Orzo Salad with Spicy Buttermilk Dressing

Summer is over, but I still have some summer friendly recipes to share. This is a really great salad that makes a lot, and between the beans, tomato and avocado, you can feel good about what you are eating! I made a batch of this at the beginning of the week, and then had it for lunch everyday. And even then I had leftovers to share with a friend!

And maybe on a cold snowy day, you can makes this and imagine that it is hot outside.

 Orzo Salad with Spicy Buttermilk Dressing
from Simply Gourmade

1 cup uncooked orzo
1 cup frozen whole-kernel corn, thawed and drained
12 cherry tomatoes, quartered
3 green onions, sliced
1 (15-ounce) can black beans, rinsed and drained
1/4 cup low-fat buttermilk
3 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro, divided
3 tablespoons fresh lime juice
2 tablespoons light sour cream
2 tablespoons canola mayonnaise ( I have a confession...I used real mayo)
1 teaspoon chili powder
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1/4 teaspoon ground red pepper
2 garlic cloves, crushed
1 peeled avocado, cut into 8 wedges
1 tablespoon chopped fresh parsley



Cook orzo according to package directions, omitting salt and fat. Drain and rinse; drain well. Place orzo, corn, and next 3 ingredients (through beans) in a large bowl; toss.


Combine buttermilk, 2 tablespoons cilantro, and next 8 ingredients (through garlic) in a small bowl, stirring well with a whisk. Drizzle over orzo mixture; toss. Top with avocado; garnish with remaining cilantro and parsley.

Baltimore Beef Bad Boys with Grilled Romaine

 This is a great recipe from the Food Network Magazine. It is great to have a recipe source that I know ALL the recipes will be good. This particular recipe comes from Guy Fieri, and if Guy Fieri told me dirt tasted good I would probably believe him. This recipe does not taste like dirt however, it is delicious and easy to assemble. It reminds of a beef rueben sandwich, and I love reubens. This is also a great recipe because my husband is in charge of the grill, so it is a great way to "trick" him into making dinner. 


We also threw out some grilled romaine to add to this meal. Cut the romaine hearts into halves or fourths. After you grill your meat add on romaine hearts with cut side down and grilled until the leaves are just charred. Top with crispy bacon, blue cheese and ranch dressing!

Baltimore Beef Bad Boys

2 tablespoons seasoned salt
Freshly ground black pepper
1 tablespoon onion powder
1 tablespoon garlic powder
2 teaspoons dried oregano
1 tablespoon paprika
1 teaspoon chili powder
4 pounds top round, cut in 2-equal pieces*
1/2 cup sour cream
1/2 cup mayonnaise
1 teaspoon lemon juice
1/2 cup horseradish
1 teaspoon garlic, minced
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
16 slices Rye bread, lightly toasted

Combine seasoned salt, 1 tablespoon black pepper, onion and garlic powder, oregano, paprika and chili powder in a 1-gallon sealable plastic bag. Mix thoroughly and then add 1 piece of meat, shake it around in the bag, remove it and repeat with the second piece of meat. When both pieces are done, return them to the bag, and let marinate for 24 to 48 hours in refrigerator. Remove meat from refrigerator at least 20 minutes, prior to grilling.

In a medium-sized bowl, combine the sour cream, mayonnaise, lemon juice, horseradish, garlic and sea salt and pepper. Mix thoroughly and place into refrigerator for at least 4 hours.
Set grill or large grilling pan to high heat. Cook meat for 20 minutes or until desired temperature. Remove from heat, cover and let rest for 5 to 10 minutes. Best served medium-rare.
Slice cooked and rested steaks paper thin using either a knife or counter-top deli-slicer. Place 4-ounces of meat on a slice of toasted rye and spread on sour cream horseradish.

This made more than enough or my family of 5, so after I dredged the meat in the seasonings I wrapped one up and threw it in the freezer for next time!

*remember, you can ask the guy behind with meat counter at the grocery store to split your top round in half for you. 

Asparagus Pasta Salad

I love pasta salad. I also have been intimidated by it... who knows why because most recipes are super easy! In a recent issue of Food Network magazine, they featured several different pasta salad recipes with ingredients were listed, but not the amounts of each ingredient. I like this idea because it allows you to put in a little bit of this and a little bit of that. The ingredients for the pasta salad I chose where: Fusilli, Asparagus, Corn, Sun dried Tomatoes, and Creamy Parmesan Dressing. I will try to guesstimate the amounts I used, but take some time and have fun at making it your own!

Asparagus Pasta Salad

16 oz package of Fussili or other corkscrew pasta
1/2 lb of asparagus (fresh or frozen)
6 oz of corn
8 oz container drained and chopped sun dried tomatoes
1 bottle of creamy Parmesan dressing (which I could not find so I just used a creamy cheese dressing)

Cook pasta in salted water, drain and cool. Meanwhile, broil asparagus brushed with olive oil for 7-10 minutes until crisp. Let asparagus cool, and cut into 1 inch pieces. After pasta has cooled add all ingredients together and mix well. Refrigerate until ready to eat! I also added some grilled chicken to mine to make it more of a meal than a side dish.

Garden Week: Avocado, Cucumber Tomato Salad

This is a very simple salad recipe I have from my mother-in-law. We love to make it during the summer with garden tomatoes (and this year with garden cucumbers from our neighbors). It is quick, easy, and delicious!

Avocado Cucumber Tomato Salad

1/4 tsp grated lemon zest
1/4 c lemon juice
1 TBSP white wine vinegar
1 c vegetable oil
1 1/2 lbs vine ripened tomatoes, chopped
2 cucumbers peeled, seeded and chopped
3 avocados, chopped

In a bowl whisk together zest, lemon juice, vinegar, salt and pepper to taste. Then whisk in oil, whisking until dressing is a milky liquid.  Put tomatoes, cucumbers and avocados in 3 separate bowls and toss with dressing. serve separately or on a platter divided into sections. Can be prepared 2 hours ahead and chilled.

I actually just mix everything together, and it works great that way too!

Pork Barbacoa Salad: Cafe Rio Style

This is one of my new favorite meals. I have to thank my friend Amanda for this knock off of a Cafe Rio recipe. I am not a fan of Cafe Rio, mainly because their food is not spicy and it taste like candy, so I was hesitant. My friend promised me that I would love this version, and that it is spicy and not too sweet. I trusted her, and I am so glad I did! Along with the pork barbacoa, I also made a Cafe Rio style rice recipe that I found in our church cookbook and then a version of the tomatillo dressing also from our church cookbook (the same one I made here). Together with all this I had black beans, fried yellow corn tortilla strips, shredded cheese, lettuce, and homemade taco bowls.

Pork Barbacoa

5-6 lb. pork roast
21 oz. Dr. Pepper (or Coke, do NOT use diet soda)
1 cup brown sugar ( I used 3/4 c)
3/4 cup white sugar
1 clove garlic, minced
7 oz. can chipotle chilies in adobo sauce
6-ish oz. red taco sauce (I used hot)
1 tsp dry mustard
1 tsp cumin
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper

Place roast in crock-pot, cover half-way with water and cook on low for 12 hours. Do not be afraid of the long cooking times... it really does turn out. A good thing to do is start this before you go to bed at night. After 12 hours, drain pork
Mix remaining ingredients until sugar dissolves. If you want it super spicy, you can add all the chipotle chilies in adobo sauce, but it will be super spicy, I did this, but I love spicy and it was perfect for me. (The chilies are found in the Mexican food aisle next to the other canned peppers). My friend did not keep the actual chilies, she dumped the can into a bowl and added enough Dr. Pepper to get all the sauce off of the chilies, then fished out the chilies and threw them out. She also rinsed out the can with Dr. Pepper for more adobo goodness.
Add Dr. Pepper mixture to the roast and cook on low an additional 4 hours. Shred roast, and cook for 2 more hours. At this point the meat was so tender it practically shredded itself.

Cafe Rio Style Rice

3 c water (or 6 if you are using a rice cooker)
4 tsp chicken bouillon (or about 2 cubes)
4 tsp minced garlic
1/2 bunch cilantro
1 can green chilies
3/4 tsp salt
1 tbsp butter
1/2 onion
3 c rice
Blend cilantro, green chilies and onion together in a food processor. Bring water to a boil and add other ingredients. Simmer covered for 30 min. Or throw everything in a rice cooked, like I did.

Go here for the tomatillo dressing recipe

For the beans I just used canned black beans and heated them up in a sauce pan, liquid and all. The yellow corn tortilla strips were made from yellow corn tortillas (duh) and then deep fried at 375 for 5-6 minutes, then salted. The homemade tortilla bowls is my greatest invention yet. I used the cook your own tortillas from Wal-Mart or Costco, and squished into a oven safe bowl and baked it at 400 for about 10 minutes, it was perfect!

To assemble the salad and grab my taco bowl, filled it with lettuce and then layered it with the pork, rice, beans, cheese, dressing and tortilla strips. You can also load it all in a tortilla and eat it burrito style. It was all so good, I cried when I was full.

Oh, and this makes a lot of food, so be sure to invite a crowd over when you make it (and that better include me).

Chinese Chicken Salad

If you are a Hungry Homemaker blog follower, then you will know that I don't always eat the best foods (as in health, not taste). I usually make up for this by eating very healthy breakfasts and lunches. For breakfast I almost always have a bowl of Fiber One or Total cereal and a banana. My favorite thing to have for lunch is salad. Lately I have been on a Chinese chicken salad kick. I make a big bowl of it on Monday, and I eat it everyday for lunch until it is gone! So, here is my recipe for Chinese chicken salad that I love.

Chinese Chicken Salad

1 head of cabbage (shredded)
1 c slivered almonds, toasted
3 tbs sesame seeds, toasted
2 bunch green onions, chopped
2 cups cooked, cubed chicken
2 3oz packages Oriental flavored ramen noodles

Toast almonds and sesame seeds in a skillet with no-stick cooking spray until golden brown. Break raw ramen noodles into small pieces. Mix together cabbage, cooked chicken, green onions, noodles and toasted almonds and sesame seeds together in a large bowl.

Dressing:
2 packages of oritnal flaovered ramen seasoning
1/2 c sugar
1/4 c vinegar
1.2 c vegtable oil
1/2 tsp pepper
2 tbs soy sauce

Mix all ingredients together until well combined. Add dressing to salad mixture, toss well and chill before serving.

Cafe Rio Dressing

People around here go crazy over Cafe Rio. I am not a huge fan of their "candy" meat and the lack of flavor and spice. However, I have to admit their salad dressing is amazing! In our church cookbook, there are three different recipes all claiming to be "Cafe Rio", so I thought I would try them out and see which one I liked the best. The best part about this is I do not have to actually go to Cafe Rio, and I can tweak it a bit a raise the level of spiciness.

This first recipes claims it is the "closest knock off". I don't know if it is the closest knock off, but I do know I love it. I don't know if the other two recipes will be as good. my favorite thing to do with the dressing is make vegies wraps. I fill a flour tortilla with lettuce, chopped broccoli, avocado, and cucumber with the dressing on top. I have also used it on taco salads! Trent and I also dipped egg rolls in it.

Cafe Rio Dressing

1 pkg buttermilk ranch dressing mix-make as per recipe (you can just use the regular ranch dressing mix and make it with buttermilk** too)
3 tomatillos*, peeled and quartered
1 c cilantro
1 clove garlic
juice of one lime (or about 2 tbsp)
1 jalapeno (I included the seeds in mine to make in spicy, oh and it is soooo good).

Blend all ingredients in a food processor. It is important you use a food processor because the blender makes the dressing very runny. In the food processor it is nice and thick. Refrigerate.

*You can find tomatillos right next to the jalapenos in the produce section. They look a little like green tomatoes with a green paper like shell around it.
** I never buy buttermilk because it is so easy to make your own! Just take 1 cup of milk (whole is preferred but not necessary) and  either 1 and 3/4 Tablespoons cream of tartar or 1 tbsp white vinegar or 1 tbsp lemon juice.

Corn and Black Bean Salad

I had lunch at a friends house a few weeks ago, and she served this fabulous corn and black bean salad. I have been looking for a good recipe like this, so I was very excited when she brought me a copy of the recipe! There are many different variations to this recipe, so I will just post the one I did. But, if you make this, get creative and throw in whatever sounds good, you might be surprised!

*I apologize for the blurry picture, I think I was just too excited to eat it! Just be grateful you're getting a picture

Corn and Black Bean Salad

1 can black beans, drained and rinsed
1 can corn, drained and rinsed
1/2 c (or more) or chopped fresh cilantro

Combine in a bowl and let chill while making the dressing.

Dressing:
2 tbsp vinegar (be creative and use whatever vinegar you want. I used 1 tbsp apple cider vinegar and 1 tbsp rice wine vinegar)
1 tbsp olive oil
1/4 tsp ground pepper
1/2 tsp salt (I added a bit more to carry the flavor)
2 tsp sugar
1/2 tsp garlic powder

Whisk the dressing ingredients together then pour onto vegetables. Store in the refrigerator.