Italian Pasta Salad

Posted on March 22, 2010 by Momzoo

This old favorite comes to us today from my friend

Jessica

This is a summer time favorite of mine, I like to make a big batch and eat it for several days. This is a quick and easy lunch or side dish for dinner.

This post turned out to be a bit of a hybrid, I added somethings that I like to do with this particular type of salad along with some ingredients from Jessica that I hadn’t thought to add before. The end result was wonderful!

I make this salad in two fazes.

The first starts in the morning, I cook two big bags of spiral pasta, I am particular to the the colored variety, but any type will do.

The to the hot pasta I add Salad Supreme seasoning and a bottle of Italian dressing.

Give it a good mix and let it sit in the refrigerator for several hours, letting the spices and dressing soak into the pasta.

Right before I am ready to serve I add the other ingredients.
1 can Olives, sliced
Tomatoes, chopped
Cucumber, chopped
Pepperoni
Parmesan Cheese

Typically when I make this salad I only add the cucumber and tomatoes. The olives, cheese and pepperoni come from Jessica.

(unless the cucumber comes from my own garden I always peel it, cucumbers from the grocery store are covered with wax…humans aren’t meant to eat wax)

(after I added all the ingredients, I realized that my bowl was a big small for mixing!)

Add additional dressing according to taste, for a salad this big I typically add another bottle of dressing.

This salad will keep in the refrigerator for several days, and only gets better as times goes on.

I love the addition of pepperoni, olives and cheese in this salad, this will be a permanent addition to my Pasta Salad.

Pesto Pasta Salad

Posted on March 21, 2010 by Momzoo

**since I am making this meal tonight, I thought I would re-post the recipe, enjoy!**

Warning!

This is not a budget friendly meal

nor is it a

diet friendly meal!

However

it is

wickedly delicious!

Pesto Pasta Salad

2 pkgs bow-tie pasta

3 cups mayo

1 cup sour cream

4 pkgs Pesto Mix

8 Tbsp Olive oil

1/2 cup Parmesan Cheese

2 Chicken Breast

1 pkg cherry tomatoes

Cook your pasta

while is it cooking make your sauce

Start with the mayo

ANYTHING that has 3 cups of mayo in it has to be good!

Then the sour cream

Put in your packages of Pesto Mix

I love Pesto

I want to marry it,

(not really.)

Stir it all up really well

so it is creamy and green

Then you add the Olive Oil

use the extra virgin kind

it has a better taste,

don’t skimp with the Olive Oil!

Then in goes the 1/2 cup Parmesan cheese

you can use the pre-grated kind, it tastes the same

I am just GLUTTON for punishment,

I like to do things the hard way and grate my own cheese

Stir it all together, it will be creamy and green

and a little lumpy because of the cheese

I could seriously just eat this sauce!

Pour it over the HOT pasta

it needs to be hot so the mayo, sour cream and cheese melt into it

Cut up your tomatoes into wedges.

If I can find the really little grape tomatoes in the grocery store I use those then I don’t feel the need to cut them up.

Stir them into the warm pasta

Doesn’t the RED look so pretty in the GREEN pasta

Chop your chicken

Hey Chicken!

I think I have seen you here before!

I use two chicken breasts when I am making this for dinner, but when I make this salad as a side I don’t add chicken at all, this salad is expensive enough!

Dump Mr. Chicken breast in

(or would that be MRS Chicken Breast

Do boy chickens have breasts?

I will have to research that… )

Stir it all up and stick it in the refrigerator.

You could serve this salad hot, warm or cold

I like it warmish, it think when it sits a little it helps all the flavors mesh

and it is really good the next day cold.

When I serve it I like to sprinkle a little more cheese on top.

(Dadzoo was very stingy at dinner tonight

he didn’t want the kids to eat too much

he wanted some for lunch the next day!)

This is really yummy

one of my favorites

also Dadzoo’s favorite

and my baby sister Lindi’s favorite.

Enjoy!!!!

BBQ Chicken Salad

Posted on March 20, 2010 by Momzoo

I was very excited to try

Becky’s

BBQ Chicken Salad,

seriously, a dressing made with BBQ sauce and Ranch Dressing! How can that NOT be GOOD!

Here is our cast of characters:

Ranch Dressing

BBQ Sauce

Grilled Chicken

Romain Lettuce

Tomatoes, diced

Cilantro, chopped

1 can Black Beans, drained

1 can Corn, drained

(oops, forgot that for the picture)

Green Onions

Shredded Cheese

Tortilla Strips

Here is what Becky said:

“Now, there are different ways you can have this. In the past, we would mix all the fresh ingredients and then pour the ranch on top, then drizzled with BBQ sauce. My husband prefers to marinate the cooked chicken in the BBQ sauce all day and serve it that way. I also like to mix the ranch dressing and the BBQ sauce together for a Ranch/BBQ dressing. Whatever the way, it is SOOOO good! “

I chose to mix the Ranch dressing and BBQ sauce, then marinate the cooked chicken in the sauce. That alone was wonderful. If you were to shred the chicken and mix it with the sauce, you would have a wonderful filling for a chicken sandwich.

I also crushed the tortilla chips and mixed it with the salad just before I served it.

This recipe did not disappoint.

It was SO good!

Everyone loved this, it will defiantly become a regular at our dinner table.

(Check out Becky’s cute blog here.)

For other great dinner ideas, head over to Our Bluebell Country

Party Poppy Seed Salad

Posted on March 19, 2010 by Momzoo

The third salad in my series come from

Tiffany

I really liked this salad as did most of the kids.

I tell ya, kids just don’t appreciate a good salad, however, with this salad there was something in it that everyone liked.

First thing first I am going to show you how to caramelized nuts. This salad calls for caramelized pecans, which are so yummy and very simple to do.

To make 1 cup of caramelized nuts you will need:

1 cup nuts

(I am using walnuts, I was a ding-dong and forgot to get pecans)

1 Tbsp butter

2 Tbsp sugar

First you melt the butter

simple enough

Then add the nuts and butter

Saute until the sugar dissolves and coats the nuts.

Set it on a plate to cool.

There you have it, simple, you can also make large batches and freeze for later use. These are really yummy for just plain old eating too.

Now onto the salad dressing.

I really liked this, I saved the left over dressing for my lunch salad today, very good!

Our cast of characters:

1/4 cup Red Onion, chopped

1/2 cup Sugar

1 tsp Dijon Mustard

1/2 tsp Salt

1/3 cup apple Cider Vinegar

1 cup Oil

Everything, except the poppy seeds are put into a blender.

Blend on high until everything is mixed well .

I then poured the dressing into a jar and added the poppy seeds

Then gave it a good shake to mix the seeds in, and set aside.

Now for the body of this super yummy salad

We have:

1 bag Spring Mix Salad

2.4 heads Romain Lettuce, chopped

2 Apples or Pear (or a mix) peeled and chopped

1 cup Caramelized Pecans

1 cup Craisins

1 cup Crumbled Feta

(I didn’t peel my pears, as a general rule I don’t peel things, I am lazy that way)

Mix everything together and toss with dressing.

This makes a huge salad, which is great if you need to take it to a party. I actually halved most of the recipe (except the nuts and feta, I like nuts and feta) for my family of 7 and it was a perfect amount.

Serve and Enjoy!

Thanks Tiffany for this wonderful salad, I will be making this again and again.

Oriental Salad

Posted on March 18, 2010 by Momzoo

The second salad in my series is from

Tabatha
and this salad is really good.

It has three different parts, a crunchy topping, the dressing and the actual salad.

First we are going to start with the topping:

1/4 cup sliced Almonds
2 Tbsp Sesame Seeds
1Tbsp Sugar
2 Tbsp Butter, melted

First to melt the butter

Then add the ingredients

and saute until golden brown

Tabitha also says you can toss all the ingredients together and roast in a 350 degree oven. This little mixture burns easily to watch it closely.

Once it has browned put it in a container and let cool. It turns wonderfully crispy with a lightly sweet, roasted flavor.

The second part is the dressing:

2Tbsp Sugar

2 Tbsp Soy Sauce

3/4 cup oil

1/4 cup Red Wine Vinegar

Put all the ingredients together and whisk until the sugar is dissolved. Give it a good stir right before serving, because it will separate.

After I mixed this dressing I tasted it and I will be honest, I was a little disappointed. It seemed to lack flavor, I don’t really know what I was expecting, but this wasn’t it! However I went with it and I will say that once it is combined with the finished salad it is fabulous, it mixed so well with the other flavors I am glad that I didn’t change it at all.