recipes Archives - Lindsay Ross Blog

Grilled corn, avocado and tomato salad with honey lime dressing. So good.

I’m grateful for Pinterest for so many reasons. The biggest being all the new recipes I’ve found there. I’m not a great cook, nor do I love to cook (though I love to eat) so any help I can get in the kitchen department is welcomed with open arms.

My biggest beef with most recipes, however, is that EVERY Pinterest recipe is “the best thing you’ve ever tasted”, “your family will love you”, “your life will never be the same” recipes. Turns out–not true. There’s some pretty awful recipes on there (or I executed them wrong which could totally be the case). But THIS recipe. This recipe is a keeper (and I so wish I could remember where I originally found it). SO SO SO good. And easy. Trust me. Your mouth will love you.

grilledcornpin

Grilled Corn, Avocado, Cilantro and Tomato salad with Honey-lime dressing.

Salad:

1 pint grape tomatoes cut in halves (super good with home-grown tomatoes)

1 avocado cut into chunks

2 ears of fresh corn-on-the-cob (I’ve tried canned corn–it’s just not the same)

2 Tbsp fresh cilantro, chopped

Dressing:

3 Tbsp vegetable oil

1 Tbsp honey

Juice of 1 lime

1 clove garlic, minced (or use already minced garlic from a can if you’re efficient like me)

sea salt and fresh cracked pepper, to taste

Remove husks from corn and grill over medium heat for 10-15 minutes. I use a special pan (I call it special because I don’t know the real name for it) for this on the stove but you could also do it on a bbq or a George Foreman type grill. It definitely makes a difference if you grill the corn. Rotate the corn every few minutes until all sides are cooked. There will be some brown spots on the corn. You want it to be tender, but not mushy.

Slice the tomatoes in half. Cube the avocado. Chop the cilantro. High-tech kitchen stuff.

Once the corn is cooked, let cool for a few minutes (seriously–it’ll burn you if you try too soon. Yes, I’ve tried too soon). Once cooled enough to handle without burn-risk, cut the corn off the cob. Mix the corn, avocado, cilantro, and tomatoes in a bowl. Be careful not to be too aggressive and mush the avocado.

Add all of the dressing ingredients in a separate bowl and mix well to combine. Pour the dressing over the salad and let sit for 10-15 minutes to let it all blend.

You can eat this plain, but it’s reeeeeally good with tortilla chips. I like the blue corn tortilla chips from Trader Joe’s because they’re really salty (gosh I love salt). But any tortilla chips would do.

If you want some ideas of other GREAT food finds, you’ll want to read this.

You can also follow my “healthier dinners” board on Pinterest for some healthier meal ideas.

Or, just follow ALL my boards on Pinterest. Cause I pin good stuff. And only good stuff.

And if you’re looking for some good sites to follow for GOOD recipes and many that are relatively simple, I recommend checking out Mel’s Kitchen Cafe and Damn Delicious. I don’t know either of them. Just found them through friends. Both great sites!!

To help you use up some of your zucchini

These “zucchini boats” are good. Really good. AND good for you.
Normally I’m not a huge fan of ground turkey. Maybe because when I cook it, it has a weird gray color. But when you add the Taco seasoning it’s a game changer.

Recipe.

Cut zucchini in half and carve out the middle (I use a spoon)
Cook 1 pound of Jenni-O ground turkey on the stove. When it’s fully cooked, add a little water and Taco seasoning (as much seasoning as you prefer–I like it more mild)
Spoon cooked turkey into the zucchini. Add cut up fresh mushrooms and olives (or whatever toppings you like).

Cook at 400 degrees for about 7 minutes. Then add some mozzarella cheese and continue cooking for about 5 more minutes or until zucchini is tender when stabbed with a fork.

Fast. Easy. And healthy.

I’m still trying to warm my kids up to zucchini. They aren’t big fans. So I just put the extra ground turkey and toppings in a corn taco shell for them.

The original idea for this came from an Instagram account I was following but now can’t find. Probably because one of my kids accidentally un-followed them. Anyway, it was tweaked from that to our liking.

Chicken Pesto Pizza–this is ridiculously good. And easy!!

I always laugh when I post recipes on here. I am not particularly good at cooking. And I find little or no joy in cooking. So it’s a little ironic I post recipes. And I in no way intend for this to be a recipe/food blog. But it is a huge priority for our family to eat dinner together every night. So I cook at least something almost every evening. We don’t eat out much.

It is because of this dislike for cooking that when I find a GREAT and EASY recipe (and moderately healthy), I feel compelled to share it. For the rest of you out there who love food like me, but don’t necessarily love spending hours in the kitchen only to listen to my kids comment on how disgusting the food is I just cooked. Maybe that’s just my kids.

I’d rather hire someone to come cook dinner for us than hire someone to clean my house.

Anyway, this is a recipe I adapted from one I originally saw on Becky Higgins (the creator of Project Life) instagram feed.

This is SO fast and easy. And was seriously REALLY good. We ate it two nights in a row we liked it so much.

I bought all of the ingredients for this at Costco.

CHICKEN PESTO PIZZA

1 package of Stonefire mini NAAN flatbread (from Costco)
{The Flatbread is in the refrigerated section by the specialty cheese- close to where the Pesto will be as well}
Fresh spinach
Mozzarella cheese (get Fresh mozz and grade it yourself–it melts better than already shredded cheese)
mushrooms
grilled chicken (I just grilled some chicken with a little garlic salt and montreal chicken seasoning on my indoor pan that is like a grill. Or you can grill it on a bbq. Or cook it however you want)
Basil Pesto sauce (also from Costco)

Put the flatbread on a pizza stone if you have one, or a cookie sheet should work fine too. Spread some Basil Pesto sauce on top. Layer with fresh spinach. Slice up the grilled chicken and put that on top of the spinach. Then add fresh mushrooms (if you like them). You could also add olives. Sprinkle mozzarella cheese on top.

Bake at 450 degrees for 8-10 minutes or until cheese is melted.

We have a few kids who are not adventurous eaters (yet) so I made a pepperoni pizza for them. Mozzarella cheese with a few pepperoni. No sauce. It didn’t even need the sauce.

The NAAN is kind of like a pita, but it has a different flavor. It’s a little salty (which I LOVED) so I would definitely try it with this specific bread instead of substituting for something else.

All you moms who don’t love cooking (or do love cooking), let me know if you try this and what you think!

White Bean Chicken (or Turkey) chili

I never thought I’d be one to have a blog where I post recipes. But since fixing food for my humans consumes a huge portion of my life, I think good, healthy recipes deserve a space on my blog. Every once in a while at least.

If you haven’t checked out Mel’s Kitchen Cafe blog, you probably should. Awesome, almost always easy, and usually not time consuming recipes. It’s my “go to” recipe site.

And with that, I give you this little gem that has become a part of our winter meal rotation.

White Bean Chicken (or Turkey) Chili

1 tablespoon olive oil
1/2 cup diced onion
2 (14.5 ounce) cans Great Northern Beans, rinsed and drained
2 cups cooked, diced chicken (or turkey)
2 cups chicken broth
3/4 cup salsa (I use Pace Chunky Medium)
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1/2 teaspoon celery salt
1 1/2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese

DIRECTIONS

In a medium saucepan, heat the olive oil over medium heat. Add onions and cook until onions are translucent, about 5 minutes.
Add the remainder of the ingredients, except the mozzarella cheese. Heat over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until the soup comes to a simmer. Add the mozzarella cheese one handful at a time, stirring to let each addition melt before adding the next. Stir to combine and make sure all the cheese has melted and serve.

It’s good. Trust me. And healthy. Bonus. I’ve made it with turkey and chicken. Tastes great either way. And once I was out of mozzarella cheese, so I ripped up a bunch of string cheese and put that in there. Took a little longer to melt, but it still worked. I’m brave in the kitchen like that.