Greek Salad With Tomatoes and Feta Cheese

Greek Salad With Tomatoes and Feta

Spring is here and we will soon start seeing some wonderful veggies in the grocery store or your local farmers market. Here is a tomato salad that I made for a recent dinner party. This is what I came up with! My guests LOVED it! So, I wanted to share the recipe with you!

Greek Salad With Tomatoes and Feta

Ingredients:

1 medium sized tomato, chopped in big chunks

1 cup of cherry tomatoes, halved

3 Roma or plum tomatoes, sliced

1 avocado, peeled, chopped in bite size pieces

1/2 can of Hearts of Palm (found in the canned vegetable section, usually next to the artichokes) thinly sliced

1/2 cup crumbled Feta cheese

1/2 cup Kalamata Olives

1/2 cup Red pickled sweet peppers

1 bunch of green onions, thinly sliced

3-4 leaves fresh basil, finely chopped

Vinaigrette

2 tsp apple cider vinegar
1 tbsp lime juice
1/4 tsp oregano
3/4 tsp sea salt
1/4 tsp brown sugar
1/4 tsp black pepper
2 tbsp olive oil
2 tbsp safflower oil

TO PREPARE

Layer tomatoes, avocado, hearts of palm, olives, peppers, onions, basil and feta cheese on a large platter.
To make the vinaigrette, pour the vinegar and lime juice in a small bowl. Add oregano, salt, sugar and black pepper. Pour the oils in a slow stream, whisking with a whisk or fork to emulsify. The vinaigrette can be made a day ahead of time, just emulsify before using.

Pour vinaigrette evenly over salad. Refrigerate for at least 30 minutes. Add salt and pepper to taste. Then toss and serve.

Miss Cindy's Chicken Fried Steak with homemade gravy!

Miss Cindy's Chicken Fried Steak With Gravy Recipe

Oh man, is this ever decadent! So delicious, especially the creamy gravy that you top it with. My husband kept going back for more! He loves this recipe!

First start by getting your assembly line together: you'll need cubed steak, which is usually top sirloin, tenderized.

A bowl of whole milk with 1 beaten egg.

Whisk it together!

Next, you'll need a plate of flour....sprinkled with seasoned salt and paprika.

Add lots and lots of pepper! Mix it all together.

Now for the dipping! Dip steaks, one at a time, into milk/egg mixture. Make sure to coat each side.

Dredge meat into seasoned flour, covering both sides with flour.

Now back into the egg mixture again!

Dredge in the flour once more.Place meat in a dish and bread the other pieces of meat. Heat some vegetable oil, shortening or canola oil in a cast iron skillet or a heavy skillet. Place meat in med-hot skillet.

Cook until both sides are golden brown. About 3-4 minutes on each side.

Remove from pan and drain on a plate that is lined with paper towels. Now, it's gravy-making time! Pour off all the grease in a heat-proof bowl and then add about 1/4 cup of fat back to the skillet. Over medium heat, add flour to the grease. Mixing well.

After the flour has browned a little bit, slowly stir in whole milk, stirring constantly.

Whisk until it is a nice creamy consistency. Add salt and pepper. Serve with mashed potatoes and your favorite vegetable.

Miss Cindy's Chicken Fried Steak and Gravy

Ingredients:

3-4 pieces of cubed steak

1 cup whole milk, Plus up to 2 cups for gravy

1 egg

2 cups flour

Seasoned salt

paprika

salt and pepper to taste

Canola oil, vegetable oil or shortening

Instructions:

Start by making an assembly line of dishes: for the meat, egg mixture, and flour mixture and for meat once it's been breaded. Work with one piece of meat at a time, dip meat into egg/milk mixture, then dredge into seasoned flour. Dip meat once again back into the egg mixture and coat in flour mixture. Repeat this process with remaining meat.

Heat oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Once skillet is hot, fry meat until the edges start to look golden brown, about 3 or 4 minutes on each side. Remove from heat. Drain on a paper towel lined plate.

Gravy:

Pour off all the grease and then add 1/4 cup grease back to the pan. Heat grease back up, sprinkle 1/3 cup of flour over the grease. Whisk flour and grease together, allowing flour to turn a nice golden brown--the browning is what gives it such good flavor. Slowly add milk, whisking constantly. Cook until it thickens. Add more milk if you need to. I usually just go by feel on the milk part. Just make sure it's at a nice, smooth and creamy consistency. Add salt and pepper to taste. Serve over steaks with mashed potatoes.

Cashew Chicken Springfield Missouri Style!!

I grew up in Springfield Missouri, "The Cashew Chicken Capital of the World!" Chef David Leong, moved to the U.S. from China in 1940 and created this recipe to appeal to local resident's taste buds. His famous deep-fried cashew chicken recipe was so popular he then opened Leong's Tea House in Springfield. This dish became exceedingly popular in the Springfield area. As word spread about this dish, so did the recipe. Leong's Tea House closed it's doors in 1997, but his cashew chicken is still being served at over 70 Chinese restaurants in the Springfield area, and elsewhere in Missouri and other states. I crave this recipe sometimes, and can't find it where I am living now. So whenever I have that craving for it--I just make up a batch! My sons BEG me to make this for them!

Here's step by step instructions, with the recipe following.

First, rinse your boneless chicken breasts off and cut into bite sized pieces.

Soak the chicken pieces in milk, beaten eggs and salt.

Roll chicken pieces in flour

Heat oil and add chicken pieces one at a time. I like to do it in batches. Keep cooked pieces warm in a 200 degree oven.

Fry to a golden light brown and drain on a paper towel lined platter or dish.

Add corn starch to a medium sized sauce pan and add enough chicken broth to make a paste.

Blend in oyster sauce, soy sauce and pepper. Slowly add remaining chicken broth.

Keep whisking and add more chicken broth and oyster sauce as needed.

Pour sauce over friend chicken pieces, top with chopped green onions and cashews. See, it's really simple!! Serve with a side of white steamed rice or fried rice and enjoy!!! Now, if I could only get my favorite local Chinese restaurant to put this on their menu!

Cashew Chicken (Springfield Mo style)

1 cup milk

2 tablespoons water

2 eggs, well beaten

Salt

2 pounds boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into bite size pieces

2 tablespoons corn starch

1 cups chicken broth

2 tablespoons oyster sauce (find in the asian food section of your grocery store)

2 tablespoons soy sauce

1 teaspoon sugar

Pepper to taste

1 cup flour

Peanut oil for frying

1 cup cashew nuts

cup chopped green onions

Soy Sauce

Hot fried rice

Marinate chicken in milk, water, eggs and salt for at least 20 minutes. In a saucepan, dissolve cornstarch in a small amount of broth; add remaining broth gradually to make a paste. Whisk together oyster sauce, soy sauce, sugar and pepper. Add more chicken broth if needed so it will have the consistency of gravy. Whisk over medium-high heat until sauce boils and begins to thicken. Set aside. Roll chicken in the flour. Fry in oil in a heavy pan until crisp and golden. Drop chicken in one piece at a time to prevent sticking together. Drain on paper towels. Arrange chicken on a serving platter. Reheat sauce add chicken broth if needed to thin it down, and pour over chicken. Serve with rice. S prinkle with cashews and chopped green onions and serve immediately.

Zesty Cajun Shrimp

This is a quick, easy shrimp recipe! With just enough spice, but not too much! And very delicious!!!!

Simply melt a stick of butter, and add about 1/2 cup of Frank's Hot Sauce, garlic, Worcestershire sauce, lemon juice and salt. Mix well.

Pour half of this in a medium size baking dish. Layer half the shrimp and half the lemon slices in the dish.

Make another layer with the remaining shrimp and lemon slices. Pour remaining sauce over the top.

Bake, in a preheated oven, uncovered for about 12-15 minutes.

Zesty Cajun Shrimp

Ingredients:

1 lb. shrimp, (I used precooked, deveined and shelled)

1 stick butter, melted

1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce

2 teaspoons lemon juice

1/4 cup Frank's Hot Sauce

1 clove garlic, minced

1 teaspoon pepper

salt to taste

1 lemon, thinly sliced

French bread for dipping

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Whisk together melted butter, Worcestershire sauce, lemon juice, pepper, hot sauce, garlic and salt. Pour half this mixture into a medium sized baking dish. Layer half the shrimp and half the lemon slices in the dish; then make a second layer with the remaining shrimp and lemon slices. Pour remaining sauce over the top. Bake, uncovered, for 12-15 minutes, stirring once. Pour the sauce into individual serving bowls. Serve with French bread for dipping in the zesty butter sauce.

Shrimp Fettuccine With Homemade Alfredo Sauce

Shrimp Fettuccine w/ homemade Alfredo Sauce!!

There's NO reason to buy jarred alfredo sauce, when it's so quick and easy to make it yourself, and it tastes SO MUCH better! Here's my recipe, it's a rich, creamy parmesan cheese sauce made with real butter and cream! Try to use to most expensive parmesan cheese you can afford, and grate it yourself...it just tastes better than the pre-shredded stuff, and don't use the parmesan cheese that comes in the can, because your sauce will come out a bit "grainy".

Here's what you need:

Shrimp Fettuccine With Alfredo Sauce

1 lb. peeled, shrimp (I went ahead and removed the tails too)

1 small package of fettuccine

1 stick of butter + 1 tablespoon

2 cloves of garlic, minced-- reserve one clove for shrimp (I used 1/2 teaspoon of the jarred garlic which equals to one clove)

1 pint of heavy cream

1 1/2 cups of fresh, grated parmesan cheese

2 tablespoons of cream cheese

salt and white pepper to taste

Make pasta according to directions. In a sauce pan over medium heat, melt butter and add garlic and cook for about 2 minutes, then gradually add heavy cream and cream cheese and slowly heat until bubbling, but do not boil. Add parmesan cheese and whisk until cheese melts. Add salt and pepper to taste.

In a skillet, melt butter add garlic and shrimp, cook until shrimp is heated through and turns pink. Only for a couple minutes, you don't want the shrimp to get rubbery.

Pour drained fettuccine into a large bowl, add shrimp, and alfredo sauce, gently toss and serve immediately. Grate more parmesan cheese over the top, if desired.

Banana Split Dessert!!

This is such an easy, delicious recipe...I promise it will be a hit with your family! It's like a banana split in a big ol' pan!! And it's so pretty and colorful...the red cherries make it!

Banana Split Dessert

Crust

• 2 cups crushed graham crackers
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/2 c. butter, melted

Mix together. Press into 913 pan. Bake at 350 for 15 minutes. Cool completely.

Filling

• 16 oz. cream cheese
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla

Cream together. Spread over cooled crust.

Layers (on top of cream cheese filling)

1. Three sliced bananas.
2. 12 oz. can crushed pineapple, well drained
3. 12 oz. whipped topping
4. 1/2 cup chopped nuts (pecans or walnuts)
5. Chocolate syrup (drizzle over all)
6. 4 oz. maraschino cherries, halved

Refrigerate several hours, until served.

*** Make sure the pineapple covers the bananas well. Theyll keep the bananas from getting brown too fast.

*** This is a good one to make for a crowd, because it needs to be eaten about 24-hours after being made again, because of the bananas.

Guinness Irish Stew

Guinness Irish Beef Stew

Here's a perfect stew to prepare for all of your St. Patrick's Day festivities! SO GOOD!!! Traditional Irish stew as any Irish person will tell you, lamb is the preferred meat for a good for a good Irish stew... But here in the states we eat a lot more beef than lamb, so when we want to make a stew to celebrate all things Irish, its usually done with beef. This stew has all of the classic trimmings of a good stew meat, stock, plenty of root vegetables with the addition of some Guinness extra stout, for its malty flavor and some Irish authenticity.

I started out by chopping beef up into bite sized pieces. Making sure to cut off some of the fat.

Brown the beef in a little bit of olive oil. Season beef with salt, pepper.

After the meat is browned, add garlic and onion. Cook until onion is tender.

Add 2 cups of beef broth and 1 cup of Guinness extra Stout, Worcestershire sauce, bay leaves, brown sugar, thyme, paprika and a dash of ground cloves (or allspice)

Cover and simmer the beef mixture cook for about 45 minutes. Remove bay leaves. Add celery.

Add chopped carrots and chopped potatoes.

Cover and cook about 45 minutes more. If the mixture is too thin, remove the lid and cook for a few more minutes until liquid is reduced. (Don't mind my dirty stove top, I'm just a messy cook!)

Guinness Irish Stew

Ingredients:

2 lbs. stew meat

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon pepper

2 teaspoons dried thyme

1 medium onion, coarsely chopped

1 clove of garlic, minced

2 cups beef broth

1 cup Guinness extra stout

1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce

1 or 2 bay leaves

1/2 teaspoon brown sugar

dash of ground cloves or allspice

3 large carrots, sliced

3 ribs celery, chopped

2 large potatoes, peeled and chopped into bite sized pieces

Instructions:

Heat oil in a large skillet or dutch oven. Season beef with salt, pepper. Brown meat in hot oil. After meat has browned, add garlic and onion, cook until onion is tender. Add beef broth, Guinness extra stout, Worcestershire sauce, bay leaves, brown sugar, paprika, thyme and ground cloves. Cover and cook on low heat for 45 minutes. Remove bay leaves. Add celery, carrots and potatoes. Cover and cook for 45 minutes longer. If you desire the sauce to be thicker, take lid off and cook for another 10-15 minutes or until desired consistency.

Grilled Stuffed Buffalo Chicken

Fire up your grills!!!!!! Here is a wonderful, easy and TASTY recipe! It's made with good old Frank's Hot Sauce, stuffed with cheese, that melts and oozes out! It's kind of like eating Buffalo wings, but it's a chicken breast that's cheesy, spicy and perfect! You can either use mozzarella cheese or blue cheese. (Blue cheese and Buffalo chicken go hand in hand.) Both are delicious. My family went crazy over this recipe! And if you are watching your carbs, there are very few in this recipe.

Grilled Stuffed Buffalo Chicken

Ingredients:

2 lbs. boneless chicken breasts

black pepper (to taste)

1 cup mozzarella or blue cheese, shredded, divided

2 tablespoons butter

3/4 cup Frank's Hot Sauce

2 teaspoons celery seed

1 teaspoon salt

Instructions:

Preheat grill to medium low heat.

Butter fly your chicken, but cutting it horizontally. Don't cut all the way through.

Sprinkle the insides with pepper.

Evenly top the chicken with cheese -you can use blue cheese or mozzarella! Here I used blue cheese.

And here I used mozzarella cheese. The mozzarella melts well and oozes out and looks so yummy!

Fold chicken over and close it. It should look like the chicken breast before you butterflied it. Melt butter in a microwave bowl or Pyrex measuring cup. Stir in hot sauce, salt and celery seed. Brush the chicken with the hot sauce mixture.

Here's the chicken all ready for the grill!!

Place the chicken on the grill. Brush more hot sauce over the top of the chicken. Cook for about 7 or 8 minutes. Flip chicken and brush on the remaining hot sauce and cook until no longer pink--about 5 or 6 minutes more. Serve with a side salad and enjoy!

Here's one that was stuffed with the mozzarella. The cheese melts so nicely and oozes out! It is so delicious!

Brussels Sprout Chips

With Spring just around the corner, you're probably trying to eat healthier to get rid of any weight you might have gained over the winter months. These are so delicious and very simple to make. AND HEALTHY! They have a little crunch to them too! I love them! Here's how to make them:

Ingredients:

1 lbs. fresh Brussels sprouts

3 tablespoons olive oil

1 teaspoon sea salt

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Rinse off Brussels sprout and then remove the leaves from them. You might need to keep cutting the stem as you get deeper into the sprout.

Place the leaves on a baking sheet and drizzle olive oil over them, then toss to coat. Spread leaves evening over the baking sheet. Sprinkle with sea salt.

Bake, turning the leaves until browned and crunchy. Drain on a paper towel lined platter.

They should look something like this!

Unstuffed Cabbage Rolls

This is a quick and easy recipe. It's low carb, and very healthy and simply delicious!!

Unstuffed Cabbage Rolls

Ingredients:

2 lbs. ground beef

1 large onion, chopped

1 clove garlic, minced

1 small head of cabbage, chopped

2 14.5 oz. can diced tomatoes

1 8 oz. can tomato sauce

1 beef bouillon cube

3/4 cup of hot water

2 teaspoons Hungarian paprika

salt and pepper to taste

Instructions:

In a large skillet, over medium high heat cook ground beef until it's browned. Add onions. Cook until onions are tender. Add garlic. Cook for another minute. Add chopped cabbage, tomatoes, tomato sauce, paprika, salt, pepper. Dissolve bullion cube in the 3/4 cup of hot water. Pour into mixture. Bring to a boil. Cover and simmer for about 30 minutes, or until cabbage is tender.