BLT plus avacodo pasta salad

This a BLT taken to a whole new level of awesomeness! Give it a try and see if I am kidding!

3 avacodo diced

1/2 cup light mayo

1/2 cup light sour cream

1 12oz package of bacon fried, drained and broken into pieces

2 Roma tomatoes diced

1 cup of spinach leaves torn
3 oz crumbled feta cheese

3/4 box of spiral pasta cooked and drained

1 Lemon's juice

Salt 

Pepper

Boil pasta and drain and let cool a bit. Place pasta in a large bowl and start adding the rest of your ingredients into the bowl. Stir softly just till all is mixed well and let set in fridge for a few hours for all the flavors to blend. (I let mine rest about 3 hours)

Enjoy!

Peaches and cream French toast casserole

1 quart of Georgia peaches

1 loaf of French bread

1 cup brown sugar

1 1/2 cup whole milk

12 eggs

1 tsp vanilla

1/4 tsp salt

2 T sugar

3T maple syrup

1/4 c heavy cream

Now I made this with fresh peaches that I had canned straight from Georgia (by one of my dearest friends) but you could easily do it with fresh peaches or a large can of peaches! If you doing fresh I would say you needed about 6 or 7.

The night before you need to take

1 loaf of French bread dried out in a warm oven. Then in a large bowl crack 12 eggs and add a cup and a half of whole milk. Stir in one tsp of vanilla 1/4 tsp of salt and 1 cup of brown sugar then whisk. 

Crumble bread into chunks in a buttered 9x13 pan and pour egg mixture over the top. Cover with plastic wrap and press gently till egg mixture is soaked into bread. Refrigerate over night.

The next morning:

Uncover and arrange peaches in rows across the top. Sprinkle with about 2 TBS white sugar. Then drizzle the rows with about 3 TBS of maple syrup and then drizzle 1/4C of heavy cream on top. 

Place in oven while oven is cool and set oven for 375 and bake for 45 minutes. The edges start to brown and casserole has become puffy.

Enjoy!!

Grilled cilantro lime sweet potatoes

4 clean sweet potatoes 

1 T cilantro

1 lime juiced

3 T olive oil

Salt 

Pepper

Clean sweet potatoes and poke holes in then with a fork. Place in microwave for 3 to 4 minutes depending on size.

Slice potatoes into 4 pieces each and place in a large zip lock. Pour in rest of your ingredients and  and gently roll bag between fingers till they are coated in seasonings.

Have grill ready to go and grill on low heat for 4-5 minutes on each side till good grill marks form and they are soft.

(Now if you really want to lime them up sprinkle a little lime juice on them!)

Remove from heat and enjoy! We love ours with a little ketchup at our house!!

Hot pepper jam

Had some pepper jelly a few weeks ago and it left me craving more. I was never (or at least I thought I was never) a fan of the stuff. But after applying a smear of cream cheese to a cracker and topping it with the jelly that one bite left me hooked and I went home in search of how how I could get/make more! The result was better than the first taste I had a few weeks ago! 

1 jar of diced pickled jalapeño  peppers drained

1 diced bell pepper

6 red picked sweet cherry peppers

3 sweet red snacking peppers

1 T butter

1 C apple cider vinegar 

2 C cranberry juice

1 box powder pectin

6 C sugar

1 tsp cayenne pepper

In a large pot place all the peppers, butter, cranberry juice and apple cider vinegar. Bring to a boil and reduce the liquid in the pot by1/2. As it reduces I used an emersion blender to further chop the peppers. Once reduced add the sugar and let come to a boil again. Now this mixture needs to boil a few minutes and the best way to tell you are reaching jelly stage is to freeze a plate and drip some jam mixture on the plate and if it wrinkles when you scrape your finger across it....kinda gummy consistency then your good! Add in the box of pectin and stir till it dissolves. Then because it wasn't quite the heat I wanted I added the cayenne pepper! You can add as much as you like. I stopped at one full tsp. 

 Now you jar it up just like you would regularly jar jam. I water bath processed mine for 10 minutes and then removed to cool. 

This batch made 7 pints of pepper jelly.

Now the big question is do I want to share?

Grilled Chicken Salad

It's slipping into summer time and and there's nothing better than a good chicken salad but let's go and make that 10x better by making it a grilled chicken salad!

2 leftover large chicken breast
1 rib of celery diced
1tbs of fresh parsley
1/4 C or little less of chopped green onion
1/2 T Salt
1/2 T pepper
1/3 C chopped pecans
1/2 c sliced in halved red seedless grapes
1/4 C mayo
1/3 C sour cream

Shred chicken in a large bowl. Add all other ingredients and stir well then let sit overnight in the fridge to let the favors merry together.
Serve on a sandwich or with crackers. You may want to double this recipe because the first batch will go so quickly you will need more!

Greek pasta salad

I feel somewhere deep inside my heritage there has to be some Greek roots. My love for all thing Greek comes through in this pasta salad I mixed up tonight. I rarely make pasta salad....not sure why that is because this turned out so fresh a wonderful that I could eat this all summer long!

1lb spiral shaped pasta

1 lemon ( zest it and juice it and set aside)

1 T fresh oregano chopped

1 tsp fresh thyme
2 green onions chopped

1 T fresh parsley chopped

2 cloves minced garlic

1/3 cup chopped small sundried tomato( not in oil)

1/2 red onion diced small

1 can black olives

1 can chick peas

3oz feta cheese crumbled

4 oz mozzarella cut into mini cubes

2 oz powder Parmesan cheese

1/4 cup of newmans Parmesan and roasted garlic dressing 

4 T olive oil

Salt and pepper

Boil pasta in salted water. While pasta boils mix: olive oil, with chopped herbs, green onion, lemon juice, lemon
zest,newmans salad dressing, and garlic in a bowl and set aside.

Drain pasta.

In one large bowl mix pasta, cheeses, chickpeas, black olives, onions, salt and pepper, and sundried tomato. Drizzle the dressing and herbs over the mixture and toss to coat.
Serve or refrigerate for more intense flavor!

Healthy Breakfast muffins

3/4 c of vanilla almond milk

1/4 c of buttermilk

1 smashed banana

1tsp vanilla

1/4 C of honey

3 C of oats (old fashioned)

1/2 C peanut butter

1/4 C mini chocolate chips

1T baking powder 

2 eggs

Mix everything together in one large bowl and stir until well combined. Line a muffin pan with paper liners and place enough batter in each cup to be filled almost to the top.
Bake at 375 degrees for about 12-15 minutes. just till they have risen and just begin to brown on the edges!
I was able to get 14 very nice sized muffins!