Dorito Taco Salad

My family first discovered this salad years ago.  My little cousin's grandmother brought it to a party.  She has since passed away, but we still remember her when we make this salad.  It's simple and good.  As stated in the actual recipe, do not mix the dressing until right before you plan to serve.  This is easy to take on-the-go, but it's best if you keep all the ingredients separate and just toss them together when at your destination.  The tastes all come together and the crunchiness of the Doritos really make this a great salad!  It's perfect for a summer BBQ, too!

Dorito Taco Salad

1 11.5 oz. bag Doritos (regular, red bag, Nacho cheese flavor)
1 can Black Olives, sliced or chopped
2 medium Tomatoes, diced
1 bag of pre-shredded lettuce (You can also shred a head of lettuce.)
16 oz. Green Goddess Dressing
1/2-1 cup shredded Cheddar Cheese, if desired
Ground Beef (1 lb.)

Directions:

1. Brown the ground beef. 
2. Mix beef, tomato, lettuce, black olives, Cheddar cheese in a large bowl.
3. When ready to serve*, crunch up Doritos and mix with beef mixture.  Mix thoroughly with dressing.
 
*It is very important not to pour dressing into the salad until ready to serve.  The dressing will make salad soggy if you aren't serving for a long time.

 Recipe Notes:

·         You can shred a head of lettuce if you don’t want the pre-shredded kind.

·         You can brown the meat with a packet of Taco Seasoning, if desired.

·         All ingredients can be adjusted to what you like.  You can add more/less/delete anything to your liking.

·         Mix ingredients in a LARGE bowl.  When combined, this makes a very large bowl of salad.

Slow Cooker Split Pea Soup

For some time now I’ve wanted to try making Split Pea soup.  Yes, I know it’s not the typical thing to make nor do most people enjoy it, but I do.  So there! J  I ended up back in my Make It Fast, CookIt Slow cookbooks.  If you don’t know it already, I absolutely LOVE Stephanie O’Dea’s books, blog, and recipes.  They are a must-have for those who use their slow cooker often.  I pretty much followed her exact recipe with the exception of the bacon.  I used one of the bags of bacon pieces found in the salad dressing aisle.  It was much quicker for me on the morning I was making the soup. This was one of the EASIEST slow cooker recipes ever.

Slow Cooker Split Pea Soup

 The Ingredients

16 oz. package of dried split peas

1 onion, diced

1 potato, peeled and diced

1 cup diced carrot

4 cups vegetable broth

1 cup water (next time I would add 1 additional cup 5-10 minutes before serving.  It got quite thick!)

1 pkg. Real Bacon Bits (despite my link here, I used Kroger brand.)

1 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon pepper

The Directions.

Add everything to the slow cooker.  Stir to mix well.

Cover and cook on low 8-10 hours or high for 4-6.

Use a potato masher to mash and mix the soup to get a combined, thick consistency.  This is when I would add an additional cup up water and blend together.  (If you have an immersible hand blender you can also use that to make your soup a bit more creamy and to have an even consistency.)

Serve.

Next time I will definitely double this recipe.  Other than it being quite thick, it was delicious and even the little squirt couldn't get enough of it.  It would be great with some fresh baked rolls or bread.

Adapted recipe from here.

Baking with Martha - Cream Cheese Pound Cake

A couple of weeks ago we happened to stop on a PBS channel that featured the Martha Bakes TV show.  We only meant to stop for a minute, but we ended up watching for quite a while.  She made several good looking desserts, but this is the one that my husband really liked.  We are both fans of pound cake.  Typically I make a Tastefully Simple Absolutely Almond pound cake, but I decided to give this “from scratch” recipe a shot.  We loved it!  It wasn’t too sweet and baked in just about an hour.  I also halved the recipe, since the original recipe makes two whole loaves and that would have been way too much.

Cream-Cheese Pound Cake

Ingredients

1 1 1/2 sticks butter, room temperature

   1/2 bar (4 ounces) cream cheese, room temperature

   1 1/2 cups sugar

   3 large eggs

   1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

   1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

   1 teaspoons salt

   Nonstick cooking spray

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. With an electric mixer, beat butter and cream cheese until smooth. Add sugar; beat until light and fluffy, about 5 minutes. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Mix in vanilla. With mixer on low, add flour and salt in two additions, beating until just combined.

Generously coat one 8 1/2-by-4 1/2- by-2 1/2-inch loaf pans (1 1/2 quarts) with cooking spray; immediately pour in batter (pan will seem full). Tap pan on work surface to eliminate any large air bubbles.

Bake until golden and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out almost clean, 60 to 75 minutes (if the tops begin to brown too quickly, tent with aluminum foil).

Cool 10 minutes in the pan. Turn out the cake; cool completely, with top sides up, on a wire rack.

Original recipe found here.