dinner Archives - Page 2 of 4

Black Bean Salad

April 15, 2011 By Taylor 2 Comments

Are you feeling springy yet? I sure hope so and if you are I’m jealous because I am feeling summery already and I don’t like it. If you know me, you know that I am extremely hot natured and wear my flip flops all winter long. So, I’m not happy that it has been in the upper 80’s all week, Houston, its April… you are killing me!

What does this ramble have to do with Black Bean Salad? Its hot, and when its hot I like cold food. So I made Black Bean Salad the other night on the side of our Chipotle Pork Tenderloin and Baked Sweet Potatoes. Its simple, healthy, cold and Finn couldn’t stop eating it!

Black Bean Salad:
– 2 cans of Black Beans
– 1 avocado
– cilantro (I love a ton but add as much or as little as you like)
– 4 scallions
– juice from 2 limes
– 2 tablespoons olive oil
– salt to taste

Cobb Salad with Red Wine Vinaigrette

March 28, 2011 By Taylor 2 Comments

Spring has Sprung so you know what that means… It means it’s only March here in Houston and its in the high 80’s. Yes its true, its hot already! Which makes me want to eat cold things so if you live somewhere that is snowing right now, please excuse my Springy Salad post. You can bookmark this recipe for when you need it!

First of all can I say that I am a sucker for any Vinaigrette so my favorite part of this salad is the dressing. The Cobb Salad is pretty traditional, we used:

Green Leaf Lettuce

Grape Tomatoes

Radishes

Scallions

Grilled Chicken Breasts

Hard Boiled Eggs (which I can never get to look pretty, any tips?)

Avocado

Bacon

Goat Cheese

Carrots

Celery

Just line the ingredients up over the chopped lettuce…

Red Wine Vinaigrette:

1/4 c red wine vinegar

2 tbsp fresh lemon juice

2 tsp sugar

1/4 tsp dry mustard

1 tsp chopped garlic

1/2 c olive oil

El Cid Chili

February 2, 2011 By Taylor 1 Comment

OK, so this past weekend in Houston it was in the 70’s and I wore capris. Apparently we could see snow flurries by the end of this week! So to celebrate the cold weather (because yes, I like cold weather in winter – call me crazy) I decided to make some warm Chili. I have this cookbook that I love called Celebrate! by Shelia Lukins, its awesome! It’s set up by occasion like Easter, Vday, Mother’s Day… so this recipe for Chili came from the “Superbowl” section. It’s called El Cid Chili and its Amazing! It doesn’t call for any beans or extras; just the meat, tomatoes and spices. Add some shredded cheese and green onion on top and you are ready for these “Houston Snow Flurries”.

Ingredients:

2 tablespoons olive oil
2 pounds sirloin steak, cut into 1-inch cubes
1/2 pound ground beef
12 ounces chorizo sausage, casing removed, cut into 1/2 cubes ( I used sausage not chorizo)
1 large yellow onion, coarsely chopped
1/4 cup chili powder
1 tablespoon garlic salt
2 teaspoons cumin
1 teaspoon dried basil
2 (14.5-ounce) cans beef broth
2 (14.5-ounce) cans whole tomatoes, drained
1 cup cilantro, chopped
1 cinnamon stick
3 bay leaves
2 green jalapenos, slit lengthwise 3 times each
1 tablespoon yellow cornmeal
Salt and pepper, to taste
Garnish with Cheddar and sour cream, if desired

Directions:

Place oil in a large, heavy pot over medium heat. Brown the sirloin in batches. Remove to a bowl with a slotted spoon.

Add ground beef, chorizo (or sausage- I’m not brave enough for chorizo) and onions to the pot and brown. Make sure to break up the meat. Return sirloin to the pot.

Stir in remaining ingredients, except for garnishes.

Bring to a boil, reduce heat, simmer for 2 hours. Stir occasionally, breaking up tomatoes. Before serving, discard cinnamon stick, bay leaves and jalapenos.

Garnish, if desired

Spinach Artichoke Pasta Bake

January 17, 2011 By Taylor 4 Comments

What is for dinner tonight at your house? You don’t know either do you? Well here is an option… Spinach Artichoke Pasta Bake. I saw this recipe in Real Simple Magazine a few months ago and had to try it. By the way I loooove getting my real simple magazine in the mail, its like a little treasure and it usually comes on the same day as my Martha Magazine, double whammy. Anyway here it is; I changed the recipe a little so here is my TaylorMade version:

Ingredients:
8 oz penne pasta
14 oz can of artichokes (rinsed and chopped)
9 oz pkg of frozen creamed spinach (thawed)
1/4 c grated Parmesan
2 c grated mozzarella
black pepper
(optional) I added some chopped Italian ham

Heat your broiler
Cook pasta according to instructions on package, drain and return to pot
Add artichokes, spinach, Parmesan, half of the mozzarella, and 1/4 tsp black pepper (and ham if using) to the pasta and toss
Transfer to a baking dish and sprinkle remaining mozzarella on top
Broil for about 5-8 minutes or until cheese is browned on top

I love that it only uses 2 pots/dishes for the whole recipe! Before Bryan and I lived in our current house, we didn’t have a dishwasher so we became really good at using as few dishes as possible! What is a recipe you make that only uses a few dishes? Do share!