Healthy Potato Salad

It's SUMMERTIME! Did you notice?! That means it is time to BBQ! Hooray! In honor of BBQ season, what are some of your favorite things to take to a BBQ?

I know one staple at BBQ's is Potato Salad. It's not my favorite thing, I'll be honest, but lots of people LOVE it! My cute next door neighbor invented a healthier version of potato salad...and it's delicious, so I thought I'd Share it with you!

Healthy Potato Salad
1 mini bag yellow or red Klondike Potatoes
1 Container 0% Fat Greek Fage Yogurt
1/4 tsp. sea salt
1/4 tsp. ground pepper
1 1/2 TBS Dijon Mustart
1 Cup diced celery hearts
1/2 cup green onion
2 1/2 Tbsp. Frontier Bac'Uns (veggie bites)

Boil potatoes 8-10 minutes. Cool and slice into small thin circles, leaving the skin on. In a large bowl, mix all other ingredients and then add potatoes. Let chill in fridge one hour.

Yummy Cannelloni

So I follow this blog called "This week for dinner" and I was browsing through it and found this one. I thought it sounded good and different enough that I wouldn't be bored of the flavor. Here is the recipe that I got from the blog. Her words are in black and mine are in red

Cannelloni

Cannelloni is one of my favorite things to order at an Italian restaurant. Which means I had to figure out a way to make it at home, of course! I gave it a try this week and it was so so yummy. Here’s what I did!

Cannelloni
FILLING: will fill ~8 cannelloni, maybe up to 10
- 1 chicken breast, cooked & shredded
- 1/4 C fresh, shredded parmesan cheese
- 1 C ricotta cheese ( I didn't have ricotta so I used feta, Mindy said to substitute cottage cheese instead next time because they are more similar)
- 1/2 C shredded mozzarella (I swear I thought I had mozzarella but I didn't so I used shredded chedder)
- 1 Egg, beaten
- 1 garlic clove, minced or use garlic press ( I have the already minced garlic you buy in a jar)
- 1 T chopped fresh basil (maybe a little more than 1 T) ( I didn't use fresh and only added 2 tsp)
- 1/4 t pepper
- 1/2 t salt

SAUCE:
- 1 1/2 C jarred marinara (you could make your own, but this is faster and tasted great)
- 1/2 C cream
- 24 grape tomatoes, smashed up a bit (I pulsed in the blender a few times) (I just got regular tomatoes and used about 5, probably each was about the size of 3 plum tomatoes, I chopped and I we really liked the chunks of fresh-tasting tomatoes)
- 1/4 – 1/2 C shredded asiago cheese (so... all I could find was something that had three different cheeses in it by the feta cheese that looked like it was in a parmesian container but one of the cheeses in it was asiago... it was good enough)

SHELLS:
Ideally I suppose you make your own pasta, roll it into thin sheets and cut into rectangles. Yeah, THAT’S gonna happen around here….so, I tried two readily-available pastas.

All I did was get the regular lasagna noodles and boil them for 3-4 minutes then pulled them out and rolled them up. Make sure to boil AT LEAST 3 minutes or they will crack. Only pull one out at a time and roll up or they get cold and CRACK. I boiled 3-5 at a time. I ended up making 12 rolls... I guess I didn't fill them up as much as I should have but it was really good still. AND I used a 6 x 9 glass baking dish and they fit perfectly. Okay that is ALL the changes I made...

Barilla No-Boil Homemade Style (Flat) Lasagna Noodles: These were PERFECT. Boil 3 minutes, CAREFULLY remove from the water (it’s easy to crack them in the middle, so be gentle!). Filling them is a cinch…just lay the rectangle out portrait (you know, tall-wise), lay your filling across the noodle near the end, then roll up! (I had a few cracks when I took them out of the water, but the noodle overlaps itself when you roll it up, so it wasn’t a problem) Pictured RIGHT.

Manicotti Shells: I also tried manicotti shells. They didn’t taste quite as good, and they’re harder to stuff. So, I will definitely do the flat, no-boil lasagna noodles from now on. Pictured LEFT.

DIRECTIONS:
Mix filling ingredients.

Mix sauce ingredients and warm on the stove (doesn’t need to cook too long or get too hot).

Spray a rectangular casserole dish or metal cake pan with spray oil. Stuff cannelloni (see noodle descriptions above). Place stuffed cannelloni in the pan. Cover with sauce.

Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes. Mangia!

Makes approximately 8 cannelloni…Nate and I each ate 2, and the girls had 1 each. Fed our family of 4 with 2 cannelloni left over.

Lime Rice

I throw all this in my rice cooker and let it do all the work. I do like to open it up after it starts to steam and stir it up really quick. This makes quite a bit. I usually only make a third of it.

2 Tbls butter
1 yellow onion, chopped
4 cloves garlic, minced
8 teaspoon chicken bullion
1/2 bunch cilantro, chopped (i've used dried cilantro before too)
2 tsp. cumin
2 small cans diced green chilies
1 Tbls lime juice (i add a little extra)
1/2 tsp. pepper
4 cups rice
water (follow instructions on rice package to know how much water to add)

Cinco De Mayo

Ok, we LOVE cinco de mayo! If you haven't already posted your favorite Mexican dish, or if you just have more that you want to share...please post your favorite Mexican recipe(s) for the month of May!

Sweet Pork

I know this isn't really that much like Cafe Rio pork, and it's SUPER easy...but we still love it!I've tried many of the Cafe Rio copycat recipes, and I still prefer this one!

Sweet Pork
1 pork roast
1-2 bottles of Pace Picante Salsa (mild or medium)
Brown Sugar

Cook pork roast and 1/2 cup water in crockpot on high for 4 hours or low for 6-8 (8-10 if frozen). Drain juices, and shred pork. At this point, you can refrigerate, freeze, or immediately use the pork. You can freeze all together in a freezer bag, or you can freeze it in individually sized portions. To continue:

Place shredded pork roast, 1 bottle pace picante sauce and 1/2 to 1 cup brown sugar (to taste) in your crockpot. You can add more or less pace depending on how big your pork roast is. You want it mixed in well, but you don't want it to be too juicy. Cook until pork is warmed through. Prior to serving, it helps to drain some of the excess juice.

Serve on tortillas with all your favorite sides: beans, rice, corn, salsa, sour cream, cheese, tomatoes, lettuce, guacamole, etc!

Mango Salsa

Avocado, Tomato, and Mango Salsa

1 mango

1 avocado

4 med tomatoes, diced (I usually don't end up using all 4 tomatoes because it seems like a lot, just eyeball it)

1 jalapeno pepper, seeded and minced

½ cup chopped fresh cilantro

3 cloves garlic, minced

1 tsp salt

2 TB fresh lime juice

¼ cup chopped red onion

3 TB olive oil (I omit this or do may be 1/2 tsp, otherwise I think it's too oily)

Combine and refrigerate for 30 min

Tortilla Soup

Tortilla Soup

1 Yellow Onion
Cilantro (about 1/3 of the bundle)
1 t Minced Garlic
1 Can of Diced or Stewed Tomatoes
1/2 t Cumin
1 t Crushed Red pepper
4 C Chicken Broth
2-3 Chicken Breasts, Cooked and Shredded

Fry the sliced onion, chopped cilantro, and garlic in a little bit of oil. Puree this mixture with the tomatoes in a blender. Return the sauce to the frying and add the cumin. Simmer 5-6 minutes until the sauce thickens. In a separate pot bring the chicken broth to boil, add the red pepper, chicken and sauce (some people also add corn). Simmer 15-20 minutes to blend the flavors. Serve with tortilla chips and a little cheddar cheese on top. Or (our personal favorite) serve with quesadillas for dipping.

Cream Cheese Cresent Breakfast Rolls

These are so DELICIOUS!

2 tubes cresent rolls
2 pkgs 8 oz cream cheese
1 cup sugar
1 tsp vanilla
1/4 c margarine or butter(melted)

Press seams together of one tube of cresents. Mix together cream cheese, sugar, and vanilla. Spread on top of cresents. Place other tube of cresents on top and seal the edges. Baste with butter and sprinkle with cinnamon and sugar. Bake @ 350 for 30 min.

I halved the recipe and yes I used the whole package of cream cheese. Usually if you use all the cream cheese it's an over powering flavor but not for this recipe. Also I put as much cinnamon and sugar as I wanted on top to my liking. There are measurements but I don't have them. These are definatly being added to my recipe book!