Summer Salad

I love salads and thankfully Darin and the boys do too. (Although Aaron likes everything separated.) 

Look at this awesome pile of romaine and spinach I picked from our garden this week. Delish!

One of our favorite summer salads is a Chicken and Fruit Salad. Here is the recipe:

3 cups cooked chicken, cubed

1 cup sliced celery

1 cup seedless grapes, halved

20 oz can of pineapple tidbits, drained (fresh pineapple is even better!)

11 oz can of mandarin oranges, drained

1/4 - 1 cup chopped pecans (the more the better in our house)

lettuce, torn 

dressing:

3/4 cup (or less) of stevia

1 tsp salt

1 tsp mustard

1 cup oil

1 tbsp poppy seed

1 1/2 tbsp onion juice or finely chopped onion (1/2-1 tsp of onion powder works)

1/3 cup vinegar

We use the "Measure Mix and Pour" from Pampered Chef to mix the dressing. 

It's awesome, but any bowl will work fine. Hope your family enjoys it as much as we do. 

Yummy!

Our traditional end to a very low key valentine's day... homemade whole wheat heart shaped pizza!

"We love because He first loved us."  1 John 4:19

Black Beans and Rice . . . YUM

photo credit: realsimple.com

One of our favorite recipes is Black Beans and Rice. I first had this recipe at my sister-in-law Chrislyn's house back in 2006. Now it has become a family staple and I try to always have the ingredients on hand. We could seriously eat this once a week with no complaints. In fact, I have to double the recipe so we have a few leftovers! The only thing I changed from the recipe is I use less salt, no onions and we use brown rice. Served with salad and a homemade artisan bread, it is delicious!

Hope you enjoy it too!