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?

Most of the time, I despise salads. I don’t really like a lot of toppings that most people do so they don’t interest me too much but thanks to my personal trainer (from my local Anytime Fitness), I’m learning to tweak things a bit to allow my palette to enjoy them more.

First, she recommend I keep 100% chicken in water as a substitute for when everyone else is eating foods that I shouldn’t. So today, while my boys were eating pizza, I decided to make me a salad. It turned out so good that my husband asked for one as well.

I started out using Marketside’s Premium Romaine Salad Mix. I cut up a roma tomato and placed on the side. I don’t like when it mixes into my greens. I’m weird that way. I opened a can of Valley Fresh 100% Natural White Chicken in Water (97% fat free). I put half the can on my salad, the other half on my husband’s. I sprinkled with a small amount of Great Value Cheese and topped with Kraft’s Dressing made with Extra Virgin Olive Oil, Basil Parmesan Vinaigrette.

The Kraft dressing was AMAZING!  It was PACKED full of flavor and since I cannot go without dressing, I chose one that had under 100 calories per serving. This one had 70.  The chicken tasted SO good and is much better than some other versions I’ve had that included rib meat or something.  I added a little pepper to it all and man, this was the tastiest salad I’ve had in a long time!  It may look plain to y’all but I like simple.

What do you like to eat on your salad?

My father-in-law loves lamb ribs so he’s always coming up with ways to cook them.  He showed up the other day with a sack full of groceries, prepared to cook just for me!  What a nice surprise to get don’t you think?  Anyways, I sat back and watched him cut, chop and stir until the food was all done and boy did it look delicious.  What I love about this recipe is that it’s a one-pot dish which means I don’t have to spend all evening in the kitchen cleaning up.

The last thing my father-in-law came over to cook was King Ranch Camp Bread.  I think I could get used to this you know.  I keep wondering what he’ll bring to cook in the coming weeks!

INGREDIENTS

• 6 or 7 lamb ribs
• 1 white onion
• 1 1/2 green bell pepper
• 3 med tomatoes
• 1 small head of garlic
• salt and pepper to taste
• water

DIRECTIONS

Cut  lamb ris into chunks and cook in pan for about 30 minutes or so.  While those are cooking, chop up the onion, bell pepper, tomatoes, and garlic.  Now drain ALL the fat from the cooked lamb ribs. There will be quite a bit so make sure to drain them well.  Pour in the onions, bell peppers, tomatoes, garlic and cover with water.   Cook with lid on until almost all the water is gone, about 2hrs.  Remove lid for the last 20minutes of cooking.   Enjoy!

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

You’ve seen inspired handbags and clothing but what about gourmet food?  Oh, you better believe it’s out there! In fact, I had THE BEST chef inspired gourmet food line, Beverly Hills Kitchen, today with my family– Beef Bourguignon.  No, this country gal doesn’t have a clue how to pronounce it but that doesn’t matter because it was by far the most flavorful, delicious meal in a bag I HAVE EVER HAD!!!

Yes, I said meal in a bag but before you dismiss, listen up.  I was asked if I wanted to try this out and because I’m game for a meal that’s super easy,  I accepted.  I’ll admit, I wasn’t expecting it to taste that good but man did it surprise me.  I can’t even tell you how jam packed with flavor it was.  It tasted like a recipe your grandmother has made for years, from scratch, one that you’ll pass down for generations.  The Beverly Hills Kitchen’s Beef Bourguignon includes prime VERY tender meat, simmered for four hours in a full-bodied red wine sauce with carrots, mushrooms, tomatoes, garlic, shallots, basil and Dijon mustard…..I can’t even describe it in words.  The spices were just right…it was perfection.

You can buy this at QVC and it comes in 5 8oz packages packed & shipped in dry ice to insure for a cold delivery!  You freeze what you want, eat what you want.  When ready to cook, you simply drop in some boiling water for 10 minutes and viola!  Its done and ready to be served over rice or pasta. We used white rice.  The 5-8oz packages fed our family of 5 with some leftover!

I know that some people cringe at the thought of buying food like this through the mail but I gotta tell ya, it was the best ever and I ain’t lying!  The WHOLE family loved it and we all kept talking about the flavors the rest of the night.  So, if  you can’t make Julia Child’s Beef Bourguignon because you don’t have time or you simply don’t have the cooking skills, don’t worry because you make this Beverly Hills Kitchen Beef Bourguignon!!!

SOMETHING FOR YOU!

One box of the Beef Bourguignon 5-8oz packages is up for grabs.

TO ENTER

Leave a comment telling me what chef inspired meal you’d like to see.

Additional ways to enter, leaving each one in a separate comment please.

• Share on any social networking site. If using twitter, be sure to @acowboyswife.
• Subscribe to my newsletter or my blog.

Ends on Oct. 20th. Good luck!

I told you I’d share the Grilled Chicken Penne al Fresco recipe from the Pampered Chef party and I am!  This is a recipe that can be made on the stove or in the microwave using the Deep Covered Baker.  It’s a time saving, delicious, and healthy meal! You can see a few more pictures in my original post!

INGREDIENTS

• 4 garlic cloves, peeled
• 2 cups grape or cherry tomatoes
• 3 cups uncooked mezze penne pasta
• 3 cups chicken broth
• ¾ cup dry white wine such as Chardonnay
• ½ tsp each salt and coarsely ground black pepper
• 1¼ cups lightly packed fresh basil leaves, divided
• 1 oz Parmesan cheese, grated (about ¼ cup packed)
• 2 cups diced grilled chicken breasts
• Additional grated fresh Parmesan cheese
• coarsely ground black pepper (optional)

DIRECTIONS

1. Spray Deep Covered Baker with olive oil using Kitchen Spritzer. Slice garlic into baker using Garlic
Slicer. Add tomatoes. Cover; microwave on HIGH 4-5 minutes or until tomatoes begin to burst, stirring
after 2 minutes. Crush tomatoes using Mix ‘N Chop. Add pasta, broth, wine, salt and black pepper.

2. Return baker to microwave; cover and microwave on HIGH 16-18 minutes or until pasta is tender, stirring
after 10 minutes. Meanwhile, coarsely chop basil with Chef’s Knife. Reserve 2 tbsp for garnish. Grate
cheese using Rotary Grater.

3. Carefully remove baker from microwave and remove lid, lifting away from you. Add remaining basil,

cheese and chicken to baker; mix well. Garnish with reserved 2 tbsp basil, additional Parmesan cheese and black pepper, if desired.

Cook’s Tips: An additional ¾ cup chicken broth can be substituted for the wine, if desired.
Any tube-shaped pasta requiring 9-11 minutes cook time, such as penne or rigatoni, can be substituted for the
mezze penne pasta.

To grill chicken in the Grill Pan, season 2 chicken breasts, about 6 oz each, with salt and black pepper. Heat Grill
Pan over medium-high heat 5 minutes. Spray pan with oil. Cook chicken 4-6 minutes or until grill marks appear.
Turn chicken over; cook 4-6 minutes or until center of chicken is no longer pink and Pocket Thermometer
registers 170°F.

Yield: 8 servings

Kitchen Spritzer

Garlic Slicer

Mix N’ Chop

Rotary Grater

Well, I Ain’t No Rachael Ray!

In early June, I had the chance to attend an Oscar Mayer event and learn about their Deli Fresh Meats.  Not only did we get to visit the Oscar Mayer Wienermobile, we had to do was create a sandwich using their Deli Fresh Meats.  I’m probably one of the most uncreative people alive but after 6 sandwich taste-testing sessions with my family, I narrowed it down to a wrap called, Lori Falcon’s Roasted Red Peppers and Roast Beef Wrap. They guys at Oscar Mayer were nice enough to bring in a camera crew to make a video of us making our sandwich, which you can see below. You can see all the videos from the other bloggers at the Oscar Mayer Deli Fresh youtube page.

INGREDIENTS

• Oscar Mayer Deli Fresh Slow Roasted Roast Beef
• Philadelphia Cream Cheese, softened
• Ground Cumin
• Garlic Powder or Clove of Garlic
• Soft Flat Bread
• Avocado, cubed
• Tomato, chopped (and seeded if you like)
• Havarti Cheese
• Red Roasted Peppers
• Lettuce Leaf
• Salt & Pepper to taste

DIRECTIONS

Mix the cream cheese, cumin, garlic, and roasted red peppers until well blended.  Spread of a layer of cream cheese mixture over flat bread tortilla.  Place a lettuce leaf on each flat bread tortilla and top with 2-3 slices of roast beef.  Sprinkle evenly with avocado, tomatoes, and cheese.  Starting at one end, roll up each flat bread tortilla so that it looks like a large burrito.  Cut in half and serve 2 pieces on a 6″ plate.

Eat & Enjoy

Enjoy the video.  I’m clearly not made for TV and I would love for the counters to be just a bit taller so that I don’t look near as big!

More to come on sandwiches to get you through the hot Summer!

Menu planning is essential for keeping your pantry stocked and budget in check. I don’t know about you guys but with the kids out for Summer, they are eating EVERYTHING in sight which means I’m spending more on food. I’m terrible at menu planning and prefer to fly by the seat of my pants when grocery shopping or have a menu plan made for me.

This is where Kraft & Sam’s Club come into play. Both companies have partnered together to bring you a 2-Week Meal Planner. Their goal is to get you to the store  once and have meals to last 2 whole weeks, saving you money on frivolous grocery spending and gas to go back and forth! As an added bonus for Sam’s Club members, you can create a personalized cookbook!  If you’re not a member, you should be.  You can find a location near you with your zip code.  We love shopping at ours and it’s very handy for us to buy in bulk since we live out in the boonies so to speak.

Back to the meal planner.  I have downloaded it and already begun to make the recipes included in it.  They are very easy and have been very good!  I love that I have the meals all planned out for me but most of all, I love that they are easy to make.

Our first night of cooking with the meal planner was actually quite surprising. We chose to make the Di Giorno Pizza with BLT Topping.  We never buy just a cheese pizza, we always buy one with tons of toppings but this recipe called for the Rising Crust-Four Cheese.  It never occurred to us to add fresh toppings like the recipe called for which was a great way to add a little coolness during the hot day, not to mention the addition of veges.  My husband insisted that we start making our pizzas this way instead of buying one that’s loaded with other toppings. WHOA!  I think he must have fell in love with the bacon and ranch, don’t you?

Di Giorno Pizza with BLT Topping

INGREDIENTS

• 1 Di Giorno Rising Crust Pizza-Four Cheese
• 1⁄2 cup shredded lettuce
• 1⁄4 cup chopped tomatoes
• 4 slices Oscar May er Bacon, cooked, crumbled
• 2 Tbsp. ranch dressing

DIRECTIONS

Heat oven to 400°F.  Bake pizza as directed on package.  Serve topped with remaining ingredients.

I’ll be sharing more of the recipes over the next couple of weeks but I hope that you’ll go and download the 2-week meal planner yourself so we can try them together!!  How fun would that be. Then when I talk about one of the recipes, you can tell me if you’ve tried it and how you liked it!

OVER TO YOU

Are you a meal planner?  If not, do you think having a meal plan at your fingertips would make a difference, cooking & budgeting wise?  I love that it gives me new creative meal ideas for the future because I’m always running out of ideas on what to cook.  I’d love to hear your thoughts!

I’ve been very overwhelmed lately so I have to give a huge hug and thank you to my mom who stepped in and “submitted” this recipe.  She’s actually the real foodie between us and I hope that one day she’ll start her own blog!

My mom said this is to die for!  It’s a little more work than  some recipes but she insists that it’s a must try.  I think it sounds delicious and hope to make it soon.  Enjoy!

INGREDIENTS

• ½ cup (1stick) butter
• 1 chicken breast, cut into strips (about 1 cup)
• 16 (21-25 count) shrimp, peeled and deveined, tails removed
• ½ cup sliced andouille sausage, casing removed
• 1/3 cup sliced yellow onion
• ¼ cup sliced red bell pepper
• 1/3 cup sliced green bell pepper
• 1  sliced zucchini
• 1  sliced yellow squash
• 1 cup diced Roma tomatoes
• 1 quart Andouille Cream Sauce (recipe follows)
• 4 cups cavatappi pasta
• ½ cup sliced scallion
• ½ teaspoon chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley

DIRECTIONS

Melt butter in a large sauté pan over medium-low heat.  Increase heat to medium and add chicken, shrimp, andouille, onion, and bell peppers.  Sauté until shrimp and chicken are just cooked through.  Add zucchini, yellow squash, and tomatoes, cook 2 minutes.  Add andouille cream sauce, toss well and bring to a boil.  Remove from the heat and keep warm.  Cook cavatappi in boiling salted water until as dente: drain well.  Pour sauce over pasta, and toss, pulling shrimp, and chicken to the top. Evenly sprinkle scallion over pasta. Sprinkle parsley around rim of bowl and serve.

Note: Can also add ½ cup crawfish tails

ANDOUILLE CREAM SAUCE

INGREDIENTS

• 1 teaspoon canola oil
• ¼ cup diced yellow onion
• 2 tablespoons chopped garlic
• 3 ounces andouille sausage, casing removed (see note)
• 2/3 cup crushed tomatoes
• 2/3 cup cold water
• ¾ tablespoon chicken base
• 2 teaspoons cornstarch
• 1 cup heavy cream
• 2 teaspoons blackening seasoning
• ¼ teaspoon cayenne pepper
• ¼ cup jalapeno-jack cheese, grated

DIRECTIONS

Place oil in a saucepan over medium heat. Add diced onion and sauté 3 to 4 minutes.  Add garlic, stir well, and sauté 2 minutes.  Add andouille sausage and sauté 2 more minutes.  Add crushed tomatoes and mix well to thoroughly combine.  In a mixing bowl use a wire whisk to combine water, chicken base, cornstarch, and cream.  Add liquid to the onion mixture.  Bring to a boil, reduce the heat, and simmer 8 to 10 minutes.  Add blacking seasoning and cayenne and mix well to incorporate.  Add grated cheese to the sauce and blend well.  Allow to simmer until all the cheese has melted, 2 more minutes.

Note: I put the andouille sausage in my mini food processor to grind it up for the cream sauce.

Get free easy recipes delivered to your inbox from Kraft!

I’m not a huge tomato fan but I do think they are important to have your diet and below are just a few of the reasons why you should incorporate them into your daily eating.

Reduction in Heart Disease Risk
Tomatoes are a very good source of potassium and a good source of niacin, vitamin B6, and folate. Niacin has been used for years as a safe way to lower high cholesterol levels. Diets rich in potassium have been shown to lower high blood pressure and reduce the risk of heart disease.

Diets Rich in Tomato Products Significantly Improve Cholesterol

A high dietary intake of tomato products significantly reduced total and LDL cholesterol levels. While drinking 13.5 ounces of plain tomato juice every day may seem a bit challenging, enjoying a cup of tomato juice with lunch, a cup of hot tomato juice into which an ounce of tomato ketchup has been stirred along with some freshly ground pepper as an afternoon “soup” break, and/or a Virgin Mary (the alcohol-free counterpart to the Blood Mary) before dinner would provide some taste diversity.

More Help against Colon Cancer, Diabetes, and Migraines

So how else can tomatoes help? The folate in tomatoes can also help to reduce the risk of colon cancer. In addition, tomatoes are a good source of riboflavin, which has been shown to be helpful for reducing the frequency of migraine attacks in those who suffer from them. A good intake of chromium, a mineral of which tomatoes are a good source, has been shown to help diabetic patients keep their blood sugar levels under control.

More stuff to know…….

• 1. A large consumption of tomato can help improve skin texture and color.
• 2. Tomato is a good blood purifier.
• 3. Tomato helps in cases of congestion of the liver (protects the liver from cirrhosis) as well as for dissolving gallstones.
• 4. Tomato is a natural antiseptic therefore it can help protect against infection Nicotinic acid in tomatoes can help to reduce blood cholesterol, thus helps prevent heart diseases.
• 5. Vitamin K in tomatoes helps to prevent hemorrhages.
• 6. Tomato contain lycopene (the red pigment in tomato), this pigment is a powerful antioxidant that can also fight cancer cells.

A recipe to try.

One of our favorites recipes where tomatoes are one of the main ingredients, is my Tomato Cucumber Salad.  It’s very easy and very good and great for summer get-togethers.