BLACK BEAN VEGGIE BURGERS AND PASTA SALAD..

While we were in Ithaca, I ordered a Black Bean Veggie Burger because I was feeling daring! I like black beans but thought it would be pretty boring. Too my surprise, it was delicious! The burger was topped with red onion, tomato, Montery Jack cheese and a Jamaican Jerk BBQ sauce. I decided to give it a try. I found this recipe on allrecipes.com. They turned out delicious! To go with it, I made a pasta salad which will follow.

Homemade Black Bean Veggie Burgers


PREP TIME
15 Min
COOK TIME
20 Min
READY IN
35 Min
Original recipe yield 4 patties

INGREDIENTS
1 (16 ounce) can black beans, drained and rinsed
1/2 green bell pepper, cut into 2 inch pieces
1/2 onion, cut into wedges
3 cloves garlic, peeled
2 eggs
1 tablespoon chili powder
1 tablespoon cumin
1 teaspoon Thai chili sauce or hot sauce
1/2 cup bread crumbs
DIRECTIONS
If grilling, preheat an outdoor grill for high heat, and lightly oil a sheet of aluminum foil. If baking, preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C), and lightly oil a baking sheet.
In a medium bowl, mash black beans with a fork until thick and pasty.
In a food processor, finely chop bell pepper, onion, and garlic. Then stir into mashed beans.
In a small bowl, stir together egg, chili powder, cumin, and chili sauce.
Stir the egg mixture into the mashed beans. Mix in bread crumbs until the mixture is sticky and holds together. Divide mixture into four patties.
If grilling, place patties on foil, and grill about 8 minutes on each side. If baking, place patties on baking sheet, and bake about 10 minutes on each side.

Pasta Salad... A La Lynn

16 oz tri color pasta, cooked

Green Pepper, Red Pepper, Red Onion, Zucchini, Cucumbers, sliced olives, cherry tomatoes and a can of marinated artichiokes, drained, and whatever else you want to add.

1 bottle of Wishbone Bountifuls Tuscan Romano Basil salad dressing

Cut up all the vegetables into bite size pieces and put in a large bowl. Add the pasta and toss a bit with your CLEAN hands. Pour an entire bottle of the dressing into pasta salad mix and toss around. That's it! It was very flavorful and just right for a summer night when you don't have much time to spare!

SANTA FE CHICKEN SALAD

This salad is a lot like Chili's EXPLOSION SALAD without the quesadilla's. It's really good! It can be a little time consuming so I would suggest at least making the dressing and corn and bean salsa the day ahead of time. For those watching their weight, you can substitute fat free sour cream or fat free mayo in place of the regular mayo. Also, you may want to dip your forkfuls into the dressing instead of pouring it all over. You'd be surprised at how little dressing you actually use when you dip! ENJOY!!!

Santa Fe Chicken Salad


corn and black bean salsa

-Seed and dice two roma tomatoes. Put in a bowl.
-Finely dice half of a red onion. Put that in the bowl too.- Take a can of black beans. Drain and rinse well.
-use a cup or so of frozen corn. Put that in the bowl too.
-Seed and pith a jalapeno then dice. If you want it spicier, leave the seeds or add another pepper to the mix.

-Chop up some cilantro.-Squeeze in half a lime. Season the salsa with a little salt and pepper.
-Stir well then cover with saran and put in the fridge.-This can be made a day in advance.

southwest ranch dressing

-Take one package ranch dressing mix. Dump the dry mix into a bowl
-Add 1 cup mayonnaise. (Sour Cream can be substituted)
-Add 1 cup milk. Mix the dressing together.-Add 1/2 tsp Tabasco sauce. If you want this spicier, add a little more.
-Add 1 tsp garlic powder.-Add 1 tsp chili powder.-Add 1 tsp cumin.-Squeeze in half of a lime.-Mix everything together. This dressing can be made days in advance. In fact, the longer it sits, the better the flavors will have a chance to marry and balance out.

Now to make tortilla strips!

-Take 4-5 fajita sized tortillas and cut in half.-Cut them into thin strips.-Heat some oil in a pot and fry the strips up. When they're nice and golden, pull from the oil and place on some paper towels.-As soon as you pull the tortilla strips from the oil, season lightly with salt. These *can* be made the day ahead. Put the strips in a ziploc or any airtight container so they don't get stale or soft.
Now it's time for the main body of the salad!

-Take a package of McCormicks Grill Mates Southwest marinade. Put 2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts in a ziploc. Dump in the marinade (as prepared according to the directions on the package). The packaging says you only need to marinate for 15 minutes. Personally, I like it a little more seasoned, so I let them sit in that marinade all day, overnight if possible.-Grill, bake or cook the chicken on the stove until done.
-Using two forks, start pulling the meat apart. The shredded meat goes a long way vs. cutting into cubes.
-Put the chicken in a large bowl.-Chop up 1 head of iceberg lettuce and add to the bowl.
-Grate some cheese (1-2 cups). I used some cheddar and some monterey jack. Put all the cheese in the bowl too.
-Slice up one avocado. You can dice this and add directly to the lettuce bowl if you want. I leave them in slices and use on top.
-Toss everything in the bowl together. If your family likes olives, you can add some sliced black olives.
-Begin by putting some of the salad on the plate.
-Put a big handful of corn and black bean salsa on top in the middle.
-Put slices of avocado around the plate.-Put a small stack of tortilla strips on top like a haystack. These will be your "croutons" for the salad.
-Drizzle on some of the salad dressing and you're done! Time to eat up.

Fresh California Salsa... A TASTE OF CANCUN...

A made this salsa 3 days ago to bring to PJ's softball game along with sliced Semolina bread. The game was rained out so I threw it in the fridge when we got home. Today I remembered that it was in there. I still had the sliced bread and it was actually still very soft. I guess high humidity is good for something!

Alyssa and I couldn't stop eating this. Maybe letting it sit for 3 days really did the trick! It was so good and so fresh tasting... perfect for a summer treat! It reminded us so much of our favorite salsa at the Royal Solaris in Cancun. YUM. Alyssa and I decided that next time I make it, I'm making a bucket full!!!

Fresh California Salsa

INGREDIENTS
4 large tomatoes, diced
1/2 large onion, minced
3 cloves garlic, chopped
2/3 cup chopped fresh cilantro
1 jalapeno pepper, seeded and minced
2 tablespoons fresh lime juice
salt to taste
DIRECTIONS
In a small mixing bowl, combine tomatoes, onion, garlic, cilantro and lime juice. Add jalapenos 2 teaspoons at a time, tasting after each addition to see how hot the salsa has become. I used 1/2 of a jalapeno. Next time I will use a whole one.

Potato, Tomato, Corn and Basil Salad

This is a very nice refreshing type of salad to have when you're BBQing. It can be made ahead of time to make it easier. I've made it with and without the potatoes... both are good. The only thing I did different this time is that besides the regular basil, I also used some Lemon Basil from the garden. YUM. I rough chopped both and then put a few whole leaves throughout.

Potato, Tomato, Corn and Basil Salad
Recipe courtesy Dave Lieberman
Recipe SummaryDifficulty: Easy Prep Time: 15 minutes Cook Time: 20 minutes Yield: 6 to 8 servings User Rating:

1 pound baby red potatoes

scrubbed 5 medium ears of corn (about 3 pounds)

1 pint grape tomatoes, halved lengthwise

1 small red onion, peeled and sliced thinly (about 1/2 to 3/4 cup)

1 large bunch fresh basil, rinsed, dried, and leaves picked

1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil

2 large lemons, juiced

1 teaspoon kosher salt

About 15 grinds freshly ground pepper
Place the potatoes in a large pot of salted water and bring to boil. Cook until just fork tender, about 15 minutes. Fish out the potatoes with a spider or slotted spoon and place them in a bowl of ice cold water to stop them from cooking.
Shuck the corn and break each ear in half. Cook in the same boiling water for 5 to 7 minutes until tender but not soft. Remove the cooled potatoes to a dish-cloth to drain. Immerse corn in the same ice bath until cool. Cut each potato into quarters and place in a large bowl.
Remove corn from water and also let drain. Use a chef's knife to cut the kernels off each ear. Add kernels to bowl. Add grape tomatoes, onion, and whole basil leaves. Add olive oil and lemon juice and toss gently to combine. Season, to taste, with salt and pepper. Serve immediately

Creamy Dill Cucumber Toasties

When I asked Scott to go to the store and get me a bunch of cilantro, he came home with a bunch of dill. I already had a bunch of dill in the refrigerator! So, what to do with all of this dill...

I chopped up one bunch and put it in a ziplock bag and froze it. With the other bunch... I went to my 'go to' recipe site http://www.allrecipes.com/ and found an appetixer that uses dill and has great reviews. I made Creamy Dill Cucumber Toasties. The kids... especially Scott, LOVED these!

In the reviews, people mentioned to make the cream cheese spread at least a day ahead of time, try using fat free sour cream instead of the cream cheese (I used 1/3 less fat cream cheese) and also that they're good using the small loaf of Pumpernickle bread. I'll try that next time.

Creamy Dill Cucumber Toasties

PREP TIME
15 Min
READY IN
15 Min
INGREDIENTS
1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese, softened
1 (.7 ounce) package dry Italian-style salad dressing mix
1/2 cup mayonnaise
1 French baguette, cut into 1/2 inch thick circles
1 cucumber, sliced
2 teaspoons dried dill weed or chopped fresh dill
DIRECTIONS
In a medium bowl, mix together cream cheese, dressing mix and mayonnaise.
Spread a thin layer of the cream cheese mixture on a slice of bread, and top with a slice of cucumber. Sprinkle with dill. Repeat with remaining ingredients.

Asian Noodle Salad... A GREAT SALAD!

I made the Asian Noodle Salad from the Pioneer Woman Cooks blog. It was so good, especially the dressing! It made enough for an army yet after Scott and Alyssa's 10 pm second dinner, now it's almost all finished. It will make enough for probably 15 people as a side dish! The recipe is easy to cut in half or even into a 1/4. I wouldn't cut the dressing though. Use it over regular salad! And the jalapeno peppers didn't make it hot. Just be sure to get rid of the seeds without touching them! I think the key is all of the cilantro. I love cilantro! In all, I used 1 1/2 bunches... one in the salad and 1/2 for the dressing. Next time I will leave out the cashews, mostly because it gets too expensive. Speaking of which, the regular peppers were $5 per pound this week (for red) and I refuse to spend that on food! So I used whatever I had in the fridge. I also used romaine lettuce instead of the Napa Cabbage. Next time I will get rid of most of the EVOO to lighten it up a bit and add something else. Other than that... it's a keeper!
Asian Noodle Salad
SALAD INGREDIENTS:
1 package linguine noodles, cooked, rinsed, and cooled
1/2 to 1 head sliced Napa cabbage
1/2 to 1 head sliced purple cabbage
1/2 to 1 bag baby spinach
1 red bell pepper, sliced thin
1 yellow bell pepper, sliced thin
1 orange bell pepper, sliced thin (if available)
1 small bag bean sprouts
3 sliced scallions
3 peeled, sliced cucumbers
LOTS of chopped cilantro—up to one bunch
1 can whole cashews, lightly toasted in skillet
DRESSING:
Juice of 1 lime
8 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons sesame oil
6 tablespoons soy sauce
1/3 cup brown sugar
3 tablespoons fresh ginger, chopped
2 cloves chopped garlic
2 hot peppers or jalapenos, chopped
More chopped cilantro—LOTS
Mix together salad ingredients. Whisk together dressing ingredients ( I put it in the blender) and pour over salad. Mix with tongs or hands and serve on platter.*Dressing keeps up to three days before serving, WITHOUT cilantro.

COMFORT FOOD NIGHT!!!!

Tonight was definately a comfort food night. I'll be walking extra miles after this one!

I made a spiral sliced ham along with Scott's favorite side that we call That Corn Dish. A friend from town gave me the recipe stating that 1/2 of the town makes it on Thanksgiving. I shared it with a bunch of friends who now also make it for Thanksgiving. You can't have it more than a few times a year because it's sooo unhealthy! Then we had my Grandmother's favorite way to cook cabbage which is now PJ's favorite also. It's an old Dutch recipe that was handed down to her. When I first made it I ended up in the ER needing 12 stitches from shredding the palm of my hand! Now I'm more careful! Last but not least, a healthy side, steamed carrots mixed with my favorite herb, dill. Here's the recipes:

NANNY'S CABBAGE

1/2 head of cabbage, shredded

5 slices of bacon cut into 1" pieces

a sprinkle of caraway seeds

a few dashes of black pepper

a little salt if you wish. I don't add the salt because the bacon is salty enough.

In a pan, saute bacon until brown. Put cabbage in pan (yup, in all that bacon fat!). Add the rest of the ingredients and cook until cabbage is wilted. I like to cook it so some of the cabbage is actually getting golden in color. That's is, simple and delish!

THAT CORN DISH

1 can of creamed corn

1 can whole kernal corn - lightly drained

1 stick of better, melted

1 pkg corn muffin mix - Jiffy works best

1 cup sour cream

1 egg

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Mix all and put in a casserole dish. Bake 45 minutes or until center tests clean and top is a little golden in color.

I haven't met ANYONE that doesn't like this dish!

Steamed Carrots mixed with fresh chopped dill. That's it... no butter or salt! The ONLY healthy part of the meal! YUM!