Southwestern-ish Salad

 Southwestern-ish Salad

    No special recipe here (although I will tell you what I had in my salad). I just had a salad last night. This is so simple. Just layer your ingredients in the order you want them, drizzle some of your favorite salsa over your bowl, followed by your dressing (I used Ranch dressing here), add a sprinkle of black pepper and you are good to go. Use as much of any ingredient as you want. You can always add crushed up tortilla chips or tortilla strips for some crunch, like I did for my lunchtime salad today. 

Ingredients:

Baby Spinach, washed & patted dry

Veggie Mix, a scoop

Veggie Mix:

    1 Can Corn, drained, rinsed & drained again

    1 Can Blackbeans, drained, rinsed & drained again

    1 Can Diced Tomatoes, drained, rinsed & drained again

Pickled Carrots, a small scoop

Cotija Cheese, to taste

Salsa, I used taqueria style

Ranch Dressing

Black Pepper

Southwestern-ish Salad

One Year Blog Anniversary!!!!

 One Year Blog Anniversary

    July 12, 2020, I decided to start this blog and now it is July 17, 2021.   I've had 50 posts. Three did not contain recipes and 47 were recipes that I either shared or created myself.  In my Six Month review, I highlighted favorites from the first six months.  I'll share favorites from the second half of this first year and then I'll rank my Top 5 (as voted on by me).  

    Favorites from the second half of my first year are Fudge, Pineapple Pecan Pudding, Bacon and Onion Pie, Potatoes Peasant Style, Grandma Marlin's Norwegian Best Bean Hot Dish and Odetta's Sweet Cheese. Out of these, my favorites are the Bacon and Onion Pie and Grandma Marlin's Norwegian Best Bean Hot Dish, with Odetta's Sweet Cheese coming in third. 

    Now, my top five favorite recipes from the first year. Receiving an Honorable Mention is the Fruit & Honey Candy recipe, which is the recipe I was most shocked by. It was difficult to make, because of the portions of ingredients and the food processor I have is not large, but I made it work. It was a delicious healthy treat. 

1) Bacon and Onion Pie - I loved everything about this dish. 

2) Colorado Cream Pie - This was the first pie I made for this blog and I hadn't made a pie crust in a long time. I was pleasantly surprised. Although I wish that the filling was a little more "set", it tasted fabulous. 

3) Grandma Marlin's Norwegian Best Bean Hot Dish - This was a good, filling dish.  I liked the sweet, tangy flavor. 

4) Grape-Nuts Bread - I was a bit surprised by the finished flavor of this.  It had a nice, little sweet and 'malty' flavor.

5) 5-Hour Stew - Also a filling dish. Perfect for a cold and/or rainy day. 

Bacon & Onion Pie

Colorado Cream Pie

Grandma Marlin's Norwegian Best Bean Hotdish

Grape-Nuts Bread

                                   

5-Hour Stew

                                            

Fruit & Honey Balls

White Bean & Roasted Garlic Dip

 White Bean & Roasted Garlic Dip

 I've adapted this recipe from "dip it!" by Rick Rogers. Printed in 2002. This dip is pretty much like hummus.  I really liked it. It is good on crackers, pita chips and could be used as a dip for veggies or even as a sandwich spread on pita bread. 

Ingredients:

2 cans {15 1/2 to 19 oz) cannellini beans (white kidney beans)

1 tablespoon minced garlic (the original recipe calls for a large head of garlic roasted)

1 tablespoon Italian seasoning (the original recipe calls for fresh herbs like, sage, thyme, rosemary, a combination of the three, or Italian seasoning)

2 tablespoons lemon juice (I used fresh squeezed, which I recommend, but in a pinch, you can use botttled)

1/8 teaspoon or to taste crushed red chili pepper flakes (I think I used 1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon)

1/3 cup extra-virgin olive oil as needed (I didn't have olive oil, so I used a little bit of canola oil)

salt to taste (I didn't add salt to mine)

Directions:

    Open your cans of beans and rinse well, retaining the juice from the cans. You're retaining the juice, in the event that your dip is a little too thick.  The dip may thicken if you refrigerate the dip overnight or you may just want a little bit thinner dip. Me? I refrigerated overnight and I wanted to have a little thinner dip anyhow, so I mixed in some of the reserved liquid the next day. 

    I roasted my minced garlic until soft, on a pan which I'd sprayed with a little non-stick cooking spray. I don't know how long that took exactly. I just know how soft I wanted the garlic.  Either way, if you use minced garlic or if you are using the whole garlic head (you're going to squeeze the garlic from the skin), add the garlic to your food processor with the beans, herbs or seasoning, lemon juice and the chili pepper flakes. Process your ingredients until smooth, adding enough of the oil to make it into the consistency you want.  

    Serve in a little bowl or on a chip and dip tray with crackers, pita chips or veggies.  You could sprinkle a little extra seasoning on top before putting your bowl/tray out, to make it pretty or just if you want to when serving just on crackers.

A plate of crackers with dip and as you can see my canine "helpers" were waiting to see if they were needed for a taste test. 

Close-up shot of one of the crackers. 

Lemonchick's Ambrosia Fruit Salad

 Lemonchick's Ambrosia Fruit Salad

    I have a super easy fruit dish for you.  Combine all ingredients and refrigerate until chilled.  Serve in small bowls or cups. 

Ingredients:

1 Can Crushed Pineapple (You can use chunks also); drain excess juice

1 Can Mandarin Oranges; drained

1 Jar Maraschino Cherries (You can use as many as you want; just cut them in half); drained

Shredded Coconut to taste (I used about 1/2 Cup; but use more or less to your taste)

Mini Marshmallows (Honestly, I did not measure how much I added; use more or less to your taste)

Slivered Almonds (Optional) (I did not opt for nuts this time around)

Ambrosia Fruit Salad