Elle Is For Living!: Potluck

Showing posts with label Potluck. Show all posts

Elle's Everything But The Kitchen Sink Celery Salad

If you’ve ever thought of celery as just a background player, this recipe will change your mind. It’s fresh, flavorful, and completely customizable—Elle's Everything But The Kitchen Sink Celery Salad is perfect for using up what you have on hand. Packed with crunchy texture, and a bright punchy dressing, this dish proves that celery can absolutely shine on its own. Whether you serve it as a side, a light lunch, or part of a bigger spread, this easy, forgiving recipe is one you’ll come back to again and again.

Elle's Everything But The Kitchen Sink Celery Salad

1 bunch celery, sliced into ½-inch thick slices

2 apples, chopped (gala or honeycrisp are nice)

½ English cucumber, finely chopped

1 shallot, quartered and thinly sliced

1 cup chopped walnuts or pecans or sunflower seeds or almonds or ???

cranberries or raisins

sliced grapes, optional

chopped dates, optional

¼ cup chopped or shaved Parmesan cheese

subheading: Dressing:

1 ½ cups finely grated Parmesan cheese

¼ cup lemon juice

1 teaspoon Dijon mustard

¼ cup mayonnaise

3 tablespoons olive oil

1 tablespoon honey

1 clove garlic, grated

¼ teaspoon kosher salt

¼ teaspoon ground black pepper

For salad, add celery, apple, cucumber, shallot, dates, walnuts, and chopped Parmesan to a large bowl and set aside.

Pesto Mozzarella Chicken Sliders

I had a pack of 12 slider buns and it workedout great. Super easy to assemble and then bake. Best if served warm but we took them to a potluck in the park and they were delicious! Even the kids loved them.

Ingredients

18 slider buns - cut in half crosswise

2 cups cooked and shredded chicken - (rotisserie chicken works great!)

11 ounces Buitoni Pesto with Basil

2 tablespoons butter - melted

15 slices mozzarella cheese

⅓ cup mayo - optional

Preheat oven to 400 degrees and lightly grease a 9×13 inch baking pan. Arrange the bottom halves of the slider buns side by side in the pan. In a small bowl stir together melted butter and 2 tablespoons of the pesto and set aside.

Spread mayo on the bottom sliders buns (optional) then layer evenly with shredded chicken, pesto, mozzarella slices, and finish with top halves of the buns. Brush pesto-butter mixture over the tops of the sliders.

Bake for 10 minutes uncovered, then cover with foil and continue to bake 10 to 15 more minutes until cheesy is melted. Serve warm.

Amazing Potato Salad

I know you are thinking "cooking potatoes for 4 minutes - UGH! They are going to be hard". Trust me when I tell you that it makes them the perfect texture of being cooked but holding together. Putting on the French Dressing over the warm potatoes makes them absorb in the delicious dressing. In future, I may add green onion and chopped dill pickles to this.

Servings: 6 – 8

POTATO SALAD:

2 lb russet potatoes peeled and cut into 3/4" cubes

2 tsp salt

1/2 cup French Dressing – homemade (below)

3/4 cup cucumber, finely diced (cut lengthwise and remove watery seeds first)

1 1/2 cups celery, finely sliced diagonally

1/2 cup white onion, finely minced (use the juices too)

POTATO SALAD DRESSING:

1/3 cup mayonnaise

1/3 cup sour cream

1 tbsp horseradish cream

1/2 tsp salt

1/4 tsp black pepper

FRENCH DRESSING

1 tbsp dijon mustard

2 tbsp white wine vinegar OR apple cider vinegar)

1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil

1 tbsp water

1/2 tsp white sugar

1/2 garlic clove , finely grated or minced

1/2 tsp salt

1/4 tsp black pepper

French Dressing – Shake ingredients in a jar until well combined.

Put potatoes and 2 teaspoon salt in a large pot of cold water. Turn the stove on. Once the water is simmering, cook for 4 minutes or until the potatoes are JUST cooked (still bit firm in the middle) – they will keep cooking with residual heat. Drain immediately (gently!).

Carefully transfer potatoes into a large bowl and pour over French Dressing. Gently toss to coat then set aside for 2 hours so potatoes absorb the dressing and cool (less fragile).

Creamy Dressing – Mix ingredients in a bowl until combined.

Add creamy dressing, celery, cucumber, onion and toss gently to combine.

Feel free to add hard boiled eggs, green onions, lawry's seasoning, celery salt, chopped pickles, pickle juide, red onion or other ingredients as desired.

This is best if you make at least a few hours ahead or even better, overnight, to give the flavors a chance to meld but still amazing if served straight away! Always serve at room temperature, not fridge cold.

Elle's Cauli-tater Salad

If you are craving potato salad but want a healthy / keto version, this is it! Mark, who doesn't even think of being healthy, requests this over a potato salad. With microwaving the cauliflower, it makes it so easy (no peeling, boiling and then mashing potatoes). I make it at least the day beforehand to let the flavors meld. So good!

Elle's Cauli-tater Salad

1 medium cauliflower head, chopped

3 large hard boiled eggs, chopped

2 stalks celery, diced

1/4 medium red onion

1 to 2 green onions, chopped

1/4 cup mayonnaise (add more if needed)

1/2 tbsp dijon mustard

2 full pickles finely chopped

1/2 tbsp apple cider vinegar

1 tsp Pink Himalayan Salt

1/2 tsp black pepper

Break the head of cauliflower up into chunks and cut into desired sized pieces.

Add all the cauliflower to a microwave safe bowl and cover bowl with damp paper towels. Microwave on high for 3 and stir and then continue to mic for 3 to 6 minutes, stirring or until cauliflower is fork tender.

Dice the hard boiled eggs, celery, red onion and chives and add it to the bowl of cauliflower.

In a separate bowl combine the mayo, mustard, apple cider vinegar, salt and black pepper and then pour it over the cauliflower mixture.

Combine the entire mixture thoroughly with a spoon and add any additional salt and pepper as you see necessary.

Make the day ahead.

Store in a sealed container in the fridge up to one week. Serve cold and enjoy!

Broccoli Salad

This is so easy. Make sure to make it up the day beforehand and refrigerate overnight to let the flavors blend.

Ingredients

4 C broccoli chopped in small pieces

1/4 C red onion, finely chopped

1/4 C celery, chopped

1/4 C raisins

1/2 C sunflower seeds

1/2 lb of bacon, cooked (optional)

green grapes (optional)

Granny Smith apple chopped

Dressing

1/4 C sugar

3/4 C mayo

2 tsp apple cider vinegar

salt & pepper

Combine all ingredients and refrigerate for a few hours or over night

Elle's Mother's Lemon Poppy Seed Cake

This is another easy, delicious and elegant cake to have on hand. Perfect for breakfast with coffee, a mid-day snack or for dessert. Not only it is versatile but, it lasts well covered in saran wrap on the kitchen counter....unless you have folks around that nibble at it all day in which case, it disappears quickly lol!

1 pkg Duncan Hines Lemon Supreme Cake Mix

1 pkg lemon instant pudding

1/4 C poppy seeds

1 egg (extra in addition to the package directions)

Glaze

1 cup powdered sugar

fresh lemon juice (optional)

water or milk, or as needed

Grease and flour a Bundt pan.

Prepare cake mix as directed but add 1 extra egg, pudding and poppy seeds.

Bake as directed on package.

Cool and dust with icing sugar.

ICING

Mix icing sugar with as much lemon/water/milk as needed to make a thick drizzle icing. Using lemon/water/mix based on desire for tart or sweetness - totally roughly 1 Tbsp or desired consistency.

If you only have vanilla instant pudding instead of the lemon pudding, grate 1 lemon into the cake mix for additional lemon flavor.

Elle's Spice Cake

As always, easy is something I love. This is so convenient to throw together for when you have guests. It is great in the morning with coffee or for dessert. So nice to have it on the kitchen counter for anyone to help themselves to whenever they want. It also looks fancier for doing it up in a Bundt pan!

Elle's Lavish Dessert

Have you ever wanted a dessert that takes minimal ingredients and only minutes to throw together but, if you didn't tell, could be mistaken for a very fancy high-end dessert. Look no further!

Ingredients

Ice cream sandwiches

Cool whip

Heath bar chocolate & toffee bits

Caramel Sauce

Chocolate Sauce

Cinnamon, optional

Directions/Assembly

Cover pan with ice cream bars. Cover in a layer of cool whip. You can repeat bars/whip if you want to make it a double layer but I do the single layer.

Sprinkle the heath bar bits on top. Freeze for at least 2 hours or overnight.

On the plate, drizzle in one direction with caramel sauce and in the other direction with chocolate sauce

Dish up a square of the dessert and dust with cinnamon.

You can make this in a small 8 x 8 pan or, for large groups, use a 9 x 13. SO incredibly delicious!

Ssh! Don't tell how easy this is and no one will know! Put any leftovers (if there are any HA!) back in the freezer

Elle's Easy Black Bean Soup

I made this tonight and realized how fabulous it is so I thought I would repost it. I am freezing the leftovers and will take some with us this weekend when we go up North - yum!

Are you noticing a pattern that all my recipes have the word "Easy" in the title :-)

1 medium onion, chopped
Boneless skinless Chicken breast, diced (optional)

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 tsp oregano

1 tsp cumin

1 - 15 oz can chopped tomatoes

1/4 C salsa

2 - 16 oz cans black beans (undrained)

1 - 14 oz. can chicken broth

1/4 C cilantro, chopped
avocado, diced (optional)
shredded cheese (optional)
taco chips (optional)

In a pot, heat olive oil and add onions (and chicken if desired). Brown 3 to 5 minutes. Add rest of ingredients except cilantro. Bring to a boil and simmer, stirring occasionally for 5 minutes. Add cilantro and simmer for an additional 5 minutes till thoroughly heated through. If desired, sprinkle with cheese and serve with taco chips.

Elle's Chicken Tortilla Soup

I made this last night and it was REALLY good. A stick to your ribs filling winter soup. You can also serve with tortilla chips. I love that we have leftovers for the week :-)

I know it seems like this is a lot of work/steps but it really isn't. I throw the chicken breasts in the crockpot in the afternoon so they are ready, or you can precook them. The rest of the steps are just time (not work) to let the flavors blend. I set my timer on Alexa and just come back and add the next ingredient.

If you have ever been to Houston's restaurant, this is pretty close to their tortilla soup. I hope you love it as much as we did!

Elle’s Chicken Tortilla Soup

Ingredients:

Servings: 6

· 2 chicken breasts cooked in crock pot till fork tender (4 or 5 hours on high)

· 3 tablespoons vegetable oil

· 1 cup carrot, diced

· 1 cup celery, diced

· 1 cup onion, diced

· 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder

· 1 teaspoon salt

· 1/4 teaspoon pepper

· 4 (14 ounce) cans chicken broth

· 1 (15 ounce) can diced tomatoes

· 1 (15 ounce) can Ro-Tel tomatoes, diced

· 1 (1 1/4 ounce) packet taco seasoning

· 2 heaping tsp cumin

· 10 small soft corn tortillas - divided as per recipe

· 8 ounces shredded Monterey jack cheese, divided

· 1 cup milk

· corn tortilla chips, broken into small pieces

· avocado

Directions:

· Cook chicken in crockpot till it easily shreds with a fork

· Cut remaining corn tortillas into strips, spray with oil and cook in airfryer – reserve for garnish

· In a stock pot saute carrots, celery, onions, garlic and s&p in oil until very tender.

· Add chicken broth and bring to a boil.

· Stir in the tomatoes, Rotel tomatoes, taco seasoning, cumin

· Cut 6 soft tortillas into small pieces and add to the broth mixture (use more if you want the soup thicker)

· Let boil for 20 minutes or until tortillas are incorporated into the soup.

· Stir occasionally to keep the soup from sticking as it thickens.

· Blend with a hand held mixer till desired consistency (I like ours almost 100% smooth)

· Shred chicken.and cut pieces in half or thirds and add to soup

· Reduce heat and add 6 oz cheese.

· Simmer for additional 10 minutes.

· Add milk and simmer for another 10 minutes.

· Serve with shredded cheese, avocado and corn tortilla chips on top.

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