• A “light and colorful” pea pesto crostini, featuring pureed peas on toast, topped with half a cherry tomato each
• California chopped salad with a mix of grilled lettuces, grilled corn, grilled shrimp, zucchini and crispy tortillas in a light lemon dressing
• Chicken Milanese, which features breaded chicken cutlets in a creamy tomato fennel sauce

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Cooking for Royalty, Giada De Laurentiis is a post from: TasteForCooking

Chicken Quesadilla with Black Bean Mango Salsa

Ingredients (Black Bean Mango Salsa)
1 can black beans (rinsed) or make your own from scratch!
1 mango (chopped)
1 handful of cilantro (chopped)
1 lime (freshly squeezed)

Directions (Black Bean Mango Salsa)
1. You’ll want to have this prepared ahead of time so it will be cool and refreshing.
2. Rinse black beans.  Place in bowl.
3. Peel and chop mango.  Add to bowl.
4. Chop handful of cilantro.  Add to bowl.
5. Squeeze lime into bowl.
6. Mix all together and then place in refrigerator to chill.

Ingredients (Quesadilla)
Tortillas of your choice
Chicken meat of your choice (I used dark) ~ for this dish I used 2 chicken thighs and chopped finely
1/2 of a red, orange, yellow pepper (chopped finely)
1/4 of an onion (chopped finely)
1 to 2 handfuls of spinach (chopped)
1 to 2 cloves of garlic (minced)
1 avocado (sliced)
1 to 2 tablespoons sour cream
1 to 2 tablespoons olive oil
dash of salt and pepper

Directions (Quesadilla)
1. Heat pot to medium heat.  Add olive oil.
2. Add chicken (cook for 5 to 10 minutes).  Then place on the side.
3. Add onion, peppers, garlic, salt and pepper.  Saute for 5 minutes or so.
4.  Add chicken back to veggie mix.
5. Heat another skillet to medium heat for tortilla’s.
6. Add a touch olive oil to skillet.  Spread around so it covers entire skillet.
7.  Once heated enough, place tortilla in skillet.
8. Add cheese to one side.
9. Add spinach on top of cheese.
10. Add chicken and veggie mixture on top of cheese.
11. Add some more spinach to that (if you’d like).
12. Add some more cheese on top.
13. Fold over the tortilla with spatula.  Press down once folded.
14. Let it cook for about 5 minutes.  Flip.  Cook other side for same amount of time.
15. Place onto your most lovely serving dish.  Add black bean mango salsa to top.  Add avocado and sour cream to the side, and then place at your lovely seat to be eaten.
16. Turn off all distractions, sit down by yourself or with your family, take a few deep breaths, say how much gratitude you have for your food, your family, your life and dig in, slowly and savor the deliciousness!

©  2011 Renee Yemma ® All Rights Reserved.

Renee C. Yemma, Holistic Health Coach.  She is a mother, writer, teacher, coach, photographer and so much more.  To receive weekly healthy living articles on loving delicious, nutritious foods and putting YOU first without feeling guilty about it, visit www.reneeyemma.com.

Chicken Quesadilla with Black Bean Mango Salsa is a post from: TasteForCooking

The sale will include 5 different featured items perfect for enjoying the holiday with family, each one hand-picked by one of the participating curators and made in the USA.  Guaranteed to arrive by Memorial Day, 50% of the net proceeds from each product sold will benefit Operation Homefront. In addition, OpenSky will donate $1 to Operation Homefront for each person who joins OpenSky from today until Memorial Day. 

Operation Homefront provides financial and other assistance to the families of our service members and wounded warriors — whether it’s a place to stay, emergency financial help, food, school supplies for their children or other necessities. Since its inception, Operation Homefront has taken care of more than 400,000 needs and has provided more than $128 million dollars of funding to programs that benefit military families.

Open Sky Sales to Support Families of US Troops is a post from: TasteForCooking

7 Layer Dip Recipe Ingredients
1 – 8 oz pkg cream cheese
1 package guacamole (Wholly Guacamole)
1 – 8 oz container sour cream
3 Tbsp Taco Seasoning packet
3-6 Tbsp Salsa (as desired)
1 Can of Re-fried Beans
Chopped Tomatoes
Chopped Avocado (optional)
Sliced Green Scallion Onions
Shredded Cheddar Cheese

1. Soften cream cheese and mix well with package of guacamole.
2. Spread the Refried beans to the bottom of the pie plate.
3.Spread guacamole/cream cheese mixture on top of the beans
4. Mix sour cream with taco seasoning and blend well
5. Spread on top of guacamole mixture – if you still have beans left add another layer
6. Layer salsa on top of sour cream mixture
7. Layer chopped tomatoes, chopped Avocados (if desired), and Sliced green onions.
8. Top with Cheddar Cheese
9. Tastes best when chilled 1 hour
10. Serve with Frito’s and/or Tostitos

Make it an 8 layer dip by adding chopped black olives !

7 layer Cold Mexican Layer Dip – favorite new football food is a post from: TasteForCooking

Visit meltingpot.com/locations to see if The Melting Pot near you is participating in this cheesy event.

While you’re there, why not try the new limited time menu: Pacific Islands Big Night Out. Menu includes Feng Shui cheese fondue, lettuce wraps with mandarin-orange ginger dressing, as well as Kiwi Lime shrimp, garlic chili chicken breast, sesame crusted teriyaki sirloin, citrus infused pork tenderloin, sushi style ahi tuna and spring vegetable dumplings.  For dessert, Passion Fruit Yin and Yang fondue which is a combination of dark chocolate swirled together with red passion fruit-infused white chocolate.

Cheese for Charity at the Melting Pot is a post from: TasteForCooking

In celebration, the company is giving away 2 coach trips to any AirTran airways destination, 2 nights at a Holiday Inn Hotel, 2-day weekend car rental with Avis and a $200 cash card.  Enter the Great American Getaway! Click to enter the Great American Getaway

Fun Facts:

• More than 150 billion Little Debbie snacks have been sold since the brand was introduced in 1960. If you placed those all those snacks end-to-end, they would circle the Earth more than 380 times. That would cover enough miles to travel to the moon and back close to 20 times!
• Little Debbie, whose picture is often featured on products, was a real little girl and the granddaughter of O.D. and Ruth McKee, the founders of McKee Foods, a family bakery. Little Debbie, now Debbie McKee-Fowler, is an executive with McKee Foods.
• The Little Debbie brand is quite popular in social media, with more than 510,000 Facebook fans and more than 4,500 followers on Twitter.

Little Debbie Turns 50 is a post from: TasteForCooking

Cracker Barrel’s New Alan Jackson Collection is a post from: TasteForCooking

Kraft’s 1 bag – 5 dinners is a post from: TasteForCooking