Ramen Noodle Salad

1/2 c vinegar

1/2 c veg. oil

1/2 c sugar

2 ramen seasoning packets for the sauce

Mix together

Add:

1/2 head broccoli

1/2 c sunflower seeds

2 packs of ramen noodles broken up.

Easy and Delicious and only sort of nutritious!

strawberry spinach salad

A summer favorite! You can add to this salad and try different variations depending on what you like :)

* spinach

* sliced strawberrys

* avocado (still yummy if your avocado isn't quite ripe)

* red onions

* blue cheese (or feta)

* toasted chopped walnuts

 

Top with Briana's blush vinegarette dressing (strawberry on the front) or another red vinaigrette dressing.

Delicious Cajin Chicken Salad!

I have been craving a yummy salad, and since those are hard to come by on the island, I decided to make my own up! So here it is! ( we had it tonight, and even Chase liked it! And he is not much of a salad boy! :)

1 head of Romaine lettuce
1 red or green bell pepper
1-2 tomato
bacon bits
4 chicken breasts (boiled first, and then fried with olive oil and Cajun seasoning!)
salt
pepper
crumbled blue cheese
Italian dressing

Add a warm baguette as a side dish, and Voila!

Cabbage and Noodle Salad

1- 3oz pkg oriental noodles with chicken flavor
1/4 c cooking oil
3 T Rice vinegar or wine vinegar
1 T sugar
2 c finely shredded cabbage
1.6 3/4 can chunk chicken or fresh
1/4 c sliced green onions
3 T sesame seed
3 T sliced almonds, toasted

Break up noodles-combine oil, vinegar, sugar 1/4 t salt, dash pepper and the seasoning packet. Stir in broken noodles, cabbage, chicken, onion, and sesame seeds. Cover. Chill several hours. Before serving, stir in almonds.

Tuscan Bread Salad

1 Loaf dense crusty Italian bread. (french bread or an artisan bread etc.)
1 Large ball of fresh mozzarella cheese
1 Large tomatoe
1 Yellow or red bell pepper
1/2 cup fresh basil, chopped

Dressing:
1 clove garlic
6 Tbs olive oil
3 Tbs balsalmic vinegar
salt and pepper to taste

Combine dressing ingredients and blend well; set aside. Cut cheese, tomatoe and pepper into 1 inch cubes and transfer to a salad bowl with chopped basil. Pour dressing over cheese and veggies to marinate while cutting and toasting the bread. Cut bread into 1 inch cubes and toast in oven until lightly brown. Add bread cubes to salad bowl and bix well to coat all pieces. Serve immediately.

This is SO good. If you Bruchetta you will love this salad. I leave out the peppers when I make this and it tastes just as good.
Enjoy!

Orange Crunch Salad

1 head romaine lettuce
1 (10oz) can mandarin orange sections, well drained
1/3 c slivered almonds, slightly toasted in oven
1 avocado, cut in bite-sized pieces (optional)

Toss with poppy seed dressing.

I like to add spinach to this salad for variety (and iron). A yummy alternative to toasting almonds is caramelizing them.

Easy Taco Salad

Easy Taco Salad



Ren & I love making this when we don't know what to have for dinner. It is pretty easy and tasty!

Ingredients:
1 lb. of ground beef
1 can of corn
1 can black beans
16 oz. jar of Salsa- (I use the Mild Pace Picante and I use a little more than 3/4.)
Garlic Salt (I just put in however much I want. Not too much though.)
Frito's or Tortilla chips or Scone bread.
- You will also need adequate cheese, tomatoes, sour cream and lettuce to put on top.

Brown ground beef in large saucepan. Season with garlic salt and salt and pepper. Drain then add corn and black beans and salsa. Bring to a good simmer and let sit for about 5 min. We like to eat ours over Frito's, but any of the above things are yummy.
Serve in bowls. Put Fritos in first, then top with meat, then put on the cheese, etc. Enjoy and eat a ton.

(Ok, so yours might not look just like the picture posted, but it will still be really yummy. I just liked that taco salad picture.)

Cafe Rio Salad (or as close as it can get)

We LOVE this recipe!! I haven't used it in Grenada yet, so let me know if you can't find some of these ingredients, but it's soooooo delicious! Hopefully it will help with your Cafe Rio with drawls :)

Cafe Rio Pork Simplified

3/4 lb pork shoulder

1 bottle taco sauce (Pace Mild Taco Sauce 3/4 bottle)

1 T cumin

1 C brown sugar

1 can Coke

salt and pepper to taste

Put roast in crock pot in enough water to cover and cook on low overnight.  In the morning, shred the meat with a fork.  Put back in the crock pot and add additional ingredients.  Cook at least one more hour.

Can serve as burrito or salad.  

Additional fixings: shredded cheese, sour cream, guacamole, cilantro, chopped tomatoes, green onions, black olives.

Lime Rice

1 C rice

2 C chicken broth

juice of 1 lime

chopped cilantro

Brown the rice in butter.  Add chicken broth to cook.  Stir in lime juice and cilantro.

Ranch Tomatillo Dressing

1 pkt Hidden Valley Ranch dressing mix

1 C buttermilk

1 C mayo

1-2 tomatillos

1 clove garlic, minced

1 small jalapeno pepper, seeded and chopped

1/2 t lime juice

1/2-1 bunch cilantro, chopped

Mix together and refrigerate.

For the "cafe rio" salad just mix all recipe's together with the black bean and corn salad (below) and lettuce. Voila! Hope you enjoy as much as I do!

black bean and corn salad

2 can black beans, drained

1 (15 oz) can corn, drained

2 Roma tomatoes, diced

1/4 C diced red pepper

1/4 C diced green pepper

1/4 C diced red onion

2 T chopped cilantro

1 jalapeno, seeded and minced

4 T red wine vinegar

3 T honey

1 T salt

1 t pepper 

generous pinch of cumin

Mix all ingredient together.  Marinate in the refrigerator.

I am a salad fanatic, and I also like that they are cold so they don't heat up the kitchen!

Chicken Couscous

This is a family favorite at our house! I haven't tried it here yet, but I've managed to find all the ingredients, so I will let you know how it turns out. It's nice and light but filling enough for a main course.

Half of a roasted chicken, shredded
2 cups chicken broth
2 cups corn, frozen or fresh off the cob
1 1/2 cups couscous, uncooked
1 cup tomatoes chopped
1/2 cup peppers, green, red or orange
1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro
1/4 cup lime juice (Use fresh it is so much better)
2 Tablespoons canola oil
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon Tabasco sauce (I just shake in a couple of drops of sauce)
2-3 green onions chopped

Saute turkey or chicken breasts, with salt and pepper to taste (I just shred 1/2 of a Costco roasted chicken), set aside.
Place broth in a medium saucepan and bring to a boil. Add corn to pan and boil for 3 minutes if using frozen corn. Otherwise remove from heat and add couscous. Cover and let sit 5 minutes. Fluff couscous with a fork. Combine meat and couscous with remaining ingredients in a bowl and toss well. Yields 6 meal size servings of 1 2/3 cups.

in case anybody cares : (353 calories, 47.7 grams CARB, 6.1 g FAT, 27 g PROTEIN, 4.5 g FIBER, 47 mg CHOL, 2 mg IRON, 377 mg SODIUM 34 mg CALCIUM)

Brittany's Poppy Seed Dressing

I love this dressing! Brittany, I hope you don't mind that I'm sharing it before you, but I seriously always have this dressing in my fridge!

1/4 c sugar
1 c oil
1/3 c cider vinegar
1 T. chopped dried onions (I almost never have the dried ones so I use fresh ones sometimes)
1T poppy seeds (they're cheap in Grenada)
1 tsp dry mustard (I've used sandwich mustard for this before and it was fine)
1 tsp. salt

I hope you like it as much as I do!