Tuna Salad Pitas

Made this last night. It was a quick and tasty dinner for summer weather!

Tuna Salad Pitas

6 Pita flatbreads
2-3 cans of tuna in water, squeezed dry and flaked
1 large tomato diced
2-3 Tbsp mayo
juice of half a lemon
2 Tbsp finely chopped cilantro
Salt and pepper to taste

optional garnish- lettuce, fresh salsa, cheese

Mix everything, except flatbread, in a bowl. Scoop into pitas, fold in half and enjoy!

I served with fresh fruit, tortilla chips and salsa. So refreshing!

Slow cooker Enchilada Casserole (vegetarian!)

I love using my slow cooker. It's so nice to throw some things in a pot during the day and then not have to worry about "what's for dinner". It's also nice to have something warm waiting when you're not sure exactly what time you'll be sitting down to eat. Timing food can be so hard. It seems like most crockpot meals feature meat- but this vegetarian creation went over very well :)

Slow Cooker Enchilada Casserole

2 cups peeled, diced, sweet potato
1 large tomato, diced
1 large bell pepper diced
1-2 Tbsp olive oil
1 Tbsp garlic
1/8 tsp smoked paprika
1/4 tsp cumin
9 small corn tortillas
1 can black beans, rinsed and drained
1 can favorite enchilada sauce
shredded cheese to your liking

1. Warm oil, garlic, and spices in pan. Add sweet potato and bell pepper. Sautee 2 min. Add tomato and beans, stir till combined and warmed.
2. Spray crock pot. Spread thin layer of enchilada sauce on bottom of pot. Then create one layer with 3 tortillas (can tear if you like). Then spoon over 1/3 of sauteed mixture. Pour another thin layer of enchilada sauce and sprinkle with cheese. Repeat 3 times. Turn on low 6+ hours. Serve with plain greek yogurt, salsa, avocado, or other garnishes of your choice.

Adapted Mulligatawny Soup

I was going to make a Mexican dish tonight- but my avocados still weren't quite ripe. I started looking through a file of recipes I'd been wanting to try. Found one that I tweaked a bit and it turned out SOOO yummy. Next time I'll plan ahead and make the Garlic Naan bread I have pinned to go with it! I love Indian food :)

Mulligatawny Soup (Jaime style)

1/2 cup chopped onion
2 stalks celery, chopped
2 carrots, peeled and diced
oil or butter
1 1/2 Tbsp flour
1 1/2 Tbsp curry powder
4 cups broth (I used chicken cause I was out of vegetable)
1 small apple peeled, cored, and chopped
1/2 cup cooked brown rice (or you could throw in uncooked white- but I had leftovers)
1-2 cups acorn or butternut squash- cubed or smashed- depending what texture you want (I had just roasted acorn squash so I kinda chopped it up, but it mostly blended in and made the soup thick and creamy)
1 small potato cubed
1 pinch of dried thyme
salt and pepper to taste.

Directions: Saute onions, celery and carrots in oil or butter (I used enough olive oil to cover bottom of soup pot) a few minutes or till they start to soften. Add flou and curry and cook a few more minutes- till fragrant and mixed well. Add stock and bring to a boil. While simmering add apple, squash, potato, salt, pepper and thyme. Simmer about 20 minutes or till all veggies/rice are cooked and soup is flavorful.

Enjoy!

Vegetarian biscuits and gravy?!

Vegetarian Biscuits and Gravy:

1 can refrigerator biscuits prepared as directed
1 can cream of celery soup
1 can water or milk of choice
diced broccoli, cauliflower, carrots

Saute veggies with some garlic and salt in olive oil. Add soup, and mix in water or milk till it reaches your desired consistency. I used a full can of water, and it was still creamy enough for me. Pour over your biscuits and enjoy.

I made this one night when the boys were gone to somewhere and I  wanted something simple, but also would use up some of the produce I had sitting in my fridge. I've also made a similar variation with this making mini veggie pot pies in muffin tins. That one I made for the whole gang and they really liked them. Next time I might add some marjoram, thyme, and oregano to add a bit more flavor.

Veggie stuffed calzones

A couple of tricks:

First- make your own pasta sauce. finely chop, saute, and then puree lots of veggies into and you'll get great flavor as well as hide lots of veggies into something you can use in several dishes. 

Next. Kids love pizza, right? I can make a plain cheese pizza for vegetarian nights and they'll eat it- but I think that's pretty boring. Problem is, if I load it with veggies, like I'd like, they pick them all off or turn their noses up at it. Here comes trick number two- stuff it all inside a calzone, and suddenly they gobble up the folded, veggie stuffed pizza without complaint. 

This time is used mostly broccoli, carrots, cauliflower and spinach in my sauce and calzones this time (along with tomatoes and onions of course) but I'm thinking mushrooms, spinach, artichoke hearts could make for great combos as well.

A favorite summer salad

Avocado & Strawberry Salad

2-3 cups favorite greens (I used half spinach, half romain)

10 strawberries sliced

1 avocado sliced

1/2 cup nuts (I used cashews, but I'm sure would be great with pecans, almonds, walnuts, etc)

DRESSING!!!

2 Tbsp. olive oil

4 Tbsp honey

1 Tbsp cider vinegar

1 tsp lemon juice

Taco Salad

The classic, right? Usually done with meat. Works just as well with out.

Tonight everyone ate it and liked it. Tonight I made it like this:

1. Seeded and chopped two tomatoes. Finely diced 1/4 red onion. About 1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro. One can of black beans. Half a can of sweet corn. Juice of one lemon. One green bell pepper diced. One Tablespoon Taco seasoning. Mixed it all together in a bowl.

2.  Filled a cookie sheet with corn tortilla chips, sprinkled with cheese and broiled just till cheese was melted.

3. Placed green salad mix, ranch, and sour cream on the table.

The I let everyone stack and eat it how they like. Everyone pretty much ate it all. Dekker had his salad with ranch separate from his "nachos" and picked out the tomatoes. I was okay with that.