Mexican Pasta Salad

We are going to be tailgating tomorrow for my hubby's favorite time of year....the Monster Jam. I wanted to make a pasta salad that would keep without refrigeration. I started dreaming up different concotions and came up with this. I found a dressing recipe here, but I tweaked it a bit.

Mexican Pasta Salad

1 pound pasta, cooked and cooled
1 can black beans, drained and rinsed
1/2 bag frozen corn, cooked and cooled
1/2 small red onion diced
2 tomatoes diced
(I was going to use a roasted red pepper, but I didn't get to use it this time)

Dressing
Juice of 2 limes
1 clove of garlic minced
2 Tbsp olive oil
1 1/2 tsp cumin
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
2 Tbsp chopped cilantro
1/2 tsp honey

1. In a large bowl, combine pasta, black beans, corn, onion, and tomatoes.
2. In food processor (I used a mini one that came with my stick blender), combine garlic, lime juice, olive oil, cumin, salt, pepper, cilantro, and honey. Blend until combined and cilantro is well chopped.
3. Pour dressing over salad and mix well.

Filling low fat quesadillas

Have you ever come home from work and been so hungry you could eat your way through the entire refrigerator and not feel satisfied? I was having one of those days today and wanted a filling meal that would not break my diet. A few weeks ago, I was having dinner at my sister's house and she made us quesadillas and used some veggies to save on calories. I was having such a craving for those quesadillas, so I stopped at the grocery store on my way home and loaded up my basket with veggies. These were so tasty and so filling! I made a smaller amount, because my picky eater hubby didn't even want to try them, so up the recipe as much as you feel you need. I did have a little of everything left over for a yummy lunch tomorrow.

Veggie and chicken quesadillas

2 boneless skinless chicken breasts cut into cubes and cooked (I sauteed mine in a pan)
1 zuchinni cut up into bite sized pieces
1 corn on the cob- cut kernels off the cob
1/2 bag of Birds Eye pepper stir fry frozen veggies (this was the only one I could find with peppers and onions)
1 Tbsp Sante Fe cooking cream (optional)
Shredded cheddar cheese
Tortillas
1 tomato diced
Sour cream

1. In frying pan, saute zuchinni to your liking (I like mine with a little bite, but not crunchy). Put cooked zuchinni aside.
2. In same emptied frying pan, saute corn kernels over medium high heat until heated through and some of the skins have browned. Set aside.
3. Using same frying pan (emptied of corn), saute peppers and onions until heated through and starts to brown. Set aside.
4. Now to assemble the quesadilla. If using the cooking cream, smear a small amount on one half of a tortilla. Cover one half of tortilla with chicken and veggies. Sprinkle with cheese. Fold over and cook in frying pan until crisp and brown, then flip and cook other side. Repeat for each tortilla.
5. Serve with tomatoes and sour cream.

Shepard's Pie

My brother was in town this weekend and since he doesn't get home made yumminess very often, we asked him what he wanted for dinner. One of his favorites is Shepards Pie, so I decided to give it a try. Mom has made it before and it was quite delicious, but she was with my other brother today (he was having another surgery), so it was up to me. I really liked this dish. It was pretty easy and quite delicious!

Shepard's Pie

3 pounds potatoes peeled
3-4 Tbsp margarine
1/4-1/2 cup milk
Salt and Pepper to taste

2 pounds ground beef
1/4 cup flour
2 cups beef broth
2 Tbsp ketchup
1 Tbsp worcestershire sauce
2-3 cups frozen mixed vegetables (put as much as is suited to your taste)
Salt and Pepper to taste

Shredded cheese (I used sharp cheddar)

1. Preheat oven to 400F
2. Fill a large pot with peeled potatoes and cover with water. Bring to a boil and then reduce heat to medium- medium-high. Cook until fork tender.
3. Drain potatoes and then return to pot. Add butter and milk (add milk in parts so moisture is to your liking, you may need less or more milk). Using hand mixer, mix/mash ingredients together and well mashed and combined. Add salt and pepper to taste.
4. Heat large pan over high heat. Add beef and brown. Drain excess fat and return to pan.
5. Add flour to beef and allow to cook over medium high heat for 1 minute. Add beef broth and bring to a boil. Add in frozen vegetables, ketchup, and worcestershire sauce. Stir until well combined. Allow to heat through. Add salt and pepper to taste.
6. Put vegetable and beef mixture in large casserole/lasagna pan. Cover with mashed potatoes. Sprinkle shredded cheese over mashed potatoes. Bake uncovered until heated through and cheese melted.

Chicken Pot Pie

With this cold weather upon us, I was trying to come up with a yummy meal using up some chicken breasts that would warm us up. I remembered that I had just bought a Jiffy pie crust mix, so the idea for a chicken pot pie was born! If you have never tried a Jiffy pie crust mix pie crust, you MUST! So easy, so inexpensive, so tasty! They have been slightly hard to find, so when I do find them next I intend to stock up!

Chicken Pot Pie

7-8 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1 package frozen mixed vegetables
2 cans cream soup (I mixed cream of mushroom and cream of chicken and I used the low fat variety)
1 Jiffy pie crust mix prepared according to directions on the box

1. Bring a large pot of seasoned water to a boil. Add in chicken breasts and reduce to medium. When chicken breasts are cooked through, remove and allow to cool slightly until able to handle. Shred chicken with 2 forks. Preheat oven to 375 F.
2. Put shredded chicken, frozen veggies, creamed soup in large casserole dish. Mix until well combined. You may add a splash of milk to thin out the cream if needed.
3. Roll out prepared pie crust and place over top of casserole. Place casserole into preheated oven and bake until mixture is heated through and pie crust topping is a golden brown.

Breaded Cauliflower

I just had this craving for cauliflower. When my hubs and I used to live in our own home, I would eat LOTS of veggies (I never had to share with hubby, because he doesn't like them), but now I have to share with the other people in the house who also love their veggies. So, needless to say, I am having less vegetables than I am used to- hence the craving. I have a vague memory of some cauliflower that my Grandma Betty once made that had some bread crumbs on it. I remember it was so yummy, so I decided to try it out. It came out so tasty...I will definitley make it again.

Breaded Cauliflower

1 head of cauliflower
3 Tbsp butter or margarine (I used Smart Taste butter substitute)- you probably could use olive oil and you may need more of the butter or olive oil depending on the size of the head of cauliflower you use (you basically want it to be coated so the breadcrumbs will stick)
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp salt (or more to taste)
1/4 cup breadcrumbs (or more depending on size of cauliflower)

1. Preheat oven to 400 F
2. In medium-large pot, bring water to boil. Add cauliflower to boiling water and cook until desired tenderness. Drain cauliflower.
3. In a large bowl, melt butter (or just add olive oil). Add salt and garlic powder and stir to combine. Add cauliflower to butter mixture and toss to coat.
4. Pour breadcrumbs (I used italian seasoned) over coated cauliflower and stir to coat.
5. Arrange breaded cauliflower onto baking sheet. Bake at 400F until bread crumbs are lightly browned.

Stuffed Zucchini Boats

So last night I wanted to make a homemade gyro. I needed some type of side dish recipe to go along with it. I knew I wanted to use up some rice I have and I also had 2 zucchinis that needed to be used up. Then I remembered watching 10 Dollar Dinners on the Food Network where she made stuffed veggies (peppers, zucchini and tomatoes). They were super easy and so good!

Stuffed Zucchini Boats

3/4 cup cooked rice (use whatever kind you like)
1 large zucchini cut in half lengthwise
1/2 cup baby portabello mushrooms
2 small garlic cloves
Salt and pepper to taste

1. Preheat the oven to 400F
2. Scoop the seeds out of the zucchini using a spoon. Make a boat in the center of the zucchini to fit the filling. Place the meat and seeds into a food processor. Place the zucchini on baking pan.
3. Put mushrooms, garlic, salt and pepper into food processor. Pulse until finely chopped.
4. Mix rice and chopped veggies in a bowl until well combined.
5. Fill zucchini boats with filling. Bake at 400F until filling is heated through and zucchini is at desired texture.

BBQ ribs and grilled veggie couscous salad

For Memorial Day we decided to do the typical grilling. We wanted something more than just burgers and hot dogs. So we settled on ribs. I wanted a side that was something not typical, and since the grill was going to be fired up, I decided to grill up some veggies and add them to couscous. So good!

BBQ Ribs

Slab of ribs
Seasonings of choice
BBQ sauce of choice

1. Put ribs in pot and cover with water. Add desired seasonings to water. Bring water to a boil, reduce to medium heat, and boil ribs for 20 minutes with lid on.

2. Meanwhile, preheat grill (not too hot though). When ribs are finished boiling, baste them with desired BBQ sauce and place on bottom rack of grill. Turn every 5 min and baste with more sauce. Cook until sauce has thickened to and you start to see char marks (about 10-15 minutes).


Grilled veggie couscous salad

1 green pepper
1 red onion
1 zuchinni
1 yellow squash
1 tomato
(any other veggies you might like- I tried eggplant and I didn't like it at all)
Olive oil
Salt and pepper to taste
1 box of couscous (any flavor you like- I used whole wheat olive oil and garlic)

1. Prepare couscous according to directions on box and set aside in a serving dish.

2. Dice tomato and set aside- tomato will not be grilled

3. Cut veggies in big enough pieces so they will not fall through grates of grill (I sliced squash and zuchinni long ways and the onions into big rings)

4. Brush grilling veggies with olive oil and sprinkle with salt/pepper and any other desired seasonings.

5. Grill veggies until char marks and to desired tenderness

6. After veggies are cool enough to handle, chop into bite sized pieces and add to couscous.

7. Add tomatoes, stir to combine and enjoy!

So tasty!