Italian Pasta Salad

I forgot how much I love this salad.

I got the recipe from my sister-in-law who got it from a friend.

The key to this salad - the secret is in the sauce!

Ken's Steakhouse Italian with Aged Romano Dressing

Go get some!!

Great things about this salad:

It's not an exact science

Always a hit at gatherings of all sorts

Simple

Easy

Quick

Need I say more?

Ingredients

Tri-Color Rotini

Black Olives

Cherub Grape Tomatoes

String Cheese, sliced in 1/4-1/2 inch pieces

Bell Pepper, chopped

Mini Pepperoni

Ken's Steakhouse Italian with Aged Romano Dressing

Cook pasta until al dente. Drain and rinse in cold water until pasta is cool to touch.

Toss all ingredients together and toss in a healthy dose of dressing.

Back when I only had one child, I would cut the tomatoes in half and slice the olives. Oh how things change!!!

Miss you Michelle!! Come visit me soon!

Westwood Salad

Looking for a main dish salad? Here's one!

Westwood Salad

A few of our alternatives:

- We used rotisserie chicken (it's sooooo much cheaper than buying in the raw).

- We used REAL bacon. In our house, bacon makes EVERYTHING better!

- We like to used baby spring mix for the mixed greens.

- For the dressing, when it's just us, we just halve the recipe.

- Also for the dressing, we've never been able to find a bermuda onion in our local grocery store, so we've used 1/4 to 1/2 of a white or yellow onion. We've also used a shallot. We haven't noticed any difference in flavor.

- And lastly for the dressing, We vary the amount of dry mustard from 1/2 teaspoon (for the halved recipe) to 2 whole teaspoons for the whole recipe. I would add the dry mustard to taste.

- And sometimes we only make the dressing and put it on whatever salad we have at hand. It's delish!

Chicken Alfredo

WARNING! By no means is this dish healthy for you! It's got heavy cream and butter. But what this dish is is YUMMY. Alex loves alfredo sauce and it's just as easy to make the sauce than it is to buy it in a jar.

1 lb. any type of pasta
1/2 c. butter (that's one stick - yikes!)
1 c. heavy cream (double yikes!!)
1 c. grated parmesan (~4 oz.)
Salt & Pepper
Chicken (optional)
Peas or broccoli (optional)

Cook pasta until al dente. Drain and set aside.

In a large skillet, melt butter. Stir cooked pasta into butter. Add cream & parmesan. Toss over low heat until pasta is well coated and cheese is melted. Toss in chicken and peas and heat through.

Toaster Oven Chicken

This is my new hassle-free way of cooking chicken. I got the idea from this online recipe, but most of the time I just put salt and pepper.

Preheat toaster oven to 350 deg. Slice two chicken breasts to make thinner. Pat dry with paper towels. Season both sides of each piece with salt & pepper. In a rimmed baking dish, drizzle some olive oil to coat. Place chicken breasts in a single layer on dish. Drizzle more olive oil on top of each piece. Bake in toaster oven for 35 minutes until thickest piece is done. Remove from oven and let rest a few minutes before serving or putting into another dish.

Chicken Tikka Masala

I got this meal idea from Emily. THANKS EMILY!! She recommended it to me because it was fast, simple, requires no measuring, cheap, and sooooooo tasty. She knows me so well :)

Olive oil
Salt & Pepper
Chicken breasts, diced to bite-size pieces
Garam Masala seasoning (mix of cardamom, cinnamon, cumin and coriander)
Jar of Tikka Masala Sauce

Heat oil in saucepan over medium-high heat. Add chicken and season with garam masala, salt and pepper. Brown chicken and cook through. Add tikka masala sauce. Serve over rice or along side some naan (flat bread).

I got all the ingredients from Target. In case you're looking, I found the naan in the bakery section, not the bread. I loved the garam masala because it added serious flavor to the chicken. And for the sauce I used the Patak brand. Later I found out that the sauce had all natural ingredients - meaning pronounceable and recognizable ingredients! I found some recipes to make tikka masala sauce from scratch...maybe someday I'll try them, but for now I really like the ease of opening a jar and pouring it right in. This dish (minus the rice cooking time) took me less than 10 minutes to make.

Onion Baked Salmon

This is a super easy dish that I got from my Uncle Ricky. They say you should never trust a skinny chef, so you can TOTALLY trust Uncle Ricky :) The best part is you don't have to measure anything!!


Salmon Fillets
Mayonnaise (low-fat if you like)
Lipton Onion Soup Mix

Preheat oven to 375 deg. Line baking dish with foil and arrange fillets in a single layer. Spread some mayonnaise on the top side of each fillet (less for crispy onions, more for moist onions). Sprinkle each fillet with the onion soup mix. Bake for 15-20 minutes until fish flakes with a fork. Enjoy!

Easy Chicken Chili

This is another one of those meals we make with Rotisserie Chicken that is super tasty. It's a pretty quick meal and low fat, too! I got it from my Betty Crocker: Simple Winter Meals Magazine.

Ingredients
1 T olive oil or veggie oil
1 medium onion, chopped (~1/2 c)
1/2 c chopped red bell pepper
1 can (10 3/4 oz) condensed cream of chicken soup
1 can (14 oz) chicken broth
1 c water
2 c diced rotisserie chicken
2 cans (15.5 oz each) great northern beans, drained, rinsed
1 can (4.5 oz) chopped green chiles, undrained
1/2 t dried oregano
1/2 t ground cumin
1/2 c sour cream, if desired
Chopped fresh cilantro, if desired

In 4 qt. saucepan, heat oil over medium-high heat. Add onion and bell pepper. Cook 2 to 3 minutes, stirring frequently, until tender.

Stir in soup, broth and water. Cook 1 to 2 minutes, sirring frequently, until smooth and well blended. Stir in chicken, beans, chiles, oregano and cumin. Heat to boiling; reduce heat to medium-low. Cook uncovered 10 to 15 minutes, sirring occasionally, until thoroughly heated.

Top each serving with sour cream and cilantro.

Notes:
-You could cook your own chicken, but why bother?
-You can substitute the fresh bell pepper and onion with 1 c frozen bell pepper and onion stir-fry. I like this idea b/c bell peppers are cheaper frozen and in this soup you don't notice the difference.
-I've made this soup without certain ingredients (i.e. rotisserie chicken, only one can of beans) and it still comes out fine. In fact, we (Alex and I) agree it's way better with one less can of beans and maybe just one cup of rotisserie chicken.

Pavo Panini

Lagarto’s is one of my favorite restaurants. Their panini’s are THE best. Sadly, I hear they are closing in the near future because the rent is too high. This is surprising to me because every time I’ve been there it’s been busy. Hopefully they won't completely close and will find another location. Anyway, one of my favorite paninis there is called the Pavo. I’ve made it at home and it's pretty close.

If you don’t have a panini grill, you can just to what I do, use two heavy skillets. One skillet not heavy enough? Stack the second one with a couple cans of tuna :)

Pavo Panini

Pesto Sauce (Preferrably home-made – I made a sauce using almonds instead of pine nuts because I had them already on-hand and they’re cheaper)
Cranberry Sauce (I used canned and jellied sauce)
Oven roasted turkey breast
Brie cheese, sliced
Focaccia bread, halved

Heat the grill or skillet medium-low to medium.

Generously spread some pesto sauce on one half of the bread. Generously spread some cranberry sauce on the other half of the bread. Layer a few slices of turkey breast and the cheese between the bread slices.

Place the sandwich on the grill and press. Heat until bread is toasted and cheese is melted.

If using two skillets, place the sandwich on the heated skillet and top the sandwich with the other skillet. If the sandwich doesn’t get pressed down, weigh down the second skillet with a couple of cans (tuna works well – they have a low center of gravity :)). Flip the sandwich over to toast both sides.

Sometimes, if I can't grill my sandwich fresh, I'll just eat it un-heated, which is also yummie.

Enjoy!!!

Rotisserie Chicken

We love Rotisserie Chicken from the grocery store. For $5 you can make at least two quick tasty meals out of it. These are the ways we usually have it:

• By itself, served with a side of veggies and maybe some potatoes
• In a sandwich
• Chicken salad - shredded, mixed with a little mayo and tossed with other goodies, like almonds and craisins
• Chicken pasta salad - tossed with pasta
• Chicken soup - with veggies, broth and seasoning
• In any recipe that calls for cooked chicken

If you do something different with your chicken, let me know. I'm always up for new ideas :)

Cheap and Quick Meals

By no means are these meals super healthy. We just make them when we want to cut down on cost or time.

• Spam and Rice - Fry the Spam in a skillet and serve with rice. We also eat it with a side of peas :)
• Quesadillas - We always have cheddar on hand and like to add whatever meat we can, whether it be sandwich meat or leftovers.
• Mungo - Mung beans flavored with chicken broth and sauteed onions and garlic. This is something I grew up on and I love it. Annie likes it now, too. You could call it the Filipino version of Red Beans and Rice.
• Spaghetti and Meat Sauce - this is Annie's fave.
  Corned Beef and Rice - similar to Spam and Rice. You've gotta love meat from a can (or not).
• Ground Beef and Green Beans - From Grandma Mary's kitchen. Brown the beef, add a can of tomato sauce and a can of green beans. Season it with whatever you want and serve over rice. Yum!
• Fried Rice - Must have day old rice and garlic. Throw anything else you want in there.
• Chicken Salad with dried fruit - Shredded or chopped leftover or rotisserie chicken with dried cranberries, sliced almonds, and a little bit of mayo. Serve over a bed of greens or in a sandwich.
• Chicken Pasta Salad - Just like the one listed above without the almonds and cranberries and with the rainbow rotini pasta. I've even used canned chicken before (that's when I'm real lazy). I like to throw in some frozen peas as well.