Southwestern Corn Salad

Looking for a new twist on tired summer salads? Here it is! The great part about this recipe is that you can use all organic ingredients without breaking your budget. First:

1. Put two tablespoons of organic olive oil in a giant pan over medium heat on the stove top.

2. Chop and add the following to the pan:

• One organic red bell pepper
• One organic orange bell pepper
• A bunch of scallions
• Three garlic cloves

NOTE: Let's just take a moment here and think about how many brightly colored cancer fighting veggies are in this dish. The brighter your veggie, the more cancer fighting power it has. And garlic is like the superfood of all cancer fighting veggies. It boosts your immune system, is a powerful antioxidant and helps maintain low cholesterol.

3. Cook about five minutes, until the veggies soften a bit. Then add the following:

• Two bags organic corn kernels (If you have fresh corn, cut it off the cob and toss it in!)
• Two quartered and squeezed limes
• One can rinsed organic black beans

4. Warm up your corn salad (to taste) with southwestern spices, such as:

• Cumin
• Cayenne pepper
• Paprika

5. Take your salad off the heat, put it in a room temperature dish and let it cool. Toss in some chopped cilantro just before serving and enjoy!

What are some of your favorite summertime salads?

Suzie

Awesome Artichoke Salad

Looking for a special summer salad? Here it is. Perfect for a BBQ crowd, lunch or dinner - it's cheap and easy to make.

1. Boil a pot of salted water.

2. Cut ends off a half pound of string beans.

3. Blanch string beans until they become bright green. No more than three minutes. Pull them out of the water immediately and drop them in an ice bath to stop the cooking.

4. Once cooled, pat the string beans dry and put them in a bowl.

5. Add three cans organic artichoke hearts.

6. Add sundried tomatoes (packed in oil) to bowl.

To make dressing, in a blender, combine:

• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
• 1 garlic clove
• a bunch of basil leaves
• salt
• pepper
  

7. Pour dressing over artichokes, beans and sundried tomatoes. Then mix it all up.

Not only is it delicious, it's gorgeous! Enjoy!

Suzie

Roasted Turkey Salad With Fresh Herbs

Wondering what to do with your leftover turkey? Here's what I did:

1. Slice up a couple tomatoes and the leftover roasted onions.

2. Cut leftover turkey breast into chunks.

3. Add mixed greens to a bowl.

4. Since the garden is popping up sweet yummies everywhere, I picked some fresh basil and parsley and added to the mix. If you have the herbs, use them. They give salads the freshest kick!

5. Sprinkle with crumbled blue cheese.

6. Make dressing:

• Put one tablespoon balsamic vinegar in a bowl
• Add two teaspoons dijon mustard
• Add salt and pepper
• Toss in Italian seasoning or fresh herbs (if you have them)
• Mince one clove of garlic
• Whisk in two tablespoons olive oil
• Adjust to your taste

NOTE: Making your own dressing has a couple benefits. Number one, it's cheaper than buying bottled dressing. Number two, you know what's in it. Have you ever read the label on salad dressing? Lots of partially hydrogenated high fructose-y stuff. Not what you want to put in your body.

7. Sprinkle the dressing on your salad, toss and enjoy!

Suzie

PS - For other great ideas on how to Stretch Your Food Dollar head over to the Krazy Kitchen for Stretch Your Food Dollar Wednesdays.

Suzie's Caesar

I'm crazy about Caesar Salad. But I'm picky about them. So I tweaked and tweaked until I came up with this:

1. Press one large clove raw garlic into a small bowl.

2. Add four anchovies. (I LOVE anchovies. I add extras into my salad at the end. Four will suffice for a normal person. But if you're scared of anchovies, this is not the recipe for you.)

3. Add kosher salt and ground black pepper.

4. Mash all those ingredients together with a fork.

5. Boil a small pot of water. Drop an egg in it and let it boil for 30 seconds. (You just want to bring it up to room temp.)

6. Crack the egg into the bowl and beat everything.

7. Add a teaspoon of Dijon mustard.

8. Drop in a tablespoon or more of Parmesan cheese.

9. Shake in two squirts of Worcestershire sauce.

10. Squeeze in half a small lemon.

11. Beat the mix with a whisk.

12. When blended, slowly pour in about a quarter cup of olive oil while continuing to whisk. When there's a nice thick consistency, it's done.

13. Adjust the taste. If you want more anchovies or pepper or lemon or whatever, add it.

14. Toss it with romaine lettuce, croutons and freshly grated Parmesan cheese.

NOTE: I like to make my own croutons. Not so sure what's in the boxed kind, you know? Just thinly slice a baguette, spread the pieces on a cookie sheet. Sprinkle them with olive oil, salt and pepper and bake them at 350 for about 8 minutes.



Enjoy!

Suzie

Chicken Salad

I'm a chicken salad freak. When I was growing up, there was this mall nearby, and I worked at Contempo Casuals. (How 80's is THAT?) Every day, I ordered a chicken salad sandwich from the deli in the foodcourt. I don't know what they put in it, but sometimes, 20 years later, I still crave that chicken salad.

In an attempt to match it, here's what I've come up with:

1. Cube up your leftover roasted chicken. Put it in a bowl.

2. Chop celery and add it to the chicken.

3. Add some fresh chopped parsley.

4. Mix in equal parts mayonnaise and dijon mustard.

5. Sprinkle with salt and pepper.

Eat with greens or put on bread -- whatever you like. Enjoy!

And there you have it. Three meals out of one chicken. Can you think of other ways to enjoy leftovers without them tasting like leftovers?

Suzie

Mixed Greens with Chicken

Now that you have leftover chicken, you may be wondering what to do with it. My favorite way to enjoy leftover chicken is to put it in a salad.

Leafy mixed greens are typically low in calories, low in fat, high in protein per calorie, high in dietary fiber, iron and calcium, and very high in phytochemicals such as vitamin C, carotenoids, lutein and folic acid.

Plus, they're delicious. Toss in your roasted chicken and you add a great source of lean protein. All good reasons to go salad, right?

You can combine any veggies and fruits you happen to have in your kitchen, but my favorite salad with chicken is this:

1. Remove chicken from the refrigerator and let it come to room temperature. It may be leftover, but it doesn't need to be cold.

2. Slice up the chicken into bite sized chunks.

3. Slice half an apple and cut it into chunks.

4. Add chives, green onions or red onion.

5. Top with blue cheese.

6. Dress with a balsamic vinaigrette.

7. Mix it up!

NOTE: I used a bottled dressing. But if you want to do it yourself, an easy way to make a vinaigrette is to use one part balsamic vinaigrette to two parts olive oil. Add salt, pepper and herbs. Toss in a spoonful of dijon mustard and shake it all up.

Remember, you can put whatever you want in your salad. Berries, grapes, carrots, tomatoes, herbs, anything goes. And it's fun to come up with creative combos. This just happens to be my favorite.

What do you like to put in your salads?

Suzie