Salad Revamped...with More Hunger Quenching Capabilities

Salad, it's whats for dinner. At least it should be, right? A nice hunger quenching, mouth watering salad.  I'll bet though that most of you have never defined a salad has hunger quenching or mouth watering. Lets face it, most salads don't hit the spot. After all, most lettuce is 95% water. So, even if it did fill you up at the time, that feeling is not going to last long.

That means it's all in the toppings. Just like in an ice cream sundae. I mean ice cream sundaes just aren't the same without the perfect amount of nuts, syrup or whatever your heart desires. So, you have to pay just as much attention to your salad toppings as you would your ice cream sundae. And realistically this salad offers a lot more...as far as nutrition goes. Unless you're feeding a broken heart or a neglected soul. Then stick to the sundae. Yeah, definitely eat the sundae.

Black Bean and Corn Salad

1 head iceberg lettuce, chopped

1 c corn

1 15 oz can black beans, rinsed

1 red pepper, chopped,

1 green pepper, chopped

1 c pepperjack cheese, grated

4 green onions, chopped

8 hard boiled eggs, peeled and halved

That great thing about salad is that they're easy to make. Just throw all ingredients into a bowl and toss. Unless you have a family like mine, who thinks eating beans in a salad is heresy. Then you separate them as shown in the picture below, so they themselves can pick their own toppings.

You can pair this salad with pretty much any dressing, but I'd choose something tangy. For instance this goes well with a homemade cilantro lime dressing like this one:

Cilantro Lime Dressing

1 cup plain greek yogurt

a handful of cilantro

juice of one lime

salt and pepper

Throw all ingredients in a blender and blend blend blend. If the dressing is a little tight, just add some lemon grapeseed oil or extra virgin olive oil to your dressing until it reaches your desired consistency.

Spaghetti Bread

I love holidays. There should be at least one a month. That way most everyone can have off work at the same time, slow down their busy lives and spend some time together.

Yesterday our family had a cookout and I got to spend time with some of my family. Particularly with my little buddy, who happens to be three. We hunted a lot of bad guys, killed a lot of bugs (aphids to be exact), built a scorpion house  and laughed until our stomachs hurt. And all too soon the day comes to an end and we all go home our separate ways.

So, I've seen these stuffed breads all over pinterest. Months ago I tried one stuffed with broccoli, chicken and cheese. It was really good. This time I decided to try one stuffed with spaghetti. It turned out rather well. I was inspired by a picture on pinterest and this is my take on it.

Spaghetti Bread

1 16 oz package of uncooked spaghetti

1-1/2 16 oz cans of your favorite spaghetti sauce (I used a homemade one from our local market)

1 green pepper, diced

1 onion, diced

1 lb ground beef

1 tblsp garlic powder

2 tubes of your favorite biscuit ( I used pillsbury grands homestyle)

1/2 grated parmesan cheese

salt and pepper

1 egg white

your favorite seasoning

Cook spaghetti in salted water as package suggests (keep the spaghetti water-just in case you need it to loosen up the sauce). While the spaghetti is cooking brown the ground beef. Once the beef is browned remove grease if any and add the onion, green pepper, garlic powder and salt and pepper to taste. Allow onion and green pepper to saute until soft and then add the spaghetti sauce. Add the cooked spaghetti to sauce. Let simmer together for 15 mins. If the sauce and spaghetti becomes to dry or too tight add a ladle full of the spaghetti water.  While the sauce is simmering prepare biscuits.

Pop both cans of biscuits and patch them together on a piece of foil. They will come together if you pinch together the seams well and then use a rolling pin to spread into a large square about 1/2 inch thick. Then cut slits about 2 inches apart into the edge of the dough, as pictured on the right.

Add spaghetti and sauce down the center of the dough. Top with parmesan cheese. Pull the pieces of dough up around the spaghetti and weave it like a basket, under and over. As you can see from the picture on the left, the weaving turned into a disaster by the time I reached the end. If you have patience and good technique I'm sure this would turn out beautiful. Either way it tastes fantastic. Brush on an egg white wash and sprinkle with your favorite seasoning or just salt and pepper.

Place the bread on a cookie sheet and bake at 350F or 25 mins or until golden brown. Let cool slightly, slice and then enjoy!