Caprese on crackers.

P.I.C. and I love a good cocktail hour. Well, we love cocktails. We also love appetizers, which simply MUST accompany our cocktails. Today, it had to be simple (we were hungry), and it had to be more than cheese and crackers (our standby). the result? Caprese crackers. Simple, light, and full of summery flavor, they were the perfect bites for us to chat about life, love, and our future. Just kidding, we were watching the end of Season Five of How I Met Your Mother. Heh.

Ingredients:
-Crackers. (I like Triscuits.)
-Sliced tomatoes
-Fresh mozzarella
-Basil (I didn't have fresh, so I just subbed in dry. It worked, but fresh basil would be SO good.)
-Olive oil
-Balsamic vinaigrette


How to:
-Top crackers with pieces of mozzarella and slices of tomatoes. 
-Drizzle with olive oil and balsamic vinaigrette. 
-Top with fresh cracked pepper and salt. I sprinkled with dry basil also. (If I had fresh, I'd have put it between the cheese and tomato.

The continual onlooker...Oxford.

Pasta Salad...Italian-style.

The VERY best thing about training for a half-marathon is the license to eat carbs like it's your job. Seriously. (The worst? Getting up every Saturday morning at 5 a.m. and running, rather than enjoying delicious sleep.) Of course, I've blogged my recipe for the Southwestern Pasta Salad. You should have known that I have other versions. OF COURSE I DO. Momma needs her carbs. She gets them this way. Oh yeah, and with beer too. Duh.

Ingredients:
-1 box of bow-tie pasta
-One red pepper
-One yellow pepper
-One orange pepper
-One cucumber
-Half a pint of grape tomatoes
-Four ounces of feta cheese (I used a tomato basil flavor)
-Eight ounces of chicken breast meat, cooked, cut into bite-sized pieces.
-Italian dressing

How to:
-Cook pasta according to package directions. Rinse with cool water.
-Chop all veggies into bite-sized pieces.
-Toss all veggies, cheese, pasta, and chicken.
-Drizzle with Italian dressing to taste.
-Eat.

The finished product!

I'm currently obsessed with Aldi's light salad dressings. Oxford just likes to supervise.

Tuna salad, guacamole-style.

Lunches...the bane of our existence. Well, figuring out how to keep it interesting, delicious, yet not waste-expanding. That's tough. Tonight, I whipped up something a little different. Tuna salad. Boorrrrring. We've all had that. Perhaps you've heard of using avocado instead of all of the mayonnaise to make it healthier. I decided to do that. 

But that's not exciting enough. I put a quarter of a jalapeno in there. I added some lime juice. Salt and pepper. Then I threw some corn in there to add a little bit of texture. I wish I had cilantro. Really, this is more guacamole with a tuna bonus, but I'm gonna go ahead and call it a sandwich filling. A damn good one, right?

Ingredients:

-Two cans of tuna (I prefer the white albacore)

-One ripe avocado

-One lime

-Quarter of jalapeno, if desired

-1.5 tablespoons mayo (I like the olive oil kind)

-Half cup of corn (I used frozen, but I bet fresh would be amazing)

How do:

-Drain tuna.

-Mash avocado into tuna. Add lime juice and other ingredients.

-Salt liberally (or to taste).

-Spoon into pita with some romaine lettuce and some sliced tomatoes.

Avocado pie.

My coworker and I have this new thing called "Recipe Wednesdays." He gets the Food section of the New York Times brings it to my office, and we go over the various recipes and concepts and decide what I should try. Recently, it was an article in using avocado for sweet treats. I was intrigued. I have become quite an avocado fan for not having avocado until I was in my twenties. So, avocado pie was my first choice. Three ingredients blended together into a creamy consistency and poured into a crispy graham cracker crust. A few hours of refrigeration and perhaps a liberal application of whipped cream, and you have a delightful summer dessert that tastes pleasantly of key lime and kiwi. Two thumbs up!

The recipe is courtesy of avocado.org.

Ingredients:

-One ripe avocado

-Can of sweetened condensed milk

-Half cup of lemon juice

-Graham cracker crust

How to:

-Scoop out the avocado and put in food processor. 

-Add lemon juice and milk. 

-Process until the mixture is smooth and creamy. 

-Pour into graham cracker crust, and refrigerate for a couple of hours.

-Top with whipped cream, if desired, and serve. 

Avocado pie. Sweet and lovely.

I like mine with a little whipped cream. Okay. A lot of whipped cream.

Happy Summer!!!