Chicken Salad Croissants

These cold chicken salad croissant sandwiches are the perfect snack for warm weather get-togethers and parties. The salad is healthy and creamy with a slightly sweet flavor, and goes great with bread and crackers. The best thing about this recipe is how versatile it is, you can use a variety of grapes, cranberries, or nuts (walnuts, pecans, almonds..). You can also choose to use mayo instead of Miracle Whip, just be aware that the flavor will be slightly altered. Serve it with bread as a sandwich, as a topping for crackers, wrapped in lettuce, or keep it just the way it is for a side dish.

Slow Cooked Tequila 'Refried' Beans

These beans aren't actually refried because they are made completely in the slow cooker, not fried. They are much healthier than traditional refried beans and pack a lot more flavor. These beans are thick and creamy with a hint of lime and a kick of tequila. You could definitely keep out the jalapenos and tequila if that's not your sort of thing, but I would recommend sticking to the recipe. Trust me. These are by far the best refried beans I've ever had. If you haven't tried homemade refried beans yet... Do it. Now. :)

-Jess

Blue Cheese and Garlic Hasselback Potatoes

Hasselback. My new favorite way to enjoy a potato. These fancy looking potatoes seem like they'd be hard to make, but they are actually really easy and they taste fantastic! Once cooked, hasselback potatoes have some great textures. On the outside they are lightly crisp, while the inside is very soft and creamy. Definitely unlike any other potato!

While these potatoes can certainly be eaten plain, I wanted to add some flavor so I chose to put some garlic in. You want to be sure to slice the garlic as thin as you possibly can. This allows it to cook up nicely, giving the potato the right amount of flavor. I had sliced some too thick and we ended up having to pick out the garlic slices before eating because the flavor was just too strong. So slice it THIN!

It doesn't stop there!

I thought some blue cheese would be the perfect thing to top these off. Blue cheese is fantastic! It adds a wonderful tang to the potatoes that I just can't get enough of. :)

Easy Haystack Dinner

-This is by far my most popular recipe!

This little haystack doesn't look like much,

Don't be fooled. It is Delicious!-

This dinner is probably the one that my family ate the most when I was growing up. It's perfect for any family because it's quick, easy, filling, and affordable. And it tastes really good. These Haystacks are made by piling rice, meat, peas, and cheese on top of eachother forming a stack that resembles, well... a haystack!

This dinner is already fairly healthy, but to make it just a bit healthier I use ground turkey instead of beef. The meat is cooked and combined with cream of mushroom and cream of celery soup, which makes it super creamy and tastes fantastic. I also normally would have used brown rice, but all I had was white.

Really, you could put any kind of topping you'd like on this dish. I'd love to make it again using chicken and maybe toss a couple extra veggies in. Also, don't be afraid to try different soup flavors. Mix and match it up all you want!

Did I mention it tastes even better smothered in melted cheese? (what doesn't?) Oh Yeah! Peas + Cheese = One very tasty combination. :)

-Jess

Lemon-Butter Red Potatoes

Potatoes are a great veggie to eat because you can cook and eat them in so many different ways, and they're very filling. I eat a lot of potatoes. A. LOT. I've always loved them. (I'm especially fond of the red ones!)

Wanna hear a story?

Once upon a time, when I was young(er), I snuck food from behind mom's back when she was cooking. No, I wasn't sneaking cookie dough, I was sneaking potatoes.


RAW potatoes.

Mom would have them sliced or diced, sitting to the side waiting to be cooked, and I just couldn't help grabbing a few pieces to crunch on. I LOVED it. And I still do. Raw taters are good! Please, don't judge me!

The End.

Luckily for you, these potatoes aren't raw. They're boiled til they are crisp-tender and smothered with a delicious lemony sauce. DELICIOUS!

This is my new favorite potato recipe. I eat them for a meal just by themselves with nothing else. There's never any left over.

YUMMY! :)


-Jess

Open-Faced Tuna Sandwich

Wow, one week is way too long for me to go without posting! All week my computer has been having serious technical issues. It hardly ever wants to cooperate! Hopefully I'll be able to get it fixed very soon so I can dish out recipes faster than ever.

I'd like to take this time to thank those of you who have started following me. I really, really appreciate it! Thank you!! And one last thing... I'm finally a FoodBuzz Featured Publisher! I know, a lot of people are, but it really feels good to have that badge and officially have my blog 'out there'.

I've decided today to share a healthy lunch recipe. My blog is full of sugary foods, and I realize that not every one out there likes sweet foods, and not everyone can even have them. Actually, most of the sweets you see on my blog are not eaten by me. I only eat enough to taste-test so I can give it a good, fair review, but the rest is either eaten by the Man or given to friends and family. You are what you eat, and I like to eat healthy! I'm currently working on adding a health/fitness section to my blog. This is the first healthy, low calorie recipe of many to come.

Tuna sandwiches are one of my favorite healthy foods. They're delicious, simple, quick, and if made right they can make a very healthy and filling meal. I eat them a few times a week! To make this sandwich healthier than other tuna sandwiches I do not combine the tuna with mayo, I use whole wheat bread, and I top it with veggies (pickles! I REFUSE to eat tuna without pickles!). I also only use one piece of bread, less bread = less calories =  healthier, happier eaters. This recipe is for those of you (ahem, Mandy!) who are trying to eat healthier, maintain/lose weight, or just don't like sugary or fatty food. I hope you like it! :)

Berry-Banana Smoothie

Fruit smoothies are a great way to enjoy a quick, refreshing, healthy snack. And if you're like me, you can drink them for breakfast! I have this recipe for a really simple, yummy berry and banana smoothie. I've found that banana stands out A LOT in smoothies. No matter what other fruits or yogurts I put in the banana flavor is still very strong. Because of this I decided to cut the banana in half, the flavor was still there, just not as prominent. I used mixed berries (blueberries, raspberries, black berries) in this smoothie, but you could use any berry that suites your taste. Using frozen berries makes for a nice cold drink, and eliminates the need of ice. If you do decide to go with fresh fruit, just add a half a cup of ice to be sure that your smoothie is ready to be enjoyed cold. :)

-Jess