Greek Orzo Salad

I love Greek food, it has a fresh taste and healthy too! My kids are still learning to like some of the foods but I can usually give them a small spoonful as long as I don't list the ingredients, lol.

BBQ Chicken Pizza with Broccoli Pasta Salad

Over the weekend we had pizza and salad again, so good! This time I attempted a BBQ chicken pizza and the broccoli salad, both were a success!

Excuse the blurry photo!

Broccoli Pasta Salad

2 cups uncooked pasta of choice (cook according to box directions)

3 broccoli heads, cut into small florets

1/4 cup chopped green onion

3 slices bacon, cooked and crumbled

1/2 cup mayo

1/4 cup sugar

1/4-1/4 cup Italian dressing

salt to taste

Sunflower seeds (optional)

Raisins (optional)

Mix all ingredients together, adjusting to your preferences.

Crowd-Pleasing Taco Salad

Wow, I haven't posted to this blog in such a long time, I had to try multiple passwords before got the right one, lol. But I think building a home and having your camera die on you are pretty good excuses and now both problems have been resolved.

I saw this recipe from Taste of Home on Pinterest and couldn't wait to try it! I'm always up for trying new versions of our family favourites and this one was a keeper. I did make a few minor changes to suit our family's preferences. I actually prefer this recipe to my other one but my husband said he still likes both, but since I'm the cook...

California Salad

Well it's been a while for me! Life is busy! I've been meaning to make this salad for quite some time, I had actually lost it but I was organizing my craft room and stumbled across it. Very simple to make and I love the flavor of it! I found this recipe from Mennonite Girls Can Cook and they suggest that the dressing is better if allowed to sit for a day, it will keep for 2-3 days in the fridge.


California Salad
1 Head Romaine lettuce, chopped
2 chopped tomatoes
2 sliced green onions
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese (or tex mex, I did half cheddar half mozzarella)
2 cups corn chips

Dressing:1 ripe avocado
1/2 cup mayo
1 tbsp lemon juice
1/4 cup oil
1 clove crushed garlic (or 1/4 tsp garlic pwd)
1/4 tsp Tabasco sauce
1/2 tsp salt

Blend all the dressing ingredients in a blender or food chopper. Mix together all salad ingredients, except the cheese and chips. Just before you are ready to serve, add the cheese and corn chips and toss with the dressing.

Asian Noodle Salad

I discovered this recipe on pioneer woman's website. Love her recipes and I want to try most of them. If only I had time. But anyway, I love this salad. There are a lot of ingredients to make it but it was completely worth it. It also makes a lot. Next time I go to a pot luck this is what I will probably bring.


Asian Noodle Salad

salad ingredients

1 package Linguine Noodles, Cooked, Rinsed, And Cooled
½ heads Sliced Napa Cabbage, Or More To Taste
½ heads Sliced Purple Cabbage, Or More To Taste
½ bags Baby Spinach, Or More To Taste
1 whole Red Bell Pepper, Sliced Thin
1 whole Yellow Bell Pepper, Sliced Thin
1 whole Orange Bell Pepper, Thinly Sliced
1 bag Bean Sprouts (also Called Mung Bean Sprouts)
Chopped Cilantro, Up To 1 Bunch, To Taste
3 whole Scallions, Sliced
3 whole Cucumbers Peeled And Sliced
1 can (about 10 Oz.) Whole Cashews, Lightly Toasted In Skillet
_____
FOR THE DRESSING:
1 whole Lime, Juiced
8 Tablespoons Olive Oil
8 Tablespoons Soy Sauce
2 Tablespoons (up To 3 Tablespoons) Sesame Oil
⅓ cups Brown Sugar
3 Tablespoons Fresh Ginger Chopped
2 cloves Garlic Chopped
2 whole Hot Peppers Or Jalapenos, Chopped
Chopped Cilantro

Mix salad ingredients together. Whisk dressing ingredients together and pour over salad. Mix with tongs or hands and serve on a platter.

Note: dressing keeps for up to three days before serving, without cilantro.

Enjoy,
Erna

Cucumber Salad

As I mentioned in my previous post, we grew a vegetable garden this year and so this salad is made with super fresh ingredients! Love it! My husband was BBQ'ing some pork chops and grilling vegetables for lunch today after church and I baked some fresh potatoes. I wanted some sort of salad to go with it and so I thought it would be the perfect time to try this salad recipe that I found off of All Recipes.

Cucumber Salad

2-3 medium cucumbers, peeled and sliced
1 large tomato, halved and then sliced
1/2 red onion, thinly sliced (I only used 1/4 onion)
1 Tbsp vinegar
3 Tbsp mayo
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp black pepper

After reading some of the reviews about the dressing getting very runny and their solution was to first let the vegetables sit for a few minutes with the vinegar, salt and pepper and then drain the extra liquid. Now stir in the mayo and let this chill for about 1 hour before serving. You might need to add a touch more vinegar. I didn't let this chill and we still found it to be really tasty.

*I found 3 Tbsp of mayo to be a bit much so next time I'll use a little less, maybe start off with 1 or 2 and adjust as needed.

Macaroni Salad

During the summer months we rarely have a dinner without some sort of grilling or roasting involved, so it was no surprise when my husband suggested a wiener roast. Summer is the only time that we actually eat hotdogs, the ingredients in those things is enough to make you run, lol. We do still have them on our camping trips and the odd backyard roast. But the only way I can eat them is with at least one salad, more often it's two salads. So I quickly went to work making a macaroni salad. This is a salad that I have slowly over the years sort of compiled this recipe together from many recipes.



Macaroni Salad

1 cup uncooked pasta, I used elbow
3 hard boiled eggs, chopped
1 celery stick, chopped
1-2 stalks green onion, chopped
1 cup cucumber slices
1/3 cup mayo
2 tbsp cream
1 Tbsp sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp dill weed
1 tsp prepared mustard
black pepper to taste

Cook pasta and let cool. Mix all ingredients together and keep in the fridge until ready to use. The ingredients are all just my starting point, adjust to your liking.

*Tip
I am always out of green onions, and I hate that they don't last long in the fridge. Well imagine my pleasant surprise when I found out you can actually keep them in a jar of water and always have green onion on hand. In the photo I have even the full onion in there, but you'll see a short stubby piece at the bottom, that onion will actually sprout new shoots in a few days. So don't throw away the used up green onion, put the whole bunch back in the water and you'll have new shoots soon!



Enjoy!
Tina