If you don’t already know, me and my 16yr old son are starting P90x.  This also means we have to eat healthier and the easiest, best way to eat healthy during the Summer, is to take advantage of the grill (and the man cooking..haha).  It’s no secret that Olive Oil is a healthy fat so we do try to use it often on everything from grilled vegetables to salad dressings.  Of course, we buy ours at Walmart and we use the Great Value brand mostly because of price but also use Mazola brand.  Do you have a favorite that you like?

Substituting olive oil, a monounsaturated fat, for saturated fats or polyunsaturated fats can:

• Reduce blood pressure
• Inhibit the growth of some cancers
• Benefit people at risk for or with diabetes
• Lessen the severity of asthma and arthritis
• Actually help your body maintain a lower weight

Just like anything else, cooking with heat can reduce the amount of nutrients but our mentality is – ‘it’s better than butter’.  We’ve, many times, slathered butter all over our vegetables before grilling and I know that this has to be a better option. We have used the Olive Oil spray and just sprayed them! And overcooking is not recommended….as you can see, we overcooked ours just a bit but that tends to happen when you’re watering plants, talking on the phone, and jumping on the trampoline in between!

I’d love to know how you use Olive Oil!  I’ve heard you can make lip balm using it and I know there’s an Olive Oil soap that is amazing.  I’d love to try other non-food ways to use the oil. Share if you know some!

You simple pour just a little bit of Olive Oil all over the Asparagus and sprinkle with salt & pepper.  You might even toss some Parmesan cheese too after they are grilled. YUM!

Ummm, yeah, stay focused when cooking people!! Clearly overcooked but still tasted great!

Disclosure: I am an official Walmart Mom. Follow me and my fellow Walmart Moms as we share our experiences and ideas! Walmart has provided me with compensation and gift card in return for my time & efforts to create this post. My participation in this program is voluntary and my opinions are my own, always have been, always will be.

Meat and taters….that seems to be the heart of our meals most days so making sure I can make them taste good all the time becomes a challenge.  I’ve baked them with Ranch dip, mashed them with butter and cheese, and done just about everything else I can think.  One of our most favorite ways to eat taters is to pan fry them.

Our secret is to cook them in the same pan a steak has been cooked in!  I knew we had steaks the night before so I covered the pan and saved the goods for the next day.  There wasn’t much grease but all those little pieces are still there and that’s the good stuff!  I simply add some better, salt and coarse pepper and MAN, the taters soak up all that steak flavor, making the taste fantastic!! Simple I know but sometimes that’s all you need……

What is your favorite way to make taters?

My husband is a pretty great fella.  He’s always done more than what I think most husbands do and cooking is no exception.  He loves to cook breakfast for us and he loves to make his beans in the slow cooker.   We cook beans and tortillas quite often because it’s a filler and it’s cheap.   We use simple and few ingredients but it always turns out tasty.

You know, my husband taught me to cook a lot of things.  I was 16 when we first married and while I picked up a few things from my Mom, Grandma, and Mother-in-Law, it was my husband that helped me learn the basics.   Then next thing you know, we were working for a big ol’ ranch where I had to cook for 15-50 people!  My husband has always made our beans though. I’ve never had the touch I guess because mine always come out completely tasteless.  In fact, this is the first time he shared how he made them, which was super easy!   With the cooler days approaching, this will definitely warm the tummy!

We mashed ours the other day to make refried beans to serve with our Barbacoa.  They were the best refried beans I’ve ever had!

How do you make your beans?

Summer brings the heat but also brings salad season, which I happen to love.  I’m sure many of you have seen (and perhaps even tried) this Avocado-Tomato Salad but for those who haven’t, it’s a great dish to carry to a cookout, have on fajita day, and even mash up the leftovers (if any) to serve as a dip.    I have some great salad recipes but sometimes I just want something simple.  This recipe calls for 3 ingredients and should most definitely be served on a hot day!  And if avocados aren’t your thing, how about a little Tomato & Cucumber Salad?

Avocados can be expensive so make sure to buy them when they’re on sale.  I’ve been trying hard to plan meals around sale items and I’ve already been saving a ton.  If serving that day, make sure to pick avocados that aren’t too hard.  If I’m on a strict budget for the month, I go with Roma tomatoes but I love and prefer the ones on the vine.   What type of tomatoes do you like?

INGREDIENTS:

• Avocados
• Tomatoes
• 8oz Bottle of Italian Dressing

DIRECTIONS

Cut and slice up avocados and tomatoes; pour dressing over.  Keep cool.  I’d chill for about 30 minutes before serving.

What is your favorite fast fix during the Summer season?

This recipe was submitted by Rachel S for May’s Food Challenge. If you have a recipe with eggs in it, you can enter too! Check it out ’cause there’s a great prize! Thanks Rachel for entering!

INGREDIENTS:

• 8 Eggs
• Shredding Mozzarella Cheese
• Asparagus
• Onions
• Butter
• Salt/Pepper

(I followed a recipe I found here: http://www.musingsofahousewife.com/2011/05/asparagus-frittata.html – with a few of my own tweaks and changes)

DIRECTIONS

1. Chop onion and put it into frying pan with butter, until soft
2. Clean/cut asparagus and add it to pan. Allow to cook for 5-7 minutes.
3. While veggies are in the pan, make egg mixture – 8 eggs, 1 cup of cheese, salt/pepper to liking – and mix together.
4. Add the veggies to a quiche or pie pan. Pour egg mixture on top. Put in oven (at 350) until the egg has solidified. Add more cheese on top (I used the same mozzarella cheese on top, but have also make it with goat cheese) and put under the broiler for about 5 minutes – or until it is golden brown and delicious!

(photo credit goes to http://simplyrecipes.com/recipes/asparagus_frittata/)

This recipe was submitted by Sherri W, into March’s Food Challenge where the theme is GREEN!

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 lbs of brussel sprouts
• 1/4 lb father’s tomato blt bacon (bacon of choice)
• 1 tbsp evoo
• 1 tsp thyme
• 3-4 thinly sliced or minced garlic cloves
• salt and pepper to taste

Directions

1. wash and trim brussel sprouts. cut tips off and slice in half
2. cut bacon into 1/2 inch strips
3. in a large heated frying pan add the evoo and bacon pieces. fry bacon until crispy. remove the bacon and set aside.
4. toast garlic about 1 minute until golden brown. remove and set aside
5. add brussel sprouts, thyme and salt (if needed) and pepper to pan. don’t crowd in pan. pan roast brussel sprouts about 5 to 6 on each side until golden brown
6. add bacon and roasted garlic to the brussel sprouts

This is an excellent side dish for St. Patrick’s Day. Serve with corned beef and oven roasted potatoes. Enjoy!!

Recipe was submitted into February’s Food Challenge (2011) by Sherri W.

INGREDIENTS

• 1 lg. bunch of fresh collards (wash, cut and trimmed)
• 3 lg. country cured hocks (smoked hocks, smoked turkey wings)
• 1 lg. chopped onion
• 6 minced garlic cloves
• 1-1 1/2 cups of dry white wine
• 3 tbsp. lard
• 1 tbsp. red pepper flakes
• seasoning salt to taste
• 1 tbsp of sugar

DIRECTIONS

1. add 1 tbsp of lard to a large hot stock pot, stir fry onion and garlic until translucent.

2. add 1 1/2- 2 quarts of water, seasoning salt, red pepper and hocks to pot. bring to a boil. cook on low-medium to medium heat for about 1 hour until meat is tender

3. add collards, wine, sugar and remaining lard to pot and simmer for an hour.

4. add more seasoning as needed.

Serve with some homemade buttermilk cornbread…

Tomatoes and onions create some wonderful dishes and this one is no exception.  Because it’s nearly impossible to find green tomatoes around here, I used firm red tomatoes instead.  This is part two of three of the dinner meal I planned for you guys.  You can see the creamed corn I made earlier and stay tuned for part three, Blackened Catfish, to complete the dinner.

INGREDIENTS

• * 1/4 pound bacon
• * 1 cup fresh bread crumbs
• * 2 large onions, peeled and sliced into 1/4-inch thick rounds
• * 4 large green tomatoes, sliced 1/4-inch thick
• * Kosher salt and freshly cracked black pepper
• * 6 ounces sharp white Cheddar, grated, about 1 1/2 cups

DIRECTIONS

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Render bacon in a large skillet over medium heat. Transfer the cooked bacon to a paper towel lined plate. Add the bread crumbs to a small bowl. Remove 2 tablespoons of the bacon fat from the skillet and stir into the bread crumbs. Add the onion rounds to the skillet in batches and cook, without breaking the round slices apart, until there is some golden color, about 5 to 6 minutes per side.

To assemble the gratin, overlap the green tomato slices in 1 row in a large baking dish, about 9 by 11 inches. Next, make a row slightly overlapping of the partially cooked onion rounds, being careful to keep the slices intact. Repeat steps until all tomatoes and onions are used. Season tomatoes and onions lightly with salt and heavily with pepper. Crumble the bacon over the vegetables; sprinkle the grated Cheddar over the top followed by the bread crumbs. Bake until the cheese is bubbly, about 30 to 45 minutes. If the top is getting too brown, loosely cover with foil.

Recipe courtesy of Food Network’s 5 Ingredient Fix

Do you know what real creamed corn is?  I’m sure you’ve eaten it from the can but making creamed corn from scratch, well, it’s just better.  I thought it was interesting to learn that the cream is actually inside the kernels so in order for you to get it out, you have to put a little work into creaming that corn.  The only drawback to making it from scratch is that it takes a whole bunch of cobs (at least 2 cobs per person) to make a good amount to the feed the family so unless you’re feeding only 4-6 folks, I would probably just buy the can…unless you are out to impress;)

This recipe is the first of three that will end up as a complete dinner.  Enjoy and if you have ever shucked and creamed your corn, I’d love to hear your recipes and stories!

INGREDIENTS

• * 6 slices bacon
• * 8 large cobs fresh corn, preferably white, shucked and cleaned
• * Kosher salt and freshly cracked black pepper

DIRECTIONS

In a large skillet, (seasoned cast iron does well here) cook the bacon over medium-high heat until crisp. Turn off the heat and transfer the bacon to a paper towel lined plate. Reserve the drippings in the pan.

On a cutting board, cut the stalk ends of the corn cobs to make a flat surface; stand them up and shave the corn from the cobs with a sharp chef’s knife. Return the skillet to medium-low heat, and add the corn kernels. With the back of the knife, firmly scrape the cobs over a shallow plate to extract as much liquid (milk) as possible and add it to the skillet.

Season corn lightly with salt and pepper and cook until broken down and creamy, about 30 to 45 minutes, stirring often; add water if the pan gets too dry.  Serve warm or at room temperature.

Note: Crisp bacon can be crumbled over the creamed corn when serving or reserved for another use. If you have bacon drippings on hand, use 1/4 cup for this recipe.

Recipe courtesy of Food Network’s 5 Ingredient Fix

HA HA. I have no clue what to call this but I know there are folks out there who have eaten this and if you haven’t, you’re missing out on a delicious vegetable meal! We were given a whole bunch of fresh okra and squash and I mean a whole bunch and I knew exactly what to make.

My husband used to daywork for other ranches a long time back and I can still remember him coming home telling me about this food. He never knew exactly how it was made but I was able to track it down and was very surprised at the simplicity of it. Isn’t it funny how some of the best tasting foods require very little prep? Every since that day, 9 years ago, we’ve made it a family favorite. In fact, we don’t even eat meat the night we have it. Just the mix.

INGREDIENTS

• Squash
• Okra
• Taters
• Flour
• Cornmeal
• Olive Oil
• Salt and Pepper to taste

DIRECTIONS

Chop your vegetables.  Mix half flour and half cornmeal with salt and pepper.  Toss your vegetables in the flour mixture, coat, and fry up in the pan.  It’s the easy.   Another version, throw all the vegetables into the skillet to fry, adding a little cornmeal, salt, and pepper; no flour.

We like to use the flour though….seems to come out better.