Avocado, Tomato, & Bean Salsa

Refreshing summer snack? Looking for  a light side dish? Inspired from Wegman's recipes, this is a quick appetizer to toss together.

The recipe calls for grilled corn, but I don't have a grill and I didn't have any corn...but I did have a can of beans in the closet!

I also don't like tomatoes a lot so I only used a handful of cherry tomatoes. 

This may have taken about 10 minutes to chop and assemble. It also can be mostly be made ahead of time - minus the avocado.

Served it on some blue corn chips!

Enjoy!

Avocado, Tomato, & Bean Salsa


1 can of chick peas / cannellini beans or corn
2  green onions, sliced
1 Tbsp  Wegmans Basting Oil
1/4 cup red onion, diced 
1  ripe avocado, peeled, pitted, diced
a couple handfuls of cherry tomatoes, quartered

Juice (and zest, optional) of 1 fresh lime
1/4 cup Wegmans Extra-Virgin Olive Oil
1/4 cup fresh chopped cilantro
Salt and pepper to taste

Combine all the ingredients!

Optional, let it chill for 30 minutes prior to eating.

Citrus Bow Tie Pasta

Warm weather is upon us! This is a light and fresh meal that takes only as long as the pasta takes to cook!

While the pasta is cooking you can slice and chop up the rest of the ingredients. When the pasta is done toss it all together, and dinner is ready!

What did I change? Overall I kept with the main recipe, I just made changes to my preferences. I sliced a couple cherry tomatoes since I'm not a huge fan of raw tomatoes. Since we had cilantro from other recipes, I used some more of that. Parsley is also an option however. You can swap the lemon juice for lime juice as well. I didn't mix the feta into the entire bowl since I'm not a fan, but it was pretty sprinkled on top of the food.

This is great served warm or cold. This will be ok for leftovers the next day, but won't last much longer than that. Once the avocado is turning brown - toss it!

Next time I might try using sundried tomatoes instead of fresh or even try some basil and fresh mozzarella!

Citrus Bow Tie Pasta

recipe adapted from Whole Foods
Serves 2

1/2 pound bow tie pasta
1 ripe avocado, peeled and cubed  

4 green onions, both green and white parts, chopped
3/4 cup crumbled feta cheese (optional)
a couple diced cherry tomatoes
1/2 cup packed chopped cilantro
1/4 cup freshly squeezed lemon
1/3 cup olive oil

3 cloves garlic
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper

Cook pasta in boiling salted water according to package directions. Drain, but do not rinse the pasta. Place hot pasta in a large mixing bowl. Add avocado, green onions, feta, tomatoes and cilantro. Whisk together lemon juice and olive oil and drizzle over the warm pasta. Toss to combine. Season with salt and pepper and serve warm or cold.

Creamy Tomato Basil Sauce

Here is a quick and easy tomato sauce from fresh tomatoes and left over cream cheese (from the Lime and Coconut Cupcake frosting!).

 Tomatoes, oregano, garlic powder, and onion powder. I also added in 1/4 cup of water

 Mash as they cook down. Then pulse in the food processor until pureed. Pour back into the pot. Add in basil.

 I added in spoon by spoon the cream cheese. I added in a little under 1/4 cup of cream cheese. But basically go until it tastes how you'd like it to.

The rest of the meal... I seasoned the chicken with garlic powder, oregano, and sauteed in olive oil for about 8-10 minutes. Pasta was whole wheat spaghetti which cooks in about 4-5 minutes.

Next time maybe add in a few red pepper flakes for a little kick. 

Tomato Basil Sauce
Makes 3 servings

8-10 Tomatoes
1 tsp each Onion powder, garlic powder, oregano
1/4 cup cream cheese
Basil

Heat pan with tomatoes and spices. As tomatoes heat through mash them down with a spoon, about 5 minutes. Puree in the food processor. Stir in cream cheese until its reaches the desired creamy taste and let simmer until rest of meal is ready to eat.

I served over pasta with a side of chicken.