
**lettuce shreds, as desired**
**taco seasoning to sprinkle on top - just before baking...a little goes a long way!**

- Preheat oven to 425 degrees F
- Spread dough on to prepared baking pan, allow to rest while other ingredients are prepared
- Brown ground beef, drain and add 3 TBS taco seasoning and 1/8 cup of water to combine well
- Allow meat and seasoning to simmer briefly before removing from heat
- Cover pizza dough with tomato sauce and add salsa
- Cover sauce/salsa mix with seasoned ground beef
- Spread shredded cheese evenly over meat
- Top with sliced tomatoes, black olives, and green olives
- Sprinkle taco seasoning lightly over pizza before putting it into preheated oven
- Bake at 425 degrees F for 20-25 minutes

Serve with additional salsa, sour cream, and shredded lettuce. Another great add-on would be guacamole or diced avocado.

Enjoy!!

Stewed UP Spaghetti Sauce

I vaguely remember being asked what meat I wanted taken out of the freezer for today's dinner last night before I fell asleep.

Vaguely.

When I got up this morning I decided that spaghetti sounded really good - and we should have it for dinner. I love it when a plan comes together!

But when I went to get meat out of the freezer, I found that this package of stew beef was already thawing.



The only sensible thing to do was to plan on using it in the spaghetti sauce. And I could cook it in the crock-pot! Now we're talking!!

Time to assemble...




Ingredients:

1 1/2-2 lbs stew beef
1 14 1/2 oz can of diced tomatoes
1 26 1/2 oz can of prepared spaghetti sauce
1/4 cup red cooking wine
1 packet, dry onion soup mix
1 1/2 TBS Italian seasoning
1 TBS minced garlic
1 can of water (use the diced tomato can)

Mix well.

1 tsp sugar sprinkled over the combined ingredients.

(Mom always said to do that, and her advice has always been pretty darn good.)

Cook on low 6-7 hours.

With our Stewed UP Spaghetti sauce we served spaghetti noodles, garlic bread, and a fresh salad.

Long after the noodles were gone, the sauce was a welcome dipping sauce for the remaining garlic bread.



Now the garlic bread is gone too.

Success!!

Oven-Baked Chicken Nachos

1 13 oz. bag of bite-size Tostitos (as many as you can put on the pan before they get ate)
1 13 oz can cooked chicken breast meat, drained
1 2.24 oz can sliced black olives, drained
1/2 medium white onion, diced small
1 10 oz can rotel, drained
1 tsp Pampered Chef, Southwest Seasoning mix (sub. chili powder or mix)
4 oz shredded Colby-Jack cheese blend
**sliced jalepenos - to taste**

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.




Spread chips over baking sheet or stone.





Combine chicken, black olives, onion, rotel and cover chips.




Top with seasoning.

Cover with shredded cheese.

Add jalepenos if desired.




I desired!

Bake 15-20 minutes.

Throw Together Pork Roast

I took the kids to school and came home to find that Jon had already started getting dinner assembled while I was away.

He announced, "I put the pork roast in the crock-pot with an onion and a green pepper in the crock-pot. Now come do something with it."

Well, alrighty.




3 - 3 1/2 lb pork roast
2 TBS Worcestershire sauce
1 medium onion, diced large cuts
1 medium green pepper, diced large cuts
1 14.5 oz can diced tomatoes
1 11.5 oz can V-8 juice

*Cook on low 6-8 hours, or in our case...until the boys come home from school.


Now, thanks to my handy-dandy crock-pot...we can go back to bed.

At least until lunchtime!!

P.S. We served this with spaghetti noodles (carrots & applesauce on the side) and it was so good that we may start making this the HOW TO RECIPE for spaghetti at our house!!