Oh, Yeah...I signed up for that didn't I...

okay, so I'm a total planner...
so very organized that it's ridiculous!

okay, so I lie...

I'm one of those people that agree to do something and then forget until like 5 minutes before and then rush to get it done and usually stress my family out in the process!

so anyways, I signed up to bring a salad to a baby shower this past Saturday...
easy peasy....

Saturday morning...
doing a mini tri run thru
(oh, yea signed up for another one of those things and it's less than a week away now!)
and then the baby shower...that I signed up to bring a salad to...

hmmm...no lettuce in the house and no time to go to the grocery store...
how do you make a salad without lettuce...
what DO I have in the house...
a little spinach (very little, not even enough for a personal salad let alone a pot luck salad)
some onions...
can of black beans
and rice...

I posted on facebook that I was looking for a cold rice salad...and had some great friends post a few different recipes...none of them with what I had on hand, but with enough ideas that I was able to make a really delicious rice salad, one that will now go onto our dinner menu list...

I really don't have great measurements for this, it's all about taste and what you have on hand...

Spinach Black Bean Rice Salad
1 cup rice (uncooked)
1/2 cup onion chopped
1 clove garlic (grated)
2 cups water with chicken bullion or 2 cups chicken broth
salt and pepper to taste
1 tbs butter
1 can black beans, rinsed and drained
1-2 handfuls of spinach leaves chopped
1/2-1 cup of chopped red or yellow peppers
lime or lemon (zest and juice)
mayo
1/2 cup toasted pine nuts or chopped almonds

1.  Sauté rice, onion & garlic in butter for about 5 minutes stirring constantly.  Add water and chicken bullion and salt and pepper, stir.  Bring to boil, simmer with lid on for 20 minutes. Remove from heat and cool

2.  Once rice is cooled, toss in beans, spinach and chopped peppers.

3. Mix juice of one lime or lemon (or more per your taste) and about 1 tea zest of same fruit and about 3/4 cup mayo, blend well into rice mixture.  Add more mayo and lime juice per taste, and salt and pepper.  Top with toasted nuts.

...so this is the recipe I used...I would have loved to use lime but only had lemon, and also wanted to add chopped cilantro but also didn't have any of that...
other things to add that would be good...artichoke hearts, broccoli, asparagus, cherry/grape tomatoes, feta cheese crumbles, crispy bacon pieces....

I was actually surprised how good this was, and the little that came home from the shower was devoured by the husband...

Not Your Grandma's 3 Bean Salad

So I stumbled upon the classic 3 bean salad recipe this summer and it was so good and yummy that I've made it a ton and kept it in our fridge, such a nice cool side dish during the summer months...

only my kids ratted me out...
I don't just use 3 beans...
after about 2 weeks of calling it the "3 Bean Salad" the boy child said,
"Why do you call it 3 bean when it has 4 and sometimes 5 beans in it?"...

"umm, cuz...."  was my brilliant answer!

and then this past Sunday I needed to bring a side dish to the annual church summer bbq/baptism...
and since I forgot until like Saturday night about 10 pm and wasn't going to make a trip to the store after church on Sunday to get anything I had to throw together something with what I had on hand...

and just fyi, there are ALWAYS beans in my pantry...it drives my husband CRAZY that I buy beans every time I grocery shop whether I need them for something on the menu or not, and I never check to see if I need to replenish my supply, I just always have to buy beans...
black beans,
pinto beans,
kidney beans,
green beans,
white beans,
...I have a thing for beans!

so I knew I'd be able to throw together the "3 bean salad" as my side dish....
only guess what I get home from church on Sunday and start to assemble my salad...and I wanted to make a double batch...and I didn't have enough beans...I wanted 2 cans of each "flavor" and I was out...I had like 5 cans of black beans, but only 1 can of kidney, green, and white...so what else do I add to my 3 bean salad now that I've mixed up double the amount of dressing but only have 1/2 the amount of beans that I needed...

so here is my
Not Your Grandma's 3 Bean Salad recipe that I came up with...and we LOVE it...
2 cans of black beans
1 can of kidney beans
1 can of green beans
1 can of white kidney or wax or garbanzo or whatever bean you want...
....or a mixture of at least 5 cans of beans...
1 cup sweet pepper chopped*, optional
1/2 cup chopped red onion (optional)
3 cups broccoli slaw**
1/2 cup vinegar
4 Tbs sugar
4 Tbs oil
1/2 tea celery salt (optional)

1.  Drain and rinse all the beans and place in large bowl.  Toss in veggies and slaw.  Mix vinegar, sugar, oil and celery salt together in small bowl until sugar is dissolved (or shake in a dressing container)
2.  Coat beans with dressing and refrigerate...serve cold, this salad gets better the longer it marinates, and it lasts up to 2 weeks in the fridge.

I choose the color of pepper depending on the color of beans I've used, if I need more green in the salad I use green peppers, more yellows/oranges or more red...it's all about presentation!

*I've been getting bags of small sweet peppers, red, orange, yellow and green, this bag had no green... all summer, so yummy

**my husband just, like within the past 2 weeks, decided that he likes broccoli...so I am so excited to start adding it to more dishes...you can buy the broccoli slaw in the veggie section at your grocery store, that makes me so happy!

do you have a twist on a "classic" like this?

Chicken Tortellini Salad

We've all been there...

you know you need to make dinner but it's just too HOT...

and we all know we're going to be there a few more times this summer... 

especially since it's not even summer yet!

This is a wonderfully easy recipe that I stole from my friend Rayna...

the beauty of this recipe is that you can make it in the cool of the morning or the night before, or whenever and then toss it together when it's time to eat...

it's also an easy meal to throw together for someone if you have anyone that might need a meal this summer 

(well except for the family that I took this meal to last night...

I slaved away in a hot kitchen for you most of the day yesterday!)

...and it's also easy to make a vegetarian version (leave out the chicken) 

or beef it up (with steak strips instead of chicken)...

Chicken Tortellini Salad

Grilled Chicken Breast (as many as you need to feed the people you are making the salad for...

     I used 3 breast and made 2 salads yesterday, 

     one for our family and one for another family...

     for a total of 4 adults and 4 children...)

Italian Dressing or marinade of your choice

1 package of Cheese Tortellinis (fresh or frozen)

Romain Lettuce (or a bag of Romain Salad)

Fresh Parmesan Cheese

Caesar Dressing

Croutons -optional

Marinade the Chicken for whatever length of time you have (Mine sat in some Italian Dressing for about an hour), and then grill (if this is on your menu for later in the week and you fire of the grill earlier, throw the chicken breast on the grill and then just keep them in the fridge until you need them for the recipe...no need to grill them the night/day of!)..slice up chicken into decent strips.

Cook Tortellinis according to package directions, drain and cool. You can also cook these earlier in the day and have them cooling in the fridge.

Chop up the Romain Lettuce, toss in the cooled tortellinis, the sliced up grilled chicken, the Parmesan cheese and either dress with the Caesar or leave that for everyone to dress on their own, add croutons in desired.

pic with maybe a little too much dressing and sans croutons...

and yes on paper plates...

who wants to do dishes on a hot summer night?!

My kids ate all of their dinner last night...both of them love this salad...

and I left out the croutons...

1st because then my kids would have only ate the croutons and forgot there was a salad to eat...

and 2nd I forgot to buy the croutons when I was shopping....

I didn't serve it with anything, but a nice fresh loaf of French Bread would have been nice and maybe a fruit salad on the side...but the salad was enough for my family...

The Previously Alluded to Chicken Salad

In a previous post I made mention of a favorite Chicken Salad recipe...
...and then just left you guys hanging...

This is a recipe...
I use that word loosely because I'm not sure it was ever written down and I'm sure it's been modified a few times since...
that I got from my friend Michelle Anderson at a MOPS retreat
(MOPS=Mother's Of PreSchoolers)...at least I think it was Michelle that made/brought this the first time???
and has since become a MUST have at our annual Summer retreat...

(that I will not go to ever again because I am "graduating" from MOPS since Wilson will be in Kindergarten next year!  GASP...I've been in MOPS for 9 years!)

Okay...focus...this post is about a recipe not about my baby that's all grown up, almost...

BLOG WARNING...PHOTO MONTAGUE....

oh, yeah I was posting a recipe...focus Kiera, focus...

Now, the measurements for this recipe are all pretty vague...just mess with it until you get something that you like...Don't know if there's a name for this recipe so I'll call it

Apple Poppyseed Chicken Salad

Cooked Chopped Chicken, about 1 inch pieces (2-3 cooked chicken breast feeds about 6-8 people, or you can use a rotisserie chicken or left over chicken/turkey...see what I mean about vague)...just enough for however many people you're wanting to feed

apple or two, cored and cubed  (I use a Fuji...and the amount depends on how much you like apples and how many people)

chopped Celery

Chopped white onion (not too much or it will over power the salad maybe 1-2 Tbs)

about 1 cup of red seedless red grapes (cut in half)

a handful or two of dried cranberries (or raisins...I actually use the cherry flavored cranberries)

Cashews...or pecans...or pine nuts...about 1/4-1/2 cup (toasted)

1-2 Tbl of poppy seeds

2-3 Tbs mayo

Mix together and serve on croissants if you're feeling decadent...or on a toasted whole wheat English Muffin or in a pita pocket, or just on a plate with a fork and some crackers...You can also make a bed of lettuce and serve it on top of that...

When I'm making this for a group of people I might not be familiar with I mix JUST the chicken, apple, celery, grapes and mayo together and put everything else in bowls and make it more of a Chicken Salad Bar and then they can add or leave out whatever they want...

It's also a good recipe to make and have everyone bring a piece of the salad...have someone bring the nuts, someone bring the cranberries, the grapes, etc...

Serve with fresh fruit, this is so good with strawberries and pineapple on the side...and even had some people add the strawberries to the salad....

Oh, avocados are also really good on/with this salad...