Strawberry Salad

Great spring time salad! I just threw together some things I already had on hand, but you could tweak it any way you like!

I used good ole ice berg lettuce. I really enjoy the crispness of it, but any type of greens could be substituted. You could use romaine, a spring mix or even baby spinach! The toppings include fresh sliced strawberries, sliced apples, candied pecans, grilled chicken and mozzarella. If you are feeling adventurous you could use feta cheese! 

Dressing suggestions would be a raspberry vinaigrette or poppy seed dressing!

April is here!

Hello all! I am so happy April is finally here! That means it's getting close to the time that I will be dragging out my little grill and cooking up some yummy chicken, steak, and veggies! This makes Jamie very happy! I could probably grill every night and often find myself licking my lips in jealousy when I get a whiff of  neighborhood grill fumes wafting over in front of my nose..mmmmm I can smell it now!

 As you can see I haven't posted much recently. The reason for this is due to the fact that once again....I am on my beloved liquid diet! Sooo happy about it too! Not! :/
The surgery I had in November for my esophageal cancer was essentially successful as it removed the cancer, however, there are a few minor complications that still need to be tweaked. My pylorus, which is the muscle that helps to move your food from your stomach to the intestine has tightened up on me into a teeny weenie opening and not allowing my food to pass through. The food thus stays in my stomach and makes me nauseous. Not fun either. My surgeon has to go in my stomach down through the esophagus (which also occasionally needs to be stretched as well) and stretch the pylorus. The time before last I even got botox so my pylorus should be rather good looking lol.  It didn't work very long however and I ended up back in the operating room a week ago for another stretch. Along with the stretch comes a liquid diet for a couple weeks.

I am quite eager to get to eating food that doesn't have to be blended! Since last summer was ruined by being in St. Louis to undergo chemo and radiation treatments, I didn't get a chance to do any grilling or enjoying anything really. This summer I have vowed to do lots of grilling and cooking and checking out some new restaurants.

I shall now mosey on to the kitchen and find something liquidy to fill my cantankerous belly!
Until next time!
God Bless!

Brendan's Bacon Double Cheese

My son, Brendan, who is 15, Autistic and an extremely picky eater has inspired this sandwich made just for him! He loves food that is crunchy or on a bun so the few things he likes are hamburgers, cheeseburgers, chicken nuggets and strips, grilled cheese and bacon. Unfortunately he wont touch anything remotely healthy usually so I need to find somewhere to hide some veggies!

This grilled cheese is pretty basic and easy peasy!
2 slices of bread (your preference)
2 slices of cheese (your choice)
Oscar Meyer (or any brand) of real bacon bits.
Butter - I used Parkay butter spray

Butter outsides of bread.
Place one buttered side into heated pan.
Place one piece of cheese on bread followed by bacon bits...as many or little as you like...
Another slice of cheese on top of the bacon and remaining slice of bread!
Cook to your liking and enjoy stand alone or with your favorite soup!

Recipe - Sauteed French Green Beans

Sauteed French Green Beans

These green beans are not only very tasty, but healthy as well! They make a great side dish for chicken or chops. I wanted to make sure I had plenty of leftovers for when I wanted a snack and to go with my left over pork chops so I used two cans of french style green beans. Technically, you could use whatever type of green beans you have in your cupboard or freezer. The ingredients I am listing is how I prepared mine, however feel free to tweak how you need to!

Ingredients

2 cans French cut green beans

1/2 cup dried cranberries

1/2 cup bacon pieces or chopped bacon

1TB minced garlic

1TB minced onion

Salt & Pepper to taste

Spray olive oil

1. Open two cans of green beans and try to drain as much of the juice as you can.
2. Generously spray the saute pan with the spray olive oil. If you do not have the spray kind, you could use olive oil or butter.
3. Add all ingredients to the pan and saute to your likeness.

Oven Fried Ranch Pork Chops

Oven Fried Ranch Pork Chops

Upon trying to decide what kind of pork chops I wanted for dinner, I had a hard time choosing between oven fried chops and ranch chops. So, I combined them together and made oven fried ranch pork chops! They were very good and I'll definitely be making these again!

Ingredients 

4 pork chops - any cut you like.

1 pkg Hidden Valley Ranch dressing mix

2 c. Dry bread crumbs or stuffing mix

1 1/2 c. Egg beaters or 1 egg beaten + 2 TB Milk

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees.
2. I used 2 boneless butterflied chops for this recipe, you can use any cut you like. If using butterflied cut each chop into two pieces.
3. Put breadcrumbs in a large ziplock bag and crush. I left some chunks in mine for extra crunchy texture.
4. Add the packet of ranch dressing to the bread crumbs and mix together well.
5. Dip each chop one at a time in the egg mixture and then drop into the zip lock bag. Toss around to coat the chops generously.
6. Place each chop on a baking tray or cookie sheet and bake for 20-25 minutes depending on how crunchy you like your chops!
7. Enjoy!

What to do with those wrinkly ole grape tomatoes!

Don't you hate when you buy grape tomatoes and can't get them all used up before they wrinkle? They may no longer be a candidate for your perfect salad, but don't throw them out just yet! The best remedy for wrinkly maters is to cook them! Once they start to heat up, they will start to plump up. Add them to your favorite dish or enjoy them all by themselves! I like to sautee mine with a little balsamic reduction. Mmmmm!

English Muffin Mini Pizzas

I love me some pizza! While trolling around on Pinterest I saw these little gems. Since my surgery I am limited on how much food I can eat at one time so these were perfect for me! I went to the store and gathered up all the necessary ingredients and whipped these up one night for dinner. I served the mini pizzas alongside some home made Italian pasta salad. I love Hawaiian pizza so of course that is what I chose to make, however the great thing about these is you can top them with your own favorite toppings!

The mini pizzas are super easy and quick to make. Even the kiddos can easily make their own!

TIP:  Don't you hate when you bite into a slice of pizza and in one bite you drag off half of the toppings and end up with hot pizza sauce dripping down your chin? Ok, well maybe that only happens to me? Just in case
it does happen, an easy way to remedy it is to cut your toppings up into small bit size pieces. That way when you take a bite of the pizza your teeth won't drag off your toppings!  lk]\