Top Recipes of 2014

Well peeps, it's almost 2015. Only 2 more days. 2 days that are holidays to me every year. 2 days, you ask? Yes. Today is my birthday (!!!) and tomorrow is, of course, New Year's Eve. I coast right into the new year every year after 2 lively days of celebrating.

Oh my gosh, typing that sentence just brought Adam Sandler's "Hanukkah Song" to mind. "Instead of 1 days of presents, we get 8 CRAZY nights". LOL. Instead of 1 night of celebrating on New Year's Eve, I get 2 crazy nights :)

The Best Raspberry Vinaigrette

plus a salad recipe!

I love a good raspberry vinaigrette. Until recently however, I've been buying it at the store. Eek. Commercial salad dressings top a lot of foodie lists of the worst processed food items you can buy. Full of preservatives, artificial flavors and colors, and dun dun dun, waaaaay too much sugar. Preservatives I can see, but artificial flavors and colors? Look at that gorgeous raspberry color! Why would you need to artificially color that? And I'm pretty sure some commercial raspberry vinaigrettes don't even contain much of real raspberries. Well, I can tell you with ease, there are more than a few real raspberries in this dressing. 

This has to be one of the best raspberry vinaigrette recipes I've tried. And I've tried quite a few recipes. Recipes that had way too much vinegar and very little raspberry. Recipes that had way too much sugar and very little vinegar. Recipes that were bitter. Recipes that were way too sweet. Recipes that were too thin. It wasn't until I came up with this recipe that I was finally satisfied. This isn't your typical vinaigrette. It's thick, creamy, and for lack of a better word, luscious. The texture kind of reminds me of honey mustard. And it works.  It's a very versatile dressing, good for lettuce, spinach, veggies, fruit, meat, nuts, etc. 

One of my favorite salads to put raspberry vinaigrette on is a spinach salad. I've been making this salad (with commercial raspberry vinaigrette) for years. Years upon years. One of my friends brought a version of this salad to "Family Dinner" when the hubby and I were still living in our first apartment in Portland. "Family Dinner" was basically the hubby and I, plus a couple of his co-workers and their significant others getting together to share dinner and episodes of "Nip/Tuck". You know, in "Nip/Tuck"s heyday. We called it "Family Dinner" because one of the couple's family lived in Minnesota and the rest of us, well, our families lived not quite close. Each week, one couple would prepare dinner for the group. The next week, a different couple would prepare the meal. Ah, the early 20's. When friends were your family. Good times. I was introduced to quite a few "new-to-me" foods during that time. One being this salad. Spinach, red apples and red grapes, gorgonzola cheese, and raspberry vinaigrette. Yummy!

After being introduced to this salad, I began to reserve it for special occasions and I usually served it with steak. I remember 2 or 3 Valentine's Day menus that included a New York strip and this lovely salad. These days, I make it more often that once a year. And it goes perfectly with quite a few proteins- chicken breasts, fish fillets such as cod, halibut, tilapia, even salmon, pork tenderloin. You get the idea. This salad makes a great side dish. And don't limit your use of this dressing to this salad. The dressing goes quite well with lots of toppings, as I mentioned before. 

So, it's November 17 and here in NE Kentucky, we run the risk of getting some snow today. I'm not too worried, the temperature has been quite warm around here. It was 43º yesterday and it only got down to 35º last night. We are sitting firmly at 37º right now, so I'm thinking we might miss this first winter storm. I can only hope. I'm not ready for snow because once it starts, we'll probably be dealing with snow here until March. Maybe April, like last year. Ick. Can you tell I'm not a winter person? He he. 

All right, I'm out. The hubby says I need to be home by noon today, because that's when the snow is supposed to start. We went back and forth on this, me saying it should be too warm, him saying the snow could fall hard and fast and then it wouldn't matter if the temperature is too high. I'm not a snow driver though, so I fully plan on being home by noon. So-- off to run my errands :)

Happy Monday! Have a fantastic week everyone!

Ingredients (yields 2 cups):

3/4 cup frozen raspberries, thawed

1 cup canola oil (I used canola as to avoid the olive oil flavor)

1/4 cup + 1 tbsp white vinegar

1 1/2 tbsp dijon mustard

1 tbsp sugar

1 tsp poppy seeds

3/4 tsp salt

1/4 tsp onion powder

Directions:

1. Combine all ingredients in food processor. Pulse until smooth, about one minute. Store in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 3 weeks. 

Printable Recipe

Recipe adapted from Food.com.

If you liked this recipe, you may enjoy these!

Apple Walnut Salad with Poppy Seed Dressing

Creamy Blue Cheese Dressing

Crispy Buffalo Chicken Salad

Linked to: Treasure Box Tuesday, Weekend Potluck, Foodie Friday, Foodie Friends Friday Linky Party

Caprese Salad

Well.

Harrumph. 

I don't have anything to talk about. I've been sitting here for over 45 minutes, staring at my pictures. Actually, that's not true. I opened up my blog, stared at it for 5 minutes, and then immediately opened a new window to FaceBook. I think the reason I can't think of anything to talk about is because I'm so mad. Friends, I'm honestly thinking about getting rid of FaceBook. It's an addiction that I think my life would be better without. I've been noticing a pattern over the last couple of months. My current morning routine is to make coffee, feed the dogs, and sit down on the computer to catch up on news, FaceBook, email, and blog stuff. I can be in a perfect mood upon sitting down, and immediately become irritated and angry over the sheer load of ignorance and brutality that people post on social media. Is that really the best way to start the day? It's something I'm considering. 

I know you're sitting there thinking, "Geez, what happened?". Here's the thing- nothing. Just the same old stuff. People being cruel to people they don't know. Friends posting completely isolating and hostile political messages. And the thing I can't get over the most- the criticism of the ice bucket challenge. Really??? I've never seen so much backlash over a charity event. One of my "friends" posted a rant saying that ALS is rare, and why would anyone donate to such an obscure and meaningless cause? Talk about blood boiling. Another posted that ISIS is out there recruiting Americans and beheading innocent people, yet Americans just keep ignorantly pouring ice water over their heads. Wow! I was floored. ALS does matter. It does kill people, and in a slow and horrifying fashion. One of my high school teachers passed from ALS. He was the P.E. teacher, a former high school and college football player, and probably one of the strongest men I knew in my childhood. It was devastating and absolutely heartbreaking to watch this disease destroy this man as it took his ability to walk.  We had to watch this former football hero, who had once had the strength and size of an ox, take to a wheelchair. What came next were the tremors and the inability to control your body. The inability to move your mouth to talk. The inability to move a finger or wiggle a toe. These people become prisoners of their own bodies and brains. How can anyone sit there and say that they don't matter? ALS may be classified as a rare disease, but I guarantee if you or someone close to you was touched by this disease, you would think it mattered.

Yes, there are problems in the world. Yes, there are people that want to kill Americans just for being Americans. But you know what? They aren't going away. There will always be threats. That's just a fact. Humans have been destroying each other since the beginning of time, and you think we'll ever stop? This is just a fact of life, but why focus on it? After all, that's what these terrorists want. They want Americans to panic, quit going about their daily lives, and to cower in fear. They want Americans to only focus on the ugly stuff in life, rather than how beautiful life can be. There's nothing I can do about what they want. I instead choose to focus on what's important in life- my family, my friends, my dogs, my home. And for me, a big part of what's important to me is helping other people. I'm been so fortunate in this life, I only wish everyone was so lucky. 

So I will continue to pour buckets of ice water over my head. I will continue to snap up coupon items to donate to homeless shelters and animal shelters. I will continue to sign up for 5K's benefiting ALS, multiple sclerosis, Hodkin's lymphoma, and other rare diseases. They may be rare, but to the person suffering, it does not feel rare. It feels all too sadly and completely real.

My apologies for the rant, but you know, not even the most prolific food blogger thinks about food 24 hours a day. Much as I wish that I did :)

So, Caprese Salad! My tomatoes started coming in (YAY!) about 9 days ago, and I must confess, I've been eating a lot of Caprese Salad. Because as you know, I also have waaaaay too much basil. For me, this is the perfect lunch. I always seem to be getting lunch around 1-2, and dinner is usually around 6. Needless to say, I don't do big lunches. Give me a few tomatoes, some good quality mozzarella, and plenty of fresh basil. I'll be happy until the dinner hour. This salad is super, super easy to make. Slice the tomatoes, cover with a bit of cheese, then top with basil, olive oil, and balsamic vinegar. I suspect even the most kitchen-challeneged cook should be able to complete this dish :) Summer is the best time to make it, because let's face it- garden fresh tomatoes are the bomb.com and supermarket tomatoes in the dead of winter are, well, mealy. They just don't have the flavor of summer tomatoes. So make this today with your summer bounties!

Happy Thursday friends! One more day till a long, holiday weekend! :)

Ingredients (serves 1):

2 medium sized tomatoes, thinly sliced

5-6 fresh mozzarella balls, halved (ciliegine-size)

Handful of basil leaves

1 tbsp olive oil

1 tbsp balsamic vinegar

salt and pepper (to taste)

Directions:

1. Place sliced tomatoes on a plate. Place cheese halves on top of tomatoes. Top with a basil leaf.

2. In a small bowl, whisk olive oil and vinegar together. Drizzle desired amount of dressing over salad. Salt and pepper to taste. Serve immediately. 

Printable Recipe

Looking for other tomato, mozzarella, and basil dishes? Try these!

Rotini with Salsa di Limone

Pizza Margherita

Grilled Tomato-Basil Bread

Linked to: Weekend Potluck, Foodie Friday, Foodie Friends Friday Linky Party, Treasure Box Tuesday

10 Summer Perfect Salads

It's Monday again. Hard to believe I've been away from the blog for a whole week. You would think a week was enough time to prepare a post, but then you would discover the reason school and I didn't get along. And the reason for that would be procrastination. I was lazy all weekend, so lazy I couldn't bother to point and shoot with that camera thingy. So here it is, Monday morning. I'm bright-eyed and bushy-tailed with no material to write on. The great thing about being a food blogger is that I've got troves of recipes to bring forth from the archives. Well, maybe not troves, but you get the idea. So I'll slink off into the shadows with my camera, to practice with my photography light. With any luck, I'll have new material for tomorrow. Without further adieu, lets jump right in!

Tomato Cucumber Mozzarella Salad- This is one of my favorite summer salads. It's a great way to use those summer bounties of tomatoes and cucumbers. Fresh mozzarella gives this salad a creamy twist, and you'd never know the dressing is simply lime juice and olive oil. This salad is a house favorite around here.

Buffalo Chicken Salad- Why wouldn't you want to eat this salad? Crispy, pan-fried chicken, brushed with spicy buffalo sauce. Paired with a creamy blue cheese dressing, this main-dish salad is also man-friendly. 

Chicken Caesar Pasta Salad- A combination of 2 of my favorite food items- pasta and Caesar salad. Making your own Caesar dressing out of Greek yogurt makes for a flavorful salad minus the calories and heavy-handed preservatives. Adding chewy pasta to this salad makes it unforgettable. 

SW Chopped Salad with Creamy Cilantro Dressing- Let me make this clear- I heart cilantro. I love it! There's something so magical about that first chop into a bunch of freshly picked cilantro. The smell that's released is fresh, delicious, and decidedly Latin. This creamy dressing really ties together this colorful, crunchy salad.

Chicken Bacon Avocado Salad- Do you like chicken? Bacon? Avocado? Blue cheese? Raspberry vinaigrette? Put all of these ingredients together, and you have a salad you'll be thinking about for days. Did I say thinking? I meant craving :)

California Cobb Salad- There's no reason not to make this main-dish salad. It's full of of the good stuff. Lots of protein from lean chicken breast and hard-boiled egg. Good fats from the avocado. Plenty of tomato and lettuce. And just enough bacon bits to make life interesting. Tie all of this together with a tangy Italian dressing, and I'll guarantee you won't be hungry after dinner. 

Mediterranean Falafel Salad- Break out of the box. Falafel is healthy, flavorful, and extremely affordable. Pair falafel patties with this Mediterranean salad for a meal-time adventure. Once you're a falafel convert, try it in pitas as a sandwich!

Chicken and Black Bean Salad- This is my Taco Salad without ground beef. This salad has a decidedly Mexican flair with its lime vinaigrette flavored with coriander, chili powder, and cumin. Flavorful chicken, creamy black beans, crunchy peppers and lettuce... I'm starting to get hungry :)

Greek Salad with Shrimp- What's a salad list without Greek salad? The hubby often asks if I could visit anywhere in Europe, where would I like to go? I often reply Greece. Gorgeous beach views, Mediterranean-inspired weather, a plethora of history, and Greek food? Yes, please!  Cucumbers, tomatoes, kalamata olives, pepperoncinis, feta, and succulent shrimp- only the best combination ever. I'll keep making this until I can experience true Greek food for myself.

Apple Walnut Salad with Poppyseed Dressing- This will become your go-to salad dressing if you make it. I promise you it will. We consistently have a bottle of this in our fridge at all times. It's the most amazing and flavorful homemade dressing I've ever made. I can't talk this dressing up enough, you must try it for yourself. Pair the dressing with this salad, or heck, pair it with any salad. The dressing is extremely versatile, it works with almost any ingredient you can think of to throw on a salad. Just trust me on this one. 

Hopefully I've given everyone some salad ideas. In the meantime, I'll be channeling my energy towards producing some new photographs. In between making cookies,  of course, since that's on my agenda as well. My house, cookie-less, just doesn't feel the same.

Happy Monday friends! Have a great week!

Linked to: Treasure Box Tuesdays

Greek Salad Sandwiches with Hummus

Happy Friday! 

Looking back at this month's post, I've just realized how light my July offerings have been. Almost every recipe involves minimal cooking and work. That's because it's the middle of freakin' July! Who wants to be sweating over the stove, stuffing their head in an oven when it's 90+ degrees out? Who wants to put heavy, complicated food in their bellies when they are (most likely) already hot, sweaty, and uncomfortable? Not this girl, and certainly not her cantankerous hubby. We live on sandwiches, light pastas, summer soups, and grilled chicken in the summer. And fresh vegetables. LOTS of fresh vegetables.

And speaking of fresh vegetables, these sandwiches take advantage of numerous summer bounties. I used tomato and cucumber from my garden, but if you grow lettuce and onions, you can grab those from your own private stash as well. I was really surprised at how much I liked this vegetarian sandwich. Vegetarian sandwiches are always tricky. To me, sandwiches always seemed to be the perfect vehicle for succulent meat paired with melty cheese. Like a cheesesteak. Mmmmmm. Great. Now I want a cheesesteak, and it's 7:00 in the morning. Sheesh. But, like I was saying, veggie sandwiches are hard to pull off. This sandwich, I'm happy to report, works. Between the marinated onions and olives, paired with hummus, you get plenty of flavor and moistness. Pile it high with lettuce, tomato, and cucumber and you've got plenty of filling. And it all works together. I've actually gone back and made these for lunch at the hubby's request since first serving them.

What I love about this sandwich is the possibility to play with it. Start with the bread and the hummus, and you could fill the sandwich with anything else that goes good with hummus. And what doesn't go good with hummus?

Not a whole lot, friends. Not a whole lot.

One idea that's particularly enticing to me would be to fill the sandwiches with roasted veggies like zucchinis, eggplant, yellow squash, and/or carrots. Yum! Grilled chicken would be fantastic as well. And of course, a sprinkle of feta never hurts.

Straight from my garden. Oh yeah! Aren't they beautiful? Garden-fresh produce tastes so amazing compared to the mealy mush you get from the grocery store. 

When I'm not making hummus to photograph for the blog, I put it straight into tupperware. That's how I roll :)

Now for some exciting news! Shortly after the hubby and I got engaged, he was laid off and we started our marriage in a serious budget crisis. Needless to say, we sacrificed our honeymoon in order to save that money for when we needed it. Well, we've decided to really celebrate our 5-year anniversary, and take our honeymoon to Cancun! I'm so excited! We booked our trip yesterday for the end of October. Now, all we have to do is cross our fingers our passports are ready in time (we mailed them off on Monday to be renewed) and pray there's not a hurricane in October. I have a feeling this trip is really going to motivate my workouts! 7 days in a bikini? Gym time required. 

It's going to be awesome sauce. Yep, that's right. Awesome sauce.

Have a great weekend everyone!

Ingredients (makes 2 sandwiches):

1/3 cup red onion, thinly sliced

10-11 Kalamata olives, minced

2 tbsp olive oil

1 tbsp red wine vinegar

2 Ciabatta rolls

1/2 cup Hummus

1/2 cucumber, thinly sliced

1 small tomato, thinly sliced

1 cup romaine lettuce, chopped

2 tbsp feta, crumbled

Directions:

1. Combine onion, olives, oil, and vinegar in a small bowl. Whisk to thoroughly mix. Set aside and allow to marinate while preparing the rest of the sandwiches. 

2. Slice Ciabatta rolls in half. Place facing up in oven under broiler. Broil for 1-2 minutes, or until bread is lightly toasted. Remove from heat.

3. Spread about 1/4 cup hummus on each Ciabatta roll. On top half, spread onion and olive mixture. On bottom half, layer with lettuce, tomato, and cucumber. Top cucumber with 1 tbsp of feta. Sandwich halves together, and serve immediately. 

Printable Recipe

Recipe adapted from Skinnytaste.

Looking for other sandwich recipes? Try these!

Turkey Pesto Avocado Sandwiches

Buffalo Chicken Mozzarella Melts

Grilled Heirloom Tomato Caprese Sandwiches

Linked to: Weekend Potluck, Foodie Friday, Treasure Box Tuesdays

Spicy Thai Peanut Salad with Chicken

I love this salad.

That's an understatement. I gobble this salad up. I can't believe I haven't shared this recipe yet, because I've been making it for a couple of years. I make it every couple of months or so, because I start to think about it and crave it. It's a combination of the pasta and the spicy, creamy dressing that's the draw for me.

As I mentioned, I've been making this for years. The first time I made it was so long ago that I don't even remember when it was. All I remember is that I made it for the first time in my apartment in Beaverton, OR. I believe the hubby and I (pre-marriage) had been living together for about a year. Maybe a little longer. Side note- I'm going to add that the hubby and I moved in together after dating for all of 2 months. Yeah, we were those crazy kids. My point is, even though we'd been living together for awhile, we still didn't know each other that well. It's taken 8 years for us to know each other like we do, you can imagine at Year 1 there was still a lot to learn. So, I make my salad for dinner and I'm all excited to share it with my (at the time) live-in boyfriend. He comes home, presumably from a long day, and was incensed by green onion, raw carrot, and a cold pasta salad with peanut butter dressing. I was horrified. How was I to know I'd combined all the things he hates most in one salad? LOL. I laugh now, because it's a pretty funny memory. Needless to say, he calmed down, tried some salad, realized it was pretty good, and fell in love. The rest is history.

This is a great salad to keep in the fridge for quick meals. The recipe makes a lot, which means I have lunches made for the week. It keeps well, so you really can eat on it for a week. Unless you have a big family, which in that case you better increase the recipe :)

It's Monday! Did everyone have a great weekend? We sure did! It was beautiful and sunny, and I soaked up every second of it. The hubby borrowed a tractor from a friend, and tilled up our entire backyard. I'm still not sure how I feel about this, because the backyard is mud again. We're heading into 2 days of rain, so we probably won't be laying grass seed till after this system passes. Stupid mud.

Oh, we did have some excitement around here yesterday. Our neighbor about a half mile to a mile down the road set his whole hillside on fire. Yep, the hillside. We knew something was up when smoke started to envelop the yard and the fire department went screaming by. I'm left shaking my head, as we've been on a Red Flag warning for days. A Red Flag warning not to burn between the hours of 6 am and 6 pm. Honestly, if people aren't going to follow simple rules, I believe they should be required to either make a donation to the fire department or pay the fireman to come out and deal with their ignorance. I'm very irritated with this incident, if you couldn't tell.

Hey, I had to close all my windows because of the smoke! That's a lot of fresh air I missed out on. It'd be enough to make you cranky too. Ok, I kid, I kid :)

Have a great day folks!

Ingredients (serves 6):

10 ounces spaghetti, cooked to package directions (you could sub any long noodle, such as soba or rice)

1 lb cooked chicken, shredded (I used leftover rotisserie chicken)

1 cup carrot, shredded

1/2 cup green onion, sliced

1/2 cup peanuts, roughly chopped

1/3 cup low-sodium chicken broth

1/3 cup creamy peanut butter

2 tbsp honey

1 tbsp ground ginger

1 tbsp soy sauce

1 garlic clove, minced

1 heaping tsp crushed red pepper

Directions:

1. In a large bowl, combine cooked pasta with chicken, carrot, onion, and peanuts.

2. In a small bowl, combine chicken broth through crush red pepper. Whisk to combine.

3. Drizzle dressing over salad. Toss to combine. Serve at room temp, or cold from the fridge. 

Recipe adapted from Cooking Light.

Linked to: Weekend Potluck, Foodie Friday

Traditional Greek Salad

I'm going to share one of my favorite recipes today. In fact, as I was looking through recipes I've already covered, I couldn't believe I hadn't shared this recipe before. It's one I've been making since I first started cooking, and one I've continued to make. If it ain't broke, don't fix it. Greek Salad was one of my first introductions into Greek food, and it helped me realize how much I love the Mediterranean diet. Lots of tomatoes-check. Olive oil- check. Cheese- check. Marinated meats- check. Olives- check please! Greek food (at least what I make at the house!) is always fresh, bright, and freakin' delicious. Sometimes I make Greek Salad to serve alongside Chicken Soulvaki, sometimes (such as this) I serve it with hummus and naan. It's an amazingly versatile salad.

It's also an incredibly healthy salad. Honestly, it's mostly vegetables with some cheese and olives to complete the dish. The dressing is olive oil emulsified with lemon juice. There's nothing to not like about this salad. It keeps in the fridge for a good 4 days, however it rarely lasts that long at my house. I've usually scarfed it down by then. It's convenient to have in the fridge, and be able to grab a portion here or there. I've also been known to eat this as an after-dinner snack. One that never makes me feel guilty :)

Well, it's Friday friends. Does anyone have any exciting plans for the weekend? I woke up to a monsoon this morning! I'm enjoying my coffee, and thanking my lucky stars I went for a long run outside yesterday. You won't see me out there today! I take it back, I do have to go to the grocery store. I might get a little bit rained on yet. The only thing I ask for is that the rain is gone tomorrow! The hubby, I, and a couple of friends are doing a 5K for a local animal shelter tomorrow, and it would be swell if it wasn't raining... well, cats and dogs. Haha, I just couldn't resist that one! I hear my friends in Oregon have been dealing with a typical Willamette Valley spring aka. rain all day, everyday, for weeks. I guess I'm thankful we only get one of those days every once in awhile. Sorry Oregonians, you know what they say. April showers bring... June/July flowers :)

Ok, I changed that phrase to represent how I feel about spring in Oregon :)

Have a great weekend everyone!

Ingredients (serves 6):

4 large tomatoes, deseeded and chopped
1 large cucumber, chopped
1/4 cup red onion, grated (you could chop here, however the hubby hates raw onion texture, so I grate to change the onion texture)
1/4 cup kalamata olives, halved
1/4 cup parsley, minced
1/2 cup feta cheese, crumbled
1/4 cup olive oil
1/4 cup lemon juice
1/2 tsp dried oregano
salt and pepper

Directions:

1. In a large salad bowl, combine tomatoes through feta cheese.
2. In a small bowl, combine olive oil, lemon juice, and oregano. Whisk thoroughly to emulsify the dressing.
3. Drizzle dressing over salad. Toss to combine. Salt and pepper to taste. Serve immediately. Stores in fridge up to 4 days.

Recipe adapted from Sunset.

Linked to: Weekend Potluck, Foodie Friday

Shrimp & Artichoke Pasta Salad

This pasta salad was totally born out of laziness.

I didn't want to go to the store. I didn't want to do much more than boil some pasta and some shrimp. I did not want to spend quality time with my knife and cutting board.

I was willing to raid the pantry and freezer. I was willing to boil water. I was willing to do a couple of chops. And do those things I did...

I must say, this pantry salad turned out to be just what the doctor ordered. I used a recipe from a Japanese blog as inspiration, and put my own spin on it. I was very hesitant to put salami in a salad with shrimp, it just seemed weird. Have no fear, weird it is not. This is one of those salads that has to be served completely cold. I was not fond of it when it was warm, or at room temperature. Straight from fridge to plate for me. I also found that it needed a mandatory chilling period after making to allow the flavors to mellow and blend. Absolutely mandatory. Do not skip it. 

If you are a pasta salad fan, you are going to love this salad. It's colorful, perfectly salty thanks to the kalamata olives and brined artichokes, and it keeps well in the fridge. I ate this most of last week for lunch. Pasta salads are one of my favorite make-ahead lunches. If you don't mind eating the same thing for lunch a couple days in a row (like me!) a pasta salad is the perfect dish to have in the fridge for a quick, delicious lunch. Of course, it could just be that insane love of pasta I have.

Now, I'm going to give you all a preview of what I've got on tap for next week...

Next week is going to be "Smoothie Week" here on the blog! After my brother and sister-in-law went home, I was left with a surplus of fruit and yogurt. Some of that fruit was bananas that were getting riper by the day. Can you guess where they went? Straight into the freezer, you are correct! So I have fruit, frozen bananas, yogurt... What else would be crossing my mind? I'm really excited, I've already completed 2 out of the 5 smoothies. They were so yummy, I can't wait to make the rest and share with everyone! I think the little blogging break did me well, I'm full of food-bloggy ideas now. Bloggy just happens to be the latest word I made up :)

Happy Monday everyone! I hope you all have a fantastic week!

Ingredients:

2 tsp kosher salt

10 oz dried rotini pasta

1/2 lb large shrimp, peeled and tails removed

1/8 cup red onion, finely minced

1 (14.5) oz can of quartered artichoke hearts, drained

1/4 cup kalamata olives, halved

1/3 cup salami, thinly sliced

1 tomato, deseeded and diced

2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

2 tbsp white wine vinegar

1/2 tsp sugar

1/2 tsp dijon mustard

3 tbsp parsley, minced

salt and pepper, to taste

garnish- shredded asiago cheese

Directions:

1. In a large pot, bring water to boil. When water is about to boil, add salt. Once boiling, add pasta to water. Cook according to package directions. Remove from water with a pasta scoop, placing in a stainer, leaving salty water in the pot to boil the shrimp. Run pasta under cold water. Once cool, add to a large salad bowl. Add shrimp to boiling water. Boil 90 seconds to 3 minutes, until shrimp are pink and cooked through. Remove shrimp to strainer, run under cold water. When cool, add shrimp to salad bowl.
2. Add red onion through tomato to the salad bowl.
3. In a small bowl, whisk together the olive oil, vinegar, sugar, and mustard. Drizzle dressing over salad. Add parsley to bowl. Toss salad to combine. Salt and pepper to taste. Chill in the fridge for a minimum of 3 hours.
4. Divide pasta salad among bowls. Top with asiago cheese. Serve immediately.

Recipe adapted from Foodjimoto

Linked to: Weekend Potluck, Foodie Friday

Roasted Potato, Bacon, and Spinach Salad

Happy Friday! You've made it to the end of "Week of Salads". Congratulations, you've earned a pat on the back and a big glass wine! 

I've saved a truly comforting salad for last. That's right, I called this comfort food. Crisp-on-the-outside/ creamy-on-the-inside potatoes, salty bacon, toasty pine nuts, savory parmesan cheese... and some spinach. Honestly, once you've dressed the salad in the bacon vinaigrette, just about anyone is going to want to eat this salad. It's perfect for a cold winter's day, much like the last 500 days of this winter have been. Seriously, we are looking at 0.35 of an inch of ice on Sunday night, and possibly 10-12 inches of snow on Monday. Argh. It's the winter that feels like it's never going to end. I'm going to have to do a "Week of Soups" at this rate. That's actually not a bad idea...

The hubby and I are off on a mini-vacay this weekend. We are leaving our troubles (and dogs!) at home and tossing our hair to the wind. To the very cold, very arctic, polar vortex wind. So, we'll be riding into the sunset with the windows rolled up and earmuffs on, no biggie. I still plan on having a great time, no matter Mother Nature's attempts to derail my plans. I'm not feeling too worried at this point about this latest storm, the hubby and I plan on being back long before it starts. 

Gizmo, on the other hand, has already confessed he's having doggy nightmares of cold, snowy paws :)

Have a great weekend everyone!

Ingredients (serves 4):

1 lb baking potatoes, peeled and cut into wedges

1 tsp olive oil

1 tsp garlic powder

1 tsp rosemary

1 tsp salt

1/2 tsp black pepper

4 slices thick-cut bacon, chopped

1/8 cup red wine vinegar

2 tbsp olive oil

3 tsp sugar

2 garlic cloves, minced

1 (10 oz) package of fresh baby spinach

4 tbsp pine nuts, toasted

4 tbsp parmesan cheese, grated

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 400º. Coat a baking sheet with cooking spray. Set aside.

2. In a large bowl, combine potatoes through black pepper. Toss to thoroughly coat. Distribute potatoes in a single layer on baking sheet. Bake in preheated oven 45-50 minutes, or until browned and crispy. Keep warm.

3. In a large skillet, render bacon. Cook until bacon is browned and crisped. Remove with a slotted spoon, drain on a paper towel. Set aside.

4. Whisk vinegar through garlic into the skillet. Cook 3-4 minutes or until thoroughly heated.

5. Combine spinach and dressing. Toss salad to coat spinach. Distribute spinach among plates. Top salads with potatoes, reserved bacon, pine nuts, and parmesan cheese. Serve immediately.

Recipe adapted from Southern Living.