This salad was one of the easiest dishes I made for the Christmas Crafts Party and it seemed to be the most popular thing on the table… go figure!

It kinda looks like a hot mess, but I have to admit, it was pretty darn tasty. I adapted the recipe from one I found on the Hidden Valley® website.

Southwestern Cornbread Salad

12 homemade cornbread muffins, cooled completely and then coarsely crumbled, divided
2.25-ounce can sliced ripe olives, drained, and then set to dry on paper towels
16-ounce can pinto beans, rinsed, drained, and then set to dry on paper towels
11-ounce can whole kernel sweet corn, drained and then set to dry on paper towels
1 cup Hidden Valley® Spicy Ranch Dressing, divided
1 red bell pepper, cored, seeded, and diced
1/2 cup diced red onion
1 cup tomatoes, diced and then drained on paper towels
1 cup shredded sharp Cheddar cheese

In large salad bowl place, half of the cornbread crumbled muffins.

Next layer on the drained olives and pinto beans.

Follow that up with drained corn and 1/2 cup of the dressing.

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These bacon and olive-based appetizers aren’t the prettiest plate on the table but with their hint of curry, they are sure to be the most popular!

Many thanks to Barbara Fenzl, who demonstrated this recipe in her classes last month at Les Gourmettes. She agreed to let me share them with you.

Bonus  –  They are so Easy-Breezy!

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When I have little bits of various cheeses hanging about in the fridge – this is the sort of thing I make.

Chicken Alfredo Fusilli

2 boneless skinless chicken breasts
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 tablespoon Italian seasoning
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, divided
1 tablespoon olive oil
2 garlic cloves, peeled and minced
2 cups quartered small tomatoes
1/4 cup dry white wine
1 cup fat-free half-and-half
1  1/2 cups blend of grated cheeses; such as Asiago, Parmesan, and Fontina
1 pound cooked fusilli pasta

One at a time, between two sheets of plastic wrap, pound each chicken breast evenly with a flat meat pounder.

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There is so much to love about this mac & cheese:

1. It’s mac & cheese for goodness sake – gotta love that!
2. It has three fantastic kinds of cheese – provolone, Fontina, and mozzarella … no cheddar in sight
3. No need to do a stove-top roux first – super easy
4. It’s topped with rich beef short rib meat
5. The meat is already cooked and prepared, ready to shred and use – EASY!
6. Individual servings – awesome!
7. It was a huge hit with my guys (husband, son, and Dad) last Sunday night – Manly Man Mac & Cheese!
8. Lastly, if you made or plan to make the 3-cheese grilled cheese sandwich from yesterday’s post… this uses the same 3 kinds of cheese. Coincidence? I think not.

Yeah, this is good stuff, perfect for a family meal and special enough for guests. I purchased the prepared boneless short ribs at Costco, but I’ve noticed that most grocery stores sell pre-cooked and packaged short ribs as well. For some strange reason, the Costco package is 17 ounces, but we’ll just round it down to a pound – to make it easy. The meat also comes in a sauce, drain it off and discard, you won’t need it. You will be making an easy and much better ragù.

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More than 2 1/2 years ago I made a bold confession to you – I love Campbell’s Tomato Soup more than homemade tomato soup. Just imagine my joy and excitement when I saw on Facebook that, for a very limited time, Target was carrying Andy Warhol-inspired Campbell’s Tomato Soup cans.

I LOVE those cans, the original art which you can check out HERE, and the cans sold at Target. I drove from store to store to store to find all four colors of the cans. Below you can see what I was able to round up.

Warhol created his first Campbell’s art in 1962. It consisted of 32 separate canvases of 32 different Campbell’s soup varieties.

The “extreme” colored cans didn’t come around until 1965. Warhol claimed to have eaten Campbell’s soup for lunch, nearly daily, for 20 years.

No, I’m not going to give you the “recipe” for making Campbell’s Tomato Soup, you’ll find that on the back of the can (I use milk – not water) … how about a grilled cheese sandwich to accompany your soup?

Done!

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I adore Greek Salad! The feta, the olives, the dressing – it’s hard to beat!

When I made this salad with the addition of kabobs, I threaded wedges of red onion along with the tomato halves. The onions overpowered the salad, so I’ve omitted them from this recipe, although you’ll see them in the photos.

The pickled red onions really make the salad, so use those instead. You will always find a jar of pickled red onions in our fridge, we throw them into just about everything. I’m also missing sliced English cucumber in the photos.  I forgot to buy the cucumber when I was at the grocery store, even though it was on my list – hate it when that happens!

Oh, and the reason I thread the chicken and the vegetables on separate skewers is to be sure there is no cross-contamination from the yogurt marinade clinging… but the not fully cooking on those tomatoes. Better safe than sorry! You can always re-thread before serving, as I did here.

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As summer drags on and I long to make soups, stews, and roasts. To heat the oven and roast vegetables instead of stand in the sweltering heat and grill them. Summer means burgers and we’re actually tiring of those too … so I decided to put a twist on the traditional summer burger and throw in some Asian influence. It was the perfect change!

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Before Connor packed up his belongings and headed back to school, I made him a special going-away breakfast.

Good luck in school, sweet boy, study hard and have fun! xoxo

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As promised, I recreated the Pepperoni Arrostiti that we so enjoyed at Trattoria Contadina.  The cheese-stuffed bell pepper uses three different Italian kinds of cheese; mozzarella, asiago, and bel paese. In case you haven’t heard of bel paese before…

Bel Paese – Literally meaning “beautiful country”. This cheese was invented in 1929 by the Galbani Cheese Company in Lobardy. A wax rind covers the uncooked cheese made of pasteurized cow’s milk. The small discs have a soft texture and are peppered with small holes. Bel Paese appears pale with touches of creamy yellow. This cheese is similar to mozzarella or Fontina in its mild, buttery flavor but is distinct in its body and tang. Bel Paese is versatile and easily melted.

It took two tries to get this recipe just right.  The first time, I took pictures. The second time, I forgot to do so. As a result, the pictures won’t reflect the light roasting of the peppers before cutting and filling with cheese. I decided this was needed because the peppers were not soft enough the first time around. After roasting lightly, they were the perfect texture… just as we’d enjoyed at the restaurant. Be certain to serve with a nice crusty Italian bread. Trust me, you’ll want it to sop up the tasty sauce.

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I had hoped to post about our trip to San Francisco, but I haven’t been able to get all the photos formatted yet…  tomorrow… San Fran, I promise!

Until then, here is the quick and easy dinner I made for Connor and I, the night before we flew off to see Marissa.

Connor has always loved taquitos. You know – those thin, crunchy, nasty frozen sticks. He also adores Buffalo chicken wings.  I made these Buffalo taquitos just for him. A healthier (especially if you use low-fat cream cheese and sour cream) version of those fried greasy sticks!

A little side note: I brought home my tortillas, opened the package and there were only 9 tortillas! It clearly states on the package that there are 10 tortillas, but I only got nine.  What’s up with that? It makes me wonder if someone got hungry at the grocery store, opened the package, and ate one, or if there was a miscount while packaging… hmmm?

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