Category Archives: Recipes

BBQ Chicken Salad

***From my archives***
I was very excited to try
BBQ Chicken Salad,

seriously, a dressing made with BBQ sauce and Ranch Dressing! How can that NOT be GOOD!

Here is our cast of characters:

Ranch Dressing
BBQ Sauce
Grilled Chicken
Romain Lettuce
Tomatoes, diced
Cilantro, chopped
1 can Black Beans, drained
1 can Corn, drained
(oops, forgot that for the picture)
Green Onions
Shredded Cheese
Tortilla Strips


Here is what Becky said:

“Now, there are different ways you can have this. In the past, we would mix all the fresh ingredients and then pour the ranch on top, then drizzled with BBQ sauce. My husband prefers to marinate the cooked chicken in the BBQ sauce all day and serve it that way. I also like to mix the ranch dressing and the BBQ sauce together for a Ranch/BBQ dressing. Whatever the way, it is SOOOO good! “




I chose to mix the Ranch dressing and BBQ sauce, then marinate the cooked chicken in the sauce. That alone was wonderful. If you were to shred the chicken and mix it with the sauce, you would have a wonderful filling for a chicken sandwich.

 

I also crushed the tortilla chips and mixed it with the salad just before I served it.


This recipe did not disappoint.

It was SO good!

Everyone loved this, it will defiantly become a regular at our dinner table.

(Check out Becky’s cute blog here.)

For other great dinner ideas, head over to Our Bluebell Country

Strawberry Spinach Salad

***This is a post from my archives, I first published it ten years ago when I was doing a series on salads for my personal blog****

This Salad come from a good friend and neighbor of mine. She served it at a little gals night out get together at her house, and it had become a favorite of mine.

Here is our list of ingredients:

Spinach leaves, washed and trimmed (or a bag)
Strawberries, washed and sliced
Feta Cheese, crumbled
1/4 red onion, thinly sliced
Sugared Walnuts (I will show you how)
Brianna’s Blush Wine Vinaigrette


To sugar walnuts, melt equal parts brown sugar and butter in a small sauce pan (I did 2 Tbsp of each), when it is all melted add the walnuts and stir to coat.

Then lay them out and let them cool, and you have sugared walnuts.

I am not a walnut fan, but I love these.

Crumble the feta, I am not a real lover of feta, but there is something about the mix of strawberry and Vinaigrette that makes the feta so yummy.

Make sure to slice the onion really thin. Usually I don’t love raw onion, but like the feta, there is something about the mix of all the ingredients in this salad that makes it so yummy.

Add all your ingredients and toss with the Blush Wine Vinaigrette.

I served this with homemade french bread (thanks Casey) and home made pizza. I thought it made a yummy meal. I will have to be totally honest and say that my family doesn’t really share my love of this salad, Dadzoo mumbles something about hating feta, it has to do with being forced to eat it as a child. All my kids hate the dressing and the onions. So from a feeding the family/kids stand point this salad didn’t go over so well, but I love it, so it will just have to be saved for special occasions (like when I crave it really badly, there are some advantages to being the cook!)

Summer Squash

I know summer squash (a group that zucchini is a part of) is sort of a joke among gardeners  and neighbors in the summertime. They are abundant and prolific and even the most beginning level gardener can be quite successful with them. 

Growing up I swear I ate buckets of zucchini and crook neck squash and I really hated it.  My mom (love you) would boil those babies and they were pretty tasteless, at least in my opinion. Then my younger sister got married and her new husband cooked up a zucchini on the grill with lemon pepper seasoning….And. I. Was. Hooked. Add to that I start getting these seed catalogues, from Bakers Creeks and Johnny’s Seeds that has all sorts of summer squash, different shapes and colors and sizes.  Not only had my taste buds been satisfied, but my urge for fun and variety was being satisfied.

I’ve grown summer squash ever since.  There are so many different ways to cook summer squash, Pinterest is full of great recipes, but I’d like to share my go-to way of cooking it.  My kids even like it.  This year when I served up the first of the squash my 12 year old boy gave a shout and a fist pump he was so excited!

My method is quite simple:

wash

slice it up in whatever desired shape and size

heat up some type of fat (butter, bacon grease, olive oil, etc) until its nice and hot, add the squash

season as desired (we love garlic salt)

cook until soft, but not mushy, and the edges get a nice golden brown color

serve warm.

 

Enjoy!

 

Roasted Roots

 

This is the time of year when the cool spring vegetables are finished and the warm summer vegetables are on. The beets and carrots are getting just big enough to harvest.  They are small, but I think the small root vegetables are the most tender and sweetest, I’m always excited when I can start harvesting them.

For Sunday dinner I braved the blistering 100+ degrees and trekked into the garden to dig up a few of the bigger carrots and beets that I had left, not taking them to market the day before so we could enjoy them for dinner.  My four year old Jack followed me out and delighted in pulling up the carrots after I loosened the soil around them.  He would exclaim, delighted, every time a long carrot root popped out.

When they are this young young I don’t bother peeling them, the skins are still thin and easy to eat.  I do scrub the dirt off well and cut the tops off, leaving a bit of the stems, I think it looks pretty and it gives the roasted veggie a bit of a sweet crunch.  I cut the beets in half, that way they roast at the same rate as the carrots.  Then I simply drizzled with a little bit of avocado oil and sprinkle with salt.  Then in the oven they go at 400 degrees for around 30 minutes or until they are soft all the way through.

When finished they have a beautiful golden color and the sugars have caramelized, creating the best flavor.  The thin roots at the bottom of the carrots are a bit crunchy and so sweet, my kids love that part the very best.

Carrots, Beets and Cotts, Oh My!

One of my very favorite summer chores is canning.  I know, weird, but I love it.

There is something absolutely satisfying to me about sitting down, with a chipped enamel-wear dishpan and a piles of vegetables in front of me.  I carefully and quickly peel each vegetable, quietly channeling the energy of all my grandmothers before me who did the same chore to ensure her family’s survival for another year. It feels primal to me, that desire to provide food and comfort, while it is not longer necessary to preserve my own food, the drive to do so is in my bones and manifests in my flesh.
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The beets are all peeled and cold packed in jars, ready for the pressure caner, beets are a family favorite.
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IMG_6835Carrots washed and peeled, I love the soft, translucent orange and light yellow of the roots when I peel them. I had planned on having dark purple carrots as well, but they had a different surprise in mind for me, something I will write about later.
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Jars of raw packed carrots, they too will go in the pressure caner.  They come out the prefect texture for eating, my kids will eat them cold right out of the jar and they are soft enough for the babies to eat too.

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And last, but not the least by a long shot, a batch of sun ripened apricots fresh from a neighbors tree ready for the dehydrator. In the winter they will be soaked and cooked with buckwheat for a warm sweet breakfast, much like a breakfast my great-grandmothers would have served to their hungry loves on a cold winter morning.

Vinaigrette Salad

This is a re-post from www.momzoolife.com
March 29, 2012

This salad is a lot like other salad recipes I have posted.  I love a good vinaigrette salad and I am always looking for different combinations of ingredients.  In this salad I especially loved the combination of bacon and feta cheese, very good!  I really liked this salad, Dadzoo liked this salad and about half of my little punks liked this salad (my children with the more mature palates).  It is defiantly a keeper!

Starting with the dressing we are going to need:

1 cup sugar
1 tsp salt
1 tsp dry mustard
1/2 cup red wine vinegar
1/2 olive oil (use the good stuff!)
1 tsp poppy seeds

Throw it all in a blender and mix well

 

For the body of the salad we will need:

2-3 Romain hearts shredded
(I was lazy and used a spring mix)
1-2 apples, chopped
1 pkg bacon, cooked and crumbled
1 pkg walnuts or pecans, chopped
1 pkg feta cheese

Toss all ingredients together with the dressing right before serving and enjoy!

Chicken Salad

Re-post from www.momzoolife.com
March 2009

 

It seems like there are as many recipes for chicken salad as there are for potato salad, every family seems to have one they love and use all the time.

This is “our” recipe for chicken salad, it is very simple, very fattening, and super good.

Momzoo’s Chicken Salad:
2 cups chicken cooked and chopped

1 cup Mayo
2 Tbsp lemon juice
1/2 tsp salt
2 cup chopped celery
1 cup crushed potato chip
1 1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese


Mix the Mayo, salt and lemon juice.

Add Chicken and Celery

Mix well

Right before serving add the potato chips and cheese, stir well.

Serve on a croissant.

Enjoy, and try not to think of all the fat and calories…..

Because of Easter weekend and some sick family memeber (2 kids and a husband) I will be posting the seventh salad (Baby spinach and Citrus Salad) next week.

Have a wonderful Easter weekend!

Pina Colada Salad

 ***This great summer salad is from my archives***

 

This salad was a hit with the “zoo” everyone loved it.  Which is really no surprise because it is very, very sweet, so sweet in fact it would do nicely as a summertime dessert or snack on a hot afternoon.  It is very different from anything I have served or eaten before, I am excited to make it again.

First we will start with the dressing
Our ingredients are:

1/4 cup sugar
3/4 cup pina colada drink mix
1 1/2 cup sour cream

add all ingredients together and whisk, then chill in the refrigerator while preparing the body of the salad.

For the rest of the salad we will need:

1 cup cashews
2 cups craisins
1 cup diced celery
2 cups diced, fresh, pineapple

Toss the ingredients together in a large bowl, then add the dressing and serve cold.