Creamy Cilantro-Lime Dressing and a Salad to go with it!

I LOVE salads... and when I ran across this recipe (there are a lot of different versions on the internet, but this is what I liked) I had to give it try. LOVE that's it's made with avocado rather than mayonnaise  or sour cream. You can tweak to your taste. Enjoy on a chopped salad with sliced grilled steak... that's my fav thing to do.

Creamy Cilantro-Lime Dressing
1 cup loosely packed cilantro, stems removed and roughly chopped
1/2 avocado
2 Tablespoons fresh lime juice
1-2 garlic cloves (or heaping teaspoon of minced garlic)
1/ 4 cup olive oil
1-1/2 teaspoons white vinegar
1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
Honey to taste
1/8 teaspoon Salt

Directions:
Put all ingredients in a blender or food processor and puree, adding 1/4 cup or more of water to thin out just a bit.
Remember this is to taste, add the smaller amount of cumin and maybe a teaspoon of honey at first and taste, you can add more cumin, honey or salt to taste BUT remember you can't take it out. Also add as much water as needed to pourable (but not runny) consistency.
Enjoy!

Here's an idea for a salad:
1 large head of romaine lettuce
1 large orange bell pepper
1 pint cherry tomatoes
1 cup corn (canned, frozen or off the cob)
1-15oz can black beans, rinsed and drained
3 green onions if desired
thinly sliced grilled steak

Directions:
Chopped romaine and bell pepper into desired bitesize pieces. Slice the cherry tomatoes in half. Dice the green onion.
Place All ingredients in a large bowl (except the steak) and toss to combine. Serve in large salad bowls and place slices of steak on the top.
Drizzle with Creamy Cilantro Lime Dressing.
If desired you can crush a few Corn Tortilla chips over the top.
Enjoy!

Grilled Corn on the Cob

I LOVE corn on the cob... it's the season for grilling and corn on the cob. We had this  for dinner the other night. I know there are a lot of Mexican corn recipes out there but this was a different recipe, not Mexican, just a yummy grilling recipe. LOVED it and I love Feta cheese. Give it a try.

Grilled Corn on the Cob
4 ear fresh corn on the cob, in the husk but remove most of the silk from the top
1 stick butter, softened
2 Tablespoons garlic powder
2 teaspoons smoked paprika
Salt and pepper
 1 cup crumbled Feta cheese, (I like to run mine through my food processor for finer crumb)

Directions:
Place corn in a sink full of cold water and soak for 30 minutes. I like to do this because the water soaks into the corn. It will steam your corn as it cooks--YUM! I also sprinkle in some sea salt or kosher salt to help season the corn just a bit.

After your corn is done soaking, preheat your grill for 5 minutes. While grill is heating remove the corn from the water and shake off just a bit.
When grill is hot, place corn on the grill, turning occasionally. Grill for 15 to 20 minutes. Corn should be cooked and husks should have grill marks on all sides.

While corn is cooking mix the Butter, garlic powder, smoked paprika and a pinch or two of salt and pepper in a small bowl. Mix until all combined.

Remove the corn from the husks and spread the butter mixture generously all over the corn. Sprinkle with Feta cheese and enjoy!

Recipe adapted from Trisha Yearwood

Peach Almond Crisp

I love fruit crisp.... especially with extra 'crisp' on it and vanilla ice cream. I loved this recipe, I saw it on one of the cooking channels and had to give it a shot. But I doubled my Crisp recipe... you can never have enough of the stuff. Perfect with peaches and this time of the year when peaches are in season. Enjoy!

Peach Almond Crisp

INGREDIENTS

• TOPPING:

• 1 cup rolled oats

• 2/3 cup packed brown sugar

• 1/2 cup sliced almonds

• 6 Tablespoons butter, softened

• 1 teaspoon cinnamon

• 1/4 teaspoon salt

•

• FILLING:

• 6 cups sliced peaches (about 4 to 6 peaches)

• 1/4 cup packed brown sugar

• 2 tablespoons cornstarch

• 1 teaspoon almond extract

• 1/8 teaspoon nutmeg

DIRECTIONS

For the topping: Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F. 

In a small bowl, combine the oats, sugar, almonds, butter, cinnamon and salt and stir with a fork until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs; set aside. 

For the filling: In a medium bowl, stir together the peaches sugar, cornstarch, almond extract and nutmeg and transfer to an 8- or 9-inch shallow baking dish. Crumble the topping over the peach mixture. Bake until the filling is hot and bubbly and the topping is golden brown, 40 to 50 minutes. 

Serve warm with vanilla ice cream if desired.