Got Tomatoes? BLT Salad for Lunch

Slice up some fresh garden tomatoes to whip together a B-L-T salad. Bake the bacon (yes, if you've been to Eat Boise before, you know that bacon is to be baked, not fried in a pan), chop it up, dice fresh tomatoes, add lettuce and a dressing that is mayo mixed with a couple of tablespoons of white vinegar. Toss together for a salad on its own, or use the salad to make a sandwich.

Olive Garden Blah Night

We had more Olive Garden gift certificates to use up, so we stopped in last night. Our meal was just so-so. I ordered the steak Gorgonzola Alfredo - I really just wanted the Gorgonzola Alfredo, so I asked for the steak on the side. I LOVE Gorgonzola, but this version tasted a bit off, like something was not quite right with the cheese. The steak was pretty good, though.
Dwayne tried the pork Milanese. It was a breaded pork cutlet...and he thought that's exactly what it tasted like. The cheese-filled tortellini on the side was excellent, though, filled with an Asiago cheese.

Asian Noodle-y Salad

This is a quick all-in-one meal that's perfect for using up some fresh backyard produce. It's an Asian Noodle-y Salad. Any veggies sliced thin can be added. Pictured here is green and red cabbage, green bell peppers, bean sprouts and cilantro. I added baked chicken, sliced thin, and cooked linguine rinsed cold. Rice noodles can be used, too! The trick in pulling it all together is the dressing:

1 fresh jalapeno seeded and chopped
1/3 cup brown sugar
8 tablespoons of olive oil
6 tablespoons of soy sauce
2 tablespoon of sesame oil
3-4 minced cloves of garlic
Fresh lime juice to taste
Whisk together

Toss the salad ingredients with the dressing and that's it.

Mellow Yellow Melon

I sliced open a "personal sized" watermelon and was shocked it was a yellow melon. It tasted just like red watermelon, too. Which was a good thing because my daughter was suspicious.

Dinner is Served

Lemon pepper Panko chicken, jasmine rice and broccoli. A simple and quick dinner for a weeknight.

Bacon Maple Bar

This is a maple bar topped with pieces of crisp bacon. No, I didn't taste it, but my husband said it was yummy. This is a Voodoo Doughnut - something quite famous in Oregon.

First-of-the-Season Cherry Tomato Salsa

I picked a basket of cherry tomatoes the other day and sliced and diced them into a salsa last night. My salsa is closer to a pico de gallo, and with cherry tomatoes, it does take some time to slice and dice. But this is so good - I drink the salsa juice! The basic recipe (all measurements to taste): sweet onion, cherry tomatoes (about a quarter of the batch), sliced jarred jalapenos, minced garlic and salt - run these ingredients in the food processor to make a slurry. Transfer to a bowl and start slicing and dicing the rest of the cherry tomatoes. Mix all together and add cilantro, unless you hate cilantro, and I know people who do.