Santa Fe Salad

Once upon a time in a land far far away (the next city over) at a fine dining establishment (Bj’s brew house) there was an exotic (southwestern) dish that I came to fall in love with. It was a brief (about 30 minutes) spicy (blackening seasoning) affair that my heart (my taste buds) have longed for ever since.

Since I have two small, rambunctious boys who don’t like to sit still for more than 2.2 seconds, fulfilling my long-lost desires for restaurant dishes of the past is pretty much outta the question.

But that didn’t stop me! I decided to try to recreate the recipe at home (with a little tweaking to fit the budget of course 🙂 ).

Ok, so here is how I need you to prepare yourself. 1. Put on a show (VeggieTales was my preference but I think Dora won). If you don’t like letting your kids watch tv (this is how I used to feel until I had kids and tried to get things done, then the tv became my ally) then maybe a craft of some sort. 2. Put your 9 month old in his high chair and start feeding him massive amounts of Cheerios to keep him happy. 3. Pour a LARGE glass of wine….it has been a long day.

Alright. Here. We. Go!

The Cast

Could you please pretend that this picture also includes shredded cheese; this is what happens when you have not followed step 3 of the above instructions yet. Thanks!

Here is the cheese. Post wine. I remembered.

1 Head lettuce

1 Tomato

1 Red Bell Pepper

1/2 Onion

1/4 cup Cilantro

1 cup Corn (cooked, drained and chilled)

1 cup Black Beans (cooked, drained, rinsed and chilled)

1/2 cup Shredded Cheddar Cheese

2 Ripe Avocados

Handful of corn chips crushed

2 tbsp Taco seasoning

4 tbsp Ranch dressing ( ** after eating this I realized that my preference would have been for sour cream instead of ranch. I am not a huge ranch buff, I know, I am the only one in the world, have I mentioned that I am a bit on the “different” side? If you like ranch…you will love it. Promise)

Stage Directions

Shred lettuce and add it to a festive colored bowl.

 

Feed your child a few more Cheerios.

Dice tomato

and a red bell pepper

and an onion; please cry a lot like I did and toss ’em on in.

 

Feed your child some more Cheerios

Rinse and loosely chop cilantro. Add it to the bowl.

Did you know that I am pretty much obsessed with cilantro?? Just thought I’d let you know….

Add corn….mmmm corn…

black beans….mmmm black beans….

and cheese….mmmm cheese….

I think I am a little bit hungry….

Toss salad until well mixed.

Cut an avocado in half and remove the seed.

Run a knife through the avocado lengthwise and then again cross wise making sure not to actually cut through the skin, or your hand for that matter…

please do not cut through your hand.

Place salad mix into individual bowl and top with lots of that amazing avocado goodness.

Remember how I love avocados too????

Now for the dressing – in a small, brightly colored bowl (I do own some normal colored cooking things, for real!) combine taco seasoning and ranch dressing. Mix until well blended and dump onto each of the salads.

Top with some corn chips and eat!!!!

And eat and eat and eat!!!

Oh, I almost forgot one thing! Go pour yourself another glass of wine, maybe a light white, pinot grigio perhaps; and congratulate yourself…you survived another day 🙂

Printable below (ok remember my version of printable is copy and past into a word doc, then print 🙂 )

Ingredients

1 Head lettuce

1 Tomato

1 Red Bell Pepper

1/2 Onion

1/4 cup Cilantro

1 cup Corn (cooked, drained and chilled)

1 cup Black Beans (cooked, drained, rinsed and chilled)

1/2 cup Shredded Cheddar Cheese

2 Ripe Avocados

Handful of corn chips crushed

2 tbsp Taco seasoning

4 tbsp Ranch dressing

Preparation

Shred lettuce and add to bowl. Dice tomato, red bell pepper and onion; add to the bowl. Loosely chop cilantro; add to the bowl. Add corn, black beans and cheese. Toss salad until well mixed. Place salad mix into individual bowls. Top with diced avocados and crushed corn chips.

For the dressing – in a small bowl combine taco seasoning and ranch dressing. Mix until well blended. Drizzle on each of the salads. Yields about 8 servings.

Chicken Salad Stuffed Avocados

So I was sitting at the table the other night trying to plan out a menu for the week….

Side note, I just realized that I start all of my ramblings with “So…”. I’ll work on that. Just so you know, I say rad a lot too…just warnin ya, in case we ever had a conversation and you were thinking, “I wonder if she knows that she says ‘rad’ a lot”… I know.

I like it 🙂

Anyway….I was sitting making my menu and subsequent grocery list, which I usually make the morning that I go shopping and end up leaving my house 2 hours later than I want because I am too indecisive and can never decide on what I want to make for dinners….and….

I decided to have street tacos from a rotisserie chicken on one night (they are yummy…and chicken was on sale). But since I knew we wouldn’t finish all of the meat, I needed another meal.

Hence Chicken Salad. But, I wanted something more fun than sandwiches….

So I decided I would stuff an avocado….or as I like to call them…God’s gift to me!!!

I like stuffing stuff into other stuff. It makes me feel creative.

If you don’t like avocados…then we simply can’t be friends

Just kidding 🙂

Then you can just make sandwiches. They will still taste rad!

Ok, are you ready to make seriously the best chicken salad ever????

Here. We. Go.

Ingredients

1/2 rotisserie chicken, cooked and picked clean

1/2 cup mayonnaise

1/4 cup red seedless grapes, halved

1 apple, diced

1/4 cup raisins

2 large stalks celery, diced

A couple of dashes of pepper

2 ripe avocados

Love (I put extra in all my dishes) 🙂

Preparation

Channel your inner cave man and pick apart the rotisserie chicken until there is not a speck of meat left on it. I always feel a little more primal after this step, like I could go throw a spear or catch a fish with my bare hands.

Survivor here I come!!!

Throw half of the meat into a bowl. (or if you really wanted to, double the recipe and use the whole thing).

Add a dollop of mayonnaise (by the way, I am assuming that a dollop is about the same as 1/4 cup so that’s how I came to my measurement).

I started with 1 dollop and then added more based upon my desired creaminess.

Cut grapes in half and throw them on in. Don’t get crazy on me or you may just lose some under the fridge. Maybe we should gently toss…

Peel and dice the apple. Add it in with your nearly model perfect hand…

Cut the celery in half lengthwise then dice into teeny tiny pieces and add it to the mix.

Gently toss your raisins into the bowl …

Another side note…do you have a store where you can buy raisins in bulk??? If not then you need to move! Or maybe just find one. I bought these at Sprout’s and they are the best raisins I have had in my entire, super, duper long life!!!

Sprinkle a little pepper and…

Mix, baby mix….

Add more mayo if you like it creamier and dreamier.

Slice the avocados in half length wise. Insert a spoon in between the yummy green and the not so yummy skin and *gently* dig out the good stuff.

Put the avocado half on a plate and throw the chicken salad mixture on top making sure to stuff as much into the center as you can.

Now the important part….

Devour!!!

Hope you enjoy all of them one as much as I did!!!

Here’s the handy-dandy printable form

Ingredients

1/2 rotisserie chicken, cooked and picked clean

1/2 cup mayonnaise

1/4 cup red seedless grapes, halved

1 apple, diced

1/4 cup raisins

2 large stalks celery, diced

A couple of dashes of pepper

2 ripe avocados

Preparation

Pick all meat off of the chicken and throw half of it into the bowl. Add mayo. Cut grapes in half length wise. Dice apple and celery. Add grapes, apple, celery and raisins to the chicken and mayo. Sprinkle a dash of pepper and mix until all ingredients are coated with mayonnaise.

Cut avocados in half length wise and carefully scoop out the inside, removing it from the outer skin. Place avocado on a plate and stuff with chicken salad mixture.

Makes 4 generous servings.

Cheesy Garlic n Herb Biscuits

So last night was one of those nights where I forgot to take out the chicken for the chicken noodle soup that we were supposed to have…dinner time was creeping up on me and I was kinda over what we had in the fridge and pantry…

So basically I really didn’t want to cook and REALLY wanted Chipotle. Mmmmmm…

But…it was a little nippy out (southern California nippy, but nippy nonetheless) I know, I am cold weather wimp

and, I am really trying so hard to stick to this whole budget thing….

So I improvised. We had chicken-less noodle soup with veggies and chicken boulion (I got that chicken flavor in at least) and just to make life interesting and see if I could recreate one of those yummy restaurant finds that I have never forgotten about – Cheesy Garlic n Herb Biscuits.

Hallelujah; thank you Jesus for Cheese and Biscuits and any and all combinations of the two.

I’ll be honest. I didn’t have a ton of faith in them at first. It was a defitnite last minute throw together with whatever i had on hand.

But hot digity! It was one of the best throw togethers we have had yet!

I’m going to warn you….be prepared to throw caution to the wind because when you smell these…

ooh la la!! you will eat them in multiples!

Are you ready?

Here. We. Go.

You will need:

2 Cups Bisquick

3/4 -1 Cup Shredded Cheese

1 Tsp Chives

1 Tsp Minced Garlic

2/3 Cup Milk

You will do this:

Preheat the oven to 450.

Grease a 12 cup muffin pan and set aside.

In a bowl, combine Bisquick, cheese, chives and garlic. Slowly add milk into the dry ingredients stirring constantly. The dough will get quite thick and you may have to use your hands to finish mixing it all together. Get dirty.

Roll the dough into small balls and place 3 into each cup of the muffin pan (so 36 balls in all; 3 in each cup just for those of you who are like me and need super duper specific instructions).

Bake for 8-10 minutes. Remove from the oven. Salivate.

Salivate some more.

Devour!!!!

Sorry for the lack of pics…like I said; it was one of those nights, a throw together dish….

I will never let it happen again 🙂

I hope you enjoy!!!

Oh and PS…I used cheddar and chives, but get creative!!! Mozzarella and basil or oregano. Maybe pepper jack and minced jalapenos. The possibilities are endless!!!

Reinvent Your Leftovers

Ok. Raise your hand if you eat leftovers….and I am not talking about the yummy leftover spicy chicken chipotle pasta that you indulged in last night at Cheesecake Factory.

I am talking about eating last night’s food again. And again. And again until it’s gone.

I’m not a waster and I absolutely abhor throwing away food so my family gets to eat meals until they disappear.

Boring! I know. But, in an effort to quell familial unrest and uprising, I have started to get creative.

And here is the beauty…you can too!!!

Are you ready? Here is what you need:

Last nights leftovers
An Imagination

Here is my example:
Last nights veggie stir fry that I really don’t feel like eating again cause its just not that great reheated.

Add some cheese, fajita/taco seasoning, tortillas… (and if you are me….lots and lots and lots of Tapatio)

and some sour cream and you have a fajita quesadilla!!! That. Just. Happened!!!

It was delicious by the way 😉

I plan meals for the week and intentionally plan some meals using the previous nights leftovers. Here are a few examples of “reinventions” that you could use:

Turn last nights Chili into:
– Taco meat
– Burritos
– The base for Tamale pie
– Filling for Stuffed Bell Peppers

You get the point right?

Ooh another one of my favorites that’s sooooo easy – make meatloaf and mashed potatoes one night and use them the next night with some cheese and frozen veggies for Shepard’s Pie.

Seriously, get creative and you will be amazed at not only how much money you can save on groceries but at how much your family will adore you even more.

You might even be able to get your husband to take out the trash without asking!!!  (I haven’t taken the trash out in….I don’t even remember how long!!! I know I have an amazing husband!)

Or get the kids to go to bed without a fight!!!! Could there be such a world????

Have fun reinventing your leftovers, and please, If you have any great “reinventions”, comment and share them with us 🙂