Cucumber Salad

This salad is perfect for grilling season and warm weather! I'm so happy that its that time of the year again!! It definitely puts a smile on my face. This salad was perfect with some grilled chicken that I made this week. I made it as a side salad, but next time I might try to cut the cucumbers and onions with a mandoline slicer to use it as a topping for chicken, fish or anything really! Since its such a simple recipe I'm sure I'll be making it a lot the next few months. It's so colorful, fresh, and yummy too!! It also takes a mere 5 minutes to make which is usually all the time I have to put something together to eat during the week. Its finals time...which means studying comes first, sleeping comes second, and takeout comes third... Cooking is nonexistent unless it takes under 10 minutes, so I am always on the lookout for healthy easy things to make! Hope you enjoy!!

Ingredients:

• 1 small red onion, sliced
• 2 sliced cucumbers
• 2 medium sized limes, juiced
• 2 tablespoons of chopped parsley
• 2 tablespoons of olive oil
• Salt and pepper to taste

Recipe:

1. Place all the ingredients in a bowl, mix well, taste, and season as needed.
2. Serve immediately or let it rest in the refrigerator before serving.

Crockpot Buffalo Chicken

I'm back! I took the past few weeks off to enjoy my vacation. The good news is that I found some great new recipes to share with you all. I can easily see this chicken recipe becoming a new favorite of mine. You can use this chicken in so many different ways. I had it on my salad this afternoon for lunch with some blue cheese crumbles and a drizzle of blue cheese dressing. I also made wraps with the chicken last night. Buffalo chicken sliders topped with coleslaw, or baked buffalo chicken taquitos would be great ways to use the chicken too. Have fun with it!

Ingredients:

• 1 pound chicken breasts
• 5.3 oz plain nonfat greek yogurt
• 2/3 cup buffalo sauce
• 1 tsp garlic powder
• 1 tsp onion powder
• 1 tsp pepper
• 1 tsp dried basil

Recipe:

Place chicken in the crockpot. In a bowl, mix together remaining ingredients. Pour 3/4 of the mixture over the chicken. Cook on low for 6 hours. Once the chicken is cooked, take it out of the crockpot and shred. Drain out the liquid in the crockpot. Place the chicken back into the crockpot and pour the rest of the liquid mixture into the chicken.

 

Picnic in the Park

At the beginning of the summer I made a checklist of all the activities I wanted to do over the summer. I was really excited about having 3 months off from school and I wanted to make sure I enjoyed every second. Well...it didn't go exactly as planned. As the summer went on and I got busy with my internship, I slowly started to forget about the checklist. One of the things on my checklist was to go on a picnic. There is a beautiful park right by my house and I wanted to take advantage of it. Since this weekend is the unofficial end of the summer I figured it was now or never so off to the park we went!! It turned out to be the perfect night. I hope these pictures give you a little inspiration on how you could spend the long weekend!

Clean Eating Taco Salad

Surprise, surprise! Here is another taco dish, but this time in the form of a salad. I've been on a kick lately and I can't help it!! This is a guilt free taco salad. It is perfect for lunch or for a light dinner! I don't really have any measurements for this recipe just because you can put on this salad whatever you would like. These were the ingredients that I already had in my fridge so I went for it!

Ingredients:

• ground turkey
• lettuce
• salsa
• cucumber
• avocado
• black beans
• corn
• tomato
• spices: cumin, chili powder, onion powder, garlic powder, red pepper flakes, salt, pepper

Recipe: 

•  Brown ground turkey in a pan and drain fat.
• Add spices to your liking (i like to use a lot of cumin to give it some mexican flavor)
• Assemble salad with the ground turkey and your favorite toppings. Use salsa for dressing.

Quinoa Salad

I love quinoa. Its delicious and healthy. You can add anything to quinoa based on what you like. In this recipe, I used mushrooms, carrots, and advocado just because it is what I had in my refrigerator. (Avocado by the way is amazing in this!) I also love to put corn, sweet potato, or black beans when I have it. Kale or spinach would be awesome as well. Feel free to experiment with it and add your favorite ingredients.

Ingredients:

• 2-3 cups cooked quinoa (directions to cook quinoa below!)
• 4 sliced mushrooms
• 12 sliced baby carrots
• 1/2 avocado cubed 
• 1/2 tbsp olive oil

Recipe:

• To cook quinoa: 
• Bring 2 cups of water to a boil in a sauce pan.
• Add 1 cup quinoa, bring back to a boil, cover, and cover for about 12 minutes or until quinoa has absorbed all the water.
• Remove from heat, fluff, and let stand for about 15 minutes.
• This will make about 4 cups.
• Add olive oil to a sauce pan. 
• Add mushrooms and carrots until tender.
• Mix cooked mushrooms, carrots, and cubed avocado with quinoa and serve!

Loaded Baked Potato Salad

Potato salad is most definitely my favorite dish at a summer get together. I am always excited to try a new recipe! I found this one on pinterest and I just could not pass it up! At your next cookout or BBQ I would most definitely recommend making this potato salad! It tastes exactly like a loaded baked potato...bacon, cheese, potato, sour cream...you just can't go wrong with that!! Its yummy yummy! I served it chilled though the originally recipe served it warm so you can do whatever you prefer!

Recipe Source: Dining with Leslie
Serving: 8 to 12 people
Ingredients:

• 8 large Russet potatoes
• 1/2 cup mayo
• 1 cup sour cream (plus a dab extra)
• 1 cup shredded cheddar cheese (Leave some aside for the topping)
• 1/2 cup fresh chopped chives (Leave some aside for the topping)
• 16 strips of bacon cooked and crumbled (Leave some aside for the topping)
• 2 tsp black pepper
• Salt to the taste

Recipe:

• In a small bow, mix together mayonnaise and sour cream.
• Add the chives, cheese, and pepper to the bowl.
• Add salt if needed
• Let chill in the fridge
• Peel and cube potatoes into bite size pieces.
• Put potatoes in a large pot and cover with water.
• Boil until fork tender (about 18-20 minutes). You'll want to make sure that you don't cook them for too long because you don't want mashed potatoes!!
•  Drain potatoes and let cool. 
• Put potatoes in a large bowl and combine mayo/sour cream mixture. 
• Fold in crumbles of bacon.
• Chill until ready to serve.
• Top with the remaining chives, cheese, and bacon.

Stuffed Tomatoes

One of my coworkers had this for lunch yesterday and it looked so delicious! For the rest of the day I literally could not stop thinking about it (and I normally don't even like tomatoes!). I love when my coworker's lunches inspire me!

My coworker was eating the stuffed tomato with a salad, but I decided to have it as a side to grilled chicken for dinner.  The stuffing is basically a ham salad and the mixture would really taste great on anything. I would consider even putting it in a sandwich. I made this recipe per tomato so that you can alter the recipe depending on how many tomatoes you'd like to make.

The great thing about this recipe is 1) you can easily add to or take away anything from the recipe and 2) it takes 2 seconds to make!!

Ingredients:

• 1 big red tomato
• 1 ounce cubed ham
• 1/8 cup peas
• 1/8 cup chopped red onion
• 1/8 cup chopped pickles (I used dill but sweet pickles would work too!) 
• 1/8 shredded mozzarella cheese
• 1 tbsp light mayo
• a dash of salt and pepper

Recipe:

• Cut off the top of a tomato and dig the center out so that you have a hallow shell. 
• Mix together ham, peas, onion, pickles, cheese, mayo, salt and pepper
• Stuff the tomato with the ham mixture

Quinoa Avocado Salad

This is a simple summer salad AND delicious. Not much more to say other than that.

If you like this, check out my other quinoa avocado salad here!

Adapted From: Wegmans

Ingredients:

• 1 cup quinoa 
• 1-1/2 cup corn
• 1/2 cup fresh chopped cilantro
• 1/2 cup green onion
• 2 diced tomatoes
• 2 avocados, peeled, pitted and cubed 
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp pepper
• Lemon Vinigrette
• 1/3 cup olive oil
• 1 tsp dried thyme
• 2 tbsp fresh parsley
• 2 cloves fresh garlic
• 1 lemon

Recipe:

• Cook quinoa as directed
• Mix together quinoa, corn, cilantro, green onion and tomatoes
• Wisk olive oil, thyme, parsley, garlic, and lemon juice together to make lemon vinigrette
• Fold in avocado and lemon vinagrette to quinoa mixture
• Season with salt and pepper

 

Avocado Salad with Grilled Shrimp

I know what you're thinking and yes, this tastes as good as it looks. It might be one of my favorite things I've eaten in a while! I love how grilling season comes with warmer weather. It brings out so many more cooking options!!

The portion shown here could easily be an appetizer. For a more substantial meal just place the avocado salad and 4 or 5 pieces of shrimp on top of lettuce.

Recipe Source: Apron Strings

Cilantro Lime Vinaigrette Ingredients:

• 1/4 cup lime juice
• 1 teaspoon lime zest
• 2 teaspoons spicy brown mustard
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
• 1/2 teaspoon soy sauce

Avocado Salad Ingredients:

• 1/4 cup chopped cilantro
• 2 large avocados
• 1 tomato
• 2 green onions

Grilled Shrimp Ingredients:

• shrimp
• olive oil
• paprika

Recipe: 

• Mix vinaigrette ingredients together
• Thinly slice the green onions
• Chop the avocados and tomato, and add to green onions
• Chop cilantro
• Stir cilantro and vinaigrette together, and add with avocado mixture
• Brush shrimp with olive oil, sprinkle with paprika, and grill
• Serve shrimp on top of avocado salad

Breakfast for Dinner

Lately, I have been eating eggs pretty much every way and for almost every meal. Tonight I decided to have eggs on my salad. I made tonight's salad with a handful of spinach, 1 tablespoon of bacon bits, 1/2 tablespoon of pecorino romano grated cheese, sauteed onions, and a fried egg. I tried to cook the egg inside the onion ring, but as you can see it didn't exactly turn out that way. Oh well, it still tasted delicious!! If you like bacon and eggs for breakfast you'll love definitely love this salad too. 

I served the salad with my favorite vinaigrette that is super simple and goes with really any salad you can imagine. I always make it whenever I don't want a salad to be overwhelmed with dressing. I really wanted to focus on the flavor of bacon and egg in this salad so this vinaigrette was the perfect choice.  To make this salad use equal parts of olive oil and lemon juice, add a pinch of pepper and salt and you're done!!  

I love when things are both simple and delicious. Don't you?