Category: culinary fun

This month my duties for the ReadySetEat.com Shared Tastes Panel had me making some super-yummy SALADS.  Like, salads that are an actual MEAL.   I know, right? Crazy!  They turned out to be awesome!  The first one I made in honor of Cinco de Mayo, the Simple Taco Salad.

We don’t eat a lot of taco salad in our house, and here’s why: most taco seasonings have MSG in them, and my husband is violently allergic to MSG (I almost killed him once by using bouillon cubes. Oops.)  So, instead of taco seasoning, I will usually just use chili powder and garlic, or more often, not bother with a taco salad at all.  I was a little skeptical of this one because the recipe called simply for chili beans, chili powder, and Ro*tel to season the taco salad…but my expectation were WAY surpassed because it was excellent! The flavor was so good, and not bland at all.  Those items provided perfect seasoning for the ground beef, lettuce, cheese and tortilla chips that made up the salad.  Bobby loved it and *bonus* none of the ingredients made him sick! 🙂  It was awesome and SO easy to make!

The next salad I made was the Orange-Spinach Salad with Chicken.  Here is an actual picture of the one I cranked out:

Again, this was soooo delicious.  I was not sure that this would be enough of a meal to keep Bobby and I from being hungry later but it totally was.  And I loooooved the taste!   It was super-easy to make as well.  No trouble at all, and very easy to clean up. SCORE!

Now, I realized after I posted last month about ReadySetEat.com, that I hadn’t yet told you about one of my very favorite features the site has to offer: complete nutritional information for each recipe!!   Check out this screen shot of the nutritional information for the Simple Taco Salad Recipe:

See what I mean when I say complete nutrition information?  This makes it so easy to fit these recipes into your dietary plan – whether you are counting fat, calories, carbs, points, or just wanna know what you’re eating!  I LOVE this feature!

I’ve already mentioned some of my other favorite features in previous posts – the recipe box, the sale alert feature – but I think the nutritional info feature takes the cake!

I loved these salad recipes and I love all the features of ReadySetEat.com.  What’s your favorite recipe or feature from the site?

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I am being compensated for my duties on the ReadySetEat.com Shared Tastes Panel.  My opinions about the site and the recipes are all my own and are not edited by anyone but myself.

Have I mentioned that I looooove being a part of the ReadySetEat Shared Tastes Panel?

Well, one of the reasons I love it is because it is forcing me to try new recipes that I probably never would have attempted previously.  And they are turning out awesome.  Like for instance, this little meal right here:

The Ham and Cheese Potato Tart (of DREAMS!!).  This is not only the best “Breakfast-for-Dinner” meal I’ve ever cooked but it’s one of the tastiest meals I’ve made ever.  And it was SOSOSOSO easy!  Bobby and I both l-o-v-e-d it and I now know what I’m taking to every Christmas brunch at my mother’s for the rest of all time.   I urge, nay, EXHORT you to go out and get what you need to make this baby ASAP!  Don’t delay!  You can find the recipe on ReadySetEat.com and save it to your recipe box, print it, and find out where the ingredients for it are on sale!  Woot!

Another recipe I made this month that was SO yummy and easy was the Black Bean Pasta Bowl.  I loves me anything that has pasta, cheese, and a southwest flair.  Plus, I’m a sucker for Cumin, I love the flavor!  The sweetness of the corn with the mild spice of Ro-Tel plus Cumin and black beans and the aforementioned cheese = paradise in my mouth.  This is the kind of meal I make mass quantities of so I can eat the leftovers for lunch the next day! SO. YUMMY.

If you haven’t checked out ReadySeatEat.com yet, you MUST!  I am loving the ease of finding new recipes, and how simple and fast they all are to make.  Not to mention TASTY!  And with the recipe box, I always know where to find my favorite recipes.  As a matter of fact, I’ve recently scandalized UP by giving away all my cookbooks – I’m a digital recipe girl now!

What recipes have you tried from ReadySetEat? If the answer is “none” -head on over there and add some of these goodies to your recipe box!

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I am being compensated for my work on the Shared Tastes Panel of ReadySetEat.com.  My recipe reviews and my opinions on the site are all my own.

My kids were on spring break last week, and the day before we were to leave to spend Easter with my folks in Virginia, Joshua became, for some reason, obsessed with the idea of making his own popsicles.  Why? I don’t know.  It was rainy and yucky so it’s not like a heat wave inspired him.  And he cannot tell me why when I ask. It just occurred to him to try.  He even wrote out some instructions of his own:

He reaallllly wanted to try and make some popsicles so I told him we would do it in Virginia (even though I was fairly sure his instructions weren’t fool-proof.) On the way to Virginia, I started thinking about these really amazing popsicles the wonderful ladies at the church I grew up at would make us every year at Vacation Bible School.  I knew they had Jell-o in them, but I didn’t know exactly how to make them.  However, since they are in my childhood memory, the PERFECT popsicle, I decided we should try our hand at them.

Luckily, when we got to my parent’s place, my mom had some Jell-O (Berry Blue, in fact).  My darling husband got out his Droid X and googled a recipe for Jell-O popsicles and VOILA!  He found one!  I have no idea where exactly he found it and he doesn’t remember so I am sorry I cannot give credit.  But just so ya know, I didn’t come up with this myself.  Here’s how to make the PERFECT popsicle!

One package Jell-O, any flavor

1 tbs sugar

water (however much the Jell-O package says)

Mix the Jell-O according to package directions.  Add in one tablespoon sugar and stir.  Pour evenly into Dixie cups, insert popsicle stick and freeze overnight.  To release from cups, thaw a few seconds in hot water, then ENJOY!

The smallest cups we could find at ye olde local dollar store were 9 0z., but a Dixie cup would be a good size.  However, you can make them as big or small as you want to.  My genius husband came up with this contraption for keeping the popsicle sticks in the liquid before putting them in the freezer:

We froze them overnight and they came out A-W-E-S-O-M-E! They are so perfect because they don’t DRIP everywhere and they taste yuuuuumy. We all really enjoyed them! They were exactly like the wonderful popsicles I had at Vacation Bible School so many years ago. SO, if you have any Jell-O in the pantry, and you want your kids to think you are super-awesome, go make ya some!

Joshua highly recommends it!