Bean, Grilled Corn, and Avocado Salad

This is one of the most filling, tasty, and pretty salads I've had in a long time!  Makes a great meal or side dish, served with some grilled chicken.  I was surprised that the avocado lasted for a few days too.  It must have been because of the lime juice and oil in the dressing!  So it makes a great left-over meal!  

Ingredients

• 1 cup halved heirloom grape or cherry tomatoes
• 1 teaspoon salt, divided
• 3 ears shucked corn
• 1 medium white onion, cut into 1/4-inch-thick slices
• 1 jalapeño pepper
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• Cooking spray
• 1/3 cup chopped fresh cilantro
• 1/3 cup fresh lime juice
• 1 (15-ounce) can no-salt-added pinto beans, rinsed and drained
• 1 (15-ounce) can no-salt-added black beans, rinsed and drained
• 1 (15-ounce) can no-salt-added kidney beans, rinsed and drained
• 2 diced peeled avocados 

Preparation

1. 1. Preheat the grill to medium-high heat.
2. 2. Place the tomatoes in a large bowl, and sprinkle with 1/2 teaspoon salt. Let stand 10 minutes.
3. 3. Brush corn, onion, and jalapeño evenly with oil. Place vegetables on grill rack coated with cooking spray. Grill corn for 12 minutes or until lightly charred, turning after 6 minutes. Grill onion slices and jalapeño 8 minutes or until lightly charred, turning after 4 minutes. Let vegetables stand 5 minutes. Cut kernels from cobs. Coarsely chop onion. Finely chop jalapeño; discard stem. Add corn, onion, and jalapeño to tomato mixture; toss well. Add remaining 1/2 teaspoon salt, cilantro, and next 4 ingredients (through kidney beans) to corn mixture; toss well. Top with avocado.

David Bonom, Cooking Light 
JUNE 2012

Andes Mint Chocolate Chip Cookies

I found this quick and simple, yet great tasting, cookie recipe on the blog Six Sister's Stuff.  The best thing about it, is that there is only 4 ingredients!  No one needs to know that though!  They taste like you slaved away in the kitchen all day making them.  I'm adding them to my Christmas Plates of cookies this year to take to neighbors.

1 Devil's Food Cake Mix
1/2 cup oil
2 eggs
1 package of Andes Mints

1.  Mix cake mix, oil, and eggs together. 
2.  Drop spoonfuls of dough onto baking sheet. 
3.  Bake at 350 degrees for 6-9 minutes. Don't cook any longer than that! You don't want them to be overdone!
4.  Take sheet out of oven and while the cookies are still very hot, place an Andes Mint on top of each cookie. In about 5 minutes, the mint will be melted. Take a spoon and smooth out each mint like frosting.

* I found some Andes mints that were white chocolate and candy cane pieces, at Fred Meyer.  They were so pretty on top of the chocolate cookie!  I liked the taste better than the regular Andes mint.  I wonder if you could get a peppermint Hersey Kiss to melt?  Those might work too!

- Cami

Chicken in Basil Cream Sauce

Five Star Recipe!

I just made this last night, and it was so good!  I modified the recipe a bit.  I made the sauce as called for below, but thought it was too thin, so I added about 4 oz. cream cheese.  You could probably add 2 Tbsp of flour to it too if you didn't have cream cheese.   I served it with yellow potatoes, boiled until soft, but egg noodles would have been good too.  The sauce tastes a lot like Alfredo sauce.  Put the chicken on top and then poor the sauce over everything.  It makes the best left-overs too!  I found the recipe at Fav Family Recipes.  WARNING:  Fattening, but oh-so delish!  

Ingredients

• 1 cup milk
• 1 cup Italian bread crumbs
• 4 chicken breasts cut into halves (8 pieces)
• 1/4 cup margarine
• 1 cup chicken broth
• 2 cups whipping cream
• 1 tsp dried basil
• 1/8 tsp pepper
• 1 cup grated Parmesan cheese

Instructions

• Optional: I like to pound and flatten the chicken out a little so it cooks evenly throughout.
• Place milk and bread crumbs in separate shallow bowls. Dip chicken in milk, then coat with crumbs. In a skillet over medium heat cook chicken in butter until browned on both sides. Remove chicken from skillet and keep in a 9x13 pan in the oven on warm.
• Add chicken broth to skillet and stir to loosen up browned bits from pan. Stir in cream, basil, and pepper and bring to a boil. Turn heat to low and whisk in Parmesan cheese. Pour sauce over the chicken and serve.

- Cami