Confetti Corn Salad and Chilled Vinaigrette Potato Salad

9:57 PM ByFiled UnderSide Dishes

[donotprint]I love having friends over.  I love feeding my friends and I get a special thrill when I see them devouring and loving the food that I’ve prepared. So, Friday night we had friends over for a BBQ.

 

Bush's Can Opener

We grilled some wicked pork chops

spice rubbed pork chops

We flame broiled grilled up some amazing chicken quarters

grillin' chicken

I served Summer Breezes

summer breeze drink

We made crazy drool-worthy bbq side dishes that were cool, zingy, tangy and downright tonguegasmic

Sunset vinaigrette potato salad

In case you can’t tell, the sun was setting and I was scrambling to capture the golden light

confetti salad

Today, y’all are getting the recipes for both the side dishes that I created for this BBQ.

I love fresh, crisp, chilled foods for barbecue side dishes when it’s hot outside.  This Chilled Confetti Salad was a massive hit with everyone, even the kids.  One friend was even eating this with chips like an appetizer! :-) I think you should definitely serve this confetti salad with fresh limes so everyone can squeeze lime over their serving. [/donotprint]

[print_link]

: Chilled Confetti Salad
  1. 8 to 10 whole ears of corn, shucked, cooked and kernels removed
  2. 2 jalapenos, diced
  3. 1 sweet green bell pepper, seeded and diced
  4. 1 sweet red bell pepper, seeded and diced
  5. 1 bunch green onions, chopped
  6. 6 limes
  1. Shuck the corn and remove all the strands of silk
  2. Cook corn according to your favorite way: boil or grill
  3. Cool corn and remove kernels from cob
  4. Dice sweet peppers and jalapenos (remove seeds and ribs from jalapenos if you’re heat sensitive)
  5. Chop green onions all the way down to just before the crisp white bulb.
  6. Toss all ingredients together.
  7. Cut 3 limes in half and squeeze the juice over your corn salad.
  8. Refrigerate
  9. Prior to serving, slice limes into quarters and place next to salad for serving

 

[donotprint]  Potato Salad is sort of an iconic BBQ and Picnic side dish-I however, am not a huge fan of the potato salads that are over saturated with mayonnaise or mustard.  You know the ones that make that ‘schnock’ sound when you remove them from their dish.  So for this BBQ I wanted to make my own take on German Potato Salad, a vinaigrette based potato salad that is traditionally served warm.  My potato salad combines green onions, a bit of spicy mustard, fresh cracked black pepper and red wine vinaigrette.

[/donotprint]

[print_link]

: Chilled German Potato Salad
  1. 4 lbs small potatoes (I use red)
  2. 1 bunch green onions
  3. Red Wine Vinegar
  4. Zesty Spicy Mustard
  5. Fresh Cracked Black Pepper
  1. Wash potatoes and cook to fork tender
  2. Drain and cool
  3. Rough chop potatoes and toss in a medium size bowl
  4. Small chop green onions down to just before the crisp white bulb
  5. Toss in the green onions
  6. Add 1/4 C red wine or balsamic vinegar (your taste)
  7. Add in 1/4 C spicy mustard
  8. Toss together
  9. Chill
  10. After 2 hours, remove from fridge, top with fresh ground black pepper and taste
  11. Add more vinegar or mustard or pepper, to taste

[donotprint]

Friday night was filled with laughter and games, good food and friends, all the things that a great evening are made of.

Today’s post wasn’t sponsored but, tomorrow’s is and tomorrow, you have a chance to win this
IMG_9442
and a $50 Gift Card for your own amazing Grillin’ Party.

So, stay tuned.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

A few of my favorite from last week’s link-ups

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

30 Comments

Tonguegasmic Strawberry Cupcakes and Delicious Links

9:39 AM ByFiled UnderDesserts, Mouthwatering Monday, Side Dishes

[donotprint]I can’t believe it’s Monday already, y’all!!

I had a recipe all ready in my head while I was in New Orleans at the Mom 2.0 Summit, but, I didn’t calculate my time correctly and by the time I got home last night, it was 11 PM.

The only thing going through my head was ‘sleep – sleep – sleep – sleep’ ;-)

Right before I left for New Orleans I shared the most amazing strawberry cupcake recipe with y’all.
I thought I’d link to it again for those of y’all who missed it last week.

strawberry cupcake

They’re so gorgeous and so delicious and full of real strawberries, butter and sugar — YUM!

My friend, Erica from Erica Says, made these this past weekend — then she came back and told me her thoughts and made my whole dang day

Real Homemade Strawberry Cupcakes — A Southern Fairytale_1303134849190

I think adding lime juice to these would be AH-MAY-ZING!

Thanks, Erica!!!

<3

Easter is coming up right around the corner — (dear HEB, I will be visiting you today!)

Here is the link to the Easter Ham Recipes that I shared a couple of weeks ago — in case y’all forgot to bookmark it.

Today, I’m going to share some side dish ideas and a delicious breakfast recipe!

This breakfast casserole is one of my most requested recipes, one of the top stumbled recipes and one of my Top 10 recipes from 2010!!!

If you’re making a Ham this Easter, this is a delicious use for leftovers!!

Cheesy ham and hashbrown breakfast casserolehashbrown casserole wm


Side Dishes for Easter

Do you need a couple of knock-your-socks-off slap-yo-mama-good (I might be a bit sleep deprived) side dish recipes?

Smoky chipotles and multiple cheeses combine with zucchini and corn to make a mouthwatering unforgettable casserole that will have people begging you for the recipe!

Cheesy Chipotle, Corn and Zucchini Casserole
cheesy chipotle, corn and zucchini casserole baked

 

 

Chilled Green Bean and Potato Salad

Chilled Green Bean Salad[/donotprint]

[print_link]

Recipe: Chilled Green Bean and Potato Salad

Ingredients

  1. 1 bag Red Potatoes
  2. 1 lb fresh green beans, washed and snapped into 1″ pieces
  3. 3/4 Tbsp Dijon Mustard
  4. juice of 1 lemon
  5. 2 Tbsp red wine vinegar
  6. 1/2 C extra virgin olive oil
  7. 1 Tbsp minced shallot (mine was a healthy 1 Tbsp)
  8. salt and pepper to taste

Instructions

  1. Mince the shallot and whisk together in a glass bowl: lemon juice, red wine vinegar, Dijon mustard, salt and pepper, olive oil shallot. Cover and refrigerate.
  2. Wash and snap green beans into roughly 1″ pieces.
  3. Wash the potatoes and quarter
  4. Steam the green beans to snappy crisp tender, remove from steamer and run cold water over them to cease the cooking process.
  5. Drizzle about 2 tsp of vinaigrette over the green beans and refrigerate.
  6. Steam the potatoes until fork tender. Remove and rinse with cool water to stop the cooking process.
  7. Add the potatoes to the green beans.
  8. When you’re ready to serve them, toss with the vinaigrette. I had some vinaigrette left over. I didn’t want it to be too saturated.

Variations

* Zatarains Creole Mustard would rock this salad to a whole new level (I just had it for the first time this weekend in New Orleans and I’m hooked)

Number of servings (yield): 6

[donotprint]

Happy Mouthwatering Monday, y’all! I can’t wait to see what all of y’all have cooked up for today! Before I share the linky  — I wanted to thank y’all for all your comments on the Pampered Chef post — I didn’t win BUT — one of y’all did! one of the commenters from that post is winning an amazing Easy Brie-zy pizza kit from Pampered Chef!
The winner is —-

Congrats, love!  You just never know when it’s going to pay to be a reader and commenter! ;-)

 

 

19 Comments

Spicy Garlic Vinaigrette

9:46 PM ByFiled UnderMouthwatering Monday, Side Dishes

[donotprint]Spinach Garlic Vinaigrette Salad

It has been about an hour since I made this salad and paired it with a perfectly cooked, thinly sliced 4 oz steak

garlic vinaigrette salad with steak

and I still have a pleasantly tangy peppery flavor in my mouth.

I’ve been playing around with a spicy mustard garlic vinaigrette for a few months because I adore the flavors, the ease and tonight — tonight, I achieved the pinnacle of Tonguegasmic Mustard/Garlic/Vinegar-y deliciousness

My family and I are huge fans of garlic, mustard and fresh raw spinach.  If you put raw spinach out, my kids will devour it, they don’t need any dressing or dipping sauce — it’s one of my consolations and nods that somewhere, somehow– I’m doing something right.

I’ve made a few sauces with spicy mustard and garlic and I love sprinkling garlic over spinach so I just knew, that out there somewhere, there was a vinaigrette just waiting for me — one that would double as a dressing, a spread for toasted bread and a marinade.

Oh baby, oh hail yes.  This – is it.

Beware, if you do not adore garlic, spicy mustard and tang — walk away now.

vinaigrette ingredients

Those 5 simple ingredients blend together to produce a tangy, savory, peppery, delicious, unforgettable vinaigrette that is perfect when tossed with fresh spinach and topped with freshly grated parmesan cheese, sliced tomatoes and freshly ground black pepper.

Mince 4 garlic cloves and put in your bowl.

Add in 1 rounded tsp spicy mustard

Tsp of spicy mustard

Add 1 1/2 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil and 2 Tbsp white wine vinegar.

Add 2 to 5 turns of freshly ground black pepper, according to your preferences — 1/4 to 1/2 tsp freshly ground black pepper

If you have a food processor, blender, hand mixer — you can puree this up nicely and reduce the garlic to mere shreds — this is not necessary, this is not a smooth vinaigrette, but it definitely sharpens the flavors.

Let the vinaigrette rest for an hour at room temperature and then toss it over about 5 oz of fresh raw spinach; toss until fully coated.

I have found that for me, the best accompaniments for this are freshly grated parmesan

parmesan cheese for vin.

sliced cherry/grape tomatoes and crumbled bacon

Spinach Garlic Vinaigrette Salad

This is honestly, my favorite salad combination to date, and that is saying a lot.

This is a salad that my husband will devour willingly and ask for seconds and THAT is a monumental accomplishment, y’all.  He is a chicken fried steak and potatoes boy.

Enough of my yammering, y’all just want the recipe!
garlic vinaigrette salad with steak[/donotprint]

[print_link]

Recipe: Garlic Vinaigrette with Spicy Mustard

Ingredients

  • 4 garlic cloves, minced
  • 1 1/2 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil
  • 1 heaping tsp Spicy Mustard
  • 2 Tbsp white wine vinegar
  • 3 to 5 turns of a pepper grinder ( 1/4 to 1/2 tsp fresh ground black pepper to taste)
  • 5 oz fresh spinach
  • parmesan cheese, grated

Instructions

  1. mince 4 garlic cloves
  2. Add garlic, Spicy Mustard, White Wine Vinegar, Pepper and Olive oil in a dish and mix well
  3. Let rest at room temperature for an hour
  4. Toss with spinach
  5. Top with freshly grated parmesan

Variations

* top with sliced cherry/grape tomatoes for a burst of sweetness and add crumbled bacon for crunch and saltiness


I’m so happy with the way Mouthwatering Mondays has grown, I know that I share recipes throughout the week but, Mondays make me happy.  I love seeing how many of y’all are visiting each others blogs and discovering fellow foodies! Thank y’all for participating and sharing the love
[donotprint]
* If you link up a recipe, please play nice, it’s the right thing to do

* Please leave a comment
* Link your recipe URL, not your blog URL
* I highly suggest y’all visit at least 3 other participants, it’s so worth it!
* Link back here in your post so that others can participate in the linky love

[/donotprint]

42 Comments
« Older Posts
Newer Posts »
Blog Widget by LinkWithin