mexican fiesta salad with cilantro lime vinaigrette

I've been on a total salad kick lately and I'm trying to go with it because it doesn't come around very often. Every week for the past month I have craved this grilled chicken mexican salad from one of my favorite mexican restaurants. After eating way too many chips and salsa and ordering this salad more times than I'd like to admit, I decided I had to start making this salad at home. It really is one of my favorite salads ever and it's made with the simplest ingredients. You can spice this salad up with some roasted jalapenos or use the cilantro lime vinaigrette to marinate chicken or shrimp.

And if you are anything like me and want to make leftovers out of everything in sight, you can save an opened avocado for later if you leave the pit in the unused half. To save guacamole, throw the avocado pit in the bowl and store the guacamole or unused avocado in an airtight container.

Mexican Fiesta Salad with Cilantro Lime Vinaigrette
makes 4 salads

for the salad
1 head of lettuce
1 c. pico de gallo (store bought or homemade)
1 c. queso fresco, crumbled
1/2 red onion, diced
avocado

cilantro lime vinaigrette
1 c. packed cilantro
1/4 c. extra-virgin olive oil
1/4 c. lime juice
1/4 c. orange juice
1 tbsp honey
1 garlic clove, minced
pinch of salt and pepper

Blend or puree cilantro, olive oil, lime juice, orange juice, garlic, salt and pepper together in a blender or food processor.

Toss lettuce, pico de gallo, queso fresco, red onion, avocado and dressing together.

roasted tomato soup & grilled cheese croutons

I am so anxious for Thanksgiving because you know what Thanksgiving means? Yes, good food and entertaining family time. But it also means in less than a month I will be listening to Christmas music and searching for the perfect Christmas tree. Pure happiness. In the mean time, I'm making soup and grilled cheese while dreaming about my grandma's turkey, marshmallow covered sweet potatoes, dumplings and biscuit stuffing.

The tomato soup is so fresh and flavorful and I'm not sure it gets much healthier than this, at least not on this blog! I used my George Foreman to grill the grilled cheese and made sure to get it extra crispy so it wouldn't get too soggy in the tomato soup. And if you like a little heat, I loved the spicy kick from the colby/pepper jack cheese slices in the grilled cheese. I think a pimento cheese grilled cheese would go great with this soup too. But the best thing about a grilled cheese is that you can use any cheese you'd like! 

for the tomato soup:

recipe adapted from Closet Cooking 

2 pounds of tomatoes, diced

1 red pepper, diced and seeded

1 onion, diced

1 carrot, diced 

4 gloves of garlic, unpeeled

olive oil

1/4 tsp garlic powder

1/4 tsp paprika

1 tsp oregano

2 c. chicken stock

1/4 c. heavy cream, optional 

handful of basil, chopped

Preheat the oven to 375°F. 

Place the tomatoes, red pepper, carrot, onion and garlic on a baking pan and drizzle with olive oil and salt and pepper. Roast in the oven for 30 minutes. Place everything but the cream into a sauce pan and simmer for 15 minutes. Puree with a hand blender or regular blender to desired consistency and mix in the cream and basil. 

for the grilled cheese croutons:

 (makes one)

2 slices of sourdough bread

2 slices of cheese (I used colby jack & pepper jack slices)

1 tbsp butter

Butter one side of each slice of bread. Place one slice of the bread in the pan/grill, buttered side down, and top with cheese and the remaining piece of bread, buttered side up. Cook until golden brown and crispy, about 4 minutes on each side. Flip and cook the other side for about 4 minutes. Cut the edges from the grilled cheese and cut into squares. 

breakfast casserole muffins

Once a month I have a breakfast party at work where my team gets together to celebrate birthdays and catch up. I always volunteer to bake something and realized for the past couple months I have brought in some type of banana baked good.  I wanted to change it up this month so I decided to create a breakfast muffin with croissant, sausage, velveeta and eggs because everyone at work loves breakfast casseroles. These may not be the prettiest breakfast but your first bite will make you forget all about that!

Breakfast Casserole Muffins 
makes 12 muffins

1/2 lb of ground sausage (I used hot)
1 tube of crescent roll dough
12 slices of velveeta cheese (or crumbles off a block of velveeta)
6 eggs, beaten
1/8 c. of milk

Preheat oven to 375°F. Line or grease 12 muffin cups. 

Brown the sausage until no longer pink and drain. Spread and line the bottom of each muffin cup with a portion of the croissant dough and press down. Put a spoonful of browned sausage on top of the croissant dough. Then put a slice or a spoonful of velveeta over the sausage. In a bowl, beat the eggs and milk together. Divide the egg mixture evenly between the 12 muffin cups. Make sure not to fill the egg mixture to the very top of the muffin cup or else they will get very messy. Bake 30-35 minutes or until golden brown on top. These are really easy to make and a great breakfast on the go.