Stuffed Sweet Potato Salad

So so good. And a nice change of flavor for our dinner table.  I rarely make my own dressings, so it was fun to feel a little more domestic by doing it with this salad.

Stuffed Sweet Potato Salad 
Adapted from this blog
 

Ingredients:

• 4 small sweet potatoes or yams, baked
• 1 (15 oz) can black beans, rinsed and drained
• 1 cup corn*
• 3 green onions, thinly sliced
• 1/2 cup cilantro, chopped
For the Vinaigrette:
• 2 limes, zested and juiced
• 1 tablespoon oil
• 2 teaspoons honey
• 2 teaspoons adobo sauce (I used Sriracha)
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon pepper 

Directions:

1. In a bowl, add the black beans, corn, onions, and cilantro. Stir to combine. 
2. In a smaller bowl, mix together the lime zest and juice, oil, honey, adobo, salt and pepper. 
3. Pour over the black bean mixture and toss to combine. 
4. Slice open the baked sweet potatoes. 
5. Stuff potatoes with the Chipotle Black Bean & Corn Salad. Serve.

Notes: I did not have adobo sauce, so I used Sriracha. It seemed to have similar ingredients. I also didn't want to wait to bake the potato, so I tried microwaving them. It turned out great! I poked holes in the potatoes with a fork, put a paper towel over them (always afraid of explosions), and cooked it for five minutes on each side (total of ten minutes). Justin didn't notice a difference in taste. 

Cranberry and Cilantro Quinoa Salad

I threw this together at the last minute one night to add a different taste to the table, and it hit the spot. So good! Justin liked it too. 

 

Cranberry and Cilantro Quinoa Salad

Adapted from this blog

 Ingredients: 

• 1 1/2 cups water
• 1 cup uncooked quinoa, rinsed
• 1/4 cup red bell pepper, chopped
• 1/4 cup yellow bell pepper, chopped
• 1 small red onion, finely chopped
• 1 1/2 teaspoons curry powder
• 1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro
• 1 lime, juiced
• 1/4 cup toasted sliced almonds
• 1/2 cup minced carrots
• 1/2 cup dried cranberries
• salt and ground black pepper to taste

 

Directions: 

Pour the water into a saucepan, and cover with a lid. Bring to a boil over high heat, then pour in the quinoa, recover, and continue to simmer over low heat until the water has been absorbed, 15 to 20 minutes. Scrape into a mixing bowl, and chill in the refrigerator until cold. Once cold, stir in the red bell pepper, yellow bell pepper, red onion, curry powder, cilantro, lime juice, sliced almonds, carrots, and cranberries. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Chill before serving.  Notes: I didn't chill it all the way before serving, and it was good a little warm. The only pepper I used was a yellow one. Again, really, really, good.

 

The Perfect Boiled Egg

For Easter, we boiled eggs, but I wanted them to be good, so I did a search for the perfect boiled egg. This is what I found on eHow.com

Instructions

Place eggs in the saucepan, it does not matter if it is 2 or 12 eggs, this way works. Just cover them with cold water, not too deep. Do NOT salt the water. Place on burner on HIGH heat.

Place on burner on HIGH heat. Once they start to boil turn on the timer to 3 minutes.

When the timer goes off, quickly take off the heat, put on the lid and reset the timer to 8 minutes.

When 8 minutes are up, take to sink and run cold water over them for about a minute, let them soak a bit to cool off. They will peel best if you set them in the refrigerator for about 1/2 to 1 hour, but you can eat them now!

Never have green or gray yolks again!

Green Salad Ideas

I never plan my salads ahead of time. I just always have spinach or romaine lettuce handy, I open my cupboards and start throwing stuff in. I don't usually eat dressing on my salad, so I make sure there is enough flavor for me. I throw in something juicy/chewy, something crunchy, and something colorful. A combination of these usually ends up in the bowl.

Juicy:

• tomatoes
• mandarin oranges
• raisins
• craisins
• apple chunks
• grapes
• pineapple chunks
  

Crunchy:

• chow mien noodles
• almonds
• sunflower seeds
• carrots
• celery

Colorful

• cheese
• bacon bits

Broccoli Salad

Whenever someone asks me to bring a salad, this is what I bring. I love it.

Broccoli Salad
from the kitchen of Carol R. Cheesman

• 3 Bunches broccoli florets
• 2-3 t Red Onion
• 3c Sunflower Seeds
• 10 slices (1lb) bacon
• 1c Mayo
• 1/2 c sugar
• Raisins to taste
  
• 1c Cheese (fancy cheddar)

Mix sugar and mayo in separate bowl. Mix everything else and then add mayo/sugar mix. Save some raisins, sunflower seeds, and cheese to add to the top to make it look pretty.