Recipes

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Southwest Salad with Southwest Seasoned Grilled Chicken

Without chicken:
Prep time: 5 minutes
Total time: 5 minutes
Yield: 8 servings

With chicken:
Prep time: 5 minutes
Total time: 50 minutes
Yield: 8 servings

Southwest Salad

Ingredients:

  • 1 lb. spring mix and/or baby spinach (You can substitute for romaine or iceberg should you prefer. I like combining spring mix and baby spinach, as darker colored leaves contain more nutrients than lighter colored lettuce.)
  • 1 can of corn
  • 1 can of black beans
  • 1 small/medium red onion, diced
  • 2 small red peppers or 1 large red pepper, diced
  • 3 avocados, diced
  • 1/2 small bunch of cilantro, chopped
  • Tortillas strips- cause a Southwest Salad wouldn’t be complete without tortilla strips
  • Dressing of your choice. Thousand island and chipotle ranch are my favorite dressings to pair with this salad.

Instructions:

1. Wash lettuce, cilantro and red peppers.

2. Open and rinse cans of corn and beans. (Rinsing canned food is recommended, as it removes sodium. Rinsing canned beans also reduces the properties within the canned beans that causes your body to produce gas.)

3. Dice the red peppers, red onion and avocado. Chop the cilantro.

4. Throw the lettuce in a large bowl and toss with remaining fresh ingredients. (If you are making the salad ahead of time, I recommend holding off on adding the dressing and tortilla strips until serving to avoid the salad from getting soggy.)

5. Top with my Southwest Seasoned Grilled Chicken recipe, which you can find below.

Adding chicken- This salad is delicious on its own but I enjoy adding chicken whenever I want to make it a more filling meal. I highly recommend my Southwest Seasoned Grilled Chicken recipe, as the seasoning on the chicken pairs excellent with the ingredients in this salad.

Southwest Seasoned Grilled Chicken

Ingredients:

  • 4 small raw chicken breasts
  • 2 tbsp olive oil
  • 4 tbsp chili powder
  • 4 tsp cumin
  • 4 tsp garlic powder
  • 4 tsp oregeno
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 1 tsp pepper

Instructions:

1. Combine the seasonings together to form your rub.

2. Place chicken breasts in a bowl. Add olive oil and rub to the chicken. Use your hands to ensure rub is evenly and thoroughly spread on the chicken.

3. Allow chicken to sit and absorb the rub for 30 minutes. I keep my chicken out of the fridge during this time to ensure chicken is room temperature before cooking. Cooking chicken that has been taken directly from the fridge can lead to drier meat.

4. Grill chicken (or pan sear chicken- my personal favorite way to cook chicken) to a temperature of 165 degrees Fahrenheit.

5. Let chicken sit for about 5-10 minutes prior to cutting to allow the chicken to soak up its juices. Cutting chicken instantly after cooking will lead to the meat drying out.

Leftover ideas– Looking for recipes to use up your leftover ingredients? Beans, corn, cilantro, onion and red pepper go great in breakfast tacos. Simply saute the red pepper, whip up some scrambled eggs, place in a warmed tortilla, and top with your leftover beans, onion, corn, and cilantro. Maybe throw on some salsa and sour cream and you have yourself a delicious, easy breakfast I know you’ll find yourself making again and again.

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Pumpkin Spice Cake with Cream Cheese Icing

It’s September and Labor Day has come and gone, which means saying goodbye to pools and cookouts and saying hello to pumpkin patches and cider. Although I love summer, I always welcome fall with arms wide open. Ironically, the first breeze of fall air never fails to make me feel warm inside. I think the reason that I love fall so much is because it is a fresh reminder that life is ever-changing and that we should always embrace new beginnings. Fall makes me appreciate the seasons of my life and allows me to view change in a positive light.

Fall brings comfort. Fall means sitting on the couch under a blanket while the fresh breeze flows through your cracked open window. Fall means waking up in the morning to a comfortably chilly house and pouring yourself a nice cup of hot coffee. Fall also brings inspiration. Fall means lighting delicious scented candles that somehow have the power to lighten your mood. Fall means baking warm, comforting desserts, which leads me to this amazing pumpkin spice cake recipe.

Pumpkin spice cake with cream cheese icing pairs all of your favorite fall flavors perfectly, resulting in a baked good that tastes as if it was purchased from your favorite local bakery.

Ingredients

Batter:

2 cups flour

4 eggs

1 cup of oil of your choice

1 cup sugar

1/2 cup brown sugar

1 1/2 cup or a 16 oz. can of pumpkin/pumpkin puree (not pumpkin pie filling)

2 tsp. cinnamon

3/4 tsp ginger

1/2 tsp nutmeg

1/8 tsp allspice

1 tsp vanilla

1 tsp baking soda

2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 cup of plain or vanilla Greek yogurt (Although this is recommended, as it keeps the cake moist, the recipe can be made without this and will still taste delicious. You could also substitute with sour cream or applesauce. Being careful not to over-mix or over-bake will also help to keep the cake moist.)

Icing:

1 3/4 cup powdered sugar

1 tsp vanilla

6 tbsp butter

4 oz cream cheese

Splash of milk or coffee creamer (yes, coffee creamer- I’ve done it when I was in a pinch) can be added to the icing if it appears too thick

Instructions

Preheat oven to 350.

Mix all of the batter ingredients together. I use a mixer, however, be sure not to over-mix, as this can cause the cake to become too dry.

Pour batter in a greased pan. (I use a 9″ x 13″ for this recipe.)

Place pan in the oven and cook for 30 minutes before checking for doneness.

While the cake is cooking, mix the icing ingredients together with a mixer.

Once the cake is cooked through, let cool completely before frosting. Once cooled, apply an even layer of frosting to the cake and feel free to sprinkle ground cinnamon on top for a wonderfully aesthetic effect that screams fall.

Additional Notes/Ingredient Substitutions

Along with the ability to leave out or substitute the Greek yogurt, there are also other ingredients that you would be able to leave out and still result in a delicious treat.

If you only have sugar and not brown sugar, you can substitute the brown sugar for regular sugar, and visa versa.

If you don’t have vanilla or prefer to keep the costs down, as vanilla isn’t the cheapest, it won’t ruin the recipe to do without.

If you don’t have any of the spices on hand, you could simply purchase pumpkin pie spice, which is a mixture of the all of the spices that this recipe calls for (sometimes pumpkin pie spice includes clove, which is not included in this recipe, but that would be okay to use). You could also leave out the spices altogether and just make pumpkin cake rather than pumpkin spice cake. It’s still absolutely delicious, I promise, I’ve tried it!

This cake mix can also be made into cupcakes. Just keep in mind that the higher you fill the batter, the greater the ratio will be of cake vs. icing. If you want a ratio that keeps the cake vs. icing ratio more even to keep the cupcakes less dry, fill your batter only about half way.

I hope you enjoy my pumpkin spice cake recipe! I’m happy to say that I’ve created many different versions of it and think I’ve finally found the best one and I’m even more thrilled to share it with you. Happy fall!