Pasta Salad

This salad is full of veggies. With a little pepperoni and ham kick mixed in. And when you are in the mood for savory...this hits the spot, with little guilt thanks to all our garden friends. Just don't think about the dressing. Wink.

Pasta Salad
1-2 boxes of corkscrew pasta (Sometimes I will mix different shapes for fun)
1 bottle of Kraft Tuscan House Italian, or your fav Italian dressing
1 package thinly sliced ham cut into small strips
handful of pepperoni cut into small strips
1 cucumber cubed
carrots
head of broccoli
1/2 head of cauliflower
red pepper
can of medium black olives
1 cup of grated Parmesan cheese
salt and pepper

Cook and cool pasta, add a small tidge of olive oil to prevent from sticking while cooling.
Cut all veggies into uniform bite size pieces and add to pasta. Add olives, parmesan cheese,ham, pepperoni and the bottle of dressing.
Salt and pepper and mix and chill.
You can add whatever else you'd like, i.e. cherry tomatoes, red onion, pine nuts and so on.

Bowtie Chicken Caesar Salad

This is my go to salad when I'm feeling salady. Its a combo of my favorite salads and dressings. You can make it your own and add what you want. But don't skimp on the dressings. I'm telling you, home made is best.

Bow tie Chicken Caesar Salad
2 head romaine lettuce chopped
2 chicken breasts grilled and sliced
1 box of bow tie pasta cooked and cooled
sliced carrots
cucumber cubed
cherry tomatoes
sliced avocado
1 can drained and sliced hearts of palm, (can be found in specialty aisle and so delicious)
yellow peppers
Parmesan cheese

**anything else that sounds good**

Toss all together and serve with creamy Caesar and balsamic vinaigrette. And of course fresh bread. Tonight's case was buttermilk biscuits and strawberry jam.

Balsamic Dressing
1 c. olive oil
1/2 c. balsamic vinegar
3 to 4 cloves garlic, minced
3 tbsp. Parmesan cheese
Salt and pepper to taste
tad of oregano or basil
Blend at full speed in blender or food processor

Creamy Caesar
1/4 c. lemon juice
1/2 c. vegetable oil
2 pressed or minced garlic cloves
1/4 c. Parmesan cheese
1-2 tsp sugar
1-2 tsp Dijon mustard
salt and pepper
Blend at full speed in blender or food processor

Chicken Pecan

Stuffing my face with oatmeal pecan chocolate chip cookies this afternoon, I noticed this recipe on the back of the pecan package. Maybe it was my must eat salty after sweet thing but holy moly, it spoke to me. I had every ingredient except the poultry seasoning and made it there and then. Delicious, and different. 2 thumbs up. (plus it reminded me of eating open face sandwiches on English muffins at Grams in younger years :)

Chicken Pecan
recipe courtesy Fishers Nuts

3 cups cooked chicken breasts cut into julienne strips (a leftover rotisserie chicken did the job)
1/4 cup butter
2 tsp. chicken bouillon
1/4 c. flour
1/4 tsp. poultry seasoning
2 cups milk
2 tsp. lemon juice
1/2 cup finely chopped celery
1/2 cup finely chopped red bell pepper
1/2 cup chopped pecans
Toasted English muffins

In saucepan melt butter. Add bouillon. Blend in flour and seasoning. Gradually add milk and lemon juice; stir constantly until thickened. Stir in celery, red pepper, chicken and pecans. Cook until heated through.
Spoon over toasted English muffins. Garnish with pecan halves.