Broccoli Salad

Wow. This has been a super busy week at the Bell house! And the busyness is not over yet! In fact, we have so much going on tomorrow that I had to take off work just to keep up with my own schedule! haha So this will probably be the only post for the week... but I can't wait to start next week off by sharing our fun weekend! Tomorrow, I am going to my great aunt's nursing home with my mom, grandma, Jack and Millie (my mom's westie) for a Halloween party. We are dressing my aunt up as Miss America and Jack and Millie will be in a dog parade dressed as Super Man and a lady bug!! I can't wait!! After that, Evan and I will be headed to a Halloween party at one of my very best friends' house! I am so excited to spend time with our friends and I always love a reason to wear a costume! haha

Anyway, here's a quick and easy recipe that I have been meaning to share for a while now. I don't have any pictures of it but it's super delicious and would be a great side dish to take to a Halloween party this weekend! :)

Broccoli Salad

Ingredients:

1 head of broccoli

6-8 slices of cooked bacon, crumbled

1/2 cup chopped red onion

1/2 cup raisins

8 oz shredded sharp cheddar cheese

1 cup mayonnaise

2 T. white vinegar

1/4 cup sugar

1/2 cup halved cherry tomatoes

Directions:

Cut the broccoli head into florets and the stem into bite sized pieces. Place in a large bowl. Add the bacon, onion, raisins, cheese and tomatoes. In a small bowl combine the remaining ingredients, stirring well. Add to broccoli mixture and toss gently.

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Did I mention it's a Paula Deen recipe? Now you know it's good!! :)

Come back Monday to see my precious little Super Man and his girlfriend, the lady bug!

Happy Halloween Weekend!!

Jambalaya and Blueberry Salad

Hey guys!

It's me, Jack... my mommy is busy today so I am writing this one for her!

I wanted to tell you about the funnest night that we had about a week ago! My mom's friend, Haleigh, came over to eat dinner with us and she brought her son (with fur, like me!) over too! His name is Bentley and I have been playing with him since I was a baby so we are very good friends!! It was SO much fun... too bad my mom forgot to take a picture of us! Anyway, Miss Haleigh brought treats for Bentley and Me and dessert for the grownups and my mommy made Jambalaya and Blueberry Salad... that was for the grownups too! Here are the recipes and a few pictures of the food... because even though mommy forgot to take a picture of Bentley and me, she sure didn't forget about the food! ha!

Jambalaya

Ingredients:

2 smoked sausage links, sliced

2 chicken breasts, finely chopped

(you can either choose between the above two ingredients or use both)

3 cups converted rice

1 cup celery, chopped finely

3 t. salt

1 clove of garlic, finely chopped

1/4 cup oil

1/2 t. black pepper

all-purpose cajun seasoning to taste

water as needed

Directions:

Place oil in the bottom of pot; saute onions, garlic, celery and meat until dark brown. Add 1/2 cup water and simmer for 10 minutes. Add seasonings and about five more cups of water (may substitute chicken broth if desired). Bring water to rolling boil. Add rice and stir. Let rice and water boil until water thickens and rice absorbs the liquid, stirring as little as possible. When the liquid is absorbed, cover with a tight fitting lid and simmer on low heat for about 10 minutes.

Blueberry Salad

Ingredients:

Lettuce

Avocados

Red Onion

White (shoepeg) corn

Cashews

Tomatoes

Dressing Ingredients:

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 cup vinegar

1 pkg. frozen blueberries

1 cup oil

1 tsp. salt

1 tsp. pepper

2 T. dry mustard

2 cloves garlic

1/4 cup poppy seeds

Directions for dressing:

Heat two cups of vinegar. Add one package of frozen blueberries to hot vinegar. Let vinegar stand for as long as possible. Strain berries and use 1/2 cup blueberry vinegar in making dressing. (Sprinkle the blueberries over the salad). Mix the 1/2 cup of blueberry vinegar in with all the remaining dressing ingredients and pour over salad.

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Hope you guys enjoy what the grownups ate!! They sure seemed to like it!! Oh! I almost forgot to show you a picture of the pretty cupcakes that Miss Haleigh brought!!

Aren't they pretty? I sure wish I could have tasted one!! Thanks Miss Haleigh for being such a good friend to my mommy and for bringing Bentley over to play with me!!

I hope everyone has a good weekend!!

Love, Jack

The Story of the Nutty Bird

Something about a hot summer day makes me want to eat a really light and healthy meal... maybe it's because I saw myself in a swimsuit this past weekend... haha I'm not sure but when I was thinking about what to "cook" for dinner last night, I just kept coming back to the Nutty Bird.

The Nutty Bird is a sandwich that I haven't eaten in FOREVER but I have many fond... and some not so fond.... memories of. When I was a little girl, my family used to have a favorite Saturday lunch spot called Daddy's Serious Sandwiches. The "Nutty Bird" was a sandwich on their menu that my dad and I used to always order. Some time when I was in middle school, the location of the restaurant where we ate closed. I missed the sandwich (because I've always loved my food! haha) so my dad started making it for my lunch at school.... and this is where the not so fond memories come in!

The ingredients on this sandwich are pumpernickel bread, smoked turkey breast, cream cheese, cucumbers, sunflower seeds and bean sprouts... very uncool for a middle school girl... with braces... to eat bean sprouts. Haha My friends (one of which is still one of my best friends... and hopefully she will read this post! haha) were RELENTLESS in making fun of me! They thought I was so weird for eating that sandwich and they used to wave their fingers in front of their mouths while I was eating it to represent the bean sprouts that got stuck in my braces... Awesome, I know. Needless to say, I asked my dad to go back to putting plain turkey sandwiches in my lunch and I haven't eaten a Nutty Bird since! Until last night... when I introduced my silly sandwich to my husband... he loved my sandwich and he did NOT wave his fingers in front of his face while I was eating... such a relief! haha

We also had a delicious summery salad to go with our Nutty Bird sandwiches. I had some fresh tomatoes from my grandparents' garden that I wanted to use so I looked up this Paula Deen recipe on the Food Network website:

Corn, Avocado and Tomato Salad

Ingredients:

2 cups of cooked corn, fresh or frozen

1-2 avocados, cut into 1/2 inch cubes

1 pint cherry tomatoes, halved (I chopped up some regular tomatoes)

1/2 cup finely diced red onion

Dressing:

2 T. olive oil

1/2 t. grated lime zest

1 T. fresh lime juice

1/4 cup chopped cilantro

1/4 t. salt

1/4 t. pepper

Directions:

Combine the first four ingredients in a glass bowl. Combine the dressing ingredients in a separate bowl, pour over the salad and gently toss to mix.

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Have a great Thursday!

Watermelon-Cucumber Salad

I keep seeing watermelons for sale on the side of the road and all I can think about is making a delicious watermelon-cucumber salad... very summery, very light and very fresh!

Here's a recipe I found in my June issue of Food Network Magazine:

Watermelon-Cucumber Salad

Ingredients:

1/2 red onion, thinly sliced

4 cups diced watermelon

1 seeded and sliced cucumber

handful of thinly sliced mint

chopped cashews

1/4 cup olive oil

1/2 lemon, juiced

salt to taste

crumbled goat cheese

Directions:

Soak the red onion in cold water. Pat the watermelon and cucumber dry; toss with the mint. Drain the onion and add it to the salad along with some chopped cashews. Add the olive, lemon juice and salt and toss to coat. Top with crumbled goat cheese and serve.

One last thing... Please please send me your prayer requests and recipes so we can have Pray For Us Friday tomorrow! Thanks :)

Pray For Us Friday

Today we are praying for...

My sweet and beautiful friend, Haleigh

Haleigh and I have been friends for a very long time. We went to middle school and high school together, we were college roommates and she was a bridesmaid in my wedding.

A few weeks ago, (you may have heard about this on the news) she was attacked in her home, severely beaten and almost kidnapped. Her bruises are almost gone now but she still has a lot of emotional scars to deal with. Please pray for Haleigh in her healing process but also thank the LORD that she is alive and able to heal.

*****For your peace of mind, I would like to add that the man that attacked Haleigh has been caught. Also, Haleigh would like for her story to be an example for women everywhere to be very careful about who you trust and especially who you let into your home.*****

Last night, Haleigh cooked dinner for the first time since her attack and she wants to share that meal plan with us because she said it's very easy and delicious. It's great for an easy night at home or for entertaining!!

On her menu: Baked potato bar, salad with a sweet vinaigrette and an ice cream dessert.

For the potato bar, she rubbed the outside of several baking potatoes with olive oil and sea salt, wrapped them in foil and baked them for 2 hours at 400 degrees. Then she prepared the following toppings: chopped broccoli, shredded cheese, crumbled bacon, butter, sour cream and chives. Sounds delicious!!

Then she made a salad with romaine lettuce, mixed greens, pitted cherries, blackberries, cucumbers and sugared slivered almonds. She topped the salad with a sweet vinaigrette. Here's the vinaigrette recipe:

Mix the following ingredients together and shake well:

1/4 cup vegetable oil

2 T. apple cider vinegar

2 T. sugar

1/4 t. parsley

1/2 t. salt

1/2 t. chopped garlic

dash of Louisiana hot sauce

lemon pepper (a few shakes)

Then for dessert, she placed a Pilsbury pie crust out on a cookie sheet and cut it into 2 in. strips and baked it (according to package instructions). Then she broke the strips into several bowls and topped with ice cream and fresh strawberries.

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A special thanks to Haleigh for being so open with us and also for sharing these delicious ideas!! Please join me in praying for her on her journey of healing!!

Have a GREAT weekend!! :)

Chicken Squares and Insalata Caprese

First of all, I would like to apologize for slacking on the blog. I guess I have just been preoccupied with trying to find a job! I know that is no excuse for abandoning all three of my readers and I am happy to say that I am back in business because I was inspired by the movie Julie and Julia! My original plan was to play catch up and blog on everything that I have cooked since I quit blogging but since that is WAY too overwhelming and it probably wouldn't have ever happened, I'm starting fresh... from tonight! Let's try this again...

Tonight, I made a very quick and easy dinner but it was still great! We had Chicken Squares- which is basically a (semi) homemade "Hot Pocket" and a cheaters version of Insalata Caprese. The recipe for Chicken Squares has been around my house for as long as I can remember. So long, in fact, that I don't remember where it came from and I don't even have it written down. The recipe for Insalata Caprese came out of my head (which you'll realize isn't that impressive once you see how simple it is) because I wanted a quicker and cheaper version of this traditional Italian salad. So, here are two simple recipes for those nights when you just don't feel like cooking but you still feel like eating! :)

Chicken Squares

Ingredients:

2 cups of canned chicken

3 ounces of cream cheese

1 tablespoon of chopped chives or green onions

2 tablespoons of milk

Cavender's Greek Seasoning (to taste)

2 cans of crescent rolls

1/2 cup of Italian bread crumbs

Directions:

Drain the canned chicken. Mix the first five ingredients together to make the filling. Roll out the can of crescent rolls. There should be eight triangles that make four rectangles in one can. Separate the dough into the four rectangles (two triangles make 1 rectangle) and smooth the perforations together. Next, take a spoonful of the filling and place it on one end of the rectangle and fold the other half of the rectangle over to close the pocket and make a square. Then take the square and sprinkle it with Italian bread crumbs on both sides. Continue this process until you have 8 chicken squares. Finally, place each square on a greased baking sheet or stone and bake it at 350 degrees until the outside of the squares are golden brown.

Side note: It is very easy to make these low fat. Simply use low fat crescent rolls, low fat cream cheese and skim milk. However, I wouldn't use fat free on the first two ingredients because the fat free crescent rolls don't stick together as well and the fat free cream cheese makes the filling watery.

Insalata Caprese

Ingredients:

Tomatoes (whatever kind you have)

Fresh whole milk mozzarella cheese

Fresh or Dried Basil

Italian Dressing

Directions:

Slice the tomatoes. Slice the cheese. Arrange on a plate alternating tomatoes with cheese (and basil if you are using fresh leaves). Sprinkle with Basil if you are using dried. Drizzle with Italian dressing. Enjoy!

Grilled Pineapple and Onion Salad and Chicken and Wild Rice Casserole

We decided to make this salad because A.) We have a new grill that we really wanted to use and B.) We had a pineapple that was about to go bad. I found the recipe on The Food Network website. It is from the show, "Down Home With the Neely's." It was really different and we really liked it... very summery!

Grilled Pineapple and Onion Salad

Ingredients:
1 large pineapple, peeled
1 red onion, cut in 1/2-inch thick slices
Glaze, recipe follows
1 bag baby spinach
Vinaigrette, recipe follows

Directions:
Preheat grill to medium heat.
Evenly cut the pineapple into 1/2-inch thick slices. Using a small 1-inch biscuit cutter, pierce a hole into middle of pineapple slices. Brush the pineapple and onion slices with glaze, place on the grill and brush again with glaze. Grill for 2 minutes and flip, grilling other side.
Place a bed of spinach leaves on a serving platter and top with the pineapple and onion slices. Drizzle with Vinaigrette and serve.

Glaze:
1 (8-ounce) jar pineapple ice cream topping
1 teaspoon Chinese five-spice
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1 teaspoon salt
Place all ingredients into a medium bowl and whisk together.

Vinaigrette:
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
1/2 cup orange juice
1/2 cup olive oil
Pour ingredients into a small bowl and whisk together.

This is also a great recipe! I've made chicken and wild rice casserole before, but never this version. It was very colorful and delicious too. This is a Paula Deen recipe but I changed a few ingredients (not because I think I am better than Paula- because we all know that's not true! But because I didn't have some of the ingredients and I didn't want to go to the store!). It turned out really well so I am going to give you my version of the recipe. Enjoy!

Chicken and Wild Rice Casserole:

Ingredients:
2 tablespoons butter or vegetable oil
1 medium onion, peeled and diced
3 cups diced, cooked chicken
2 (14 1/2-ounce) cans green beans, drained and rinsed
1 (8-ounce) can water chestnuts, drained and sliced
1 (4-ounce) jar pimentos
1 (10 3/4-ounce) can condensed cream of chicken soup
1 cup sour cream
1 (6-ounce) box long-grain wild rice, cooked according to package directions
1 cup grated sharp Cheddar
Pinch salt

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
Heat butter or oil in a small skillet over medium heat. Add onion and saute until translucent, about 5 minutes. Remove from heat and transfer to a large bowl.
Add all remaining ingredients to bowl and mix together until thoroughly combined.
Pour into a greased 3-quart casserole dish. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes or until bubbly. Let stand for a few minutes before serving.