Spinach Mandarin Poppy Seed Salad

**I would have had a picture, but I was making it for someone else and in a hurry. Therefore, I forgot to take the picture :( **

Ingredients:

8 oz. (1/2 bag) of baby spinach *

1/2 - 1 head Romaine lettuce, chopped

1/2 thinly sliced medium red onion

1 large avocado, cubed

8 oz. mozzarella or Swiss cheese, shredded

1 12-oz. package bacon, cooked and crumbled

1 large can Mandarin oranges, drained

Poppy Seed dressing, to taste

* I just used a half bunch of spinach

Recipe:

1. Combine all ingredients except dressing in a large bowl. When ready to serve, toss with desired amount of salad dressing and serve immediately. If you anticipate leftovers, just let your eaters dress their own salads because the dressing will make the greens wilt.

Rating: 3 of 5

This isn't the most amazing salad I've ever had, but that could be because I don't really like onion in it's raw form. I thought it was a good salad, but I was surprised at the lack of taste despite ALL of the ingredients in it. Avocado is essentially flavorless (to me) and I know it's supposed to absorb the flavors around it so I felt like the avocado could have been left out. I love oranges in salads though. Actually, scratch that. I love most fruits in salads. So, despite my many criticism about this salad, I do like it.

Source: OurBestBites.com, Spinach Mandarin Poppy Seed Salad

Baked Potato Soup

Ingredients:

3 T. butter

2-3 cloves garlic, minced

1/2 c. flour

4 1/2 c. milk

1 14-oz can chicken broth *

4 medium baking potatoes, baked

2 c. grated cheese, divided

1 1/2 t. salt

1/2 t. black pepper

1 1/2 c. sour cream, divided

1/2 c. chopped green onions, divided

8 slices of bacon, cooked and crumbled, divided

*I actually just added 1 cup water and a few scoops of chicken bullion instead.

Recipe:

1. Melt butter in a stock pot over medium heat. Add garlic and saute for 30-60 seconds until fragrant.

2. Add flour to pan. Slowly add milk a little at a time while whisking constantly to eliminate lumps.

3. Whisk until smooth and then add chicken broth. Bring soup just to a simmer and heat until thickened, stirring often, about 5 minutes.

4. Once soup is thickened, turn heat down to medium-low.

5. Cut potatoes in half length-wise and use a spoon to scoop out potato flesh into the pot. Use a wooden spoon to smash potatoes, breaking up large clumps.

6. Add 1 1/2 c. grated cheese and salt and pepper and stir until cheese is melted.

7. Remove pan from heat and stir in 3/4 c. sour cream, 1/4 c. green onions, and 4 strips of crumbled bacon.

8. Add additional salt and pepper to taste. Ladle into bowls and top each serving with the remaining sour cream, onions, cheese, and bacon.

Rating: 3.75 of 5

We liked this soup much better than the other Baked Potato Soup. Today's soup is pretty darn thick so make sure you have an appetite. Otherwise, you'll only be eating a few bites and calling it quits. Also, it makes a huge pot! Definitely not a one-meal kind of recipe for a family of four. More like a family of 8. Anyways, creamy, love the bacon on top, the green onions are a nice subtle taste, and the potato clumps are just right. I'd make this recipe again.

Source: OurBestBites.com, Baked Potato Soup

Southwestern Cobb Salad

Ingredients:

Vinaigrette:

3 T. white wine vinegar

1 t. honey

3/4 t. ground cumin

1/2 t. smoked paprika *

1/2 t. garlic powder

1/4 t. ground red pepper

2 T. canola oil

Salad:

3 slices bacon, cooked and crumbled

cooking spray

8 oz. skinless, boneless turkey or chicken breast, cut into 1/2 inch pieces **

1/4 t. salt

8 c. torn romaine lettuce ***

1/2 c. pico de gallo

1/2 c. diced avocado

1/2 c. (2 oz) crumbled queso fresco, feta, or shredded pepperjack ****

1/4 c. chopped green onions

1 (15 oz) can black beans, rinsed and drained

*Never knew smoked paprika was an option. So, I used what I had and that was ground paprika.

** Got my chicken breast from a rotisserie. Hooray for Costco's $5 chickens!

*** I'm a lettuce snob. I pretty much use green leaf over any other kind of lettuce.

****I went with a mix of shredded pepperjack, mozzarella, and cheddar cheeses.

Recipe:

1. To prepare vinaigrette, combine all ingredients in a medium bowl and whisk to combine, or place in a jar and shake. Set aside.

2. To prepare salad, heat a skillet to medium-high heat. Spray with cooking spray. Sprinkle turkey or chicken with salt and add to pan. Saute until done, about 4 minutes.*

3. Arrange 2 c. lettuce on each of 4 plates and divide ingredients among them. If you want to be specific, each serving should have about: 2 t. bacon, 5 T. chicken, 2 T. pico de gallo, 2 T. avocado, 2 T. cheese, 1 T. green onions, and 1/3 c. beans.

4. Drizzle vinaigrette evenly over salads.

*I'm not sure if the 4 minutes is for raw or cooked chicken. My chicken was already cooked. Rather than coating the pan with cooking spray, I cooked my bacon first, removed the bacon, drained the fat out, and then threw in the chicken. Not that that lowered the calories in any way...

Rating: 4.5 of 5

This salad surprised me! I wasn't expecting much since I knew the onion in the pico de gallo was really strong and the pepper hot, but the vinaigrette and every thing else on the salad blended perfectly! LaDon doesn't like vinaigrette very often, so the fact that he really liked this salad including the dressing is saying a lot. Good veggies. Lots of flavor. And very delicious.

Source: OurBestBites.com, Southwestern Cobb Salad

Baked Chicken-Bacon Alfredo

Ingredients:

8 oz. penne or bowtie pasta

1 recipe Alfredo Sauce or Guiltless Alfredo Sauce or a 16-0z jar

2 chicken breasts, grilled and chopped (about 2 c. chopped chicken)*

6 oz. (1/2 pkg.) cooked bacon, chopped

1 14-oz. jar marinated artichoke hearts, drained and chopped

1/2 c. chopped green onions

1 c. shredded mozzarella cheese, divided

salt and pepper to taste

* I had a rotisserie chicken in the fridge and just used that.

Recipe:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

2. Prepare pasta according to package directions.

3. While pasta is cooking, prepare Alfredo sauce. When past is done, drain and add to the sauce. Toss with chopped chicken, bacon, artichoke hearts, green onions, and 1/2 c. mozzarella. Season to taste.

4. Transfer mixture to an 8x8" baking dish and sprinkle with remaining 1/2 c. mozzarella cheese. Cover with aluminum foil and bake at 350 for 20 minutes or until heated through and cheese is bubbly.

**Definitely go to the OurBestBites website for some awesome fridge/freezer tips for this dish.**

Rating: 3.75 of 5

We really liked this dish. As I was making it I knew it was going to be good, but sometimes some recipes can throw a curve ball and be not as tasty as they smell. I was a little unsure of the artichoke hearts as I was making it, but I ended up really liking the extra little flavor they added. I know I complained about the Guiltless Alfredo Sauce in that rating, but it was good in this dish. Each flavor pulled through quite nicely.

Source: OurBestBites.com, Baked Chicken-Bacon Alfredo

Jamie's Breakfast Bagel Sandwiches

Ingredients: (for 1 bagel) for more than one bagel just double everything

1 Asiago-cheese bagel, or any kind of cheese bagel

1 1/2 eggs, scrambled *

2-4 slices of bacon, cooked **

a handful of cheddar cheese

a dollop of sour cream (optional, but we love it)

* Make the scrambled eggs the way you like them. For us, it's a little bit of milk and cheese, seasoned salt, and a half pinch of pepper. Occasionally I'll throw in some garlic salt.

** Bacon can be replaced with sausage or ham. Sausage is our other favorite.

Recipe:

1. Preheat oven to 350-ish.

2.Scramble the eggs. Cook the bacon. When done, begin the layering.

3. Cut the bagel in half. Starting with the bottom half layer up: scrambled eggs, cheese, bacon, top half of bagel.

4. Wrap bagel sandwich in foil and place in oven long enough for bagel to be warm and cheese to melt. Probably about 5-10 minutes.

5. Take bagel out and open up. Place dollop of sour cream on top of bacon. Replace the bagel top and enjoy!

Rating: 4.5 of 5

We love this breakfast food for dinner. And because it's so NOT healthy, we only have it every few months. I'm not really sure what makes it so good other than we just really like everything that goes into it. Seriously, who doesn't like cheese and bacon?

Source: my head, but inspired by BYU's breakfast bagel found in the Wilk.

Aimee's Quick Chicken

I didn't take a picture of this one, but LaDon's comment of "this looks crazy" should sum it up.

Ingredients:

4 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves

4 oz. prepared Dijon-style mustard

1/4 c. teriyaki sauce *

1/4 c. bacon bits

1/2 c. grated Parmesan cheese

* I didn't have any teriyaki sauce on hand so I made a substitute teriyaki sauce of 1/4 c. soy sauce, 1/4 c. sugar, 1/4 t. ginger, and 1/4 t. garlic powder.

Recipe:

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.

2. Place chicken in a 9x13 inch baking dish. Spread mustard evenly over chicken and pour teriyaki sauce evenly over all. Sprinkle with bacon bits and cover with cheese.

3. Bake in the preheated oven for 30 minutes.

Rating: 2.75 of 5

So, this wasn't gross, but it wasn't good. It was just weird. It's just a really weird combination of tastes. And I like all of the ingredients it calls for. I won't make this again, and not because it didn't taste good...just because it was different. A little too different and not worth the effort of trying to adjust to the taste. It's funny to me that in the recipe book it got 4 of 5 stars.....weird.

Source: AllRecipes: Dinner Tonight, pg. 133.

Heart Attack BLT

Ingredients:

bread *

tomato slices

lettuce leaves

bacon

mayonnaise

*I used homemade Italian Cheese bread. I really liked the extra flavor.

Recipe:

1. Toast bread.

2. Cook bacon.

3. Spread mayo on bread then layer with lettuce, tomatoes, and bacon.

Rating: 3.5 of 5

We liked this version of the BLT. There was a lot of bacon (which is why I called it the Heart Attack BLT). I like being able to actually taste bacon when I have a BLT. Definitely not on the healthy list, but so good. I think next time I won't toast the bread as much....I just wasn't sure how long it needed to be toasted since the slices were so thick!

Source: my brain....who doesn't know how to make a BLT?