Italian Pasta Salad

I love pasta salads! You almost always can put whatever you want in them and throw on a vinaigrette dressing and your done. It's hard to mess up a pasta salad. Which is one of the main reasons it is always a go to dish when company comes over. ;) This salad is delicious, light, and flavorful. I love the salami & mini pepperoni's along with the mozzarella. So tasty!! It can be a side or a whole meal in itself. What are your favorite ingredients to put in your pasta salad?

 

Ingredients:

 

• 1 (16 ounce) package fusilli (spiral) pasta                       
• 3 cups cherry tomatoes, halved                                                                 
• 1/2 pound provolone cheese, cubes                       
• 1/2 pound salami, cubed                             
• 1 bag of small pepperoni's
• 1 large green bell pepper, cut into 1 inch pieces    
• 1 (10 ounce) can black olives, drained                  
• 1 (4 ounce) jar pimentos, drained                    
• 1 (8 ounce) bottle Italian salad dressing

Instructions:

 

1. Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil. Add pasta, and cook for 8 to 10 minutes or until al dente. Drain, and rinse with cold water.

2. In a large bowl, combine pasta with tomatoes, cheese, salami, pepperoni, green pepper, olives, and pimentos. Pour in salad dressing, and toss to coat.

 

Recipe adapted & modified from All Recipes.

Chicken Salad

 

Ingredients:

seasoned shredded chicken
mayo
grapes cut into halves or quarters
1/2 cup of pecans
1/2 cup of sliced celery
cheese slices
croissants

Directions:

When I make chicken salad I like for my chicken to be seasoned. I love buying a rotisserie chicken from the grocery store and using it to make chicken salad. It's so yummy! Today, however, I was craving a different flavor. I was wanting something that would give my chicken a tangy kick with a little bit of sweet. While shopping I found Lawry's Hawaiian seasoning and gave it a try. It turned out to be just the flavor I was looking for.

I placed 5 small chicken breasts in my slow cookers and poured the seasoning over each side of the breasts. I then let it cook on low for about five hours. I let it cook until I can easily pull my chicken a part with two forks.

After shredding your chicken add your grape halves, pecans, celery, and enough mayo to lightly cover the whole salad.

I love chicken salad on a croissant with cheese. My husband loves to add a tomato & lettuce. It's all up to you....  How do you like to eat your chicken salad? I'd love to hear. :)

Mom's Potato Salad

 

This is the potato salad recipe that I grew up eating and LOVE! It's really very simple to put together and good along side almost everything. This past week I made this salad along with chopped beef sandwiches. Oh So Good!

Ingredients:

• 4-6 medium size potatoes
• 4 boiled eggs
• mayonnaise
• dill pickle relish
• salt and pepper

Directions:
Cut up your potatoes into small cubes and boil until done. Drain and place in a bowl and let cool in the fridge. If you don't let them cool long enough then when you mix your salad your potatoes will become mushy.

After boiling your eggs in boiling water for 10 minutes remove and also let cool in the fridge. Once cool, remove the shells and chop up into cubes.

I don't have the exact measurements for the mayo and relish. I just add it to the potato and egg until I like the consistency.

Mix it all together and it is OH so GOOD!!

Salt and pepper to your liking. ENJOY!

German Potato Salad

I have always enjoyed having German potato salad with bar b que for as long as I can remember. There is a restaurant, where I grew up, that we would go to occasionally for chopped beef and I would always get German potato salad on the side. Since then, I have always wanted to learn to make the salad.
Last week my husband wanted to have some bar b que and asked me if I'd make some German potato salad along with it. I LOVED the idea! I found this recipe on All Recipes. We both really liked it however, next time, I will not put as much sugar. Other than that it was perfect!

Ingredients:
4 Potatoes
4 slices of bacon
1 tablespoon all purpose flour
2 tablespoons white sugar
1/3 cup water
1/4 cup white wine vinegar
1/2 cup chopped green onions
salt and pepper to taste

Directions:
Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Add potatoes; cook until tender but still firm, about 15 minutes. Drain, cool, and chop.
Place bacon in a large, deep skillet. Cook over medium high heat until evenly brown. Drain, crumble and set aside. Reserve bacon fat.
Add the flour, sugar, and water and vinegar to skillet and cook in reserved bacon fat over medium heat until dressing is thick.
Add bacon, potatoes and green onions to skillet and stir until coated. Cook until heated and season with salt and pepper. Serve warm.

Chipotle Chicken Taco Salad

 

 We have had a much cooler spring in Texas this year for sure!! But this last weekend it has started to warm up into the 80's and I am starting to crave summer salads. As I was looking at recipes this one caught my eye and I had to give it a try. It is a lot like the Southwestern Chopped Chicken Salad I wrote about a while back. The salad ingredients are almost the same, but the dressing is different. They both are very good!!

Dressing:

1/3 cup chopped fresh cilantro
2/3 cup light sour cream
1 tablespoon minced chipotle chile, canned in adobe sauce
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon chili powder
4 teaspoons fresh lime juice
1/4 teaspoon salt

Salad:

4 cups shredded romaine lettuce
2 cups chopped roasted skinless, boneless chicken breasts (about 2 breasts)
1 cup cherry tomatoes, halved
1/2 cup diced peeled avocado
1/3 cup thinly vertically sliced red onion
1 (15 ounce) can black beans, rinsed and drained
1 (8 3/4 ounce) can no-salt added whole kernel corn, rinsed and drained

To prepare dressing, combine first 7 ingredients, stirring well.

To prepare salad, combine lettuce and remaining ingredients in a large bowl. Drizzle dressing over salad; toss gently to coat. Serve immediately.

Tip: Add a spoonful of adobo sauce for a spicier salad. Kidney or pinto beans also taste great in this dish.

Source: Nutmeg Notebook

Club Pasta Salad

I made this for lunch a couple of Saturday's ago for my mom and dad and it was a huge hit. The combination of ingredients is delicious!! My family and I give this salad Five stars!! :)

Ingredients:

• 2 cups uncooked shell pasta
• 1 (1oz) packet Hidden Valley ranch dressing mix
• 1/4 cup bacon bits
• 1/2 teaspoon onion powder
• 1/2 cup mayonnaise
• 1 1/2 cups cut-up cooked turkey or 1 1/2 cup chicken
• 1/2 cup cherry tomatoes, cut into fourths
• 1/2 cup julienne strips cheddar cheese
• 4 cups bite-size pieces lettuce

Directions:

Fill large saucepan 2/3 full of water. Heat to boiling. Stir in contents of pasta.

Gently boil uncovered 15 minutes. Stirring occasionally, until tender.

Drain pasta. Rinse with cold water. Shake to drain well.

Combine Hidden Valley ranch mix, onion powder and bacon bits with mayonnaise in a large bowl. Stir in chilled pasta and remaining ingredients except lettuce. Serve on lettuce. Refrigerate leftovers.

Source: Food.com

Southwestern Chopped Chicken Salad

Salad:
2 cups shredded chicken
1 green bell pepper, diced
1 can black beans, rinsed
1 can sweet yellow corn (or 1 cup frozen corn, thawed)
2 roma tomatoes, diced
4 green onions, sliced
1 head ice berg lettuce, washed and chopped
1/4 cup cilantro, chopped
2 ripe avocados, diced
1 cup crushed tortilla chips

dressing:
1/2 cup mayonnaise
2/3 cup Greek yogurt
1 tbsp ranch seasoning
1 tbsp taco seasoning

Directions:
In a large bowl, combine all salad ingredients together, excluding the tortilla chips. Next time I make this salad I am also going to exclude the lettuce as well. The lettuce became too soft for my husband and I so next time we will place the lettuce on a plate and then spoon all the other ingredients on top of the lettuce.

In a small bowl combine the dressing ingredients together. You could either coat all the vegetables with the dressing or just pour over each individual salad. That's up to you. Top with tortilla chips and Enjoy!

Recipe adapted from Lauren's Latest

Taco Salad

Ingredients:

• 1 lb ground meat
• Package of McCormick Taco seasoning mix
• 1 can pinto beans 
• tortilla chips
• shredded lettuce
• 2 Roma tomatoes dices
• shredded cheese
• olives sliced
• sour cream
• guacamole 

Directions:

• On the stove top in a large pan brown your ground meat. Drain the fat.
• Add your package of McCormick Taco seasoning. Follow instructions on the package.
• Heat the pinto beans. You can heat them seperately or with the meat it's up to you. I put mine in with the meat and let it all simmer together. 
• On a dinner plate place your tortilla chips, meat and beans, cheese, lettuce, tomatoes, olives, sour cream, and guacamole. You can put these in order you like. You can not go wrong!!

I hope you enjoy one of my favorite meals. :) To make this meal even better make a pitcher of margaritas to wash it all down!!