Pinterest Inspired Cooking

Both girls are napping, so instead of being productive, such as doing some house work, I thought I would blog instead! :)

I went through my recipe board on Pinterest last week and decided to try out some new recipes and share!

Last night we had Southwest Black bean Casserole. I got the recipe from here http://pinchofyum.com/southwest-black-bean-casserole. I made a few changes. I omitted the bacon and I used a tablespoon of homemade taco seasoning instead of the cumin and salt it called for. It was very good and I will definitely make it again!

I made this incredible salad over the weekend. It was excellent and we were able to eat from it several times! Here is the recipe: http://www.greensnchocolate.com/2012/04/southwestern-chopped-chicken-salad.html. Of course I made a few changes to this one too! For the chicken I used a rotisserie chicken from the store, I did not add the crushed tortillas chips (just forgot to buy them!), I used a bag of romaine lettuce instead of chopping up my own, and I added shredded cheese. For the salad dressing part I used the homemade taco seasoning recipe ( I will share that too) and I also added some milk to thin the dressing out some.

These are balsamic roasted carrots = AMAZING! I love any vegetable roasted. It just gives it such a rich and different flavor. For these, all you do is set your oven to 400. Toss your carrots in a little bit of olive oil, salt & pepper. Roast them on a cookie sheet for about 20 min. Pull the carrots out and  mix the following ingredients together: 1 T of olive oil, 2 T of honey, 1-2 t of balsamic vinegar and 2 t of brown sugar and drizzle over carrots. Put them back in the oven for 5 min. I used a small bag of baby carrots. We had salmon with it. I put the salmon in some aluminum foil with a little olive oil, lemon slices, salt & pepper and about a teaspoon of dried parsley flakes. I set the wrapped salmon on the same cookie sheet as the carrots and they were both done at the same time. A very easy and quick healthy dinner!

Here is the recipe for the homemade taco seasoning. The source said it is from Rachael Ray. It doesn't have all the sodium that the store bought ones do! I will never buy the store brand again! :)

1 T chili powder
1 T ground cumin
1 T garlic powder
1 T onion powder
1/4-1/2 T crushed red pepper ( I did not have this, so I just used 1/4 teaspoon of ground red pepper)
*(T=tablespoon)

Mix all ingredients together and store in an airtight container!

Hope ya'll enjoy these recipes! Let me know if you try any of them out!