BLT Salad

So I found this recipe on pinterest (Here is the original recipe) and I had to try it. BLT's are probably my favorite salad but I wasn't sure how the whole lime juice thing would go over as the dressing. AND IT WAS AMAZING. Probably one of the best salads ever...in my little old opinion at least. So I had to share!

Serves 2
Ingredients:
-Handful (you know I don't measure anything) of your favorite lettuce. I used a combo of iceburg, spinach and romaine. Chop it all up to your desired size.
-about 1/2 cup or so of corn
-1/2 tomato diced
-4 to 5 slices of cooked bacon, chopped
-4 oz feta cheese
-1 avocado diced
-1 1/2 tablespoons olive oil
-Juice of 1 lime
-pepper to taste

Cook your bacon, and combine everything in a bowl. And your done! SO easy and seriously delicious. The avocado and feta mixed with the oil and lime juice almost make it creamy.

Creamy Tomato Tortellini Soup

Creamy Tomato Tortellini Soup

Ingredients:

-3 cups tomato soup *I used Trader Joes boxed tomato soup*

-1 small onion, diced small

-2 cups half & half or milk

-2 cups chicken or vegetable stock

-1 package cheese tortellini

-4 garlic cloves, minced

-2 tablespoons olive oil

-sprinkle of Italian seasoning *however much you like*

-few dashes of cayenne for kick, totally optional

-Salt & Pepper to Taste

-Parmesan cheese for topping

In a large pot over medium/high heat cook the onion until softened. Add in the minced garlic and cook for a couple of minutes, be sure not to let the garlic burn.

Add the tomato soup, half & half, stock, and the spices. Bring to a boil. Add Tortellini.

Reduce to simmering and cook about 12-15 minutes until Tortellini is cooked through.

Serve topped with Parmesan cheese!!

This soup was SO easy and delicious. I was missing a vegetable though, so next time I plan to add about 1/2 cup cooked peas to this to see how that works. 

Enjoy!

Garden

At the old house, we were living essentially in a mountain, full of critters and all kinds of bugs. So when I decided I wanted to try to grow some vegetables and fruits, I knew I would have to do it on my patio where most of the critters and bugs couldn't get to them. Unfortunately, did they didn't do that great, and because they were in pots, they couldn't grow to their full potential. So I ended up giving up on them. Now, at the new house we have a side area next to the house and the fence that would be perfect for a garden! I make a homemade pasta sauce and I had never tried using FRESH Roma tomato's instead of canned crushed tomatoes. This pasta week I tried it with some I bought from the store and it made such a difference to us. I also, like I've said in a past blog, want to start canning, and that calls for using fresh tomato's for the sauce so I pretty much did a small trial run and we loved it. So I decided to plant two Roma tomato plants, and two bell pepper plants. One green, and one yellow. Other than the plants its just all dirt back there. But I have plans to put some grass, and flowers back there, once I can tell that the plants will prosper. If they do well, I also want to plant some additional veggies/fruits and then we will start putting grass and make it more pretty over there. I hope they do well!