Southwest Salad

Maybe one day, (one day soon hopefully), I will put pictures with my scrumptious recipes...but for now we must read on sans images.  Here is one from my own mother...easy, fast, healthy (well mostly) and delicious.

Southwest Salad
1-2 heart romaine lettuce and other spinach or lettuce as wanted/needed
1 can drained and washed black beans
1 can drained whole kernel corn
1/2 cup ranch dressing
1/2 cup salsa or picante sauce
tomatoes, cheese, avocados as wanted
crushed tortillas chips or large warm flour tortillas

Wash and cut up greenery and put in large salad bowl.  Drain can of beans and wash in strainer and then add to salad bowl.  Drain can of corn and add to salad bowl. In separate pyrex or smaller bowl combine 1/2 cup ranch and 1/2 cup salsa, mix well.  You can add it directly to the salad and toss well or keep it on the side and add as much to your plate as you would like. Toss the salad well before serving with or without the dressing.  I also put cut up tomatoes and cheese in my salad and you can either put crushed up tortillas chips or serve the salad in a large warmed tortilla.  Both are delicious. 

Honey Glazed Chicken

This is simple and delicious but you do have to plan some time ahead to put it in the oven, because it cooks for a long time.

Honey Glazed Chicken

1/2 cup honey
1/4 cup prepared mustard
3 T. butter or margarine
1 tsp curry powder
1 tsp salt
2-3 lbs any variety of chicken, (I usually use bone-in, w/skin thighs or boneless, skinless chicken breast)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Mix all ingredients except chicken together in medium bowl, then roll chicken in mixture and then place in shallow baking pan.  Bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour and 15 minutes.  I usually turn mine with about 30-45 minutes left to evenly brown on both sides.  After finished cooking, let sit for 5 min.  Serve chicken with remaining glaze over rice...Delicious.  (The glaze will be the liquid that is left in the bottom of the pan and you will want to skim the fat off of the top, it is very heavy but very good).

This recipe was given to me at my wedding from an old family friend, who I miss seeing.  I am sure it can be found in other recipe books, but this is my reference for this recipe.

Noodles Alfredo

Okay to start things off with a simple "Semi-Homemade" dish we will go from Sandra Lee's first cookbook and go with one of her pretty simple dishes.  Good thing is that most of us will have all these things in our fridge or pantry.
Noodles Alfredo
8 oz fettuccine or linguine or bowties or any pasta of your choice, should be half a regular package
1 1/2 sticks of butter (12 tbsp!) yes, not for those trying to lose some weight!
1 cup whole milk
1 cup grated Parmesan cheese
salt to taste
(yes that is all!)

Ok so cook noodles according to package directions and drain.  Return noodles to pot and turn to low heat.  Add the butter and milk to the noodles and toss until the butter is melted.  Add cheese and stir just until melted.  Remove from heat and salt to taste.  Serve immediately.

* This dish is very heavy (see 12 tbsp of butter!) and to be honest after I have added the cheese I would toss one last time and drain the extra liquid. You can reserve that liquid for those butter lovers that we know, but even my husband says that with the extra liquid it is still a little too heavy for him.

I like this dish because it is very easy, fast, and I usually have all the ingredients. No, it is not the best dish in my repertoire but still it fixes for itself.

Reference: see, Sandra; Sandra Lee Semi-Homemade; c.2005; Des Moines, IA; Meredith Books; p.75.

Cookbooks...hobby and/or obsession?

Testing 123, let's see if I actually keep something going for my own sake for once.  I have a collection of cookbooks and constantly collect more.  No I do not prefer to look up stuff online, I prefer to read and re-read it in a book and have it with me.  So in an effort to compile a book for myself I will be posting at least one recipe a week and if I have any friends that would like to contribute, send me a message.