Strawberry Spinach Salad

This is one of my all time favorite salads! I know there are several versions out there, but this is by far the best in my opinion. It is a Pampered Chef recipe and I think I could eat the whole salad myself!

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Strawberry Spinach Salad

Dressing:

1 lemon

2 tablespoons white wine vinegar

1/3 cup sugar

1 tablespoon vegetable oil

1 teaspoon poppy seeds

Salad:

1/4 cup sliced natural almonds, toasted

8 ounces (1 1/2 cups) strawberries, hulled and quartered

1/2 medium cucumber, sliced and cut in half

1/4 small red onion, sliced into thin wedges (1/4 cup)

1 package (6 ounces) baby spinach

For dressing, zest lemon to measure 1/2 teaspoon zest. Juice lemon to measure 2 tablespoons juice. Combine zest, juice, vinegar, sugar, oil and poppy seeds. Whisk until well blended. Cover; refrigerate until ready to use.

Preheat oven to 350. Spread almonds in a single layer in pan and bake for 10-12 minutes. Remove from oven; cool almonds. (I always do this in my toaster oven and it only takes a few minutes.)

Place spinach in a large serving bowl; add strawberries, cucumber, and onion. Whisk dressing; pour over salad, gently tossing to coat. Sprinkle with almonds. Serve immediately.

Love, love, love this salad! It is perfect for summer!! Enjoy! :)

Ham & Cheese Sliders

My friend Melissa recently shared this recipe with me and I purposely set it aside for after Easter. I knew we would have leftover Honey Baked Ham and I knew we would want another way to eat it! I am SO GLAD I had this recipe because these little sliders are FANTASTIC!

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Ham and Cheese Sliders

1/3 cup mayonnaise

1/3 cup miracle whip

24 white dinner rolls, split in 1/2 sandwich style (I used the Hawaiin ones...yum!)

24 pieces of honey ham (you can of course use deli meat...I just had leftover Honey Baked!)

24 small slices Swiss cheese

Poppy Seed Sauce:

1 T poppyseeds

1T + 1 1/2 t yellow mustard

1 stick butter, melted

1 T minced onion

1/2 t Worcestershire sauce (I didn't realize I was out of this, so my sauce is probably more yellow than it should be)

**I halved this recipe and then only put the Poppy Seed Sauce on half.

In a small bowl, mix together mayonnaise and miracle whip. (I'm not a fan of miracle whip, so I only used mayonnaise.) Spread onto both sides of each roll. Layer 1/4 square of Swiss, 1 slice of ham folded in half, and another 1/4 of Swiss on each roll. Close and place very close together in a large baking dish. In a medium bowl, whisk together all poppy seed sauce ingredients. Pour evenly over all of the sandwiches. Let sit 10 minutes until butter sets slightly. Cover with foil and bake at 350 for 15 minutes until cheese melts. Uncover and cook for an additional 2 minutes. Serve warm.

I'm telling you, these are GREAT!! My husband and I devoured the ones with the sauce and my son loved the plain ones. Enjoy! :)

Easter Goodies

Last week I posted these precious Easter treats:

Don't you just love them? :)

This past week I also made several other Easter treats that I got off of Pinterest of course. I thought I would just do one quick post to show them all. Now all of the fun treats are in one place!

First up, cinna-bunnies! These were a huge hit with my little one. They were SO EASY too! All you need is a roll of Pillsbury cinnamon rolls (8 count), some raisins, and some slivered almonds. (Mine don't have the almonds because my son wanted no part of them!)

Spread 4 of the rolls out and unroll the other 4, cutting them in half. Form into ears...the bottom right one was made by my son. :) Use raisins for the eyes and nose and slivered almonds for the teeth. Mine look a little like puppy dogs without the teeth. Oh well...they tasted great!

See...how cute! :)
For our Easter dinner, I couldn't resist coloring my deviled eggs!! After you boil and remove the yolk, place the egg halves in a cup of water with food coloring. Just let them sit until you get the color you want. Fun, fun!! (My mom sprinkled them with paprika before I could tell her not to...I think they would have been cuter without!)

Finally, resurrection rolls. Here's the recipe for these:

8 crescent rolls

1/4 cup sugar

1 Tbsp. ground cinnamon

8 large marshmallows

1/4 cup butter, melted

Separate rolls into 8 triangles. Combine sugar and cinnamon. Dip each marshmallow into butter, roll in cinnamon-sugar, and place on a triangle. Pinch dough (TIGHTLY) around marshmallow, sealing all edges. Dip tops of dough into remaining butter and cinnamon-sugar and place with sugar side up in greased mufin cups. Bake at 375 for 13-15 minutes.
(The items represent: cresent rolls-cloth used to cover Jesus, marshmallow-Jesus, butter-oils used to anoint the body, cinnamon/sugar-spices used to prepare body for burial, oven-tomb)

It is empty when you bite into it. Such a fun lesson for kids!

These taste wonderful too...like an inside out cinnamon roll! I hope you enjoy all of these Easter goodies! :)

Easter Rice Krispies Treats

I needed an Easter treat to take to my son's class Easter party, so I turned to Pinterest of course! These came from About.com and they turned out DARLING! If you need a cute little treat for Easter this week, make these!!

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Easter Rice Krispies Treats

1/4 tsp water

2-4 drops green food coloring

1/2 cup flaked coconut

3 Tbsp. butter or margarine

1 10 oz. package (about 40) regular marshmallows or 4 cups miniature marshmallows

6 cups Rice Krispies cereal

jelly beans

Spray two regular size muffin tins or one large muffin tin with cooking spray. (The recipe says you will need 16 2 1/2 inch muffin cups, but I was able to stretch it to make more than that.) In a small bowl stir together water and green food coloring. Add coconut. Stir until coconut is tinted. Spread on a baking sheet to dry.

In a large saucepan, melt butter over low heat. Add marshmallows and stir until they are completely melted. Remove from heat. Add Rice Krispies cereal. Stir until well coated. Divide warm mixture into prepared muffin tins. Shape mixture into individual cups. (A trick to help with this...I sprayed two spoons with cooking spray to prevent them from sticking while placing in the muffin tins.) Cool. Remove from pans.
Fill cooled nests with coconut, marshmallows, and jelly beans.

How cute are these?!? I think the kids in my son's class are going to love them! Enjoy! :)