Tomato Basil Feta Salad Recipe

I found this recipe on allrecipes.com
I'm a sucker for anything with feta in it but I love the combination of tomato's, basil, and balsamic at any time. This is a great refreshing summer salad! I'm also substituting home grown cherry and grape tomatoes in place of the roma's since I have so many. I just cut them in half. And basil is very easy to grow so if you don't have some fresh basil at home pick up a plant. It's so yummy and great in lots of dishes.

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Ingredients
6 roma (plum) tomatoes, diced
1 small cucumber - peeled, quartered lengthwise, and chopped
3 green onions, chopped
1/4 cup fresh basil leaves, cut into thin strips
3 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
3 tablespoons crumbled feta cheese
salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

Directions
1.In a large bowl, toss together the tomatoes, cucumber, green onions, basil, olive oil, balsamic vinegar, and feta cheese. Season with salt and pepper.

Lime in the Coconut Cheescake Bars from Betty Crocker

This is a great recipe that I tried out for one of my girls nights out. It got rave reviews!! Great to take to a BBQ!! Enjoy!!

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Cookie Base
1 pouch (1 lb 1.5 oz) Betty Crocker® sugar cookie mix
2 tablespoons Gold Medal® all-purpose flour
1/3 cup butter or margarine, softened
1 egg, slightly beaten
Filling
2 packages (8 oz each) cream cheese, softened
1 can (16 oz) cream of coconut (not coconut milk)
3 tablespoons lime juice
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 eggs
Topping
1 container (12 oz) Betty Crocker® Whipped cream cheese frosting
1 1/4 cups coconut, toasted
2 teaspoons grated lime peel


1. Heat oven to 350°F. Spray bottom and sides of 13x9-inch pan with cooking spray. In large bowl, stir cookie base ingredients until soft dough forms. Press evenly in bottom of pan. Bake 15 to 18 minutes or until golden brown. Cool 15 minutes.
2. Meanwhile, in large bowl, beat cream cheese with electric mixer on medium speed until light and fluffy. Beat in cream of coconut until well blended. Beat in lime juice, vanilla and 2 eggs until smooth. Spread over cookie base.
3. Bake 40 to 45 minutes or until set and light golden brown on edges. Cool 30 minutes at room temperature. Refrigerate 1 hour to cool completely.
4. Carefully spread frosting over filling. Sprinkle with coconut and lime peel. Cover; refrigerate 30 minutes. For bars, cut into 6 rows by 4 rows. Store covered in refrigerator.

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Or go to the following website to print a copy!!

http://www.bettycrocker.com/recipes/lime-in-the-coconut-frosted-cheesecake-bars/6c610a34-4786-4688-a134-b6adc547de11

Recipe # 4- Strawberry Margarita Cheescake Trifle

This is a great recipe I got from my Pampered Chef consultant that we used at my party. I do recommend using the Pampered Chef Trifle bowl but any trifle bowl you have will do just fine. I made my own angel food cake for this. Well from a box. And when I told my grandmother this she was like "Don't you have a Betty Crocker Cookbook" which I do and she said well the recipe for it was in there! Needless to say I'll know that for next time although even though I love to bake if Kroger has an already made angel food cake for $1.99 I'm still buying it. Because it was actually cheaper than the box of mix...go figure. So anyway here's the recipe which I think you'll really like. You can omit the booze too but I used the Triple Sec and it made it that much better. Happy Cooking!!

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Strawberry Margarita Cheesecake Trifle
2 packages (8 ounces each) cream cheese
1 1/2 cups confectioners' sugar
1 cup sour cream
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1 tub (12 oz) Cool Whip (thawed)
1 prepared Angel Food Cake (from the bakery section or prepared Pound Cake (frozen Sara Lee works well)
2 quarts fresh strawberries
3 tablespoons sugar
3 limes
Optional - 3 tbs Grand Marnier or Triple Sec
Reserve 3 larger firm strawberries for garnish
Slice remaining strawberries and place in a bowl with 3 tbs sugar and optional liquor. Set aside.
Cut cake into cubes, squeeze 1 lime over cubes & set aside.
Mix together cream cheese, confectioners sugar, sour cream vanilla. Fold in 1 cup Cool Whip. Zest 1 lime w/ Micro plane Grater and fold in.
Fill Easy Accent Decorator with remaining cool whip.
Layer cake cubes, strawberries, cream cheese filling, repeat.
Garnish top with Cool Whip, strawberry slices, lime slices, add'l lime zest. Gorgeous!!!!!!

Recipe #2- Apple Cole Slaw

I made this coleslaw to go as a side to the Talapia with Tomatoes and Olives. I was skeptical at first about how this would taste but it was excellent. We enjoy coleslaw during the summer and were getting tired of the creamy style and asian style that I usually make. This was a great alternative that I will surely make again! I found this recipe at www.allrecipes.com thru Google Search.

Apple Cole Slaw

3 cups chopped cabbage (I just used the store bought tri-color coleslaw mix from Dole. I used the whole bag).
1 unpeeled red apple, cored and chopped
1 unpeeled Granny smith apple, cored and chopped
1 carrot grated (I omitted this since the bagged coleslaw already has carrot in it
1/2 C finely chopped red bell pepper (I am not a big red pepper fan so I left this out).
2 green onions finely chopped
1/3 C Mayonnaise
1/3 C brown Suger
1 Tbsp lemon juice, or to taste

Directions:
In a large bowl, combine the cabbage, red apple, green apple, carrot, red bell pepper, and green onions. In a small bowl whisk together the mayonnaise, brown sugar, and lemon juice. Pour over salad and mix completely. (Note-I ended up making a double batch of the dressing as I thought it was a little dry.It's up to you if you want to add more or not. I didn't make a full 1/3 cup of each just a couple extra tablespoons of both the mayonnaise and brown sugar and a squirt of the lemon juice).

Enjoy. If you try this please comment with your opinions!

RECIPE #1 - Tilapia with Tomatoes & Olives

Tilapia is a nice mild white flaky fish. I'm not a big fan of fish especially if it has an overpowering flavor. Tilapia is prefect for me because it's mild. I think that this particular recipe would also be good with Mahi Mahi another great mild fish. I found this recipe on www.bioshelters.com thru Google search.

Tilapia with Tomatoes & Olives

6 Tilapia filets (I only used three as I was cooking for just the two of us)
1/4 C extra-virgin olive oil ( I omitted this and just sprayed the pan with Pam Olive Oil Cooking Spray-the topping was great w/o the oil)
4 sprigs of fresh thyme (thyme is great because it has a great lemon flavor)
3 tomatoes (I used Roma) peeled, seeded, and chopped
1/2 C coarsely chopped green olives
1/4 tsp. dried hot red pepper flakes (optional or to taste)
2 garlic cloves, minced
1/2 C finely chopped red onion
1 Tbsp fresh lime juice

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Lighly oil a shallow baking dish large enough to hold the fillets in one layer. In a bowl stir together the oil (optional), thyme, tomatoes, olives, red pepper falkes, garlic, onion, and lime juice.In a prepared baking dish arrange the fillets (if they have skin-skin side down), season them with salt & pepper, then spoom the tomato mixture over them. Bake, uncovered, in the middle of the oven for 15-20 minutes, or until the fish flakes apart.