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!

Mandarin-Cashew Salad

Ingredients:

• 12 cups of your favorite lettuce (or blend) torn
• 2 (11 oz) cans of mandarin oranges, drained
• 1 medium green pepper, chopped
• 1 celery rib, thinly sliced
• 1/2 small red onion, chopped
• 1 cup honey roasted cashews

Dressing:

• 1/4 cup vegetable oil
• 1/4 cup honey
• 1/2 tsp ground mustard
• 1 TBS lime juice
• 1/4 tsp paprika
• 1/8 tsp salt
• dash white pepper

Directions:

1. In a large salad bowl, layer the lettuce, green pepper, celery, red onion, mandarin oranges, and roasted cashews.
2. In a separate small bowl, or large measuring cup - mix the vegetable oil, honey, ground mustard, lime juice, paprika, salt, and pepper.
3. Drizzle dressing over layered salad, just prior to serving.

This recipe is linked up at the Old Fashioned Recipe Exchange over at Little House on the Prairie Living - go visit and link up your favorite recipe too!

Cobb Salad Sammies

Ingredients:

• cocktail croissants
• 1/4 cup mayonnaise
• 1/2 tsp prepared horseradish
• 1/4 tsp basil
• lettuce
• 1 med. tomato - sliced
• 1/2 red onion - sliced
• American cheese slices
• bacon strips - fully cooked
• deli ham slices
• hard-boiled eggs (1 per person)
  

Preparations:

1. In a small bowl, combine the mayonnaise, horseradish sauce and basil.
2. Split the croissants. Spread a small amount of sauce on 1/2 the split croissant.
3. Layer cheese, vegetables, meats, and slices of hard-boiled egg.
4. Enjoy!

Hint: This was a simple and satisfying meal for my family after a long day of school and appointments. The guys were thrilled to pair their *mini* sandwiches with fresh blueberries and strawberries instead of potato chips. The original plan was to purchase regular size croissants for these sandwiches - but the local grocer had a box of cocktail croissants for the same price as 6 regular size croissants. They were easy to hand and look like more food than we actually ate. Definitely going to buy these *minis* again!

This recipe is linked up over at

Grateful Belly on What's New Wednesday - Go check out all the great links!!

7 Layer Salad

Sometimes my boys grumble when I tell them we will be eating salad. Not always though, they absolutely love eating this 7 Layer Salad!

I think the first time we ever tasted it was at a Church Potluck dinner. Now they ask for it as a main course on the dinner menu.

So easy and so delicious!

Ingredients:

1 - lettuce, torn into bite size pieces
2 - red onion, diced
3 - green peas (frozen, thawed tastes best)
4 - cauliflower, diced to bite size pieces
5 - salad dressing or mayonnaise, sprinkled with dry ranch dressing seasoning mix
6 - shredded cheddar cheese
7 - crumbled bacon pieces

Layer in a refrigerator safe dish with a lid. Prepare in advance, and allow to chill in fridge up to 4 hours prior to serving.

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!

Chicken Con Queso Pizza

We are trying different recipes at our house this month. Breaking out of our rut so to speak...

Tonight we made pizza. Pizza? Yes, pizza.

We make pizza here usually about once a week.

Tonight however, we made pizza with Queso in place of the traditional pizza sauce.

And it was good! Really, really GOOD!!


Besides the Queso, the other *secret* ingredient in our pantry tonight was Southwestern Seasoning. Personally, I am a fan of the Pampered Chef bled. It's awesome! But I haven't placed a Pampered Chef order for over a year...and lucky for me look what McCormick is making now and selling at my local grocery store - Southwest Seasoning. Woohoo!!

Now let's talk pizza:


Ingredients:

1 pizza crust, (we used a homemade crust tonight, I like the ones you can buy in the refrigerator section of the grocery store too)
1 cup Queso dip
1 (13 oz) can chicken breast, drained
1 small red pepper, diced
1 small green pepper, diced
1/2 small red onion, diced
2 TBS Southwestern Seasoning
1/2 cup bacon crumbles
1 cup shredded Mexican cheese blend

* Preheat oven to 450 degrees F. Prepare pizza crust according to recipe or package directions.

* Combine chicken breast, red pepper, green pepper, red onion, and Southwestern Seasoning in a mixing bowl. Mix well.

* Spread Queso dip over pizza crust.

* Top Queso with chicken and vegetable mixture.

* Add bacon crumbles to top of chicken and vegetables.

* Cover pizza top with shredded Mexican cheese blend.

* Bake for 17-20 minutes at 450 degrees F, or until crust has browned and cheese is golden brown.

Egg Salad Mini Sandwiches

I started this meal earlier in the day by making a fresh batch of Homemade Rye Bread and boiling 10 eggs. This Egg Salad tastes great if you choose to eat it immediately (perhaps with crispy crackers) or if prepared in advance and allowed to chill in the refrigerator until time to serve. For our family, the goal was to make enough to eat dinner tonight and then have leftovers for lunch tomorrow. We'll have to see if the kids leave us any leftovers!



Ingredients:

10 eggs, hard-boiled - then peeled and diced
1/4 red onion, diced
1 stalk celery, diced
2 green onions, diced
1/2 cup salad dressing
1/4 cup sweet relish
3 TBS spicy brown mustard
3-5 crunchy baby dill pickles, chopped
2 TBS white vinegar
1 tsp sugar
1/2 tsp paprika

- Combine ingredients and serve as desired, or refrigerate until serving.

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.

Sweet & Tangy Chicken

Another crock-pot recipe we tweaked a bit - it was a hit here!

Put in crock-pot first:

2 lbs. boneless, skinless chicken thighs
1/2 tsp ground ginger
1/4 tsp allspice (we used Pampered Chef Cinnamon Blend)
1 tsp minced garlic
1/2 tsp black pepper
2 TBS soy sauce
1/4 cup cider vinegar
**Juice drained from 20 oz. skinny fruit pineapple slices - save the pineapple to add later**
2 TBS quick-cooking tapioca
1 TBS sugar

Cook on low 5-6 hours, stirring occasionally.



About one hour before you are ready to eat, add to crock-pot:

reserved pineapple
1 1/2 green peppers (diced, large chunks)
1/2 medium red onion (diced, large chunks)



We decided to go with rice on the side tonight. Noodles would be good too but the resident 16 year old was fussing about "pasta, pasta, pasta"...so we switched it up a bit. Yep, we're sneaky like that!