Cherry Chicken Salad: The Lucky Wife's #1 Pregnancy Snack

Today's recipe is one I came across while pregnant with The Well-Fed Daughter at Parents Connect. They say it can help with nausea, but since I thankfully never experienced that, I would not know if it's true or if it would have worked for me! I just knew that I seemed to be hungry constantly and I needed to find something new to try. I loved it and so did The Chef, so much so that it has become a regular for us.

We have eaten it before on bread thins but decided this time to just go with some multi-grain bread. We added some chopped onion and also use canned chicken, very quick and easy! Head over to Parents Connect for the recipe!

Although a day later than intended... we hope you will agree that this one is well worth the "wait". We will be glad when we're more settled and back to a "normal routine" again in our new home.

Family ratings:

Rating scale

1 star - Feed it to the dog
2 stars - Surprise your neighbor

3 stars - Definite keeper

4 stars - Looking forward to leftovers

5 stars - Clean plate and nap time! Are there enough ingredients left to make it again soon?

The Chef - 4 Stars

The Lucky Wife - 4 Stars

The Well-Fed Son (4 years old) - 4 Stars
The Well-Fed Daughter (10 months old) - Mommy's Baby Girl (4 Stars)

*Rate it yourself in the comments!

*If you enjoyed this post, please consider leaving a comment, subscribing to receive e-mail updates of future recipes, or sharing it with your family/friends:

Find more great recipes with this one at Sunday Showcase, Recipe Round-Up, Theme of the Month Recipe Round Up, Foodie Friday, and This Week's Cravings.

MaFF Monday #18: Meet Amanda of The Sweet Details

Fudge anyone?! Today's MaFF Monday Featured Food-"e"-Friend, Amanda, recommends this as the first recipe we should try from her blog! She says it is amazingly chocolaty, and although it takes a bit more time, and has a lot of steps, it is so worth it in the end and is a guaranteed hit!  Yum.

Our Featured Food-"e"-Friend for today is another Canadian.... Amanda, from Winnipeg, Canada, author of The Sweet Details:

Let's get to know her a little better as today's MaFF FFF:

1) Tell us a little bit about the "birth" of your blog. How long have you been blogging and why did you start your blog?

We're right in the middle of the country where it gets seriously cold in the winter so comfort food is so needed! I am married to the man of my dreams Marshall. We've been married for almost 2 years now and have a dog named Ollie (you'll see lots of him in my posts because he's always in the kitchen with me hoping I'll drop something)

I started out blogging after being inspired by my sister and her blog. I started my first blog almost two years ago and love to blog. I also love to bake and cook so a little over a month ago I started a food blog called Eating in Winnipeg. I was eager to have a food blog so I just picked a name but soon I wasn't happy with it. I spent some time thinking about it and thinking about what best describes me and came up with The Sweet Details. I love sweets and I'm a very detail orientated person and all about being organized so the name just made sense.

Right now the big thing in my baking is I'm working my way through a cook book. I'm the type of person that finds a couple of recipes I like and never really go from there or try anything else. I decided that it was time to push myself and try some new things. So I picked a recipe book I already had and started posting about it. At first I was just doing it to expand myself, but now I'm really really loving it and my baking has gotten so much better and I'm so happy with all the recipes I've tried. If you wanted to check it out it's called Baking My Way on my blog.

2) I like your restaurant review feature of your blog. Tell us if we were to be coming to Winnipeg today, which restaurant would you most recommend for us to try and why?

Oh boy, that is a seriously hard question for me because I'm not the type of person that find one places and goes there often. I like to try everything once and with that I am still working on the hundreds and hundreds or restaurants we have! We're a huge test market for Canada so we're always getting great new places and I have the hardest time keeping up!

If you like ethnic food I would strongly recommend Mercado Ethiopian! It's wonderful!! If you like cafe style food I would try Stella's and go to their new location on Sherbrook, yum!! It's like being in Europe so I plan to go there often and pretend I'm in a cafe in Italy again!

3) What feature of your blog would you like most for us to know about?

Well, I am very proud of all parts of my blog and I am so excited with each new follower I have and each new recipe I find out about so I would say it's a tie between my Savory Sunday Blog Hop and my Baking My Way series! I love trying new things new and sharing them with others and I love to see what other people come up with!

I hope you enjoy getting to know Amanda and her blog this week.

Now, on to our party! Check out our Make a Food-"e"-Friend (MaFF) Monday page for more information on what this party is all about, specifics about how to link from your blog, and for more on how you can be a Featured Food-"e"-Friend).

For our regular guests, just a few reminders before linking:

1) You can link a recipe or any type of food-related blog post (including giveaways or free food coupon offers). Make sure you use the URL for the actual post and not your blog (or those interested in what you are sharing may not be able to find it if it's not your most recent post and will miss out on what you wanted to share!).

2) Don't forget to link back to this potluck party, using either a text link or the button image. This is important to help spread the word about the party and so all the great recipes that people are sharing can be found and enjoyed. To make it easier:

This party's URL for a text link:

http://www.thesaturdayeveningpot.com/2011/06/maff-monday-18-meet-amanda-of-sweet.html

OR

Button linking back to this week's party (highlight, copy and paste into your post):

3) Most of all, have fun and be sure to check out any recipes that interest you that others have brought to the party. (How else will you make new Food-"e"-Friends?!) Some weeks I am not able to make it around to all of the recipes shared, but I always enjoy seeing the different things that are linked at these parties and check back when looking for new ideas.

(Link-up open through Wednesday):

*If you enjoyed this post, please consider leaving a comment, subscribing to receive e-mail updates of future recipes, or sharing it with your family/friends:

The Feast of the Ages, 9th Course: Country Boy Caviar

(This week, we are serving our Feast of the Ages recipe in place of the regular Saturday recipe, and we will serve the regular Saturday recipe tomorrow instead of the Feast of the Ages!  Just needed to switch them this week as we are still in the process of moving and this one was ready to go.)

This recipe is the ninth in a 21-week series, The Feast of the Ages, developed to share our faith with our readers, realizing that as much as we love food, our faith is an even more important and bigger part of our lives.  We thought it would be fun to bring the two together.

In Revelation 19:9, the Bible says, “Blessed are those who are invited to the wedding supper of the Lamb!”   The Bible refers to the church, or the Christian body of believers, as the “bride of Christ.”  The wedding supper, or feast, represents a time of great celebration when Jesus is united with the church in heaven.

What a celebration this will be!  Imagine what the elements of the greatest party you could plan or attend would be like.  The atmosphere would be comfortable and very inviting.  People would want to be there because each person would be accepted for who he/she is.  Each person would be made to feel special and everyone would feel included and a part of the activities.  The fellowship and interactions between people would be real.  The food would have the freshest ingredients and the flavors would be perfect.  There would be no concern about the effects of pesticides or chemicals used in the growing process of the food.  There would be something for everyone, and the individual taste preferences of every guest would be completely satisfied.  This is what we would anticipate the wedding supper of the Lamb to be like.

The most formal of feasts includes 21 courses.  When we thought about what the Wedding Feast of the Lamb might look like, a celebration for the King of Kings and Lord of Lords, we thought it could definitely involve 21 courses!  We thought it would be fun to provide a sample 21-course “Feast of the Ages” menu, with a different recipe a week over 21 consecutive weeks.  

We offer for the 9th course, a caviar:

Country Boy Caviar

Yield:  Serves approximately 6-8 people

Ingredients:

• 1 pound frozen field peas with snaps
• 1 medium onion, chopped
• 4 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 cup Andouille sausage, diced
• 1 cup whole kernel corn
• 1 teaspoon salt
• approximately 2 quarts water

Cooking Directions:

1. In a 4-quart stock pot, bring water to a boil.
2. Add peas, onion, garlic and sausage.  Add more water to cover, if needed, and bring water back to a boil.
3. Turn down to a simmer and cook approximately 30 to 45 minutes or until peas are tender.  Add salt, taste, and adjust if needed.
4. Add corn.  Simmer approximately another 10 to 15 minutes or until corn is tender.

(Can be served by itself or over a bed of rice.  If you would prefer a less spicy alternative, use smoke sausage instead of Andouille.)

Did you know you have been invited to attend the real “Feast of the Ages,” the Wedding Feast of the Lamb?  Revelation 22:17 says, “Whoever is thirsty, let him come; and whoever wishes, let him take the free gift of the water of life.”

Learn more and/or RSVP here

*(You will be able to select from the following versions: English, Chinese-traditional characters, French, Japanese, Spanish, or Children's -- preferred by some adults due to its simple style.)

Click here to go to the 10th Course, Lemon-Lime Ice Cream Soda Shots.
If you'd like to see the previous courses: 
1st Course (amuse): Shrimp and Pineapple Wontons, 
2nd Course (second amuse): Mini Brats,
3rd Course (cold appetizer): Tangy Cuke and 'Mater Salad,
4th Course (thick soup): Creamy Chicken Curry Soup,
5th Course (thin soup): Apple "Cider" Soup,
6th Course (beef): London Broil with Cranberry and Portobello Reduction, 
7th Course (antipasto): Tomato and Mozzarella Crostinis, 
8th Course (in place of pasta): Mini Soft Tacos

*If you enjoyed this post, please consider leaving a comment, subscribing to receive e-mail updates of future recipes, or sharing it with your family/friends:

Find more great recipes with this one at Foodie Friday, Titus 2sdays.

Update...

As you may know from some our previous posts, we are in the middle of moving. I had planned to schedule our regular posts so we would not have to interrupt any of them but was unable to get all of them scheduled before our last day in our old home. We should be back to normal by tomorrow, in time for our next regular Saturday post. Thank you for your patience!

*If you enjoyed this post, please consider leaving a comment, subscribing to receive e-mail updates of future recipes, or sharing it with your family/friends:

Frog Eye Salad

This recipe is The Lucky Wife's favorite fruit salad and also a recipe that she came across in a previous work setting, so again, not sure of the original source.  A quick internet search did turn up a similar recipe that included maraschino cherries, which would taste great with the other ingredients in this version.


Frog Eye Salad

Ingredients:

• 1 cup sugar
• 2 tablespoons flour
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 3/4 cups pineapple juice (use from juice reserved from pineapples)
• 2 eggs, beaten
• 1 16-ounce package acini de pepe
• 2 11-ounce cans mandarin oranges, drained
• 1 20-ounce can crushed pineapple, drain and reserve juice
• 2 20-ounce cans pineapple chunks, drain and reserve juice
• 1 9-ounce carton whipped cream
• marshmallows, coconut - optional (we did not use)

Directions:

1. Combine sugar and flour and gradually stir in pineapple juice and eggs.
2. Cook over moderate heat, stirring until thickened.
3. Add lemon juice and cool mixture to room temperature.
4. Cook acini de pepe according to package instructions.  Drain, rinse, and cool to room temperature.
5. Add egg mixture, mix lightly, and store in air tight container in refrigerator.
6. Add remaining ingredients prior to serving.  May be kept several days in refrigerator ahead of time.

NEED ANY OF THE TOOLS USED?

Family ratings:

Rating scale

1 star - Feed it to the dog
2 stars - Surprise your neighbor

3 stars - Definite keeper

4 stars - Looking forward to leftovers

5 stars - Clean plate and nap time! Are there enough ingredients left to make it again soon?

The Chef - 3 Stars

The Lucky Wife - 5 Stars

The Well-Fed Son (4 years old) - 5 Stars
The Well-Fed Daughter (10 months old) - Mommy's Baby Girl (5 Stars)

*Rate it yourself in the comments!

*If you enjoyed this post, please consider leaving a comment, subscribing to receive e-mail updates of future recipes, or sharing it with your family/friends:

Find more great recipes with this one at Friday Potluck @ girlichef, This Week's Cravings, Foodie Friday, Theme of the Month Recipe Round Up, Tip Me Tuesday, Today's Creative Blog, Titus 2sday, Women Living Well Wednesdays, Sunday Showcase and:

Fascinating Food News: Got milk allergies? Have a cookie! (50+ cookie recipes)

I would guess this would apply for a milk sensitivity as well... so... more cookies for The Lucky Wife! I'm okay with a "healthy" reason to eat a few more cookies (and other baked goodies). :)



50+ cookie recipes if you'd like some new ideas to try (not all include milk in the ingredients):

Easy Gluten-Free Carob Pecan Cookies

From Gooseberry Patch's April 6, 2011 Recipe Round Up:


How about some breakfast cookies?  How to make one.

A few to try:

Breakfast Cookies (Kid-Friendly) from Once A Month Mom

Chocolate Breakfast Cookies from CDKitchen

Healthified Oatmeal Peanut Butter Breakfast Cookies from Eat Better America

8 Healthy Breakfast Cookie Recipes from Simple Nourished Living

*If you enjoyed this post, please consider leaving a comment, subscribing to receive e-mail updates of future recipes, or sharing it with your family/friends:

Find more delicious recipes at Titus 2sdays, Foodie Friday.

MaFF Monday #17: Meet Cindy of Hun... What's for Dinner?

This, my friends, is a picture from the recipe that our first MaFF Monday Featured Food-"e"-Friend says is the one we should try first from her blog!  The reasons she would recommend this as the first to try are because although it looks so elegant, it is so easy to make, it's full of flavor, and the combination of ingredients incorporate many of her favorites.  It does look delicious!

I am excited to be starting our new format for the party this week, as mentioned in previous MaFF posts, and would like to introduce you to Cindy Jamieson, from the city of Barrie in Ontario, Canada, author of Hun... What's for Dinner?  I enjoyed reading her responses to a few questions I asked her that I thought would really help us get to know her better as today's MaFF FFF:

1) Tell us a little bit about the  "birth" of your blog. How long have you been blogging and why did you start your blog?

I created Hun... What's for Dinner? about 4 yrs ago. My son was starting to eat table food and I wanted to introduce him to great food, from the start. One night I made Pork Pizziola with some Orzo (my first post) and it looked so beautiful, when I plated it up. I decided to take a picture, but felt silly posting a picture of my dinner, on Facebook, for everyone to see. So that evening, I decided to start a Food Blog, as a way to keep track of new recipes I had tried and whether or not they had been successful. It was also a way to have all my recipes in one spot, so friends and family could access them.

2) I noticed that you are participating in a recipe contest. How exciting! Share a little bit about that with us.

Two months ago, one of my fellow blogger friends announced the Real Women of Philadelphia contest on her blog. For some reason, I felt compelled to enter. I am a very shy person and have never done anything of the sort before. If this opportunity would have come around last year, I would have fantasized about doing it and just went on my merry way. But this time I felt like I needed a way to reconnect with myself as a woman, not a wife or mother. For 6 yrs I've been Mom, or Hun and was starting to loose my sense of self, who Cindy really was. So I took the plunge and it has been a spectacular journey.

Check out her video entries for the contest here! 

3) What feature of your blog would you like most for us to know about?

I've recently been appointed as a Life Made Delicious Connector, by General Mills. As a way to generate traffic to their wonderful website full of easy and delicious recipes. I have a button, at the top right of my blog, that links directly to the Life Made Delicious site. You can find recipes ranging from Brunch, to BBQ and desserts. It's really great.

As you can see, there are lots of great things to check out on Cindy's blog, including a great giveaway.  Mini Sausage Meatball Minestra is her Star Recipe.  If you haven't added your blog's most popular recipe to our Star Recipes Collection, I hope you will take a moment to do that today.  It has been a popular feature of our blog.  I hope each of you have enjoyed as much as I have getting to know Cindy a little better this week, and I look forward to learning more about another FFF next week.

Now, on to our party!  Check out our Make a Food-"e"-Friend (MaFF) Monday page for more information on what this party is all about, specifics about how to link from your blog, and for more on how you can be a Featured Food-"e"-Friend).

For our regular guests, just a few reminders before linking:

1) You can link a recipe or any type of food-related blog post (including giveaways or free food coupon offers). Make sure you use the URL for the actual post and not your blog (or those interested in what you are sharing may not be able to find it if it's not your most recent post and will miss out on what you wanted to share!).

2) Don't forget to link back to this potluck party, using either a text link or the button image. This is important to help spread the word about the party and so all the great recipes that people are sharing can be found and enjoyed. To make it easier:

This party's URL for a text link:

http://www.thesaturdayeveningpot.com/2011/06/maff-monday-17-meet-cindy-of-hun-whats.html

OR

Button linking back to this week's party (highlight, copy and paste into your post):

3) Most of all, have fun and be sure to check out any recipes that interest you that others have brought to the party. (How else will you make new Food-"e"-Friends?!) Some weeks I am not able to make it around to all of the recipes shared, but I always enjoy seeing the different things that are linked at these parties and check back when looking for new ideas.

(Link-up open through Wednesday):

*If you enjoyed this post, please consider leaving a comment, subscribing to receive e-mail updates of future recipes, or sharing it with your family/friends:

Find more great recipes at Titus 2sdays.

The Feast of the Ages, 8th Course: Mini Soft Tacos

This recipe is the eighth in a 21-week series, The Feast of the Ages, developed to share our faith with our readers, realizing that as much as we love food, our faith is an even more important and bigger part of our lives.  We thought it would be fun to bring the two together.

In Revelation 19:9, the Bible says, “Blessed are those who are invited to the wedding supper of the Lamb!”   The Bible refers to the church, or the Christian body of believers, as the “bride of Christ.”  The wedding supper, or feast, represents a time of great celebration when Jesus is united with the church in heaven.

What a celebration this will be!  Imagine what the elements of the greatest party you could plan or attend would be like.  The atmosphere would be comfortable and very inviting.  People would want to be there because each person would be accepted for who he/she is.  Each person would be made to feel special and everyone would feel included and a part of the activities.  The fellowship and interactions between people would be real.  The food would have the freshest ingredients and the flavors would be perfect.  There would be no concern about the effects of pesticides or chemicals used in the growing process of the food.  There would be something for everyone, and the individual taste preferences of every guest would be completely satisfied.  This is what we would anticipate the wedding supper of the Lamb to be like.

The most formal of feasts includes 21 courses.  When we thought about what the Wedding Feast of the Lamb might look like, a celebration for the King of Kings and Lord of Lords, we thought it could definitely involve 21 courses!  We thought it would be fun to provide a sample 21-course “Feast of the Ages” menu, with a different recipe a week over 21 consecutive weeks.  

We offer the 8th course (we decided on this recipe instead of a pasta, which traditionally comes after an antipasto):

Mini Soft Tacos
(Adapted from Cookin' Canuck)

Yield:  Serves approximately 8-10 people at a serving size of three tacos per person.

Ingredients:

• 1 1/4 pounds boneless, skinless chicken thighs
• 1 poblano pepper, diced
• 1 medium onion, chopped
• 2 gloves garlic, minced
• 2 tablespoons tomato paste
• 1/2 cup beer
• 1/2 cup water
• 8-inch flour tortillas
• 1/4 cup cilantro
• queso cheese
• shredded lettuce
• 1 Roma tomato
• 1 package seasoning

Cooking Directions:

1. In a 5 to 6-quart crock pot, add onions, poblano pepper and minced garlic.
2. In a small bowl, combine tomato paste, water, beer and taco seasoning.  Beat together with whisk, pour mixture into crock pot, and combine with vegetables.
3. Trim any excess fat off of chicken thighs and add to crock pot.
4. Cook on low for four hours or until tender and chicken can be shredded easily with a fork.
5. When chicken is cooked, remove from crock pot and retain liquid.  Shred chicken with fork in medium-sized bowl.  
6. Spoon remaining liquid out of crock pot into a small sauce pan.  Bring to strong simmer.
7. Add cilantro and simmer for approximately five minutes.
8. Add warm liquid to bowl with shredded chicken and toss thoroughly.
9. Place one of the 8-inch tortillas on a flat surface and using the edge of a stainless steel 1-cup measuring cup or large round cookie cutter, cut three small tortillas out of the one 8-inch tortilla.
10. Assembly: Pile approximately 1 1/2 tablespoons shredded chicken on each tortilla round.  Pile approximately 1 teaspoon of shredded queso cheese and 1 teaspoon of shredded lettuce on top.  Garnish with 3-4 pieces of diced tomato.
11. Form each tortilla round into the shape of a standard-sized taco and secure with toothpick (as shown in picture).

Did you know you have been invited to attend the real “Feast of the Ages,” the Wedding Feast of the Lamb?  Revelation 22:17 says, “Whoever is thirsty, let him come; and whoever wishes, let him take the free gift of the water of life.”

Learn more and/or RSVP here

*(You will be able to select from the following versions: English, Chinese-traditional characters, French, Japanese, Spanish, or Children's -- preferred by some adults due to its simple style.)

Click here to go to the 9th Course, Country Boy Caviar.

If you'd like to see the previous courses: 
1st Course (amuse): Shrimp and Pineapple Wontons, 
2nd Course (second amuse): Mini Brats,
3rd Course (cold appetizer): Tangy Cuke and 'Mater Salad,
4th Course (thick soup): Creamy Chicken Curry Soup,
5th Course (thin soup): Apple "Cider" Soup,
6th Course (beef): London Broil with Cranberry and Portobello Reduction, 
7th Course (antipasto): Tomato and Mozzarella Crostinis

*If you enjoyed this post, please consider leaving a comment, subscribing to receive e-mail updates of future recipes, or sharing it with your family/friends:

Find more great recipes at Recipe Round Up.

Creamy Low-Calorie Salad Dressing

Although the vast majority of our recipes come from, or are adapted by, The Chef, today's recipe happens to be one of my favorites and one I came across while working in a high school home economics class not long after I had graduated from college. I am not sure of the original source, and we did adapt the recipe slightly. It is not one of The Chef's favorites, but The Well-Fed Son and I enjoy it regularly on salads. We hope you enjoy it, too.



Creamy Low-Calorie Salad Dressing

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup skim milk (we use rice milk)
• 2 tablespoons fresh lime juice
• 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
• 1 1/2 cups low-fat cottage cheese
• 1 small onion (about 1/4 cup), chopped
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon paprika

Directions:

1. Place all ingredients in blender or food processor in order listed. (We use a blender.) Cover and blend on medium speed approximately one minute, or process, until smooth. (You don't want it to get too thin/runny consistency.)
2. Cover and refrigerate any remaining dressing.

NEED ANY OF THE TOOLS USED?

Family ratings:

Rating scale

1 star - Feed it to the dog
2 stars - Surprise your neighbor

3 stars - Definite keeper

4 stars - Looking forward to leftovers

5 stars - Clean plate and nap time! Are there enough ingredients left to make it again soon?

The Chef - 3 Stars

The Lucky Wife - 4 Stars

The Well-Fed Son (4 years old) - 4 Stars
The Well-Fed Daughter (10 months old) - Mommy's Baby Girl (4 Stars)

*Rate it yourself in the comments!

*If you enjoyed this post, please consider leaving a comment, subscribing to receive e-mail updates of future recipes, or sharing it with your family/friends:

Find more great recipes with this one at Foodie Friday, Titus 2sdays, Melt in Your Mouth Monday, Theme of the Month Recipe Round Up and:

Fascinating Food News: Freaky Eaters

.

I have come to the conclusion that complete restriction of any food is not a good thing. After having to be extremely restrictive for months with my diet due to sensitivity of The Well-Fed Daughter to certain foods she was exposed to while nursing, once that seemed to be resolved I felt a bit like a "Freaky Eater." I seemed obsessed with the foods I could not have for so long.

The Chef normally does our grocery shopping, but I needed a few things one day not long after I had determined I could begin eating the foods again that I had been restricting. So I went by the store, hungry at the time, I might add (big mistake), and I came home with a few additional items: chips (to eat with the salsa we already had at home), sour cream and onion rice crisps, Oreos, and frozen key lime pie (2 slices). I think The Chef is going to ban me from grocery shopping.

Do you know any freaky eaters?

*If you enjoyed this post, please consider leaving a comment, subscribing to receive e-mail updates of future recipes, or sharing it with your family/friends:

Linked at Foodie Friday.

Make a Food-"e"-Friend Monday #16

Welcome to our weekly potluck party. I have been working on the upcoming changes to the format and hope to begin the new format next week. It has been crazy at our house trying to get ready for our upcoming move. Moving is not much fun without children and even more difficult with them! Nevertheless... good food always helps, so it will be nice to have some new recipes to check out.

If you are a new visitor, please check out our Make a Food-"e"-Friend (MAFF) Monday page for more information on what this party is all about.

Now, on to our party! Just a few reminders before linking:

1) You can link a recipe or any type of food-related blog post (including giveaways or free food coupon offers). Make sure you use the URL for the actual post and not your blog (or those interested in what you are sharing may not be able to find it if it's not your most recent post and will miss out on what you wanted to share!).

2) Don't forget to link back to this potluck party, using either a text link or the button image. This is important to help spread the word about the party and so all the great recipes that people are sharing can be found and enjoyed. To make it easier:

This party's URL for a text link:

http://www.thesaturdayeveningpot.com/2011/06/make-food-e-friend-monday-16.html

OR

Button linking back to this week's party (highlight, copy and paste into your post):

3) If this is your first visit for a Monday party and you would like or need more information about the party or how to link-up, please click here. I'm so glad you joined us and hope you will come again next week!

4) Most of all, have fun and be sure to check out any recipes that interest you that others have brought to the party. (How else will you make new Food-"e"-Friends?!) Some weeks I am not able to make it around to all of the recipes shared, but I always enjoy seeing the different things that are linked at these parties and check back when looking for new ideas.

(Link-up open through Wednesday):

*If you enjoyed this post, please consider leaving a comment, subscribing to receive e-mail updates of future recipes, or sharing it with your family/friends:

Find more wonderful recipes at:

The Feast of the Ages, 7th Course: Tomato and Mozzarella Crostinis

This recipe is the seventh in a 21-week series, The Feast of the Ages, developed to share our faith with our readers, realizing that as much as we love food, our faith is an even more important and bigger part of our lives.  We thought it would be fun to bring the two together.

In Revelation 19:9, the Bible says, “Blessed are those who are invited to the wedding supper of the Lamb!”   The Bible refers to the church, or the Christian body of believers, as the “bride of Christ.”  The wedding supper, or feast, represents a time of great celebration when Jesus is united with the church in heaven.

What a celebration this will be!  Imagine what the elements of the greatest party you could plan or attend would be like.  The atmosphere would be comfortable and very inviting.  People would want to be there because each person would be accepted for who he/she is.  Each person would be made to feel special and everyone would feel included and a part of the activities.  The fellowship and interactions between people would be real.  The food would have the freshest ingredients and the flavors would be perfect.  There would be no concern about the effects of pesticides or chemicals used in the growing process of the food.  There would be something for everyone, and the individual taste preferences of every guest would be completely satisfied.  This is what we would anticipate the wedding supper of the Lamb to be like.

The most formal of feasts includes 21 courses.  When we thought about what the Wedding Feast of the Lamb might look like, a celebration for the King of Kings and Lord of Lords, we thought it could definitely involve 21 courses!  We thought it would be fun to provide a sample 21-course “Feast of the Ages” menu, with a different recipe a week over 21 consecutive weeks.  

For the 7th course, we offer antipasto:

Tomato and Mozzarella Crostinis

Yield:  Serves 4 people at a serving size of two crostinis per person.

Ingredients:

• 1 thin french baguette
• 6 ounce ball of fresh mozzarella cheese (often called "Buffalo Mozzarella")
• 2 Roma tomatoes
• 1/2 teaspoon minced garlic
• 2 tablespoons chiffonade of fresh basil
• 3 tablespoons of olive oil

Cooking Directions:

1. Place oven on low broil setting.
2. Cut 8 slices of baguette about 1/4-inch-thick on a slight bias.
3. Brush each slice of baguette lightly with olive oil.  Place on cookie sheet and toast lightly under broiler.  Remove and set aside.
4. Slice each Roma tomato length-wise into four slices of equal thickness. 
5. Roll approximately 5 to 6 Basil leaves and cut chiffonade.
6. Brush each toasted piece of baguette with 1/8 teaspoon of minced garlic.
7. Place a slice of tomato on each crostini.
8. Place small piece of mozzarella on each tomato.
9. Place in oven under broiler until cheese is melted.  
10. Remove from broiler and drizzle each crustini with olive oil.
11. Garnish each with a small pile of Basil and serve immediately.      

Did you know you have been invited to attend the real “Feast of the Ages,” the Wedding Feast of the Lamb?  Revelation 22:17 says, “Whoever is thirsty, let him come; and whoever wishes, let him take the free gift of the water of life.”

Learn more and/or RSVP here

*(You will be able to select from the following versions: English, Chinese-traditional characters, French, Japanese, Spanish, or Children's -- preferred by some adults due to its simple style.)

Click here for the 8th Course: Mini Soft Tacos.

If you'd like to see the previous courses: 
1st Course (amuse): Shrimp and Pineapple Wontons, 
2nd Course (second amuse): Mini Brats,
3rd Course (cold appetizer): Tangy Cuke and 'Mater Salad,
4th Course (thick soup): Creamy Chicken Curry Soup,
5th Course (thin soup): Apple "Cider" Soup,
6th Course (beef): London Broil with Cranberry and Portobello Reduction

*If you enjoyed this post, please consider leaving a comment, subscribing to receive e-mail updates of future recipes, or sharing it with your family/friends:

Find more great recipes with this one at Titus 2sdays, Savory Sunday.

Shrimp Salad with Bacon and Pineapple

Does anyone besides me grow tired of cold salads with the same basic ingredients:  meat, salt, pepper, onion and mayonnaise?  I do.  Or better yet, cold meat salads that are swimming in mayo?  Might as well just eat spoonfuls of mayo straight out of the jar.  Yum.

This salad was created after a quick scan of the icebox and a need to utilize to dated items contained therein.  When I first created the salad, it did not have pineapple in it.  The Lucky Wife made the suggestion of adding pineapple the second time we made it.  I did and we loved it.  Looking back I would make one change.  Instead of using crushed pineapple, I would substitute pineapple tidbits.  The crushed pineapples creates too much liquid and the salad gets runny. The recipe lists crushed pineapple.  I left it there because some might prefer it.  If you do decide to use tidbits, up the amount to 4 tablespoons.  Enjoy.

Shrimp Salad with Bacon and Pineapple

Ingredients:

• 1 pound cooked frozen salad shrimp (thawed)
• 1/4 cup chopped onion
• 4 pieces bacon- cooked and crumbled
• 3 tablespoons crushed pineapple (drained)
• 1/2 teaspoon garlic, minced
• 3 tablespoons mayonnaise
• 1/4 teaspoon paprika

Cooking Directions:

1. Mix ingredients together in large bowl and serve chilled.

NEED ANY OF THE TOOLS USED?

Family ratings:

Rating scale

1 star - Feed it to the dog

2 stars - Surprise your neighbor

3 stars - Definite keeper

4 stars - Looking forward to leftovers

5 stars - Clean plate and nap time!  Are there enough ingredients left to make it again soon?

The Chef - 3 Stars

The Lucky Wife - 4 Stars

The Well-Fed Son (4 years old) - 4 Stars

The Well-Fed Daughter (9 months old) - Mommy's Baby Girl (4 Stars)

*Rate it yourself in the comments!

*If you enjoyed this post, please consider leaving a comment, subscribing to receive e-mail updates of future recipes, or sharing it with your family/friends:

For more great recipes, visit Melt in Your Mouth Monday and: