Chicken Oriental Salad

Here we are at BBQ season again, and we always need to take a salad of some sort.  If your like me, I get sick of bringing the same salad every time, so here is a new yummy one to tack onto your list!  I got this recipe from my Aunt at least 12 years ago, and I still come back to it time and time again!!!

You'll want to chop your cabbage into small pieces like this:

 And mix all your ingredients together for your sauce:

Throw everything into a bowl like this:

 Give it a whirl, and Bam!!  You get this!!!  Yummy!!

Salad:
1/2 Head Cabbage
1/2 Cup Sliced almonds
2 Green Onions - chopped
1 Package Chicken Ramon Noodles
2 Chicken Breast- Cooked and cubed

Sauce:
1/4 Cup Sugar
2 Tblsp Red Wine Vinegar
1/3 Cup Olive Oil
1/8 tsp Salt
1 Chicken Ramon Noodle Seasoning Packet
Start with Grilling your Chicken Breast on a grill or stove top, or I use my George Foreman a lot!  Cube it up and throw it in the fridge to cool off.  You can do this ahead of time to make things easier.  Now for the Ramon Noodles.  Some people throw their noodles in the salad hard, but I personally do NOT like it that way.  My little trick to get the perfect texture is to get a small sauce pan and get your water boiling.  Break up your package into chunks and throw them in the boiling water for 20 seconds.  Hurry and drain the water, break it up a little more and throw that in the fridge with the chicken as well. It seriously is worth the yummy texture!!
Then start chopping away at your cabbage & onions.  Throw in your almonds.  Then add your cooled chicken and ramon noodles.   In a bowl add all of your sauce ingredients and stir with a whisk until combined.  If you want to get real techy then throw the sauce ingredients in a blender then it will REALLY blend.  Just dump it over your salad and stir until well combined.

Fruit Pizza

So you gotta love Fruit Pizza.  Everyone days.  And there is sooo many different ways to make it.  And this is my favorite way!  Just don't mess up like I did on this last one.  I used too much cookie dough, and too small of a cookie sheet and came up with a tall cakey type texture for my crust.  No, no, no.  Not what I like.  So do what I say, and not what I did!  Some people like to use 2 Pillsbury sugar cookie dough tubes.  But I like to use homemade cookie dough!  Yum!!!

Just a tip:  First Frost the crust...

Then, cut the crust into your squares...

Then add your toppings so that it comes out nice and even for you OCD folk out there.  (me included)

I also saw this image on Pinterest that I thought was an awesome idea!!!  Sooooo, I'm going to try this next time!!

 I recipe Sugar Cookie Dough
Or:
2 rolls pillsbury sugar cookie dough.

Spread it evenly over a large cookie sheet.  Bake in the oven at 350* for 14-16 min.  You seriously don't even want it to brown on the top.  So if you think it's not done, it probably is.  Otherwise you will get the cakey crust instead of the soft chewy crust.  Once it's cooled add the following frosting:

Frosting:
1 tub light cool whip
1 tub WHIPPED cream cheese
2/3 Cup Powdered Sugar
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 tsp lemon juice
Start with blending the cream cheese until it's light and fluffy.  Then add in your Powdered sugar, vanilla and lemon juice.  Blend some more.  Last fold in your cool whip and blend with blender until just mixed.  Spread evenly over your crust then cut into large squares.  If you cut them too small you can't fit all the wonderful fruit choices on top.  My favorite that gives it a fun color variety is:
Strawberries
Kiwi
banana
black berries
rasberries

Chicken Sausage & Oven Roasted Veggies

I love the Apple Chicken Sausage that you can get in a 4 pack at Sams club!  They are soooo dang good.  And I'm always trying to find some kind of stir fry to put them in and usually fail on texture or consistency or something but still loving the sausage.  But this one worked and I Loved it!  Enjoy!  And you can enjoy it with or without the pasta!  But Obviously NO PASTA FOR PALEO!!!

Cut your sausage  in bite size pieces, and put in a skillet with olive oil and let cook until it starts to brown.  Then add in that yummy chopped spinach to wilt that last couple minutes.

 Roasting the veggies in the oven give them such a better flavor than just sauteing on the stove top!

 Put it all together and top it with Parmesan Cheese.

1 package (4-5) links of Apple Chicken Sausage
1/2 Zucchini - sliced then quartered (not pictured)
1/2 red pepper - chopped
1/2 green pepper - chopped
4 whole mushrooms - sliced
1/4 Cup yellow onion - chopped
1 1/2 Cup - chopped broccoli
1/2 Cup Chopped Spinach leaves
3 tblsp - Olive oil - (seperated)
1/4 tsp garlic powder
salt & Pepper to taste
Any kind of Pasta - optional

Preheat your oven to 400*.  Place your, zucchini, peppers, mushrooms, onion & broccoli in a shallow baking pan.  Drizzle about 1- 2 tblsp of olive oil, your garlic, salt and pepper on your veggies then toss to coat.  Bake for 20 minutes, stirring once at the mid way point.
While you are roasting your veggies, slice your sausage in a diagonal, and place in a skillet pan with 1 tblsp of oil.  Stir and Cook until it browns a bit.  Then chop up your Spinach and add to skillet to wilt.  Putting a lid on it helps the process along.
Cook your pasta according to directions, reserving 1/2 cup of liquid when you drain the pasta.
Once veggies are roasted, sausage and spinach are cooked, and pasta is done, combine in one skillet adding the reserved liquid from pasta a little at a time to how you want it.  Sprinkle with parmesan cheese and walah!

Egg Salad made with Avacado

So does anyone else have a crap load of boiled Easter eggs that they need to get rid of????  And fretting if you are on a Paleo diet and don't have a great way to get that Egg Salad craving put to rest?  Well my friends, once again Pinterest has not let me down.  I found about 5 different recipes that I tinkered with and quite like the concoction I came up with!!!! It's very light and refreshing!  And you can eat this with bread, or with out bread.  With Mayo, or without Mayo!  Take a look!!

I like to serve mine with Spinach leaves.

 Or in a pepper if you are going paleo...

 Or celery sticks.  Ok this pic kind of looks gross because it's second day Egg Salad, and Avocado's don't look that great the second day!!

4 boiled eggs - peeled and chopped
1 Avocado - mushed
1 tblsp Mayo (omit if you are paleo unless you have paleo mayo)
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 - 3/4 tsp dill weed
1/2 tsp lemon zest
1/4 tsp black pepper
Chop your boiled eggs then add a ripe avocado and mush together.  Then add the rest of the ingredients and it's kind of up to you on how dill"y" or lemon"y" you want it!  Enjoy!!!

Baked Creamy Chicken Taquitos

Coming from a home where I basically cook 2 dinners every single night; one for me and Chris (and sometimes Cord) and one for the younger boys, if I find a meal that Cord loves I definitely put in my recipe file to cook again!!!  These come from my fabulous cook book I bought from OUR BEST BITES.  And they are very yummy!  The filling has soooo much flavor in them!  Enjoy!

1/3 Cup (3 ounces) Cream cheese
1/4 Cup green salsa
1 tblsp fresh lime
1/2 tsp cumin
1 tsp chili powder
1/2 tsp onion powder
1/4 tsp granulated garlic
3 tblsp chopped cilantro
2 tbsp chopped green onions
2 Cups cooked, shredded chicken
1 Cup shredded pepper jack cheese
6- inch corn tortillas (fresh)
2 tblsp  olive oil
Nonstick cooking spray
sea salt
Heat oven to 425*.    Spray a baking sheet with cooking spray.  Heat cream cheese so it's soft & easy to stir.  Add green salsa, lime, cumin, chili powder, onion powder, & garlic.  Stir to combine and then add cilantro, green onions, chicken, and cheese.
Wrap 3-4 tortillas in a damp paper towel and microwave for 30 sec until they are soft and pliable.  Place 2-3 tblsp of the chicken mixture on the tortilla leaving about 1/2 inch from edges and roll it placing seam side down on the baking sheet.  Spray the tops of the tortillas lightly with cooking spray and sprinkle with salt.
Place pan in oven and bake for 15-20 min or until crisp and the ends start to get golden brown.  Serve with sour cream, guacamole, salsa or pico!  Yummy!!!

Grilled Pork Tenderloin with Chimichurri

 This tenderloin was soooo tender and had sooo much flavor to it.  I actually found this on 2 of my favorite blogs:  Our Best Bites, and The Sisters Cafe!  So that means it HAS to be awesome right?  Plus it is PALEO friendly all the way!  You can use this Chimichurri sauce on any cut of steak, but I found it to be just perfect on this pork tenderloin grilled!  Then the next day, I sliced this tenderloin up and through it over some greens with some fresh rasberries and fell in love with it a second time!

2 small- medium pork tenderloins


Chimichurri Sauce
1 1/2 Cups chopped parsley
1 1/2 Cups chopped cilantro
1 tblsp + 1 tsp dry oregano
2 tblsp fresh lime juice
1 tblsp red wine vinegar
3 tbslp minced garlic
1 tsp sea salt
1/4 tsp black pepper
1/4 tsp red pepper flakes
1/2 Cup extra virgin olive oil

For the Chimichurri Sauce, put everything in the blender except the red pepper and olive oil.  Pulse several times until finely chopped.  Transfer mixture to a bowl then add in red pepper and olive oil and stir by hand.
Remove 1/2 - 3/4 Cup sauce and put in a gallon ziplog bag and add your tenderloins.  Coat the tenderloins then let marinate for at least an hour.  Cover the reserved Chimichurri and set aside.
Preheat your grill.  Place the tenderloins on the grill and cook about 5-8 min before flipping to the other side.  Let cook on the other side for another 5-8 min.  Remove from grill and let it stand 5 min before cutting.  Slice and serve with remaining chimichurri drizzled on top!  Yum!!