Salads

I had to have a pasta salad to the school by 10:30 this morning for a teacher appreciation luncheon. It only had to feed 10 people and the amount I made would have probably fed 80! Okay, that is a bit of an exaggeration, but I had way too much so I saved the rest for our dinner. On my menu list this week I had a broccoli & cauliflower salad with French Bread so I decided that we would just have a night of salads.

My best salad tip: Cut pieces small. That way you can have a variety of flavors on one fork.

Pasta Salad

Bow Tie Pasta

Cut up vegetables as desired:

red pepper

green pepper

red onion

tomato

olives

cucumbers

(my favorites are red peppers, olives and red onion so I add extra of those)

Pour Balsamic Vinegar dressing over it and stir.

Broccoli-Cauliflower Salad

4 cups chopped broccoli

4 cups chopped cauliflower

1/2 red onion coarsely chopped

1 cup Craisins

1 pkg. sunflower seeds

1/2 lb. bacon, cooked and crumbled

1 cup mayonnaise

1/2 sugar

1/4 vinegar

Combine ingredients for dressing. Whisk together. Pour over other ingredients. Stir until well coated.

French Dip Sandwiches

We're having a crowd for dinner tonight. French Dip is an easy option for a crowd. We love this recipe:

4 lb. Roast Beef (remove as much fat as possible)

1/2 cup soy sauce

1 beef bouillon cube

1 bay leaf

3 whole black peppercorns (or a big sprinkling of pepper)

1 tsp dried thyme

1 tsp garlic

Place roast in crock pot. Stir sauce ingredients together and pour over roast. Add enough water to almost cover roast. Cook on low for 10-12 hours (I almost always do overnight. . . )

Remove meat from broth and shred with fork. Put on French bread rolls (I use the recipe on this post, but make individual-sized loaves without any oil). Dip in remaining broth.

Tuesday Night's Dinner

Tonight for dinner we had Roasted Cauliflower, pineapple and baked fish (Pollock).

Dear Roasted Cauliflower, where have you been all my life? All my kids liked you and asked for 2nds. I thought you were quite tasty too. Please revisit my dinner table more often!

I wish I could sing the same praise for the baked fish. One child got out the BBQ sauce to cover up the nasty taste. I'm not sure if it was the recipe or the too-fishy-for-our-tastes Pollock. But that recipe made it's way to the recycling box.

The fresh pineapple was good and a needed touch to this meal even though our plates were covered with all one color. . . as you can tell this wasn't our greatest meal ever. Some meals are just like that.

Dutch Oven Potatoes & French Bread

An old standard around here is Stove top Dutch Oven Potatoes. Everyone loves it and when I season it right, I'm happy! Here's how I do it:Preparations:

Cook 1/2lb. bacon (when I find my pictures, I'll describe how I do it.) Crumble and reserve.

Slice 1 onion,

Peel and slice 5-10 potatoes, depending on size and how many you are serving

Peel and cut into large match sticks, 5-10 carrots, depending on how much you like carrots

Fry one slice of bacon in the bottom of the Dutch Oven Pan. When crispy, remove from pan and add 1 sliced onion. Sprinkle generously with pepper and fry slightly. (just 2-3 minutes) Layer sliced potatoes and carrots together in about 1/2 " layer (or just enough to cover the onions). Sprinkle generously with salt (I like Sea Salt for potatoes) and lightly with pepper. Add another layer of potatoes and carrots. Sprinkle generously with garlic salt, a little sugar (abt. 1 TBSP) and pepper. Repeat these steps until all of the vegetables are in the pan. Add about 3/4-1 cup water depending on how many potatoes you have. You can always add more later or simmer with the lid off to let water evaporate, but we don't like them too dry. Stir lightly to remove most of the onions off the bottom. Put on lid and simmer. Stir 2-3 times during cooking to distribute seasoning and taste to see if more is needed. Don't stir too many times or your potatoes will go mushy. While cooking, crumble bacon, slice cheese and chop 5-6 green onions. When the potatoes are done, turn to low and sprinkle with bacon and green onions. Cover with sliced cheese. Cover until cheese is melted. Tweak as desired!

French Bread

1 1/4 cups warm water

3 TBSP olive oil (omit if you want a chewier bread; I do both ways depending on my mood)

3 TBSP sugar

1 1/2 tsp salt

4 cups flour

1 TBSP yeast

Place ingredients in bread pan. Select dough cycle.

When dough is done, put on cupboard sprayed with Pam. Roll into large rectangle. Cut the rectangle into 3 pieces.

Roll each piece tightly and roll the ends to taper. Place on greased cookie sheet. Brush with egg/water mixture (1 TBSP water). Make deep diagonal cuts in bread. I use a fork to hold the bread in place while I cut. If I don't, it slides around and getting uniform cuts is difficult. The fork lines don't show much in the end.

Let rise until doubled in size. Bake at 375 for 20 minutes. For crispier bottoms, sprinkle corn meal on your pan. For extra crispy crusts put another cookie sheet of water in the oven at the same time. (TIP!! Let the water pan cool before removing, but set the timer for an hour or so so that you remember to take it out. It will be hot, but not as hot.)

This is what the bread looks like just before putting it in the oven. As you can see, I'm not a perfectionist as to how it looks! It always gets eaten just the same. . . )

(I guess I should have taken a picture of the cooked bread :( )

Grilled Chicken

Today for Sunday dinner we had Grilled Chicken (rub recipe below), rice, corn on the cob, lettuce salad, rolls and strawberry shortcake. I love a well rounded Sunday meal that everyone loves. This is one of them.

BBQ Rub

1 1/4 cup white sugar

1/2 cup salt

1/4 cup paprika

1 1/4 cup brown sugar

1/4 cup pepper

Stir together. Rub on meats 10 minutes before grilling. Store extra in a sealed container. (I make this about once a year and store it in a ziplock bag in the fridge.) This is great on chicken, pork, beef and fish. It is one of our favorites for shish kabobs.

Dinner Rolls

1 egg

1/2 cup warm water

1/2 cup warm milk

1/4 cup softened butter

1/3 cup sugar

1 tsp salt

4 cups flour

1 TBSP yeast

Put all ingredients into the bread pan. Select dough setting. When complete, melt 1/4 cup (I've been using less lately--still yummy) butter. Cut dough into 2 pieces. Roll into circles one at a time and spread with half of the butter. Cut into 16 wedges. Roll up starting at the wide end. cover with wax paper and let rise for 1-3 hours. Bake at 400 for 10-12 mins.

Strawberry Shortcake

Make white cake mix from the box.

Mix 1/2 of a package of cream cheese with sugar to taste. Start with 1/4 cup or so. After well mixed, add Cool Whip until desired creaminess. Spread on cooled cake.

Make 1 package of Strawberry Junket. Add strawberries. When that cools, spread on the cake. Keep cake refrigerated.