Fruit Salad

Finding a good summertime side item that Kyle will actually eat is hard to come by. He's not big into vegetables unless it's sweet potatoes so dinner time come summertime is normally a one-pot-meal. My grandmother use to always make this amazing fruit salad and, to be completely honest, I totally forgot all about it. For Kyle's birthday party, yep the big 3-0, my mom decided to bring the fruit salad dish which only reunited me with my love for fruit salad. With my new found intolerances it's going to be quite some time before I can have it again, and when it's time I won't be able to use the regular "fruit cocktail" due to my severe peach intolerance. So meanwhile, before I have to go on a 9 week clean out, I decided I would try to enjoy the fruity goodness in all it's glory. Saturday we went to T's house, Kyle's best friend, and his girlfriend made dinner and I brought...you guessed it... fruit salad. It was actually the first time I had ever made it and once I did I realized it was just too easy and too yummy not to share, with my mom's permission of course! Without further adieu:

Unfortunately my lighting source was not willing to work with me for this picture.

Ingredients:

8oz Cool Whip (thawed)

1oz box of  sugar free vanilla jello pudding

15oz can of fruit cocktail* (in light syrup); drained

10.5oz can of mandarin oranges; drained

8oz can of pineapple tidbits** don't drain, you need the juice!



Directions:

Mix together pudding, mandarin oranges, fruit cocktail, and pineapple. If you want to put an embellishment on top be sure to place 4-5 mandarin orange slices to the side. Once fruit and pudding is stirred up fold in your cool whip and mix. Once it's good and mixed together smooth out the surface and place your mandarin oranges on top.



*the grocery was out of just regular ol' fruit cocktail so I used extra cherry mixed fruit instead-basically the same thing with...extra cherries

**the grocery was actually out of the tidbits at the time that I made this so I just substituted it with crushed.



As always, let me know if you try it out and what you think!


this post was a part of Mama Kat's Writer Workshop

Rosemary Ranch Chicken Kabobs

via Allrecipes.com

One thing I love about meeting with my small group from church on a weekly basis is getting to try and trade different recipes. Yesterday I mentioned Cucumber Lemon Diffused Water which is actually a treat I learned from a couple in our group. Another recipe I learned was Rosemary Ranch Chicken Kabobs . Let me tell you, this is delicious, and this is coming from a person who is not crazy about chicken. Also Kyle hates, and I do not use this word lightly, ranch but he absolutely loves this recipe! I stuck to the recipe other than leaving out the sugar as well as doing tenders instead of the kabobs. You can find the recipe: here.

Ingredients:
1/2C olive oil
1/2C ranch dressing
3tbsp worcestershire sauce
1tbsp minced fresh rosemary I just pulled a few sprigs off my plant and chopped them finely
2tsp salt
1tsp lemon juice
1tsp white vinegar
1/4tsp ground black pepper
1tbsp white sugar, or to taste (opt)
5 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves cut into 1in cubes

Directions:
In a medium bowl, stir together the olive oil, ranch dressing, worcestershire sauce, rosemary, salt, lemon juice, white vinegar, pepper, and sugar (opt). Let stand for 5 minutes. Place chicken in the bowl and stir to coat with the marinade. Cover and refrigerate for 30 minutes.

Preheat grill to med-high heat. Thread chicken onto skewers, discard marinade.

Lightly oil the grill grate. Grill skewers for 8-12 minutes, or until the chicken is no longer pink and juices run clear.

And wah-lah! You have some of the juiciest, tenderest, most delightfully scrumptious chicken ever! Leave a comment to let me know if you tried it out and what you think!

Pesto bruschetta chicken casserole

After a super long weekend I am finally back! We went to our favorite annual bike rally this weekend and to say my 25 year old body doesn't keep up with my 20 year old body is a complete understatement! So far this week hasn't been very eventful, mainly just trying to get my house back in order after the trip tornado came through the house. Am I the only one who's house gets completely turned upside down before a trip and you come back to a complete disaster zone? Nevertheless last week I decided to try a recipe that I saw on A Modern Mrs



Image via A Modern Mrs.
I really meant to take a photo of my own but it completely slipped my brain.

If there was an award for pickiest eater alive Kyle would probably win it. I can't cook anything to make this man happy unless it's plain speghetti or chicken...lots of chicken! The other day when I came across this recipe I decided he could either eat it with a smile or it would be one more failing attempt to appease him but trying couldn't hurt. When I went to serve it to him I only scooped a little bit so he could test the waters first. I had no idea that the second serving he would get covered his entire plate. insert major victory dance! This bruschetta pesto chicken casserole was mouth watering! Though the hubs did pick out all of the tomatoes I personally thought the tomatoes were delicious, this is coming from a non tomato lover. The only thing I changed about the original recipe was I added in 1/4 cup of finely chopped onion.

Ingredients:
1 pint Grape Tomatoes, quartered
1 Garlic Clove, minced
2 tbs. Balsamic Vinegar
4 Boneless, Skinless Chicken Breasts {about two pounds}, cubed
1/2 cup Basil Pesto
2 cups Shredded Mozzarella Cheese
1/4 cup Butter, melted
2 cups Seasoned Panko Crumbs

How to:
Preheat your oven to 375 degrees.
In a small bowl, combine the tomatoes, garlic, and vinegar. Marinate in the fridge until ready to use.
In a medium bowl, toss the pesto and chicken together. Place in a single layer in a 13x9 baking dish.
Scoop the tomato mixture on top, disregarding any excess balsamic vinegar leftover.
Sprinkle the cheese on top.
Mix the melted butter and panko crumbs together and sprinkle on top of the cheese.
Bake for 25-30 minutes, or until the chicken is done. If you notice the crumbs are browning too much, cover your dish with a foil tent.

Side note: I really want to learn a basil pesto recipe so I can put my fresh basil to good use. But not knowing exactly how this meal would turn out I took a bit of a short cut and went with store bought.

If you try it let me know how yours turned out!
xoxo Haley