Oriental Chicken Salad

Sorry for the awful shadow on the picture. It's becoming a bigger and bigger problem as we are getting closer to fall. I found this recipe over at My Kitchen Cafe, a fabulous site if you've never been there before. I thought this tasted very similar to the Oriental Chicken Salad at Paradise Bakery, which is one of my favs! This dinner is super simple to throw together for a last minute meal. Don't let the ramen noodles scare you, they actually taste really good!

Ingredients:

1 package (3 ounces) oriental-flavor ramen noodle soup mix 
½ cup pre-sliced almonds
 red wine vinaigrette ( simple recipe below)
1/2 package (16 ounces) coleslaw mix or broccoli slaw mix (I used the coleslaw)
1 package romaine lettuce (I used hearts of romaine, finely chopped)
2 cups shredded cooked chicken
2 scallions, both white and light green parts, chopped

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Break up the ramen noodles with your hands and place them and the almonds on a rimmed baking sheet. Bake until the noodles and almonds turn light brown, 6 to 7 minutes.

Place the slaw mix (I only use 1/2 bag), romaine lettuce, chicken, and scallions in a large serving bowl.

Toss to combine the ingredients well. Just before serving, pour the salad dressing over the salad and toss to coat. Scatter the toasted almonds and noodles on top and serve.

Serves 4 to 6 as a main course

Homemade Red Wine Vinaigrette

Whisk together:
¾ cup vegetable oil
6 tablespoons red wine vinegar
4 tablespoons sugar
½ teaspoon black pepper
Ramen noodles seasoning packet

Shredded Beef Tacos

I love these tacos! I have been making our beef tacos this way for the past couple of years and they never disappoint. I have posted them here on my blog before with a yummy garnish that is worth trying too. It's an easy crock pot meal that requires very little ingredients. You can also substitute the beef for chicken and the beef broth for chicken broth with great results too.

Ingredients:

beef tip roast

2 packets of your favorite taco seasoning

1 can beef broth

1 small diced onion

Directions:

Pour beef broth in crock pot and mix in taco seasonings with a whisk. Place roast in crock pot and cook on low for 8-10 hours. Remove roast from juices and shred. Serve in warm tortillas with toppings of choice!

Recommendations:

• I love the uncooked tortillas from Costco, once you try them you'll never go back.
• My favorite toppings- lettuce, tomato, sour cream, cheese, this salsa, avocado or guacamole 
• I've used low sodium beef broth and low sodium taco seasonings and it still turns out great
• This rice (pictured above) makes the perfect side dish, but this one is good too!

Marinated Grilled Chicken Breasts

This another Sister's Cafe recipe! Can you tell I recently went through their archives? They have lots of wonderful recipes, so you should check them out. This marinade can be used on chicken, fish, or beef. I marinated these chicken breasts for 8 hours and they were loaded with flavor. It is a little on the saltier side as far as flavor, but my kids and I love salt so we loved this! Super simple meal and great for not heating up the house.

Ingredients:

1/2 cup oil (I used vegetable)
1/3 cup soy sauce
1/4 cup lemon juice
2 Tablespoons Worchestershire sauce
2 Tablespoons mustard ( I used dijon)
1 teaspoon pepper
1/4 teaspoon garlic (I used one small clove)

Directions:

Mix well. Pour over meat, then let marinate for 6-8 hours in the fridge.

Southwestern Chicken Nachos

I found this recipe on the Sister's Cafe and switched it up a little. The original recipe has you cook the chicken in Pace Picante sauce, but I chose to use homemade salsa. The toppings you could add on this are endless. I think next time I'll add black olives and green onion too. Super simple and great for a busy day meal.

Ingredients:

1 small bag frozen corn
1 can black beans
2 large frozen boneless skinless chicken breasts
1 16-oz jar medium salsa, such as Pace medium picante sauce (I used homemade salsa, recipe here)
shredded cheddar cheese
tortilla chips
sour cream
chopped cilantro
diced avocado

(I also added lettuce and salsa, but I would recommend black olives and green onions too.)

Directions:
Pour bag of frozen corn in bottom of crockpot. Place frozen chicken breasts on top of corn and cover with rinsed and drained black beans and jar of medium salsa. Cook on high for 1 hour, and then on low for 4 hours. Shred chicken with forks. Serve with tortilla chips and add toppings to individual servings.

Grilled Cheese Supreme

So I saw an article in Better Homes and Garden magazine for variations of a grilled cheese sandwich and they looked so good, why hadn't I ever thought of it? I altered one of the recipes to my family's liking and it turned out really good. Here's what I did:

Ingredients:

french bread, thinly sliced

monterey jack cheese

crispy bacon

sliced avacado

sliced tomato

1 Tb. mayo mixed with1 tsp. honey

butter

Directions:

Butter one side of each slice of bread. On the unbuttered side add the mayo/honey spread and top with cheese and remaining filling. In a skillet or griddle cook for 3-4 minutes per side over medium heat or until toasted to your liking and cheese is melted. 

Chicken Poppy Seed Salad

I found this recipe at the Sister's Cafe and adapted it slightly to our liking. This is a wonderful summer meal. It was very flavorful and filling and you don't have to heat up the house to make it! Probably not going to be a salad the kiddos will like but I just threw some hot dogs on the grill while I had it fired up.

Ingredients: (use the following to your liking)

chopped hearts of romaine

sliced grilled chicken, (grill with lots of lemon pepper seasoning)

sliced red onion

crumbled crispy bacon

shredded mozarella cheese

candied almonds, (heat sugar over medium heat till turns to liquid, then add sliced almonds and toss till coated, cool on wax paper)

the dressing: (I halved this recipe and I had tons left over)

1 1/3 cup sugar

2 tsp. salt

2 tsp. dry mustard

2/3 cup red wine vinegar

3 Tb. vidalia onion, chopped

2 cups canola oil

3 Tb. poppy seeds

Mix the first 5 ingredients in a blender, then slowly add the oil. Blend until thick. Stir in poppy seeds. Top over the above salad and enjoy!

Questions Answered....

While I have not fallen off the face of the earth like some of you might think, I am just wrapping up the summer and adjusting back into a real schedule again. The summer was fun and very busy. I think we were either out of town or had family in town for the entire month of July. It's now August and school is back in session. I am hoping to catch back up to blogging again. My camera cord has been missing and I finally gave up looking and ordered a new one so hopefully my next post will be soon! And yes, I did remove the comments from my blog, only because I have a hard time getting back to your blogs to return the comment. You can always e-mail though if you have any questions. Thanks for sticking with me! Be back soon....