Paula Deen's Avacado, corn and tomato "salsa"

Corn, Tomato and avacado salad

This is one of my famiy's favorite summer appetizer/snacks! It is so fresh and simple to make too!

Ingredients:

1 pint of cherry of grape tomatoes (halved)
1 avacado (diced)
4 ears of fresh corn (cut off the cob)
1 medium red onion (diced)

Dressing:

1 Tabls. fresh lime juice
1 teasp. lime zest
2 Tabls. olive oil
1/4 cup fresh cilantro (cut up)
salt and pepper (to taste)

1. Boil corn until tender and crisp (I usually boil 10 minutes with lid off and then cover another 10 minutes.
 2. Mix all vegetables together in a glass dish. In a separate bowl combine all ingredients for the dressing and whisk together to combine all ing.
3. Add dressing to vegetables right before serving.

NOTE: you can add the corn while it is still hot and it will make the avacado kind of like a paste which I like a lot but you can also cool the corn and add once cool. Both ways are great! 

I serve this with tortilla chips but you can eat by itself too! :)

Ice Cream Sundae Dessert 

This is the PERFECT summer treat!! Absolutely delicious and takes minutes to make!! Hope you like it as much as my family does! Yummy!!! :)

Ingredients:
24 ice cream sandwiches ( I use the reduced fat kind and they are great)
1 CAN on Hershey's chocolate syrup
3/4 cup salted peanuts  (optional)
whipped topping ( 12 oz)
3/4 cup peanut butter

1. In a 13x9 dish layer half of the ice cream sandwiches ( may have to cut to fit one of them)
2. Pour the chocolate from the can into a microwave safe bowl and heat until hot (around 1-2 minutes)
3. Stir the peanut butter into the hot chocolate and set aside to cool.
4. On top of the ice cream sandwiches spread a layer of  half of the cool whip
5. Pour half of the cooled chocolate and PB mixture on top of the cool whip layer.
6. Sprinkle desired amt. of peanuts here if desired.
7. Repeat layers of ice cream sand, cool whip, chocolate mix and peanuts

Breakfast "Spanish Tortilla'" 

This recipe is my husband's creation! He combined two recipes he saw on tv recently. I must say it is quite tasty and it's always nice to be on the receiving end of a nice meal. :) 

Ingredients: (for 2) -

4 eggs
1 unpeeled white potato  (diced into uniformly SMALL squares)
1/3 of a white onion (diced )
olive oil (around 1 Tablespoon) 
2 dollups of sour cream (we used red. fat)
salt and pepper liberally

1.Saute the potatoes and onions in the olive oil for 10-15 minutes or until just shy of being tender on medium.high heat.
2.Meanwhile, beat the eggs, salt and pepper and sour cream by hand or with a mixer for 7-10 minutes  (sounds long         but that's what makes these taste unique).
3. Remove potatoes from heat for a minute or so.
4. Then, turn temperature down to LOW heat.
5.Be sure to make sure the potatoes are evenly spread across the pan. Then, pour egg mixture over top.
6. Cook on LOW until eggs are set (firm to the touch but look a little wet in the middle) -around 7-10 minutes or so.
7. TIP- Run spatula around the edge of the egg to loosen from the pan and lay a plate on top of the pan. Then, flip over on to a plate and enjoy!

Grilled Steak Salad

Grilled Steak Salad: This is the perfect summer meal! We are trying to cut down on white flour carbs for dinner so we made this salad. It is full of protein and fresh ingredients! Do yourself a big favor and fire up the grill to make this. You won't be disappointed! :)

Ingredients: (servings - 2)

-Small head of Romaine lettuce
- fresh cherry tomatoes (halved) - we used 5 tomatoes per salad)
- 2 soft or hard boiled eggs (halved)
- 1 ripe avocado (thinly sliced)
- 4 pieces of bacon - fried nice and crisp and then crumbled
- 10-12 oz. NY strip or Flank steak- grilled to medium doneness- then cut into around 1/2 inch think strips or however you like it!
- 1 cup sugar snap peas ( I cut them in half to make them smaller)
- 1/2 cup reduced fat fresh bleu cheese or gorgonzola
- your favorite low cal/low fat honey mustard dressing (we used Paula Deen's Vidalia onion, honey mustard dressing- believe it or not she has a low fat dressing! ( 60 cal. and 3.5 grams of fat per serving! ) :)

Divide all ingredients on to 2 separate plates. Keep all ingredients separate for a pretty presentation (see pic above) Drizzle the dressing on top of the salad and enjoy!

Stuffed Peppers with a little something extra!

I had completely forgotten about stuffed peppers until my sister mentioned that she had made them for dinner recently. So, I decided to try them out again and what a nice and easy weeknight meal! You can even make the filling ahead of time and stuff them the night you want to have them and proceed from there. :)

Ingredients

• 4 large green peppers
• 1 pound ground beef
• 1/2 cup chopped onion
• 1/2 Tablespoon minced garlic
  
• 2 (15 ounce) cans tomato sauce, divided
• 2 cups cooked rice
• 1 teaspoon salt
• Adobo seasoning (1 teasp.)
  
• 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1/2 teaspoon pepper
• 1/4 cup parmesean cheese (sprinkle kind)
  
• 1/3 cup Panko (Japanese breadcrumbs) or regular breadcrumbs
  

Directions

1. Cut tops off peppers and remove seeds. Place peppers in a large saucepan and cover with water. Bring to a boil; cook for 3 minutes. Drain and immediately place in ice water; invert on paper towels.
2. In a small skillet, cook beef, garlic and onion over medium heat until meat is no longer pink; drain. Remove from the heat. Stir in 1 cup tomato sauce, rice, salt, garlic powder, Adobo seasoning and pepper. Spoon into peppers.
3. Mix Panko breadcrumbs and parmesean cheese in a small dish.
   
4. Place stuffed peppers in an ungreased shallow 2-qt. baking dish. Drizzle remaining tomato sauce on top of peppers. Then, sprinkle with the breadcrumb mixture. Cover with foil, and bake at 350 degrees F for 25-30 minutes or until peppers are tender.
5. Enjoy!
   

Summer Tomatoes with Mozzarella and Fresh Basil: Need a SUPER easy appetizer in the summer time? This is delicious! It is healthy, fresh, and easy to prepare. :)

Ingredients:

1 ball on LOW- MOISTURE mozzarella (we like Trader Joe's best but whatever you like is fine)
1 large fresh tomato - (best to get from a garden or a farm stand nearby if not get the fresh vine ripened from the grocery store)
1 bunch of fresh basil
drizzle of olive oil (around 2 tablespoons)
salt and pepper

Layer your cheese, and tomato alternating the two. Then , tear up basil and sprinkle all over the plate and on the tomatoes and cheese. Finally, drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Does it get any easier than that? :) Enjoy!

Hummingbird Cake (or as we call it Todd's birthday cake ;) ) - My husband request this every year for his birthday (hence the candles on the cake! ;) They say it is called "Hummingbird Cake" because when you eat it you say " emmm emmm" as you eat it. I have to say, it will make you say "emm emm" bc it is delicious! Give it a try!

Ingredients:

• 3 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 cups sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 3 eggs, beaten
• 3/4 cup vegetable oil
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 can (8oz) crushed pineapple WITH JUICE
  
• 1 cup chopped pecans
• 3 medium mashed ripe bananas
• 
  
• Cream Cheese Frosting:
• 8 ounces cream cheese, softened
• 1/2 cup butter, room temperature
• 12-14 oz of confectioners' sugar (I use 12 oz.)
  
• 1/8 tsp. vanilla extract
  
• around 3 Tablespoons of fresh squeezed lemon juice
  
• 1/2 Cup chopped pecans

Preparation:

Preheat oven to 350°. Sift or mix (if you don't have a sifter) flour, sugar, salt, baking soda and cinnamon together into mixing bowl. Add eggs and oil to the dry ingredients. Stir with a wooden spoon until ingredients are moistened. Stir in vanilla, pineapple and 1 cup pecans. Stir in the bananas. Spoon the batter into 3 well-greased and floured 9-inch round cake pans. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes,or until a wooden pick or cake tester inserted in center comes out clean. Cool in pan for 10 minutes, then turn onto cooling rack. Cool completely before frosting.

Cream Cheese Frosting:
Combine cream cheese and butter; cream until smooth. Slowly, addd powdered sugar, beating with an electric mixer until light and fluffy. Stir in fresh squeezed lemon juice.

Frost each layer (tops only) . Sprinkle top evenly with the 1/2 to 1 cup chopped pecans.

Enjoy! :)