My weakness...

Recipe. Web. Sites.

Do you visit recipe websites? If so, share your favorites with us...I'd love to have a few more to visit! My new favorite food website is simplyscratchrecipes.com . Like I don't have any cookbooks or cooking magazines...(said with sarcasm)

I made two recipes this weekend from Simply Scratch Recipes. The dip I've made before and the chicken salad was my first try....it gets a smiley face! Oh and the dip, it already got a smiley face! Don't you love it when you try a new recipe and it's worthy of a smiley face?

Do you have a NCCA Hoop Finals party plannned or invited to one? This dip would be a nice goodie to nibble on while watching the game. The crisp triangular Triscuit is my favorite cracker for this dip.

8 oz. Cream Cheese, Softened

3/4 cup mayonnaise

1/2 tsp fresh cracked black pepper (be sure to set your pepper mill on coarse...this is what makes this dip)

3 whole scallions (or green onions) sliced using white and green portions

3 oz. green Spanish olives, sliced

4 oz. black olives, sliced

8 oz. Monterrey Jack cheese, grated

Triscuit crackers for serving

Add cream cheese, mayo and pepper into a medium bowl and mix until blended. Add in the chopped green onions, olives and grated cheese; fold in until all are incorporated. Put into a serving dish and serve with crackers. Keeps for up to 2 weeks in the refrigerator. Makes 2 cups.

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Don't you love spring & summer time cooking? It's so nice to put away the casseroles and ready up for some nice light spring time salads. Or girl food, as I call it. Saturday's lunch at the Gervais household was this wonderfully easy salad. Don't you love easy?

DRESSING:

1 cup mayo

4 teaspoons apple cider vinegar

6 tsp. honey

1 teaspoon poppy seeds

salt & pepper to taste

SALAD:

1 rotisserie chicken from the super market (cut into bite sizes) Allow to cool.

2 oz. pkg lightly toasted whole pecans, then coarsely chopped

1 cup small red grapes, sliced in half

2 celery sticks (chopped)

Mix dressing ingredients and store in airtight container in your fridge to refrigerate. Upon serving, combine salad ingredients and add chilled dressing before serving. Serve on a bed of baby romaine leaves or on a croissant.

I'm so sorry that these recipes aren't low-cal in nature...hummmm....why is it that it's the bad stuff that always tastes so good??? (sigh)

Enjoy, Brenda