Greek Potato Salad

I hope every that reads this has had the excellent experience of having Zoe's Kitchen for lunch and dinner. Over the past week I ate Zoe's 3 times and twice in the same day(we just had one open by our home and I was really excited). Their potato salad maybe my favorite potato salad around, it is so good, light and tastey. Last night for dinner I decided on making George Forman Cubans and felt potato salad would be a perfect side dish so I decided to try my hand at making potato salad similar to Zoe's with red potatoes, green onion and a Greek red wine vinaigrette dressing. I hope everyone enjoys it as much as I do. As I texted my friends after dinner this will be making an appearance at tailgates. I also love that it is easily doubled for large parties.


Greek Potato Salad

Ingredients:
12 red potatoes, boiled, cooled and sliced (skin on)
1/4 cup chopped green onion
1 T fresh lemon juice
1/2 cup olive oil
1/2 cup red wine vinegar
1/2t oregano, dried
1/2t rosemary, dried and snapped into fine pieces
1t garlic powder
1t onion powder
1t ground black pepper
1t coarse salt
1/8t ground red pepper
1/2t sugar


Directions:
1) Boil 12 red potatoes in salted water until pierced with a fork and soft (about 25 minutes). Strain and put in freezer for about 30 minutes to cool off fully.
2) Once potatoes are cooled sliced in pieces of desired size and chop green onion and put in preferred container

3) Mix ingredients 3-13 well, I used my electric whisk and a measuring cup for this process
---you could use a fork and a bowl or measuring cup or a container with a lid and shake whatever you have around the kitchen will work, it really can't be messed up

Finished dressing

4) Pour about HALF(you can decide but I found a half cup was perfect) of the dressing on top of the potatoes and green onions and stir. Taste test and you may decide to add a little more salt and pepper depending on taste. You can either chill it until ready to serve or serve immediately depending on how you and your family/guests prefer.

About half was left after feeding two men who had been working hard all day

Makes 8 servings, lasts in the fridge for days(but it really won't last that long)

**With the leftover dressing just leave it on the counter at room temperature and use it on a salad or marinade or more potato salad**

Hope everyone is having a wonderful May!
Rebecca

Chicken Taco Soup

Last night I found a recipe that I wanted to try because I knew we had almost everything in the freezer or pantry, which is always a winning recipe for me, so I did tonight for dinner. I will say I had to run to the store for some limes and black beans because we did not have those in stock at the house.

Chicken Taco Soup

Chicken - shredded (as much as you like!) I used about 2 cups of boiled I had stored in the freezer.

1 tbsp. olive oil

2 cups chicken broth

2 cups water

1 package taco seasoning (I used my dashes and eye balling of cumin, paprika, garlic powder, onion powder, chili powder, salt, pepper and pinch of crushed red pepper flakes)

1 tsp. ground cumin

1 1/2 tbsp. red taco sauce

6 oz. can tomato paste

1 can fire roasted stewed tomatoes

1 cup diced frozen onion

1 can black beans - drain and rinsed
1 can whole kernal corn - drain and rinsed
1 lime

 

Toppings:

cheese

guacamole

sour cream 

tortilla chips

 

First heat up 2 cups of broth in either a quart measuring cup or large bowl, add the can of tomato pate and break down by either whisk or fork and set aside. 

 

In your soup pot heat up olive oil add in onion to brown, I also added minced garlic because we have a huge bottle in the fridge. Once onion is brown add in the chicken, taco seasoning, taco sauce, tomato paste/broth mixture and fire roasted stewed tomatoes(I used my hand emulsifier and broke up the tomatoes since I don't like them chunky). After all is mixed together let sit for a few minutes until the chicken has taken on the flavor of the spices. 

When the chicken has become flavorful add in the cans of corn and black beans and 2 cups of water. Simmer on low for a hour. Stir in the juice of one lime right before serving. 

Prep: 30 minutes

Cook time: 1 hour

This was super yummy and totally a keeper recipe for the cookbook.

Rachael Ray's Mexican Lasagna

I am officially back to blogging food and recipes. I have decided searching for new recipes and things around the house are some of my "Little things" in life, so this is turning into more of a foodie and craft blog.

A couple of weeks ago I was given the challenge to create meals for my family of 3 using two bags of shredded chicken. The thing is I wanted to do new recipes not the same chicken casserole and so the challenge was on searching the internet for boiled shredded chicken recipes and I found this one from Food Network. It was fabulous and I just had to share. I will admit I changed cook time a little bit because I would rather all the flavors marry together more than care about it being a truly 30 minute meal with a super hot oven.

Rachael Ray's Mexican Lasagna

• 3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
• 2 cups shredded boiled chicken
• 2 tablespoons chili powder
• 2 teaspoons ground cumin
• 1/2 red onion, chopped
• 1 (15-ounce) can black beans, drained
• 1 cup medium heat taco sauce or 1 (14-oz) can stewed or fire roasted tomatoes
• 1 can corn kernels, drained
• Salt
• 8 (8 inch) spinach flour tortillas, available on dairy aisle of market
• 2 1/2 cups shredded Cheddar or shredded pepper jack
• 2 scallions, finely chopped

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Preheat a large skillet over medium high heat. Add 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil - twice around the pan. Add chicken and season with chili powder, cumin, and red onion. Brown the meat, 5 minutes. Add taco sauce or stewed or fire roasted tomatoes. Add black beans and corn. Heat the mixture through, 2 to 3 minutes then season with salt, to your taste.

Coat a shallow baking dish with remaining extra-virgin olive oil, about 1 tablespoon oil. Cut the tortillas in half or quarters to make them easy to layer with. Build lasagna in layers of meat and beans, then tortillas, then cheese. Repeat: meat, tortilla, cheese again. Bake lasagna 30-40 minutes until cheese is brown and bubbly. Top with the scallions and serve.

I have to say it is fabulous and fabulously easy too! I did end up with extra chicken filling, so I froze it and paired it with yellow rice for another quick dinner a week later.