Small Salads: Tuna & Pasta Salad

Hot summer days will soon be here, it is nice to have several entrée “salad” recipes on hand which are easy to prepare and avoid heating up the entire kitchen. “Tuna & Pasta Salad” is one of these dishes. This pasta salad is a twist on the old-time classic, “Tuna Noodle Casserole.” To make the salad, I added canned tuna fish, hard boiled egg, several vegetables and a “lite” dressing to cooked bow tie pasta. Rather than baking in the oven, the entrée is chilled and served cold. It is a “meal-in-one.” I scaled the ingredients down to make two servings which fits our small household; hence it is a “small salad.” I love tuna fish salad and adding pasta makes it even better.

Continue reading

Orange & Rosemary Yogurt Cheesecake

As a cheesecake lover, I’m always looking for new cheesecake recipe ideas. Is it possible to concoct a healthy cheesecake? If so, I’m all about it. When I ran across a recipe which uses yogurt in the filling rather than cream cheese, I took notice. This cheesecake recipe uses a “labneh” which is Greek yogurt that has been strained to make a soft cheese. The labneh makes a smooth and light-textured cheesecake! It is higher in protein and lower in calories than cream cheese versions. Yes, a little healthier and very easy to make. This cheesecake recipe adds fresh rosemary and orange zest to the filling. These ingredients give a unique flavor “pop” to this cheesecake. Something different to brighten up an otherwise rather bland filling. And I added candied orange peels from marmalade as a topping.

Continue reading

Let’s Cook Southern Homemade Biscuits

I enjoy eating flaky, tender biscuits every now and then. Biscuits are the quintessential Southern breakfast food and surely are found on every restaurant menu here in the South. Thanks to fast food chains, such as McDonaId’s, biscuits are now well-known across the country. To satisfy my biscuit craving, it is easy just to hop in my car and drive to a McDonald’s restaurant for a biscuit and egg sandwich. However, I have been perfecting my “chef’s skills” for making my very easy homemade biscuit recipe and can now make a batch as quickly as I can drive several miles and wait in the drive-thru line to pick up my breakfast order. Hot out of the oven, I love to pour honey and cinnamon sugar on my homemade biscuits for breakfast, or really, any time of the day.

Continue reading

Crawfish Queso Dip

It is crawfish season here in Louisiana and I always like to feature a crawfish dish on my blog each spring. This year I’m making the appetizer, “Crawfish Queso Dip.” It is incredibly simple to make (less that 15 minutes from start to finish) and surprisingly tasty. If “Kristy’s Matzah Crack” is a home run, then “Crawfish Queso Dip” is a slam dunk. It is easy to devour this mild but flavorful crawfish dip! The Spanish translation for “queso” is cheese. This dip is a variation of the traditional Tex-Mex Queso or white cheese dip found at so many restaurants in Texas and throughout the southwest. It definately is a different way to feature crawfish; as I’ve not seen this recipe in any traditional Louisiana cookbook!

Continue reading