Bean & Pea Salad

This is my favorite side dish this summer!  I had a similar version of this at a friends house and loved it so I decided to make my own.  Another one of the crazy foods I cannot have anymore is Kidney Beans  but this salad works really well with Kidney beans too!  At our house we normally eat this as a side dish to go with sandwiches or wraps for a quick lunch.  I have also eaten it as a semi-meal.  I hope you enjoy this as much as we do!  

What you will need:

1 can Blackeye Peas (drained)

1 can Northern or Navy Beans (drained & rinsed)

1 can Artichoke Hearts, quartered (drained)

1 can Black Olives, whole medium sized (drained)

Small Package of Grape Tomatoes

1/2 of a Cucumber 

1 Green Bell Pepper (or red, I have used both), remove the seeds inside and the stem

Red Wine Vinegar

Preparation:

• Pour your drained beans and peas into the mixing bowl.  
• Cut the whole olives, artichoke hearts and grape tomatoes into slices and add to mixing bowl.
• Dice the cucumber and bell pepper and add it to the mixing bowl.
• Add 2-3 tablespoons of Red Wine Vinegar to the mixing bowl.
• Stir it all up and then transfer it to a large tupperware and put the lid on then let it chill in the refrigerator for an hour or more before serving.  If you are in a hurry, you can serve it right away.  It tastes delicious for up to about a week!  Enjoy!

Below is a picture of my favorite way to serve this delicious Bean & Pea Salad:

Migraines, Headaches and Cheese

Most of you are looking at that title and wondering how those three things go together.  I recently found out that I am very sensitive to cheese.  It triggers headaches and migraines for me.  I am no longer able to eat any of the cheeses that I love and love to cook with.  The only cheese I can have now is Mozzarella, cream cheese, American, and Velveeta cheese.  There are several other foods that I can no longer enjoy as well but none as sad as the cheese.   So how will this affect you?  Well, I have reworked many of my staple recipes to be either cheese free to have exchanged the cheese for one of the ones I can have.  I am finding that it's not as big of a loss as I thought!  If you would like to learn more about this "sensitivity" please feel free to message me.  

Easy as Pie...Pie!

 What you will need:

•   One package of Light Cool Whip

•   One regular size fruit yogurt, you pick your favorite, I use blueberry

•   One graham or dough pie crust

•   Small pieces of fruit for topping

Preparation:

•   Heat the pie in the oven according to package instructions, and let cool about 20 minutes

•   Mix cool whip and yogurt thoroughly in a bowl

•   Fill pie shell with cool whip/yogurt mixture and put in fridge to cool and set for an hour or longer

When you are ready to serve it, top the pie with fresh fruit and enjoy!

I'm Back...Finally!

Oh my goodness it has been a while since I have posted on here!  But don't worry, I have still been cooking this whole time and taking pictures so I have a lot of updating to do!  Lots of fun new recipes are on their way!

Watermelon and Feta Salad

 As a native Texan, it is only natural that I love big things, especially big flavor and big food!  Watermelon, being one of the biggest fruits I have ever encountered, is of course one of my favorite big things.  Now here is the weird thing, I do not really love watermelon by itself, I know this is crazy.  But I do love it paired with Feta Cheese and Balsamic Vinaigrette dressing.  I think I could love most any food that involved Feta Cheese and/or Balsamic vinaigrette dressing.  I got inspired to make this yummy salad after I received a coupon for a free organic watermelon at one of our local grocery stores.  You know the saying “if it’s free, it’s for me”, well I do love some free food! Once I got to the store, I perused the big crates of watermelon’s they had and I chose one that I thought was just perfect...and of course possibly the biggest one they had.  I got it home and got to cooking.  I love this recipe so much because on a hot day it is so nice to eat something chilled and fresh!  I hope you enjoy this big recipe too!

Watermelon and Feta Salad

What you will need:

Watermelon, sliced into small pieces

1 pkg Feta Cheese, crumbled (I prefer the reduced fat kind)

Balsamic Vinaigrette Dressing

Okay, so this quite possibly could be THE easiest recipe I have so don’t blink or you might miss it!

In a large mixing bowl, add your Watermelon pieces, Feta Cheese crumbles, and cover it with about 1/3 to ½ cup of Balsamic Vinaigrette dressing.  Mix it all together then cover it with saran wrap and let it chill in the refrigerator for an hour or more. 

When you are ready to serve it just mix it up again and serve!  Easy peasy!  Enjoy!

Pork Tenderloin Stir-Fry

A few nights ago we threw a pork tenderloin on the grill, not realizing it was only going to end up being two of us eating this huge piece of meat.  We ended up with a ton of leftover pork tenderloin and after eating it for lunch the next day, I decided that for dinner I was going to change it up a bit.  I knew that I had some ingredients for making a stir-fry and even though I have only ever used chicken or steak I decided that I was going to try to make Pork Tenderloin Stir-Fry. As usual with any recipe concoction that I am unsure of, I always check to make sure I have a pizza in the freezer just in case the new recipe is a disaster.  After a quick look I saw the pizza and decided to trudge forward with my Stir-Fry.  I kept grabbing things out of the refrigerator and cabinet until I was satisfied that I had the ingredients I needed to make this “soon to be” yummy dish.    What I ended up with was a surprisingly delicious treat!  I think that I might have enjoyed the Pork Tenderloin Stir-Fry more than I do when I use Chicken!  I was so excited that it turned out great that I just had to share it with you!  I hope that if you ever find yourself in the dilemma of having crazy amounts of Pork Tenderloin leftover that you will find solace in knowing you can just whip up a quick stir-fry to delight your palate.  Enjoy!

Pork Tenderloin Stir-Fry

What you will need:

Pork Tenderloin (cooked and diced into small pieces), enough for 2 people

1 bag of Brown Rice (I used Uncle Ben’s Instant Rice), ½  a bag per person

1 can of Stir Fry Vegetables, drained (yes, they actually sell this, how easy huh?)

1 can Bamboo Shoots, drained

1/3 Onion, cut into strips

1/3 Bell Pepper or Red Bell Pepper, cut into strips

Stir Fry Sauce (any kind you like)

Sriracha Sauce (for added kick if you like spicy things)

Extra Virgin Olive Oil

a Wok or big saute pan

What you can do first to make it super easy on you is go ahead and get your water boiling for the rice according to the package instructions. 

Next grab your Wok and put in on the stove and add about 2 tbsp of Extra Virgin Olive Oil.  Heat the oil on medium to high heat and add the drained can of Stir Fry Vegetables, Onion, Bell Pepper, and Bamboo Shoots.  Cook for 5-10 minutes, stirring frequently so the veggies don’t stick. 

While the veggies are cooking, add your rice to the boiling water and follow the instructions on the box. 

Once you veggies are cooked, add your chopped Pork Tenderloin and mix through.  Then add about 3-4 tbsp of your stir-fry sauce, just kind of eye it so it is not too dry and add more if needed.  If you like spicy you can drizzle a bit of the Sriracha sauce on it.  Mix it all together and cook on low heat for another 5 minutes or so. 

Now, put some rice on a plate and top it with a couple scoops of the Stir-Fry and you are ready to eat!  Enjoy!

Goat Cheese Bruschetta

On Sunday night I decided to make an easy dinner but wanted something really yummy.  I was originally planning on making Chicken Fettucini Alfredo and Feta Bruschetta (recipe is one here for you :).  When I went to the grocery store to get some ingredients I found Crumbled Goat Cheese by the Feta and decided to give it a whirl.  What happened later was delicious!  I had so much fun making these two really simple dishes.  I poured a glass of my new favorite Red Velvet wine by Cupcake Vineyards and got to cooking.  It was so nice to be in and out of the kitchen in under an hour and able to just relax, eat, and watch a movie...my ideal Sunday night!  You should try it, really!

Goat Cheese Bruschetta

What you will need:
1 pkg Crumbled Goat Cheese
Extra Virgin Olive Oil
3-4 Roma Tomatoes diced
6-7 Green Onions chopped
Tony Chachere's Creole Seasoning
Greek Seasoning
Black Pepper
Garlic Powder
Onion Powder
Sea Salt
Wheat French Bread

This is really just a tiny variation from my Feta Bruschetta that I have previously written about.  Both are so tasty that I can't even decide which one I like better.  The biggest difference is obviously the cheese, Goat Cheese verses Feta but another difference is the textures and softness of the two cheeses.  The goat cheese is way softer so I decided to mix all of the ingredients in a bowl first and then put them in a shallow dish to chill in the fridge and marry all the flavors together.

First, pour olive oil into your dish so it covers the entire bottom...just enough to cover the bottom will work great.  Shake several dashes of the greek seasoning all over the olive oil.

 

Next you can begin dicing your tomatoes into small pieces and add them to the olive oil as you go.  No need to stir yet.  Chop your green onions into small pieces and add them to the dish.  Now you can put the entire package of Goat cheese crumbles on top of the tomatoes and green onions.  

Now for the spices, I used several more dashes of the greek seasoning and several dashes of Tony Chachere's seasoning.  I then used about 1 tsp of black pepper and a couple dashes of sea salt.  Do a few sprinkles of garlic powder and onion powder and then mix it all together.  Stir gently because the goat cheese has a tendency to mush and become very creamy.  Move the mixture into a shallow dish so the flavors have a chance to marry together.

After you have placed the mixture in the dish, cover it with saran wrap and let it sit in the fridge for about an hour or more.

When the bruschetta was ready I scooped a heaping spoonful onto each piece of freshly toasted Wheat French Bread.

I served this dish as both an appetizer and a side dish to my yummy Chicken Fettucini Alfredo. They were awesome together!

I hope you enjoy it!