Chicken Walnut Salad like Paradise Bakery

Walnut Chicken Salad with Fresh Parmesan Cheese...just like Paradise Bakery...

Have you ever had the Chicken Walnut Salad at Paradise Bakery and Cafe?  I love that place. They give you a cookie with each order. I like a little sweet with my salad or soup, ya know?

The Snickerdoodles are my favorite cookie at Paradise Bakery....

Yummy place for salads and a quick lunch....

I've actually gone there twice in one week once, just to eat their soups and salads.  My favorite is the Chicken Walnut. And I can't pick a favorite soup. They are all really good there.

The Asian Salad is pretty good at Paradise Bakery too....but....the Chicken Walnut is the best.

 The only thing is....they DON'T put enough walnuts in the salad. No way. I always go up and ask, "Did you forget my walnuts?" And they ALWAYS tell me "NO".  I just like a lot of crunch in a salad....but that's just me. :D

Their sandwiches are pretty good too...

Chicken Walnut  - One of my favorite salads there!  Here is what they say is in the salad......
     
"Our famous Chicken Walnut salad  on top of romaine lettuce tossed with Caesar dressing, garlic croutons & Parmesan cheese. 

Use up lots of your fresh veggies....I added some purple onion to my hubs...he's an onion lover!
I just got some fresh shredded Parmesan cheese from the deli... 

I like sweet, red peppers in mine.  We both love cucumbers too...and the Walnuts of course...

So here are the INGREDIENTS  for 2 salads
Romaine lettuce cut into bits 
1 tomato cut into wedges and then halved
1/2 cucumber cut into spears and then chunked
2 Tablespoons Parmesan cheese (or more to your taste)
Seasoned croutons
1 grilled chicken breast cooled and cut into chunks (or rotisserie chicken pieces)
ground pepper
1-2 Tablespoons of Caesar dressing to your taste.
1/4 cup walnuts (or more if you like)

Add some black pepper to it right after tossing....

Directions for Chicken Walnut Salad
Cut up all the veggies and lettuce and place into 2 salad bowls. Add the fresh Parmesan, the chicken and the walnuts. Add Caesar dressing and  croutons and shake on some black pepper.  Enjoy!  

Yum...this is sooooo tasty and yummy! 

Strawberry Pie with Jello Glaze

Strawberry Pie.....so good it's criminal!  I use Jello for the easy glaze! 

Fresh Strawberry Pie with Jello Glaze...don't ya want a bite? Yes, you do! 

I love fresh strawberries and I had a ton I got from the  market for $2.00 a package! What a deal!!  So I made a strawberry pie. This recipe is so easy and it was deeeeeeelish.  You make the glaze with jello! It is SOOOOOO easy peasy.  

     
I'm gonna do another one in peach as soon as they are in season.

Peaches from my tree last year were so yummy. It is just now filled with pink flowery blossoms!

Well, not as pretty as this little Peach at her Spring dance recital! 

  Here is Miss Megan being her cute, little, joyful self after the recital. So cute!

I like to make my pie crust with real butter. It just tastes better to me, like a yummy crescent cookie. So try your crust with butter to see if you like it too.

PIE CRUST INGREDIENTS.....
 I used 1 cube butter,
 cut in 1 1/3 cup of flour.
 Add 1/2 teaspoon salt
 3 Tablespoons ice water
(I add ice cubes to the water before taking out the Tablespoons. 

The glaze is easy..just jello mixed with sugar water and cornstarch...

Then I like to whisk it up mold it into a ball and roll it out on a large zip lock baggie. It just makes life easier and I was out of waxed paper. :D  I rolled it out so it was about 1/2 inch bigger all around than the pie tin layed over it.  Then I cut around it. 

I rolled it out onto the gallon size baggie...you could use waxed paper too. 

cuttin' around the upside down tin...1/2 inch bigger for the cute edging...

It's so easy to flip the pie crust into the pan and peel off the baggie...then toss it!

Making the beautiful edging is my fav part. Just pinch between your left thumb and your right thumb and forefinger to make the pointy peaks around your pie crust edge.  Or opposite if you are a lefty.

Don't forget to poke forkholes in the butter pie crust...then bake at 475 for 8-10 minutes.

While the crust was baking I did the glaze and cut off the tops of the strawberries and washed and dried them. The glaze is super easy.

Mix 3/4 cup sugar withStrawberry Glaze Ingredients and Directions
1 cup of water
2 tablespoons cornstarch   Mix first 3 ingredients....

Put it in a saucepan on the stove till it is smooth and when it is bubbling....boil  for about 2 minutes. Then take it off the heat.
Add 1 small 3 oz. strawberry jello into the thickening syrup.
 Whisk it for a minute till it is dissolved and then put it in the fridge for 15 minutes to cool.

Boil the syrup for about 2 minutes....It's a little bit thick...

Take it off the stove and toss in the small box of jello....

J

Here's my glaze before I refrigerated it for 15 minutes....

Then arrange the yummy strawberries with the pointy side up in the cooled pie shell. By the time I had the green tops cut off and them washed and dried, the glaze was cool!  Pour the glaze over the top,  coating each of the top strawberries. Then pop it into the fridge for a 1/2 hour until set.

 It was delicious because the top of the crust was still crunchy cookie tasting. I hate pie crust that is all soggy Ug! So we ate that baby up so fast!!!  It was gone by morning. Yum is all I can say.  But I wish I had made 2 of em.  

Who says you can't have a piece of Fresh Strawberry Pie for breakfast...NOT ME!

I'll be dreaming of this Strawberry Pie  for awhile......mmmmm good!

Cheese Steak Sandwiches

I like kind of soft inside crusty outside bread for my cheese steaks....

Here I am with the hubs at a backyard BBQ a friend had on a nice weather day we had. 

I had a package of steak in the fridge I was going to have John do on the BBQ this afternoon.  But I had all these tomatoes I wanted to use up.  So I was thinking it might be fun to do Philly Cheese Steak Sandwiches instead. I love them and they are really, really easy to make.

Philly Cheese Steaks are really easy if you find sirloin steak on sale....

The trick is to slice the raw steak really, really thin with a sharp knife. That is kinda tedious. It is easier if the steak  is still a little bit frozen.

Slice it thin...son't forget to season it....then just fry it up in a frying pan...and when it is almost done add the slices of provolone cheese so it has a minute to melt on top. I fry the onions and peppers in a separate pan and add them back in right before the cheese is layered on top. 

These tomatoes and the big onion are straight from my garden!

I sliced the steak really thin on the cutting board and seasoned it with Montreal Steak Seasoning. Then I fried it up in a fry pan with a little olive oil. I fried the onions and green pepper slices  in butter and olive oil with a shake of garlic salt until they looked caramelized and soft. You can also add mushrooms.

Coarsely chopped onions

I didn't have green pepper but it is much better WITH it. Sometimes I add mushrooms if I have any.  

But you can just do onions too. They are great on Philly Cheese Steaks! 

I just buy a big loaf of french bread for the Philly Cheese Steaks or you can get day old
bread at Jimmy Johns and freeze it for use later. Their bread is great for sandwiches! 

Then when both were about done I put them in a pan and added the provolone cheese, just like 6 slices all around the top of the meat and onion mixture.  Then I got my french bread ready. The sandwiches really are better the more cheese you add...I know that's not very healthy, but it is the truth.

Now don't those Cheese Steaks look super yumm?

I really like fresh tomatoes on mine....my hubs loves mushrooms. I wished I had some! 

You could add sauteed green peppers to this sandwich too and sliced tomatoes like we like it. That is just personal preference. But you could just go with the steak and cheese and onions on your rolls.

I don't think these are low calorie...but they are so delish!  Just try not to think about it.....

I always look for some steak on sale and this meal is really yummy but very inexpensive too.
Here's our Tuesday night Cheese Steaks!  I made some strawberry shortcake too. I had to do
something with all my frozen strawberries I've been keeping!

Philly Cheese Steak Sandwiches....yummy and easy! 

They take literally 10 minutes! 

Next time you are at the market get a small steak and try making your own. You will love them.

Broiled Pecan Crusted Salmon

Here is one of my very favorite dinners, baked Pecan Crusted Salmon! 

My favorite way to make salmon I found at a favorite recipe site of mine called all recipes.com called Baked Dijon Salmon. It has bread crumbs, honey and mustard, and chopped pecans. It is wonderful!

Isn't this Pecan Crusted Salmon just tempting looking? 

I start by mixing up the bread crumbs with chopped pecans, a little mustard and honey mixed in...

 Here is my adapted recipe:

Ingredients

• 1/4 cup butter, melted
• 2 1/2  tablespoons Dijon mustard
• 1 1/2 tablespoons honey
• 1/4 cup dry bread crumbs
• 1/4 cup finely chopped pecans
• 4 (4 ounce) fillets salmon
• Lemon Pepper a few shakes
• Lawry's Season Salt a shake
• 
  

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees
2. In a small bowl, stir together butter, mustard, and honey. Set aside. In another bowl, mix together bread crumbs, pecans
3. Shake season salt and lemon pepper on each fillet lightly, then  brush with honey mustard mixture, and sprinkle the tops of the fillets with the bread crumb mixture.
4. Bake salmon 12 to 15 minutes in the preheated oven, or until it flakes easily with a fork.

Then I spread them on salmon fillets and bake....DON'T BROIL! 

I added some salad with fresh tomatoes 

And a side of fresh fruits...

And here it is!  Pecan Crusted Salmon!  

And garlic parsley red potatoes....yummy dinner!

 I love salmon fillets from Costco, individually wrapped. They are so easy and economical. And they always taste fresh. I am never disappointed. And the salmon is so delish. This is a favorite dinner of mine.

 And I had to make a yummy dessert to go with it. I love this chocolate cake with peanut butter icing. If you want my recipe and how I make this devilish dessert link HERE

Don't you want a bite? You know you do!  Yummy........