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California Salad Bowl

California Salad Bowl     

Prep Time: 25 Minutes
Ready In: 25 Minutes
Yields: 8 servings

“A crisp salad featuring romaine lettuce, tomatoes, and Cheddar cheese is tossed with a delightful avocado dressing.”

Ingredients:

• 1 avocado, peeled and pitted
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice
• 1/2 cup mayonnaise
• 1/4 teaspoon hot pepper sauce
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 1 clove garlic, peeled and minced
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 head romaine lettuce- rinsed, dried and torn into bite sized pieces
• 3 ounces Cheddar cheese, shredded
• 2 tomatoes, diced
• 2 green onions, chopped
• 1/4 (2.25 ounce) can pitted green olives
• 1 cup coarsely crushed corn chips

Directions:

1. In a blender or food processor, mix avocado, lemon juice, mayonnaise, hot pepper sauce, olive oil, garlic, and salt. Process until smooth.
2. In a large bowl, toss together romaine lettuce, Cheddar cheese, tomatoes, green onions, green olives, and corn chips. Toss with the avocado dressing mixture just before serving.

Recipe from allrecipes.com

Blueberry Walnut Salad

 Blueberry Walnut Salad     

Prep Time: 10 Minutes
Ready In: 10 Minutes
Yields: 6 servings

“An easy, yummy salad, perfect for any season, with berries, nuts, and greens. For an entree add chicken, diced apples, and diced green onions!”

Ingredients:

• 1 (10 ounce) package mixed salad greens
• 1 pint fresh blueberries
• 1/4 cup walnuts
• 1/2 cup raspberry vinaigrette salad dressing
• 1/4 cup crumbled feta cheese

Directions:

1. In a large bowl, toss the salad greens with the blueberries, walnuts, and raspberry vinaigrette. Top with feta cheese to serve.

This recipe came from one of my favorite recipe sites, allrecipes.com.

No Need for Progesterone Supplements this Pregnancy!

Praise God!

In all but two of my previous pregnancies I have needed progesterone supplements for the first 14 weeks. Without it, I have a high miscarriage risk (due to low progesterone count).

Yesterday, however, I received the good news that my progesterone level this time is 35, which is just fine.

We’re off to a good start!

Gorgonzola Cheese Salad

Gorgonzola Cheese Salad

Prep Time: 15 Minutes
Ready In: 15 Minutes
Yields: 8 servings

“The distinctive flavor of Gorgonzola cheese asserts itself boldly in a creamy dressing tossed with leaf lettuce, walnuts, and diced avocado.”

Ingredients:

• 8 ounces Gorgonzola cheese, crumbled
• 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
• 1 clove garlic, crushed
• 1/2 teaspoon dried tarragon
• 1/2 teaspoon dried basil
• 1/3 cup olive oil
• 1 cup milk
• 1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
• 2 heads Boston lettuce, cored and shredded
• 1 avocado, diced
• 1/4 cup walnuts

Directions:

1. Place the Gorgonzola cheese, oregano, garlic, tarragon, basil, olive oil, milk, and vinegar in a blender or food processor. Blend until smooth.
2. In a large bowl, toss the Gorgonzola dressing with lettuce, avocado, and walnuts.

Recipe from allrecipes.com

Baby Spinach Salad with Tomato and Mozzarella

Baby Spinach Salad with Tomato and Mozzarella 

Yields: 2 servings

Ingredients:

• 5 ounces baby spinach leaves
• 1 beefsteak tomato, cut thinly crosswise
• 1/2 cup fresh basil leaves, cut into thin strips
• 1/4 pound part-skim mozzarella, diced
• 2 teaspoons fresh oregano, chopped fine
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 2 teaspoons balsamic vinegar
• kosher salt and ground black
• pepper to taste

Directions:

1. Alternate layers of spinach and tomato across plate. Top with basil, mozzarella, and oregano. Dress with oil and vinegar. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Serve.

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Subway Restaurant Discriminates Against Homeschoolers

I first found out about this on Dawn’s blog, but it seems to have now grabbed national media attention.

It seems that Subway, the sandwich restaurant, is hosting a contest for children called “Every Sandwich Tells a Story“. But, they only want to hear your story if you are NOT homeschooled!

Contest is open only to legal US residents, over the age of 18 with children in either elementary, private or parochial schools that serve grades PreK-6. No home schools will be accepted.

Why, Subway? Are you afraid that a homeschooler will win? Would that be such a terrible thing?

According to the Family Education site, there are an estimated 900,000 to 2,000,000 homeschoolers in the United States (and probably many more, as many states don’t require homeschoolers to register) — and homeschooling is increasing in popularity at an extremely high rate; many estimates place the growth rate between 7% and 15% per year.

This is a WHOLE lot of potential customers that Subway (and it would seem, Scholastic) is choosing to exclude.

I won’t be buying anymore $5 subs from Subway for my family of 11, if this is their business practice. Quiznos, here we come!

On a side note, I can’t help but wonder if the Subway executives are public school graduates. The AFA points out that Subway’s Web site promotion not only misspells “Untied (sic) States,” but offers the grand prize winner a “Scholastic Gift Bastket (sic) for your home.”

Pistachio Salad

Pistachio Salad

Ingredients:

• 2 boxes pistachio instant pudding mix
• 2 large cartons Cool Whip
• 2 large cans crushed pineapple
• 2 cups mini-marshmallows
• 1/2 cup crushed pecans (opt.)

Directions:

1. Mix pudding and Cool Whip together (you may substitute real whipping cream).
2. Add crushed pineapple and mix thoroughly.
3. Add marshmallows and pecans.
4. Refrigerate overnight.

Quick and Easy Vegetarian Taco Salad

Vegetarian Taco Salad

This meatless taco salad recipe, from the Chuckwagon Diner, has become a favorite of ours for quick re-enactment lunches. We simple cut up the produce ahead of time and throw it all together at serving time.

Ingredients:

• Lettuce-1 Head
• Shredded Cheddar Cheese- Large Bag
• Corn Chips, Salted- Large Bag
• Tomatoes- 3 Large
• 8 Hard Boiled Eggs
• 2-(16oz) Catalina Dressing

Directions:

1. Cut lettuce into very large salad bowl
2. Add shredded cheddar cheese
3. Crush corn chips, dice tomatoes, slice hard boiled eggs toss and mix.
4. Add dressing just before serving and toss.

Some Exciting News to Share!

I wasn’t really going to publicly share the news this soon, but my children have already spilled the beans to nearly everyone we know.

Sunday morning, May 25, I was shocked, then delighted to discover two pink lines. Yes, the stork is on its way.

Rob and I had really thought that our baby days had come to an end. After all, nearly three years have gone by without conceiving — and I have been having both cycle problems and female problems both indicative of infertility — and I am 37 years old; no spring chicken anymore. While I have secretly longed for “just one more”, I had come to peace with the fact that our childbearing years were done, and was savoring the thoughts of grandchildren to fill my future. So this was a pleasant surprise. The children are ecstatic. Dinky Tumblina has been yearning and praying for a new sibling for quite some time — so when I suggested they keep the pregnancy a secret until after I had seen the midwife and gotten my progesterone levels tested, it didn’t quite work out that way. Before we even made it HOME from church and back to the NEIGHBORHOOD, Dinky had already blurted out the news to a neighbor (who we happened to meet at a store on the way home from church). By the neighborhood Memorial Day picnic last night, the entire neighborhood knew.

So, now that the news has been broken, this is our official announcement. We are pleased to announce that LeFebvre baby #10 is due to join our family around January 30, 2009.

Please rejoice with us!

Peanutty Pea Salad

This recipe was a big hit with the kids. We made it for the church potluck yesterday, and again for the upcoming Memorial Day neighborhood picnic this evening.

Peanutty Pea Salad 

Prep Time: 15 Minutes
Ready In: 45 Minutes
Yields: 8 servings

“Green peas, crisp red onion, tangy dried cranberries and mellow peanuts are enveloped in a creamy dressing to create the perfect summer side dish!”

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup mayonnaise
• 1/2 cup sour cream
• 1/4 cup white sugar
• 1 (16 ounce) package frozen green peas, thawed
• 1/2 red onion, diced
• 1/2 cup sweetened dried cranberries
• 1 cup unsalted peanuts

Directions:

1. In a large bowl, whisk together the mayonnaise, sour cream and white sugar.
2. Add peas, onion, cranberries and peanuts and stir until evenly coated. Chill for 30 minutes before serving.

This is another fine recipe from allrecipes.com. One thing that I really like about allrecipes is the comments! Users of the site have the ability to comment about the recipes they have tried, telling what they liked (or didn’t like) about it, and listing modifications that they have made to the original recipe. Although we followed this recipe exactly, we may experiment next time, using one of the user-suggested modifications of eliminating the sugar and adding a 1/4 envelope of Ranch dressing mix.

This Would Be a Great Addition to a Hurricane Supply Kit!

I’ll file this one under “cool things I never knew existed”. I just finished posting about my hurricane kit problem — that of keeping working batteries available for flashlights and such…so I decided to investigate. I was looking for solar radios, solar flashlights…but what about THIS?!

Solar Battery Charger and Solar Battery Pulser Combination Unit
from MagnaLight HID lights

Now, it won’t help with my flashlight battery problem, but what a GREAT addition this would make for any disaster kit! – as it can be used to charge the battery on virtually any kind of vehicle and/or equipment – cars, trucks, emergency vehicles, boats, recreational vehicles, generator sets, etc. – and it doesn’t require access to electrical power to do so!

I can’t begin to tell you how many times I have been stranded due to a dead battery in our van. I wish I’d known about this then! We ended up finally replacing that old battery, but with this product, which is said to extend battery life up to 3X longer, we could have gotten MUCH more life out of that battery.

The ad also states, “Prevents the normal loss of battery power on vehicles stored outside no matter how long they sit unused – even months at a time.” I wonder how that works — sounds intriguing. Something that would definitely interest Rob. Worth checking out for sure.

Hurricane Preparedness Time Again

It’s that time of year again — hurricane preparedness. Hurricane season begins June 1st, so it’s once again time to put together a supply kit.

A project for this coming weekend…

The National Hurricane Preparedness Week site suggests the following list in creating a disaster supply kit:

Water – at least 1 gallon daily per person for 3 to 7 days
Wow that’s a lot of water, when you consider we have 11 people in the family! How can this be part of a “kit”? If were to have to evacuate, how would we fit 33+ gallons of water in the back of the van? Any suggestions?

*Food – at least enough for 3 to 7 days
— non-perishable packaged or canned food / juices
— foods for infants or the elderly (N/A for us)
— snack foods
— non-electric can opener
— cooking tools / fuel
— paper plates / plastic utensils (we keep in the van for spur-of-the-moment picnics)

* This is why we need to put together a “camp kitchen”. I want to make one for re-enacting that contains such things as necessary spices, utensils, baggies, paper towels, trash bags, etc. The smaller items would be contained in a wooden patrol box made for this purpose, while the larger items, like our cast iron pans, would be in a Rubbermaid container. This would make these things very easy to grab as we are headed out the door in gas of a sudden evacuation.

Blankets / Pillows, etc. – (Again, we have all of our Civil War camping gear in the garage on racks, with the containers labeled. Extra bedding and pillows are there — easy to grab.)

Clothing – seasonal / rain gear/ sturdy shoes
(THIS could be the tricky one. Half the time we can’t even FIND a full pair of shoes for everyone when it is time to leave the house.)

First Aid Kit / Medicines / Prescription Drugs
(I have a basket that goes with my Civil War reenacting supplies which contains essential medicines and such. I need to make sure all are still accounted for, and we need to re-stock our first-aid kit. It has dwindled significantly.)

Special Items – for babies and the elderly – (N/A for us)

Toiletries / Hygiene items / Moisture wipes
(There SHOULD always be wet wipes in the van at all times anyway — I need to put together a toiletry kit.)

Flashlight / Batteries
(We have flashlights…but the batteries NEVER work. We need to come up with some sort of solution to this problem. Keeping extra batteries on hand doesn’t help. Been there, done that. The “extras” tend to sprout legs and walk away.)

Radio – Battery operated and NOAA weather radio
(Need to buy. We have a weather radio, but I don’t think it is cordless. Do they make solar charged ones? [See my issue with batteries, above]).

Telephones - Fully charged cell phone with extra battery and a traditional (not cordless) telephone set
(We have three cell phones…at least ONE should be charged. Extra cell phone batteries are a good idea. And we have a traditional telephone set, but it goes through an electric modem (VOIP), so that wouldn’t help much, would it?)

Cash (with some small bills) and Credit Cards – Banks and ATMs may not be available for extended periods
(THIS could pose a problem. We don’t HAVE credit cards…and I rarely have cash. How much cash should we have?)

Keys
(Always in my purse or on a lanyard hanging from my neck.)

Toys, Books and Games
(Not a problem. Note to self – put all of the SMALL games like Pass-the-Pig and Uno in a container that could easily be taken with us if need be.)

Important documents – in a waterproof container or watertight resealable plastic bag — insurance, medical records, bank account numbers, Social Security card, etc.
(Ever since Rob’s motorcycle accident, I have been nagging asking him to get all of this information together for me. I don’t have access to ANY of this stuff. I need this just in case, ya know? We should put all of this into one of those weather-proof, fire-proof safes.)

Tools – keep a set with you during the storm
(I *think* Rob keeps tools in the van at all times.)

Vehicle fuel tanks filled
(OUCH! We need to take out a mortgage for this these days.)

**Pet care items
— proper identification / immunization records / medications
— ample supply of food and water
— a carrier or cage
— muzzle and leash

** another one that could get interesting with two cats, a pretty large dog, a lizard, and a turtle.

Now to get to work on this.
Anything I missed?

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Apple Almond Crunch Salad

Apple Almond Crunch Salad 

Prep Time: 10 Minutes
Ready In: 10 Minutes
Yields: 6 servings

“This easy-to-assemble salad combines the great crunch of apples and almonds with the sweetness of golden raisins and the unique texture of feta cheese. The tanginess of the raspberry dressing works really well with the crispy ingredients.”

Ingredients:

• 1 (10 ounce) package mixed salad greens
• 1/2 cup slivered almonds
• 1/2 cup crumbled feta cheese
• 1 cup tart apple, cored and  chopped
• 1/4 cup sliced red onion
• 1/4 cup golden raisins
• 1 cup raspberry vinaigrette salad dressing

Directions:

1. In a large salad bowl, combine the salad greens, almonds, feta cheese, apple, red onion and raisins. Toss to blend. Apply salad dressing to individual servings.

Recipe from allrecipes.com

Cranberry Pecan Salad

Cranberry Pecan Salad

Prep Time: 15 Minutes
Cook Time: 10 Minutes
Ready In: 25 Minutes
Yields: 6 servings

“A raspberry Dijon vinaigrette dresses up baby greens topped with cranberries, toasted pecans, red onion, and feta cheese.”

Ingredients:

• 1 cup pecan halves
• 2 tablespoons raspberry vinegar
• 1/2 teaspoon Dijon mustard
• 1/2 teaspoon sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• freshly ground black pepper to taste (optional)
• 6 tablespoons olive oil
• 6 cups mixed salad greens, rinsed and dried
• 3/4 cup dried cranberries
• 1/2 medium red onion, thinly sliced
• crumbled feta cheese

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C). Spread pecans evenly on a baking sheet. Toast for 8 to 10 minutes, or until lightly browned and fragrant.
2. In a small bowl, stir together the vinegar, mustard, sugar, salt, and pepper; mix until sugar and salt dissolve. Whisk in olive oil.
3. In a salad bowl, toss together the greens, cranberries, pecans, onions, and cheese. Drizzle with vinaigrette, and toss gently to coat.

Recipe from allrecipes.com

Crunchy Romaine Toss

We tried this salad for lunch today and it was delicious — and very quick & easy to prepare.

Crunchy Romaine Toss

Cook Time: 15 Minutes
Ready In: 20 Minutes
Yields: 6 servings

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup sugar (we substituted Splenda)
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil (we substituted olive oil)
• 1/4 cup cider vinegar
• 2 teaspoons soy sauce (we substituted Bragg’s liquid aminos)
• salt and pepper to taste
• 1 (3 ounce) package ramen noodles, broken
• 2 tablespoons butter or margarine
• 1 1/2 cups chopped broccoli
• 1 small head romaine lettuce, torn (we used romaine hearts, from the bag)
• 4 green onions, chopped
• 1/2 cup chopped walnuts

Directions:

1. In a jar with a tight-fitting lid, combine the sugar, oil, vinegar, soy sauce, salt and pepper; shake well. Discard seasoning packet from noodles or save for another use. In a skillet, saute noodles in butter until golden. In a large bowl, combine noodles, broccoli, romaine and onions. Just before serving, toss with dressing and walnuts.

*Note – I suggest adding the noodles just before serving as well, so they don’t get soggy.

Recipe from allrecipes.com

The Month of the Salad

14 Days of Salad

While brain-storming our menu for this week, and searching for new, exciting salad recipes, I discovered that May is in fact “National Salad Month”.

I love salads! I am all about the salad. My 10-year-old daughter and I (both vegetarians) are always striving for life, liberty, and the pursuit of a really good salad. So, in honor of National Salad Month, I will post a salad recipe on each of the remaining 14 days in May.

Will you do the same? Have you a favorite tried and true green salad, fruit salad, pasta salad, potato salad, or even dessert salad? Please share!

1. Crunchy Romaine Toss
2. Cranberry Pecan Salad
3. Apple Almond Crunch Salad
4. Peanutty Pea Salad
5. Quick & Easy Vegetarian Taco Salad
6. Strawberry Spinach Salad
7. Spinach Salad with Baked Goat Cheese
8. Blueberry Walnut Salad
9. Gorgonzola Cheese Salad
10. Baby Spinach Salad with Tomato and Mozzarella
11. California Salad Bowl
12. (Freezer) Zesty Italian Pasta Salad
13. Tortellini Salad
14. Pistachio Salad
    

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