Pai Mai (Chopped Cabbage and Chicken Salad)

Emily made this tonight for us and it was delicious! Thanks Emily!

1 head of cabbage, finely chopped
2 Tbsp. Sesame seeds
1/2 c. roasted almonds, chopped
1 chicken breast, diced and cooked in Teriyaki sauce
1 pkg. Ramen noodles
Seasoning salt (to taste)

Dressing:

6 Tbsp. sugar
1/4 c. olive oil
1/4 c. apple cider vinegar

2 squirts lemon juice
salt and pepper (to taste)

In a large bowl combine cabbage, sesame seeds, almonds and chicken. In a separate, small bowl combine sugar, oil, vinegar, lemon juice, salt and pepper. Pour oil mixture into cabbage mixture and toss until cabbage is well coated. Refrigerate the cabbage mixture in the fridge to let all the flavors settle in. Break up Ramen noodles into pieces and place on baking sheet. Sprinkle seasoning salt over noodles and broil for about 1 minute (keep a close eye on them so they don't burn). Toss salad mixture again then top with noodles immediately before serving (if you do it earlier the noodles will get soggy).

Baked Boneless Buffalo Chicken Salad

A more guiltless version of my previous Buffalo Chicken Salad recipe...

1 Lb chicken
1 bottle Frank's Buffalo Chicken sauce
lettuce
3 hard boiled eggs, peeled and sliced
avocado, peeled, pitted and sliced
1/2 c. grilled corn kernels (optional)
cheese, shredded
sunflower seeds
ranch or blue cheese dressing, to taste.. you can use low fat dressing if you are into that kind of thing.

Heat oven to 375-degrees. Cover chicken in Buffalo Chicken sauce and place on a greased pan. Place in oven and bake about 25 minutes or until chicken is cooked through. Cut chicken into slices and place in a large bowl. Stir in more Buffalo Chicken sauce until chicken is well coated. Shred lettuce and place on plate. Add chicken, egg, avocado, corn, cheese, sunflower seeds and top with ranch or blue cheese dressing.

Grape & Walnut Salad

Jared made this for me after I got home from my trip to Arizona. He had the salad before at a place called Cafe Trio in Salt Lake City and decided that he wanted to re-create it for me. It was a delicious salad! Once again I am impressed with the culinary skills of my husband. It has the perfect blend of bitter, sweet, crunchy, and juicy.

1 c. walnuts
1/2 c. sugar
3-4 c. fresh mixed greens (or about 1 bag)
1/2 c. grapes, sliced in half
1/2 c. crumbled Gorgonzola cheese
balsamic vinaigrette

Place walnuts and sugar in a skillet over medium heat, stirring constantly until the sugar dissolves into a light brown liquid and evenly coats the walnuts. Remove walnuts from skillet, and spread them out on a sheet of aluminum foil to cool. Place mixed greens in a bowl or on individual plates and sprinkle with grapes, Gorgonzola, and candied walnuts. Add balsamic vinaigrette to taste.

Tasty Grape Salad

... and we're back! We are finally settled into our new place in Washington and I can start posting recipes again (woohoo!) This recipe I actually got from my friend, Katelyn (who happens to be my sister's sister-in-law AND my hair stylist). She made this for a family get-together and I stole the recipe from her :) I love this recipe because it is delicious, yet easy (the best kind of recipe in my opinion). Thanks Katelyn!!! (You can do light cream cheese and sour cream and it is still really good).

Large bag of grapes--red, green or both (enough for about a double-layer of grapes in a 9x13 pan)

Creamy mixture:
8 oz. cream cheese
1/3 c. sugar
8 oz. sour cream
1 tsp. vanilla

Topping:
1 heaping cup Grape Nuts
2/3 c. brown sugar
1/2 c. coconut flakes

Cream together cream cheese and sugar, then fold in sour cream. Stir grapes in with the creamy mixture then spread out in a 9x13 glass pan and refrigerate.
RIGHT BEFORE SERVING: Combine topping ingredients well and add over top of the grapes.

Mom's Famous Potato Salad

***This post is dedicated to my Mom. Happy Mother's Day Mom! Thanks for always taking care of us when we visit and for always making sure there is good food in our tummies. :) ***

My Mom always makes this potato salad at family picnics, BBQs, or other gatherings and it ALWAYS gets polished. It is my favorite potato salad in the world! Period. I actually have never had potato salad that even comes CLOSE to being as good as my Mom's. My Mom just knows how to make it right. :) Love you, Mom!!!

This is for a LARGE batch.. if you have a crowd of less than 8 people you might want to half this recipe:

10 medium potatoes
Dozen eggs, hard boiled
salt & pepper to taste
1 c. Mayo (or Miracle Whip)
1 c. sour cream
4 Tbsp. sugar
mustard, to taste (2+ Tbsp)
1/2 c. sweet pickle relish

Boil potatoes (do not peel) for 45 minutes to 1 hour. Peel and dice potatoes AND eggs. Add salt and pepper and toss. Mix remaining ingredients separately and fold into potato mixture. Refrigerate overnight (or at least 6-8 hours).

Jill's Pasta Salad

I love this salad because you can pretty much make it any way you want. It is the perfect pasta salad for summer picnics. My cousin, Jill, makes this when our family has big get togethers and I always think of her when I make it. She is actually the one who made the pasta salad pictured! She made it for us over Easter (it always tastes better when someone else makes it, I don't know what it is)!

1 (16oz) pkg. tri-colored spiral pasta, cooked, drained, and rinsed
1 (16oz) bottle Italian or Zesty Italian salad dressing

Now here's the fun part, add a few or all of the following:
artichoke hearts, chopped
diced tomatoes
olives, sliced
pepperoni, chopped
green or red onion, chopped
green and/or red bell peppers, chopped
string cheese, chopped into little circles
shredded Parmesan cheese
broccoli, chopped
baby corn, chopped
avocado, sliced

Toss pasta, dressing, and any of the other ingredients together. Wait at least 4 hours before serving (if you let it sit overnight, wait til the next day to add any of the cheeses or avocado).

Grape Chicken Pasta Salad

This salad is a family staple in the summer.  I love the savory sweet mix of it.  Great as a side dish for BBQ's!

1 pkg curly noodles, cooked

1 chicken breast, cut in pieces and cooked with a little lemon juice

1 small package sliced almonds

1 can pineapple tidbits, drained

1/2 bag of red grapes

Dressing:

1 c. sour cream

1 c. miracle whip

1 Tbsp. sugar

1/2 tsp. salt

1/2 tsp. ginger

Mix dressing and stir into the other ingredients in a large bowl.  Refrigerate at least 1 hour before serving.

Buffalo Chicken Salad

This salad is totally healthy... minus everything but the lettuce and carrots! Healthy or not, this salad is so good! This is another salad that Jared will eat... which is saying something! He is not a big salad fan. At all. Trust me, it tastes as amazing as it looks.

Boneless buffalo wings (click HERE for the recipe)
leafy green lettuce, coarsely torn or chopped
carrots, shredded
hard boiled eggs, sliced
bacon, crumbled (we just bought the pre-crumbled bacon for this one!)
olives, sliced
cheddar cheese, shredded
blue cheese crumbles

Layer or toss together all ingredients. Serve with ranch or blue cheese dressing (or your favorite salad dressing) and top with crumbled tortilla chips!

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Bowtie Chicken Caesar Salad

This is a simple, yet delicious salad!

1 head Romaine lettuce, chopped
Caesar salad dressing (about 1/4 c., but really it's to taste)
Bowtie pasta (cooked to al dente, drained and cooled)
**Marinated chicken, cooled and cubed (see below)
Cherry tomatoes (we just had regular tomatoes tonight, so we used those)
Mushrooms, sliced
Olives, sliced
Sunflower seeds (optional)
Croutons
Parmesan cheese

Toss all ingredients together in a large bowl. Top with additional parmesan cheese. Serve immediately.


This is such an easy marinated chicken recipe. One of my very favorites actually! Tastes great with salad or just by itself! Thanks Echo!




**Marinated Chicken

4 chicken breasts
1 pkg Good Seasons Italian dressing
1/2 c. olive oil
1/4 c. balsamic vinegar

*Combine all ingredients in a Ziploc bag. Marinate overnight. Grill or bake at 425 degrees for 20-25 min.

Erica's BBQ Cobb Salad

If you know my husband, you know that he's not a big fan of salad... especially as a main dish. When I told him we were having salad for dinner tonight, he moaned and groaned.. until he saw the above and started eating... and eating... and eating.
Normally, Cobb Salad has chopped deli turkey but all we had was chicken. So we BBQ-ed it, chopped it, and threw it on the salad in place of the turkey. Oh man, was it GOOD!

Lettuce, chopped
Tomatoes, chopped
Blue Cheese, crumbled
Bacon, cooked and crumbled
Cheddar cheese, shredded
BBQ-grilled chicken, chopped
Eggs, hard boiled and chopped
Avacado, chopped or sliced

Put lettuce on a plate or in a bowl and top with remaining ingredients. Serve with your favorite salad dressing. (Just look at the picture, it's easy to put together)

Coleslaw (tastes just like KFC)

I love coleslaw but hate paying $4 a pound for it. This recipe is CHEAP to make and it is SO easy! You can get 4 times the amount of coleslaw for a fraction of the price you would pay at a deli... PLUS, this tastes much better than deli coleslaw!

8 c. cabbage, finely chopped
1/4 c. shredded carrot
(or you can use a couple bags of the pre-chopped cabbage-carrot mixture)
1/3 c. sugar
1/8 tsp. salt
1/8 tsp. pepper
1 1/4 c. milk
1/2 c. mayonnaise
1/4 c. buttermilk
1 1/2 Tbsp. white vinegar
2 1/2 Tbsp. lemon juice
1 1/2 Tbsp. mustard (optional, but adds a nice flavor)

Chop up the cabbage and carrots into fine pieces. In a large bowl, combine sugar, salt, pepper, milk, mayonnaise, buttermilk, vinegar, lemon juice and mustard, and whisk until smooth. Add the cabbage and carrots. Mix well Cover and refrigerate overnight. Drain excess liquid and stir well before serving.

Summer Rotini Salad

This is one of my favorite summer salads. It's perfect for picnics!

1 pkg. tri-colored Rotini pasta (Cooked to al dente, do not overcook! Rinse with cold water.)
1/2 bottle Italian dressing, or to taste (We like to use Kraft Light Zesty Italian with Extra-virgin olive oil, 16oz)
1 Tbsp. lemon pepper (or to taste)
1-2 avocados, diced
2 tomatoes, diced (or 1 can petite diced tomatoes, drained well OR if you want to get really fancy, use sun-dried tomatoes--YUM)
2 small cans sliced olives
5 sticks of string cheese, cut into circles
1 jar quartered artichoke hearts, coarsely chopped
1/2 c. shredded Parmesan cheese (NOT grated)

Other great things you could add:
cooked chicken, seasoned and diced
chopped broccoli
green or red bell pepper
onion
mushrooms

Toss all ingredients together in a large bowl until pasta is evenly coated in dressing. For best results, cover with plastic wrap and let sit in the fridge for at least 3-4 hours.

Broccoli Salad

We love this salad, it is such a great summer side dish.
2 heads broccoli chopped in small pieces
1/2 cup bacon pieces
1/2 cup sunflower seeds
1/2 cup Craisins

Dressing:
1 cup mayonnaise
1/4 cup sugar
1 Tbsp. vinegar

Mix dressing and add to all other ingredients in a large bowl. Stir well and chill in fridge for at least an hour before serving.

Oriental Chicken Salad

Oriental Dressing:
1/3 cup honey
3 tablespoons rice vinegar
1/2 cup mayonnaise
1 Tablespoon Dijon Mustard
1/2 Teaspoon oil

Ingredients:
1 egg
3/4 cup milk
3/4 cup flour
1/2 cup cornfake crumbs
½ c. Panko Bread Crumbs
2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
3 Bonless /skinless chicken breast halves
2 cups vegetable oil (for frying)
6 cups chopped romaine letuce
1 cup red cabbage (optional)
¾ c. carrot, julienned or shredded
1 green onion chopped
½ c. sliced almonds
1 cup chow mein rice noodles

Preheat oil in deep fryer or deep pan over medium heat.
You want the temperature of the oil to be around 350 degrees.
Blend together all ingredients for dressing in a small bowl with an electric mixer.
Put dressing in refrigerator to chill while you prepare the salad.
In a small, shallow bowl beat egg, add milk, and mix well.
In another bowl, combine flour with corn flake and Panko crumbs, salt and pepper.
Cut each chicken breast into 4 or 5 long strips.
Dip each strip of chicken first into egg mixture then into the flour mixture, coating each piece completely.

Fry each chicken finger for 6-7 minutes or until coating has darkened to brown. Drain on a paper towel to get off any excess oil. (if the chicken is not quite done, place them in the oven at 350 degrees until they are completely cooked.)
Prepare salad by tossing the chopped romaine with the chopped red cabbage, and carrots.
Sprinkle sliced green onion on top of the lettuce.
Sprinkle almonds over the salad, (I carmelized the almonds with 2 tbs. sugar in a sauce pan. That made them extra crunchy and very tasty) then the chow mein noodles.
Cut the chicken into small bite-size chunks.
Place the chicken onto the salad forming a pile in the middle.
Serve with salad dressing drizzled over it or on the side.

Strawberry and Spinach Salad

This recipe is so easy and very delicious!

4-5 cups fresh spinach leaves
1-2 cups shredded green or red leafy lettuce
about 10 fresh strawberries, sliced
1/2 c. candied walnuts or pecans (an easy way to make these is to combine a bunch of walnuts or pecans in a bowl. Add 1 egg white and mix until coated evenly. Add about 1/2 c. sugar, or to taste, then sprinkle with cinnamon. Then bake for an hour at 250 degrees on a cookie sheet covered in til foil. Stir around every 15 minutes)
1/4-1/2 c. crumbled blue cheese
1/2 c. mandarin oranges (optional)

Toss all ingredients together in a large salad bowl, then serve with raspberry vinaigrette salad dressing.

Strawberry-Pretzel Jello Salad

2 cups crushed pretzel sticks
3/4 cup melted butter
3 tbsp. sugar
8 oz. cream cheese softened
1 cup sugar
8 oz. Cool Whip
1 (6oz.) pkg. stawberry Jello
2 cups boiling water
2 (10 oz.) pkgs. frozen strawberries, partially thawed

Mix first three ingredients and press in bottom of a 9 x 13 pan. Bake at 350 degrees (metal pan) or 325 degress (glass dish) for 8 minutes. Let cook completely. Bet 1 cup sugar and cream cheese. Fold in Cool Whip. Spread over pretzels. Mix Jello and water until dissolved. Add strawberries. Stir into Jello, then set aside for 10 minutes. Pour over cheese mixture. Chill.

Erica's Complete Cafe Rio Sweet Pork Salad (Copycat Recipe)

Jared and I LOVE Cafe Rio. We have tried and tried to duplicate the Cafe Rio pork salad.. and tonight.. we nailed it! It was DELICIOUS!! We have tried different sweet pork recipes but something seemed to be missing from each one.. so we combined a few and made our own! I promise, we are VERY VERY picky about our Cafe Rio pork and this tasted EXACTLY like it. We also played around with the rice, the beans, and the ranch. At dinner tonight, we felt like we were having Cafe Rio take-out. However, we liked our recipe even BETTER!!! Don't believe us? Try it out for yourself and you will see!

It really is easier than it looks. It only took me about an hour to make (after the pork was in the crock pot). The rice and beans are SUPER easy, you definitely want the beans and rice to get the whole experience! Also, be generous with the cilantro! Try it and let me know what you think! I KNOW you won't be disappointed!!

Tortillas (about 6.. we like to use the uncooked tortillas from Costco so we can fry 'em up ourselves, but regular tortillas work great too!)
Cheese
Cafe Rio Rice (click HERE)
Cafe Rio Black Beans (click HERE)
Cafe Rio Sweet Pork (click HERE)
Lettuce (NOT iceberg, use leafy green or Romaine)
Diced tomato, onion, and cilantro (pico de gallo)
Guacamole (optional)
Sour cream
Tortilla Strips (can be found by the produce section at Smith's)
Parmesan cheese
Cafe Rio Cilantro Ranch (click HERE)

Here is how we put it all together: First of all, we bought the aluminum deep-dish pans (they had these at the grocery store, you will know when you see them.. they look JUST like the Cafe Rio tins). Lay a tortilla in the bottom of the pan, sprinkle cheese on it, and put in the oven at 375 for about 5 min or until the cheese is melted. Remove from oven, add beans, rice, pork, then lettuce and a little scoop of diced tomato and onions (pico de gallo). Add guacamole (HIGHLY RECOMMENDED) and sour cream. Add crushed tortilla chips, a shake of Parmesan cheese, and top with a few cilantro leaves. Serve with the cilantro ranch dressing and there you have it!

(scroll down to see the rice, beans, pork, and ranch recipes all together...)
SWEET PORK

2 pounds pork
3 cans Coke (NOT diet)
1/4 c. brown sugar
dash garlic salt
1/4 c. water
1 can sliced green chilies
3/4 can RED enchilada sauce (I used Old El Paso brand, medium spiciness)
1 c. brown sugar

Put the pork in a heavy duty Ziploc bag to marinade. Add about a can and a half of coke and about 1/4 c. of brown sugar. Marinade for a few hours or overnight.

Drain marinade and put pork, 1/2 can of coke, water, and garlic salt in crock pot on high for about 3-4 hours (or until it shreds easily, but don't let it get TOO dry). Remove pork from crock pot and drain any liquid left in the pot. Shred pork.

In a food processor or blender, blend 1/2 can Coke, chilies, enchilada sauce and remaining brown sugar (about a cup, you can add a little more or less to taste..). If it looks too thick, add more Coke little by little.

Put shredded pork and sauce in crock pot and cook on low for 2 hours. That's it!


CILANTRO-LIME RICE

1 c. uncooked rice
1 tsp. butter or margarine
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 tsp. freshly squeezed lime juice
1 can (15 oz) chicken broth
1 cup water
1 Tbsp. freshly squeezed lime juice
2 tsp. sugar
3 tablespoons fresh chopped cilantro

In a saucepan combine rice, butter, garlic, 1 tsp. lime, chicken broth and water. Bring to a boil. Cover and cook on low 15-20 minutes, until rice is tender. Remove from heat. In a small bowl combine lime juice, sugar and cilantro. Pour over hot cooked rice and mix in as you fluff the rice.


BLACK BEANS

2 Tbsp. olive oil
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 tsp. ground cumin
1 can black beans, rinsed and drained
1 1/3 c. tomato juice
1 1/2 tsp. salt
2 Tbsp. fresh chopped cilantro

In a nonstick skillet, cook garlic and cumin in olive oil over medium heat until you can smell it. Add beans, tomato juice, and salt. Continually stir until heated through. Just before serving stir in the cilantro. (**NOTE** we added a can of corn, drained, to the beans with a dash of cumin and chili powder, it was AWESOME! We recommend doing this even though it's not "traditional Cafe Rio")


CILANTRO RANCH

1 packet TRADITIONAL Hidden Valley Ranch mix (not BUTTERMILK)
1 c. mayonnaise
1 c. buttermilk
2 tomatillos, remove husk, diced
1/2 bunch of fresh cilantro
1 clove garlic
juice of 1 lime
1 jalapeno (we like it SPICY so we kept the seeds in it, if you like it mild, just remove the seeds)

Mix all ingredients together in the blender. That's it!

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