Southwest Red Potato Salad

With Memorial Day and the summer fast approaching, the season for cookouts is at hand.  Potlucks and cookouts can be a source of anxiety for a lot of people.  Figuring out what to bring, that people will actually like, and that you can actually cook can be a pretty trying experience.  I’ve noticed that most twenty-somethings opt for the ever popular random-store-bought-item option.  While this is always an option, and if you’re pressed for time it’s clearly your best option, I always encourage people to shy away from it.  Think back to all the cookouts you’ve been to, usually there are way too many bags of chips and loads of plastic containers of cookies.  But what is everyone raving about and gobbling up at the speed of light?  It’s not the chips and dip you picked up on your way over, it’s that homemade 7-layer dip your friend’s mom always makes or Aunt Betty’s famous baked beans.

But you can do that too!  You don’t have to be someone’s mom or aunt to make awesome potluck and cookout contributions that everyone will be begging to have the recipe for.  Try this Southwest Red Potato Salad.  It’s got a lot more interesting ingredients than regular potato salad and isn’t just a mass of potatoes slathered in mayonnaise (so unhealthy!), so it’s something different that people will be intrigued by.  It’s light and the flavors, especially the cilantro, corn, and red pepper combo, are perfect for summer and cookout-type foods.  I’ve made this potato salad for multiple potlucks (including a cookout today) and it’s been a great success at all of them; I rarely take home leftovers and almost always have at least one person ask for the recipe!

Ingredients:

2 lbs red potatoes, cubed

1/4 C olive oil

3/4 tsp salt, divided

1/2 tsp pepper, divided

2 oz cream cheese, softened

1/3 C sour cream

1 (4 oz) can diced green chilies

1 tsp paprika

1 clove garlic, minced

1 (15 1/2 oz) can corn, drained

1 small red onion, finely chopped

1/2 red pepper, finely chopped

1/3 C cilantro, chopped

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.  On a cookie sheet, toss potatoes with oil, 1/2 tsp salt and 1/4 tsp pepper; bake for 30-35 minutes and then allow to cool slightly.

2. In a small bowl, stir cream cheese and sour cream until smooth.  Stir in the chilies, paprika, garlic, and the remaining salt and pepper.

3. In a large bowl, combine the corn, onion, red pepper, and potatoes.  Toss with dressing and cilantro and refrigerate until you’re ready to serve.

Cajun Chicken Pasta

My lovely ex-roommate Jess came down and visited me this weekend.  We drove an hour to the lake and got our Hunger Games on having an awesome adventure.  Blazing our own trail around the lake, scaling (or attempting to scale) ridges, jumping over and wading through creeks, walking across a flooded road.  It was awesome.

Needless to say though, by the time we got home we were pretty hungry.  I’ve been meaning to try my hand at Cajun pasta for a while now, so we decided to make that.  Oh man, did this turn out delicious.  Seriously reminded me of Cajun chicken pastas I’ve ordered at restaurants.  Yum.  Jess really isn’t much of a spice person (she lied to her Cajun ex-boyfriend about liking his gumbo), but even she thought this pasta was delicious.  Adjust the spicy-ness for your own personal tastes, but this has a pretty decent kick to it as is.

Ingredients (serves 4):

8oz spaghetti (or linguine, or whatever long pasta you have)

2 chicken breasts, sliced into thin strips

1/4 tsp paprika

1/4 tsp cayenne pepper

1/4 tsp onion powder

1/4 tsp pepper

2 tbsp olive oil

1 green pepper, sliced into strips

1/2 red pepper, sliced into strips

1/2 onion, sliced

4 fresh mushrooms, sliced

1 clove garlic, minced

1 1/2 cups half and half, divided

1 tbsp corn starch

1/4 tsp dried basil

salt and pepper to taste

1/4 c grated Parmesan cheese

Directions:

1. Cook pasta according to package directions.

2. Meanwhile, place chicken, paprika, cayenne pepper, onion powder, and pepper in a bowl and toss to coat.

3. In a large skillet over medium heat, saute chicken in olive oil until no longer pink and juices run clear, about 5-7 minutes. Add green and red bell peppers, onion, and mushrooms; cook for 4-5 minutes. Reduce heat, and stir in 1 c half and half. Season the sauce with basil, lemon pepper, salt, garlic powder and ground black pepper.

4. In a small bowl, combine cornstarch and 1/2 c half and half.  Slowly stir mixture into sauce and heat through.

5. In a large bowl, toss pasta with sauce. Sprinkle with grated Parmesan cheese.

Mushroom and Spinach Penne

Sometimes the best dinners come about when you’re just scrounging up random things you have left in your fridge.  This is especially true with pasta.  You can make pasta with anything in it, the random bits of vegetables leftover from previous dishes are perfect to add to a pasta dish.  That’s what I did yesterday when I made this.

I’d been itching to make pasta ever since I got back from spring break (it was fabulous by the way) with the colander my sister bought me.

It would seem she was scandalized last fall when she visited me and found out I was draining pasta with a plate over the top of my pots.  But really, buying a colander seemed so unnecessary…besides, I was absolutely incapable of remembering that I needed one every time I went to the store.  I finally got around to making pasta last night, and decided to throw in all the little bits of veggies I needed to use up.  You can, of course, take the idea of this recipe and use any vegetables you have lying around in your fridge.  In fact, I encourage it!  Green peppers, zucchini, yellow squash, all would be an awesome addition or substitute in this pasta if you’ve got them on hand.  A can of diced tomatoes (which I usually have…gotta go to the store) would be delicious too.  Play around with it and do what’s convenient for you.

Ingredients (serves 4):

12 oz penne pasta

2 cloves garlic, minced

1/2 onion, diced

1 tbsp olive oil

1/2 red pepper, diced

2 cups mushrooms

salt and pepper to taste

5 oz spinach (frozen or fresh will work, whatever you’ve got)

1/3 c white wine

1 tbsp lemon juice

1/2 c grated Parmesan cheese

Directions:

1. Cook pasta according to package directions.

2. Meanwhile, saute garlic and onions in olive oil over medium heat until onions become translucent.  Add red pepper and mushrooms, season with salt and pepper.  Saute, stirring occasionally, for about 5 minutes.  Add spinach, wine, and lemon juice.  Simmer for 5 minutes until spinach is wilted (fresh) or heated through (frozen).

3. Place cooked pasta in a bowl and combine with vegetable mixture and cheese.  Toss and serve with additional cheese.

Kielbasa and Black Bean Soup

I adapted this recipe a few years ago from a weight-watchers cookbook at my grandma’s house.  My grandma is a great cook, and her best dishes are soups.  I think I probably get my love of making soups from her.  Originally coming from a weight-watchers cookbook, this recipe is obviously really pretty healthy, full of spinach and black beans.  The flavor of the kielbasa works really well with the beans, but it could be omitted to make this soup vegetarian (use veggie broth too) without completely losing the delicious-ness.

Serve with a slice of crusty bread.  Yum.

Ingredients (serves 6):

1 tsp vegetable oil

1/2 lb kielbasa (sliced)

1/2 medium onion, diced

2 small carrots, diced

1 celery stalk, diced

1/2 red pepper, diced

1 (15 oz) can black beans, drained and rinsed

6 c chicken broth

1/2 tsp oregano

pepper to taste

1 (10 oz) pkg chopped frozen spinach; thawed and drained

Directions:

1. Heat oil in a large pot over medium heat.  Add the kielbasa and cook, stirring, until lightly browned, about 3 minutes.

2. Add all the remaining ingredients, except the spinach; bring to a boil.  Reduce heat and simmer, covered, until the vegetables are tender, about 10 minutes.  Add spinach and cook for another 5 minutes.

Mango Chicken Curry

 

By the shear number of curry recipes I’ve put up here, you may have noticed that I really love curry.  I’ve had this mango curry recipe for a while, but I’ve been holding off making it, mainly because mango’s aren’t exactly standard fare at the Greenwood Walmart.  This is our last week before spring break though, and it’s going to be CRAZY: 9-weeks testing and district benchmark tests for the state tested subjects, screwed up schedules, classrooms without desks…you get the idea.  Katie’s told me before that Mango Curry is her favorite and she always gets it at the Thai place she goes to at home.  With that in mind, and knowing what a crazy week it’s going to be coming up, I decided to make mango curry as a surprise dinner.  Now, she figured out what it was half-way through the week (I wasn’t trying too hard to keep it a secret…), but she was still really excited about it anyway.  The effort was definitely a success!  She said it looked just like the curry she gets at the restaurant and that it was amazing!  An excellent recipe.

Ingredients (serves 4):

2 medium mangoes, peeled and sliced, divided

1 (10 ounce) can coconut milk

2 tbsp olive oil

1 clove garlic, minced

1/2 onion, sliced

2 chicken breasts, cubed

1 red bell pepper, sliced

1 tbsp curry powder

1 tsp ginger

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1 large cucumber, seeded and sliced

Directions:

1. Place half of the mango slices into the bowl of a blender with the coconut milk.  Blend until smooth and reserve for later.

2. Heat the oil in a large pot over medium-high heat. Stir in garlic and onions, cook until onions are translucent about 5 minutes. Add the chicken, red peppers, curry powder, ginger, and cinnamon; cook until the chicken is done, about 5 minutes.

3. Pour in the mango puree, and cook until heated through. To serve, stir in the remaining mango slices and cucumber.

Latin Chicken

Goodness, I really do love my slow cooker.  Prepped everything for this meal the night before: threw it in the slow cooker, popped it in fridge, and then I went to bed.  In the morning, I just took it out, plugged it in (and actually turned it on this time!), and my dinner was on its way to being done!  I was a bit scared everything would overcook while we were at school (9 hours is a long time), but when we came home the house smelled AMAZING and everything was cooked perfectly.  Honestly, I think that’s the best thing about a slow cooker.  Not that it does all the work for you, because frankly I don’t mind doing the work, but the amazing smell you get to come home to.  If you’ve been making dinner in your slow cooker all day, the smell just hits you like a ton of bricks when you walk in and WOW does it always smell fantastic.

I always just have chicken breasts in the fridge, so I used those for this dish, but thighs or legs would work really well for this recipe as well.  Serve over rice, OR try serving as a filling for soft or hard tacos, yum.

Ingredients (serves 8):

2 lbs chicken (breasts cut into chunks, thighs, or legs)

2 sweet potatoes, peeled and cubed

1 (14.5 oz) can black beans, drained and rinsed

1 (14.5 oz) can corn, drained

1 onion, diced

1 red bell pepper, sliced

4 cloves garlic, minced

1 c chicken brock

2 c salsa

1/2 c cilantro, loosely packed

1 tbsp cumin

1 tsp allspice

salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

1. Mix all ingredients together in a slow cooker.  Cook on low for at least 4 hours.

Sesame Green Beans

I made these delicious fresh green beans a while back and just remembered that I had the pictures, but never posted it.  This recipe came from my favorite Taste of Home magazine in the lovely “weeknight solutions” section.  So helpful, there were quite a few quick and delicious sounding recipes there!  This recipe takes virtually no prep and is really incredibly simple, yet produces a delicious (and impressive) side.  Serve these green beans as a side for any Asian inspired main dish, like cashew chicken (that’s what I did!).

Ingredients:

1 lb fresh green beans

1 red pepper, sliced

1 tbsp rice vinegar

1 tbsp sesame oil

1 tbsp soy sauce

salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

1. Preheat over to 425 degrees.

2. Coat green beans and red pepper with rice vinegar, sesame oil, and soy sauce.  Season with salt and pepper to taste.  Place on a greased baking sheet and bake for 20 minutes, or until tender.