Potato Salad

I used to always make my grandmother's potato salad recipe. It was always my favorite. Then one day, we went to a neighbor's house and she has a potato salad with some herbs mixed in. It was so delicious. So I thought to combine the two and YUM! A great potato salad was born.

Ingredients

3 lbs red creamer potatos boiled, cooled, and peeled (I boil mine then remove the peels when they cool)
1/2 cup mayo
3 Tbsp red wine vinegar
1/2 bunch parsley
4 green onions (scallions or you could use chives)
salt and pepper to taste

1. Cut potatos into large pieces (so they won't break apart when mixing, otherwise you will wind up with mashed potato salad)
2. Finely chop green onions and parsley (I use my food processor) and add to the potatoes
3. Add mayo, red wine vinegar, salt and pepper and fold together.

Thats it. It is that easy

Chicken Enchiladas

My mom used to make this for us all the time. I used to love the recipe so much that I would ask her to make it for me on my birthdays. She got the recipe from the back of a Campbells Cream of something soup (either chicken or celery) and adapted it a little bit. The recipe below is the adaptation as I cannot seem to find the original that was close to hers.

Chicken Enchiladas

1 can cream of chicken soup (I use the low fat)
1.5 cups sour cream (I use the low fat)
1 pound cooked chicken breast cubed
1 Tbsp chili powder
1 onion diced
1 can chopped green chiles
Tortillas (you can use low carb to make this a low carb meal)
Shredded cheese

Preheat oven to 350 F

1. Combine soup and sour cream in medium sized bowl
2. Saute diced onions until translucent and soft.
3. Add chili powder to chopped onions and cook for a few seconds until fragrant.
4. Add chopped chiles, chicken and half of the soup/sour cream mixture. Stir to combine and allow to heat through, then remove from heat.
5. Fill tortillas with mixture and place in baking sheet seam side down. Spread the rest of the soup/sour cream mixture over the top. Sprinkle with cheese.
6. Cover pan with tin foil and bake at 350 for 15 minutes. Remove foil and continue baking until cheese is melty.

Coconut "Cream Pie" Pudding Parfait

We had the in-laws over for dinner last night. Just like my hubby, they are a family of picky eaters. I had to take this, the fact that my husband is on a low carb diet, and the fact that I didn't have many ingredients in the house into consideration when deciding what to make for a dessert. I checked the pantry and I had a box of Sugar Free Cook and Serve Vanilla Pudding. I had a half bag of coconut, cool whip and graham crackers....and viola...coconut "cream pie" pudding parfaits were born. They were SO delicious. The MIL brought over a cake from Publix and I tasted both and actually preferred the parfait.

Coconut "Cream Pie" Pudding Parfait

1 box cook and serve vanilla pudding
2 cups milk
1/2 bag of sweetened coconut flakes
3 graham crackers smashed into crumbs
Cool whip

1. Combine vanilla pudding and milk in saucepan and prepare per directions on the box
2. When finished heating, add coconut to pudding and stir to combine. Allow to cool
3. In dessert glasses (I used wine glasses, so any pretty glasses you have will be fine) layer ingredients....graham cracker crumbs then pudding, then cool whip, more graham cracker, pudding, cool whip and top with leftover coconut flakes.

Mahi Mahi Tacos

I love tacos and seafood. I have had some pretty good fish tacos at certain restaurants and some not so good ones at others. While I was at my mom's house watching my brothers I thought it would be perfect time to try to make them myself. My brothers love seafood and are not picky eaters at all (unlike my hubby), so I got to make some recipes that I don't usually make at home. These tacos turned out so good. I made a whole bag of Mahi Mahi (frozen from Sams Club) and the entire bag was gone (only 3 people eating). You could certainly substitute your favorite fish, but I prefer a firm white fish like Mahi (yum grouper would be great too). If you are on a low carb diet, you could also use low carb tortillas to make this fit.

Mahi Mahi Tacos

2 lbs Mahi Mahi
1 Tbsp chili powder
2 tsp cumin
1 tsp garlic powder
1/4 tsp salt
2 Tbsp olive oil
Tortillas
Shredded cabbage (you can use lettuce instead, the cabbage is a little crunchier)
Shredded cheese (we used cheddar)
Salsa (or you could use tomatoes)
Any other of your favorite taco toppings

1. Preheat oven to 350 (or go by directions on bag). Place Mahi Mahi on baking sheet.
2. Combine spices and olive oil in small bowl. Brush on Mahi Mahi filets
3. Bake Mahi Mahi filets until flaky. Use package instructions for timing.
4. Put Mahi Mahi in tortilla and top with your favorite toppings and enjoy!

Ice Cream Sundaes

We had some friends over this weekend for a barbeque. I was very short on time (last minute party) but wanted something yummy and easy for dessert. Our friends were bringing their 2 children so I also wanted something appealing to them. I decided to have ice cream sundaes.
I bought 2 different flavors of ice cream (vanilla and chocolate). In one of those divided chip and dip servers I put all different toppings. It was a hit! Everyone had so much fun putting whatever (and however much) toppings they wanted. Here are the toppings I used.

Maraschino cherries
Chocolate Chips
Crumbled oreo cookies
Sliced Strawberries
Toasted Coconut
Brown Sugar Pecans
Whipped cream
Chocolate syrup

I know there is no cooking involved here (I did make the brown sugar pecans, but didn't love the recipe as no brown sugar stuck to the pecans, so I won't bother you with it here), but since it was so easy and everyone loved it...I thought I would share the idea.

Popcorn treats

For the 4th of July festivities, we went to my parent's house for a bbq and some fireworks. We were going to do all of the cooking for the family because my parents had some plans during the day. I tore through my pantry (did I forget to mention it was a last minute party) and decided that I would try to make things with stuff I need to get rid of. I came across a box of popcorn and decided to throw it in the cooler. Next I found a half used jar of marshmallow fluff, a half bag of marshmallows, so I threw them in too. Then I found 1 bag of 100 calorie pack cookies and an almost empty bag of pretzels. When I got to my mom's she had a bag of chocolate chips and a half jar of peanut butter, I decided to put all these together and viola! Popcorn treats.

Popcorn treats

1 normal sized bag of popcorn (I used light butter)
1 bag of marshmallows (I used a half bag and half jar of fluff)
1 Tbsp of butter
1/4 cup peanut butter
1/2 cup chocolate chips
1/4 cup pretzels
Whatever other creative yummy toppings you like (peanuts, more chocolate, M&Ms, cookie crumbs, etc)

1. Pop bag of popcorn according to directions on bag
2. Meanwhile, melt butter in saucepan over medium high heat. When melted, add in marshmallows and stir frequently while they all melt into a sauce.
3. Put popcorn in large bowl (REMEMBER to remove unpopped kernels), pour marshmallow sauce over. Add in desire toppings and stir all together.
4. Lay out mixture on greased baking sheet.
5. Melt peanut butter over medium heat. When melted, drizzle over popcorn mixture.
6. Melt chocolate (I melt mine in the microwave), and drizzle over popcorn mixture.
7. Break into pieces, enjoy!

Skillet Ravioli "Pizza" courtesy of Publix

My husband and I are huge fans of pasta and pizza. He is a very picky eater (as I may have mentioned in numerous other posts), so when he asked me to make this, I was surprised. He has tasted it at Publix when they do their Aprons recipe samples. I made it at home and it was delicious!

Skillet Ravioli Pizza

1 1/2 cups water
2 (7-ounce) packages refrigerated cheese mini-ravioli
1 tablespoon butter
1 3/4 cups refrigerated marinara sauce (15 ounces)
1 1/2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese
20 pepperoni slices

1. Combine water, ravioli, and butter in large saucepan. Cover and bring to boil on high.
2. Remove lid when boiling; reduce to medium-high. Cook 5–6 minutes, stirring often (to avoid pasta sticking), or until most of liquid is absorbed.
3. Stir marinara sauce into ravioli; reduce to low. Cook 2–3 minutes, stirring constantly, or until pasta is hot and tender.
4. Spread ravioli evenly into single layer. Sprinkle with cheese and arrange pepperoni slices over top. Cover and cook 3–4 minutes or until cheese melts.

CALORIES (per 1/6 recipe) 368kcal; FAT 16g; CHOL 50mg; SODIUM 888mg; CARB 38g; FIBER 3g; PROTEIN 19g; VIT A 17%; VIT C 0%; CALC 30%; IRON 8%

My husband loved it. He even went back for a third helping! Thanks Publix!