Healthier-for-You Homemade Blue Cheese Dressing

Tonight we had Wedge Salads with Homemade Blue Cheese Dressing along with Tomato Basil soup from Sam's (it's in the refrigerated section) to celebrate that it's finally cooler than 95 degrees at dinner time.  Summer is OVER!

Homemade Blue Cheese Dressing
1 cup fat free Greek yogurt
1/3 cup mayonnaise
2 cloves garlic
juice of one lemon
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
2 tablespoons crumbled blue cheese

Grate garlic with a microplane or chop very finely. Add the yogurt, mayo, lemon juice, salt, and pepper and whisk to combine.  Gently stir in the blue cheese. If the dressing is too thick, add a little skim milk to thin it.

Wedge Salad

To assemble the salad, cut a cold head of iceburg lettuce into quarters.  Drizzle with the Homemade Blue Cheese Dressing over the top.  Top with crispy bacon and extra blue cheese. 

Chili Lime Broiled Salmon with Avocado Corn Salad

I found my broiler pan the other day when I was cleaning out my cabinets and realized I didn't even know how to use it.  And wow, why did I wait so long to figure it out?  Talk about an easy way to cook fish.  And FAST!

Chili Lime Broiled Salmon
Drizzle both sides of thawed salmon fillets with olive oil.  Sprinkle with salt, pepper, cumin, chili powder, and juice from half of a fresh lime.  Broil on the broiler pan for 5 minutes.  Flip the salmon and broil for 5 more minutes.  When it comes out of the oven, squeeze the other half of the lime over the fillets.

Avocado Corn Salad
 4 ears fresh corn
2 ripe avocados
1/2 orange bell pepper
1/4 chopped cilantro
juice of 1 lime
salt and pepper

Cut the corn off the ears using a serrated knife.  Steam the corn in a glass bowl covered with plastic wrap in the microwave for 5 minutes.  You want the corn to remain slightly crunchy,  Combine the avocado, corn, orange bell pepper, cilantro and stir.  Add the lime juice (add more if the lime isn't very juicy) and salt and pepper. 

Kids' Favorite Chicken Tenders

We had the Kids' Favorite Chicken Tenders for dinner, and  I should mention that adults like them, too (we even dip them in barbeque sauce or ranch, like the kids do!).

You must excuse my poor phone pictures.  My 3 year old son stole the sim card to my camera, AGAIN!.

Kids' Favorite Chicken Tenders

4 thin skinless chicken breasts (I buy the thin ones)
2 cups Panko bread crumbs
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon onion powder
1/2 flour
2 eggs

Mix Panko with salt, pepper, garlic powder, and onion powder.  Cut chicken breasts in half to form chicken tenders.  Lightly salt and pepper each one.  Dredge each tender first in flour, then in egg, and then in the Panko/spice mixture.  Place tenders on oiled cookie sheet and bake at 450 for 7-10 minutes or until beginning to brown on top.  Flip each tender and bake 5 minutes more.

The Perfect Chocolate Chip Cookie

While you can't beat a good Nezle Tulhouze (you've seen that Friends episode, right?), this is my go-to chocolate chip cookie recipe.  I've adapted several recipes over the years to make MY perfect chocolate chip cookie.  The oatmeal gives it a great texture and the extra salt is just perfect.  Everyone needs a good chocolate chip cookie recipe; if you don't have one, this should be it.  

I made these for us to eat while we watched the Razorback game on TV, and boy, did we ever eat!! I'm glad I put half the dough in the fridge for later....

Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

1 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1 heaping teaspoon kosher salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup butter, room temperature (2 sticks)
1 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 eggs
2 cups old-fashioned rolled oats
1 (12-ounce) package semi-sweet chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line baking sheets with parchment paper. 
Whisk flour, salt, and baking soda together in a bowl.
Beat together butter, sugars, and vanilla in large bowl with an electric mixer until creamy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating until light and fluffy. Gradually beat in flour mixture and rolled oats. Stir in chocolate chips.

Drop batter by well-rounded teaspoonfuls (I use a tiny ice cream scoop) onto a baking sheet. Bake for 8-10 minutes, or until golden.

Cool cookies on sheets for 2 minutes. Remove to wire rack to cool completely.

Make Your Own Pizza

I wasn't sure if I wanted to share this with you or not, because it's kind of embarrassing for someone who has a food blog.  But my blog is about what we had for dinner, and we did, in fact eat this pizza for dinner.  Now y'all know I always you what we really eat!

Here goes: we ate a Chef Boyardee Cheese Pizza Kit for dinner (we added leftover hamburger).  My second family, the Kerns, introduced me to Chef Boyardee Pizza many years ago.   It's nostalgic, but seriously, it's good.  The kids LOVE making their own pizzas and we usually make 5 little pizzas so we all get our own.

Look at what a beautiful job my girls did.   Who doesn't like a heart shaped pizza? Even if it is drowning in corn syrup laced pizza sauce....

Bleu Moon Burger

There is a restaurant in town (Hugo's) that serves my favorite hamburger of all time: the Bleu Moon burger.  I guess it's just a hamburger with blue cheese on it, but it's really spectacular.  Tonight was our attempt at a recreation. 

Bleu Moon Burger

ground chuck (don't try to be healthy if you want a tasty burger, use ground chuck)
salt
pepper
blue cheese
quality hamburger bun (that means not Wonder bread)
lettuce and tomato (if you want)

Liberally salt and pepper hamburger patties.  Grill on high until done, flipping once.  Don't press them down with the spatula or mess around with them too much.  Top with blue cheese while still hot.  Grill the bun, too, and you'll have a perfect hamburger.

Baked Potatoes

This is a tricky one, pay attention. 

Baked Potatoes 

Drizzle potatoes with olive oil and sprinkle with salt.  Bake at 400 for one hour on a cookie sheet.  We like our potatoes with butter, sour cream, cheese, bacon, and chives. 

Chicken and Green Chili Enchiladas

A wonderful neighbor friend from our old neighborhood brought these enchiladas to me one evening after Alpha was born (8 years ago!), and I've been making them ever since.  I like to use a rotisserie chicken to save time, but she poaches boneless, skinless chicken breasts instead.  You can do either.  And you can adjust the amount of chicken based on what you like.  I like mine less chicken-y and more creamy, so I use less chicken than the recipe calls for (just 2 chicken breasts from the rotisserie). 

Amy's (not me) Chicken Enchiladas 

3 cups cooked and chopped chicken
1 8oz package of cream cheese (don't bother to use low fat, read the rest of the recipe)
1 small onion, chopped
1 small can of chopped green chilies
salt and pepper to taste
large flour tortillas
8oz whipping cream
8 oz Monterrey Jack cheese, shredded (more or less to taste)

Cook the onions and green chilies in a skillet over medium heat with 1 tablespoon olive oil until very soft, about 10 minutes.  Add the cream cheese and stir until it melts.  You can add a little cream if the mixture is not creamy enough.  Add the chopped chicken, salt and pepper, and stir.  Put some of the chicken mixture in each tortilla and place seam side down in a lightly greased baking dish.  Pour whipping cream over the enchiladas and then top with shredded cheese.  Cover with foil and bake at 350 for 15 minutes, remove foil and broil until browned on top, about 5 minutes.

Our Favorite Cookie

Martha Stewart's Chocolate Thumbprint cookies are my family's favorite cookie, by far.   John likes them so much that he hides a bunch of them in the back of the freezer (shhh, don't tell the kids).  The not too sweet shortbread with the buttery, chocolate center is fabulous!  I may or may not eat the leftover chocolate with a spoon out of the bowl...I'm sure Martha does that, too.

And by the way, the recipe says you should pull the cookies out of the 350 degree oven after 10 minutes and use your THUMB to make the "thumbprints".  Well, unless you're like Martha and developed thumbs of steel in a minimum security women's prison, you might want to use the end of a wooden spoon.  

Chocolate Thumbprint Cookies (from Martha Stewart's Cookie Cookbook)

12 tablespoons (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter
1/2 cup confectioners' sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
4 ounces semisweet chocolate, chopped
1 1/2 teaspoons light corn syrup

1. Heat oven to 350 degrees. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat together 1 stick butter, sugar, salt, and vanilla on medium-high speed until smooth, about 2 minutes. Beat in flour, beginning on low speed and increasing to medium high.
   
2. Roll dough by teaspoonfuls into balls, and place 1 inch apart on an ungreased baking sheet. Bake for 10 minutes, remove from oven, and press thumb into tops of cookies to make indentations. Return to oven, and bake until light brown on the edges, 7 to 9 minutes more. Remove to a wire rack to cool.
   
3. Combine chocolate, 4 tablespoons butter, and corn syrup in a small heat-proof bowl. Set over a pot of simmering water; stir occasionally until melted and smooth. Allow to cool slightly. When cookies are cool, fill the thumbprints with the chocolate mixture.
   

Cheese Tortellini with Spinach and Tomatoes

Cheese Tortellini with Spinach and Tomatoes

1 large (20oz) package refrigerated tortellini (or frozen)
1/2 tablespoon olive oil
2 cloves garlic, minced
pinch red pepper flakes
salt and pepper to taste
3 cups fresh baby spinach
1/2 cup cherry tomatoes (more or less to taste)
1 tablespoon butter
Parmesan cheese to taste

Boil the water and cook the tortellini for about 5 minutes (for refrigerated tortellini, longer for the frozen).  Meanwhile, heat skillet to medium high and add about 1/2 tablespoon of olive oil.  Add the garlic and red pepper flakes, cook for 2 minutes, and then add spinach and salt and pepper.  Cook the spinach until it's wilted (about 2-3 minutes), and add tomatoes and stir.  Turn off the heat.  Drain tortellini and toss it together with one tablespoon of butter and spinach/tomato mixture.  Season with Parmesan cheese.