Chopped Italian Salad

For as long as I can remember,

I've always loooooooved salads.

And what's even better,

is when I can make a salad a whole meal!

Awhile ago I blogged about Giant Salads

that I make and eat for lunch often.

They're always filling and I love eating them. 

In fact - I'm planning to have them this week.

But today...

I want to tell you ALL about a super easy and incredibly tasty

CHOPPED ITALIAN SALAD!!!

The Goods:

Romaine Lettuce

Salami

Mozzarella

Tomatoes

Cucumbers

Red Onion

Garbanzo Beans

Artichoke Hearts

Kalamata Olives

Peppernchini

Lemon

Italian Dressing

Chop up your lettuce, salami, mozzarella, tomatoes, cucumbers, 

red onion, artichoke heart, kalamata olives and peppernchini.

Put in a large bowl, add dressing and fresh lemon juice.

Toss to combine and serve in a large bowl.

That's it!!!

I decided I needed something besides salad,

so I made up a batch of the yummy rolls featured in this post!

Inez's Turkey Burgers

Now that summer is basically here, 

I'm sure there will be lots of grilling going on.

So now is the perfect time to talk about some yummy burgers!

A few weeks ago, my friend Inez, who's a foodie like me, 

told me about a Turkey Burger she made that was amazing.

She said she wasn't going to make them any other way again!

After hearing that, I KNEW I had to give these burgers a try.

I got the recipe from her and made the burgers shortly after.

And she was right - they are amazing!!!

Since they were so good, I asked her permission to share the recipe on my blog.

And lucky you - she said yes!

Take a look below at how you make these simple, yet delicious burgers.

The Goods:

1 Package Ground Turkey

2 Tablespoons Chopped Fresh Cilantro

2 Tablespoons Minced Garlic

Juice from 1/2 Lemon

4 Teaspoons Cholula Hot Sauce

1  Teaspoon Ground Cumin

Salt and Pepper to your liking

Buns

Lettuce

Avocado

In a large bowl, combine turkey, cilantro, garlic, 

lemon juice, hot sauce, cumin, salt and pepper.

Divide mixture into six and make into burgers.

From here - you can either cook them right up, or with in a day.

OR you can do what I did - cooked one to eat now and froze the rest for future use!

I froze mine with wax paper between and in freezer zipper bags.

Cook the burgers FULLY. This is turkey, so it can't be raw!

If you want, be a lil naughty and add cheese like I did!!

Then make you delicious burger, serve it with a side and enjoy!!!

Confession - I not only added cheese, 

but there's a tomato on the final product too!

Now go make these super tasty turkey burgers yourself. 

I'm pretty sure you'll thank me, but really you should thank Inez!!

Robyn Recreates Olive Garden Favorites

Yup, you read that right!!
I have recreated not one, but TWO Olive Garden dishes that are favorites to many!

While I haven't had Olive Garden in years, I still remember what their signature salad tastes like. I used to go there just because of their amazing salad and breadsticks.

The salad was all about the dressing and I think I got pretty darn close to the real thing. I was reassured when a girlfriend I had over that night agreed that it was pretty spot on! 

Sadly, their breadsticks wasn't something I made - I haven't taken that on yet!
(Who knows, maybe soon?)

The second Olive Garden knock off I made is something I made twice in one week and just couldn't get enough. I made Zuppa Toscana Monday night and again on Friday, which was perfect for the cold evenings we've been having.

And the finished product...

So, so, SO good!!!

Since I didn't make breadsticks, I did the next best thing and made savory monkey bread muffins. They were amazing and not a single one was leftover!!!

Elina and Robyn Make...Chinese Food!

I love cooking with Elina and since this is the third post of the section, I thought it'd be fun to have Elina as a guest blogger! We had so much fun making this meal (as usual) and I would love to eat it all again. Keep reading and Elina will tell you all about this cooking adventure!

Every once in a while Robyn and I get a crazy idea, and that's exactly what happened recently! We decided to make something really special and outside of the box...at least for us! We decided to give Chinese food a try! 

There are about a gazillion delicious Chinese food options out there, but we decided on just three: Chinese BBQ Pork, a take on P.F. Chang's Chang's Spicy Chicken and Chicken Lettuce Wraps...also a take on the popular dish from P.F. Chang's. And of course some steamed white rice, because what is Chinese food without rice!? As usual, we used all the recipes above as a guide, but changed a few things along the way to our liking.

We don't have much experience in Chinese food, so I must admit we were a little nervous going in. We frequented our local Asian market and picked up some of the not so standard ingredients that we needed and got to work.

Chinese BBQ Pork Goods

Making the BBQ Pork

Chicken Lettuce Wrap Goods

The Lettuce Wrap Sauce

Cooking the Chicken Lettuce Wrap filling

Chang's Spicy Chicken Goods

 Making Chang's Spicy Chicken

 And FINALLY the yummy rice!

The finished product!!!

In the end, I am happy to report that everything came out delicious and even authentic!

Turkey Taco Whole Wheat Pizza

While browsing recipes online recently, I ran across a website with a lot of cool recipes and one of them really stuck out - Taco Pizza! Really!?! I love tacos and I love pizza but I'd never thought about combining the two. And from the pictures, it looked like it may resemble an Indian Fry Bread. MMMMM Fry Bread! (Note to self: Find Indian Fry Bread Recipe and attempt to make it SOON!)

So after oogling over the recipe and pictures, I decided I'd make this for dinner one night last week. I made it for a friend and at first, they were a skeptic, but after smelling it bake and trying the first bite - they were convined it wasn't half bad. Heck - I thought it was quite tasty and enjoyed it on more than one occasion that week - partly because it makes a large quantity and it's quite filling.

Now that I've told you all about this amazing creation, let me show you just how to make it! 

It's very simple - I promise!

The Goods:

Ground Turkey (Not Pictured because I'm an idiot...)

Taco Seasoning

Refried Beans

Shredded Cheese

Pizza Dough (I used Whole Wheat)

Lettuce, Tomato, Green Onions, Cilantro, Lime, Salsa

Spread out dough and cover evenly with beans.

Add cooked, seasoned ground turkey.

And then a bunch of shredded cheese!

Bake according to dough package directions.

Halfway through baking!

Andddddddd done!

With all the toppings!

All topped and ready for consumption!

(Confession - I almost forgot to take a picture and took a bite first!)

Happy Westgivingston!

Westgivingston!?!?!

What is this Westgivingston stuff?

Does she mean Thanksgiving?!?!?!

Is Robyn CRAZY???

No - no I'm not!

Well maybe a little...

But that's another story for another time! :)

So let me explain before I confuse everyone! 

Alison, one of my best friends, has been doing a Thanksgiving dinner with close friends for years and this year I was lucky enough to be included. The tradition started in New York when she and her husband were in college.  Instead of of calling it Thanksgiving, they called it “Thanksgivingston” because it was a play on the name of the street he lived on at the time. Since they now live on the West Coast, they modified the name a bit and we officially celebrated the first EVER Westgivingston last night!

Just like a normal Thanksgiving, Westgivingston was not lacking on amazing food. It was a FEAST and I'm pretty sure everyone was stuffed!

Since I love to bake and cook, you better bet that I contributed to the meal by making my own goodies! I just can't help myself and I look forward to cooking for things like this.

So what did I make exactly?

Well I'll show ya!

"Restaurant Salad" Ingredients

(Minus a Granny Smith Apple...)

And you can't have a "Restaurant Salad" without a

GIANT bowl from a Restaurant Supply Store!

Lots and lots of spring mix with added extra spinach!

Everything minus the dressing!

I was planning on just making a "Restaurant Salad"...

...

Buuuuuuuuut since it IS Pie Month on my blog...

...

I figured it only made sense to make a pie too!!!

My FIRST Pecan Pie

(See a more detailed post on this coming soon.)

Westgivingston was tons and tons of fun and I'm looking to celebrating it in the coming years. For now though, it's time to start planning for the REAL Thanksgiving! It's gonna be here in no time. Get your stretchy pants ready people! :)