Wednesday, July 13, 2011

Spinach Mandarin Poppy Seed Salad

The recipe may be stolen, but the picture is by yours truly (as are all my other pictures). See? I'm not ALL thief. :)

I haven't been in much of a "cooking new recipes" mood lately. It's summer - I'd rather play than spend an hour slaving in the kitchen before dinner!

So I'm (once again) presenting another one of my favorite recipes I've gleaned from the Our Best Bites cookbook. I know it's easy to just go get it from there, but at least this way, I may point someone (and by that I mean the two people that read this blog) to the easiness and yumminess that is this salad.

Our family is small (three of us that eat big-people food), so I pretty much halved everything in the recipe below. The original makes 8-10 side dish servings. I also substituted chopped up mini cucumbers for avocados since my hubs doesn't like avocados. Like I said, it was really easy to throw together (especially if you just cook the bacon in the microwave), and tasted just like I expect summer foods to taste. Sweet. Tangy. Crisp. Light. Perfect. :)


Spinach Mandarin Poppy Seed Salad

8 ounces (1/2 bag) baby spinach
1/2-1 head Romaine lettuce, chopped
1/2 thinly sliced medium red onion
1 large avocado, cubed
8 oz. mozzarella or Swiss cheese, shredded
1 (12-oz.) package bacon, cooked and crumbled
1 (12-oz.) can Mandarin oranges, drained
Poppy seed dressing, to taste (I made it from scratch, but it would be just as easy to buy a bottle of the pre-made stuff)

Combine all ingredients except dressing in a large bowl. When ready to serve, toss with desired amount of salad dressing and serve immediately.

If you anticipate leftovers, just let your eaters dress their own salads because the dressing will make the greens wilt.

Wednesday, July 6, 2011

Taco Pizza



This recipe was posted on Pioneer Woman a while back. We tried it one night using my favorite homemade pizza dough recipe and loved it. I really like the idea of taco ingredients on a pizza! I think what really made this recipe, though, was the fried corn tortilla strips. It gave it an extra bit of crunch and reminded me a bit of the tortilla strips on Cafe Rio/Costa Vida's salad. In fact, now that I think about it, this recipe would me amazing with Cafe Rio/Costa Vida/Our Best Bites (phew!) Creamy Lime-Cilantro Dressing drizzled on it instead of the sour cream.

Yep, I just may have to remake this recipe this week using the salad dressing. (I just happen to have half of a batch in my fridge just waiting to be used.) Sigh...my mouth is watering just thinking about it...  :)


Taco Pizza

Favorite pizza dough recipe, prepared and rolled out
1 can (14-oz.) black beans
1 tsp. taco seasoning
4 whole corn tortillas, sliced into thin strips
½ cup canola oil, for frying
1 cup grated cheddar cheese
1 cup grated Monterey Jack cheese
1 head green leaf lettuce, sliced/shredded thin
2 whole ripe tomatoes, diced
½ cups cilantro leaves
¼ cups sour cream
3 Tbsp. hot sauce
(Or substitute the two previous ingredients with your favorite creamy salad dressing. :))