Cottage Cheese and Cucumber Salad

This is possibly the easiest salad you will ever make.  Seriously.  I promise it will take less than 4 minutes to prepare – INCLUDING the time it takes to gather up the ingredients.  Don’t believe me?  Try it.

 

Ingredients:

1 cup Cottage Cheese
1/2 cup English Cucumber
1/2 teaspoon dried Dill Weed
Salt and Pepper to taste (if desired – I usually skip it)

 

Tools:

Medium Salad bowl
Spoon
Knife for cutting cucumber

 

1. Measure out one cup of cottage cheese and drop into bowl;
2. Cut cucumber into bite-sized pieces and place in bowl over cheese;
3. Sprinkle dill over mixture;
4. Mix well, adding salt and pepper if desired/needed;
5. Check time and realize that I was right, it DID take less than 4 minutes to prepare! 🙂

 

This is a great recipe to make your own.  If they’re in season, try it with grape tomatoes or fresh, sweet green onions or even a bell pepper to add colour.  As long as the ratio of cheese to veg remains the same (or close), this will turn out.  It also keeps for a few days in the fridge so you need not worry about making the exact right amount.

Sour Cream Chicken

I appologize in advance for not having a photo today as we’re running into some technical difficulties.  If you’re like me, the photos are one of the reasons I return to read a blog – especially when it’s about food – so please know that I do my best to have a photo accompany every post!

 

This is what I call comfort food.  Yes, its very rich and it sticks to your hips so it’s not something you want to make very often but sure is a treat.  Serve this over rice of any kind or over hot egg noodles.  Another great winter time recipe taught to me by my mom.

 

Pork chops can be substituted for the chicken to make yet another tasty variation that might be a little easier on the wallet.

 

To cut out some fat and calories, try using fat free sour cream.

 

Ingredients:

 

1-2 pounds boneless skinless chicken breast

1 tablespoon vegetable oil

1 can cream of mushroom soup

1 package dry onion soup mix

1 cup sour cream

1 tablespoon lemon juice

1 teaspoon dried dill

1 pinch paprika

Salt and Pepper to taste

 

 

Equipment:

 

Fry pan or skillet

Large mixing bowl

Large spoon or whisk (for mixing wet ingredients)

Baking dish large enough to hold all meat in one even layer

Tin foil (if baking dish does not have lid)

 

 

Instructions:

 

1)      Preheat oven to 350ºF;

2)      Heat vegetable oil in fry pan or skillet over medium heat;

3)      Brown chicken on all sides;

4)      In separate bowl, combine rest of ingredients and mix well together;

5)      Place browned chicken in baking dish;

6)      Pour wet mixture over chicken;

7)      Cover with lid (or use tin foil) and bake for 1 hour.