Southwestern Black Bean Salad

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This salad also doubles as a dip, paired with some tortilla chips and in this case, I used blue organic tortilla chips. It's refreshing and filling and a perfect dish to share at your Cinco De Mayo party you may be attending or hosting this weekend. It's a great meal or side dish in the hot summer months. I will be making this often!

Southwestern Black Bean Salad
-courtesy of SkinnyTaste.com 

JJ's favorite Chocolate flan with salted caramel sauce! Cinco de Mayo!

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How do you spell romance? I spell it D-E-S-S-E-R-T! In particular I love this Ibarra flan. The first time I tried Ibarra flan I was at a restaurant in Seattle on Queen Anne called Barbacoa (which has since closed). Chef John created this fabulous recipe with Mexican Ibarra chocolate that I fell in love with and I ordered it, every time we went! I begged for the recipe and finally got a scribbled recipe for 24 people, that quite honestly was not accurate! Last year I made an Ibarra flan and blogged about it, but, I have perfected it to serving eight and added a few more touches of my own that I think you will love! This can be served in individual ramekins as well!

Cashew mango salad!

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Right now Whole Foods and my local Safeway is featuring Ataulfo mangoes, also known as champagne or yellow mangoes, in their stores. Mango is my very favorite fruit, in fact I eat one or more every day!!  The health benefits are many including preventing the deadly cancer, clears the skin, lowers cholesterol, alkalizes the body, improves sex, helps diabetes, improves digestion, boosts the immune system and one cup of sliced mangoes supplies 25 percent of the needed daily value of vitamin A, which promotes good eyesight and prevents night blindness and dry eyes. WOW!! Hard to believe these little innocent looking fruits can do all these wonderful things for us!!

Short Rib Ravioli with Mushroom sauce!

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There are a lot of foods that can be considered decadent, I think, but slow braised beef short ribs have to be near the top of the list, for me. Beefy, hearty and oh so scrumptious, these unassuming looking slabs of meat cannot be overstated. I don’t know why I don’t make them more often, but 2 or 3 times a year they find their way into my repertoire with a bottle of Cabernet Sauvignon and a few other ingredients. About 6 hours later, I’ve got fall of the bone juicy pieces of steaming beef ready to be paired with almost anything and the residual jus from the pot is like liquid gold. As perfect as they are simply accompanied by my creamy mashed potatoes, as in my December 3rd post.  I recently was inspired to step it up!

Thumbprint Peanut Butter Doggie Treats!

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With all the running around our doggies do.......well Bandit does, Moose, not so much:-0 they need a treat now and then. I like to find healthier options for our pups, and they are easy to make at home. I choose ingredients that "I" want my pups to snack on, and ensure that they get all the right nutrients. I want to have total say over the recipe! There are some basics to follow when playing "Doggie Chef"!  Avoid- Cheese, milk, dairy products, chocolate, macadamia nuts, walnuts, onions, liver (in large quantities), raisins, grapes, salt and sugar.

Oreo Truffle Brownies

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I just realized how good Oreo cookies are! I haven't had them for many years until just recently when I made those Oreo truffle cake balls and now these heavenly brownies. My pregnant sister-in-law has been requesting desserts to satisfy her sweet tooth cravings during pregnancy so I helped her out by making these the other day especially for her!

Of course, we couldn't let her get away without leaving a few behind for us to enjoy! These were seriously good. Moist brownie layer with finely crumbled Oreo cookies mixed with cream cheese and then finished off with a layer of melted chocolate. The only part you need to bake is the brownie layer, so these are pretty quick to put together. 

Oreo Truffle Brownies
-courtesy of www.chef-in-training.com

SRS~Homemade Hamburger Helper

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I am super extra excited today. I just love the Surprise Recipe Swap because I like finding new recipes and trying them out, for not only Wee Bear and I, but YOU!  This is our third month and third swap! If you want in, the details are at the end of the post, just click the SRS button! We always post on the 20th of the month, hence, why I didn't post yesterday. In the meantime, let’s talk about who I am blogging about this month! Her name is Michelle and she has this sweet blog called Michelle's Tasty Creations!