Creamy Pasta and Veggie Salad makes a great dinner salad for cool summer eating. It’s also perfect for potlucks and family. However or whenever, this salad makes an appearance it is a well balanced blend of carbs, veggies and proteins. It’s healthy and makes a big salad so it will serve a large number of people – or be a made ahead dinner salad a couple of times for three or four eaters. It’s also a nice change from mayo dressed salads and always disappears quickly. I like for my ingredients to “even out” so there aren’t little bits of leftover ingredients setting around. Three cups of dry pasta is generally about a 16 ounce package. That’s what I use if the dry pasta measures out between 2 ¾ cups and 3 ¼ cups. Any less and the salad won’t have the pasta base needed to carry the other ... [Read More]
pasta
Bacon Ranch Chicken Pasta Bake
Bacon Ranch Chicken Pasta Bake --Soooo good you’ll want seconds – and thirds! Everything goes together fairly quickly. While you are preparing the pasta, you can also cook the bacon and then the chicken. I prefer to use thinner chicken breast cuts because they cook quickly and can be more easily cut into uniform pieces. Cut the bacon before browning, either with a knife on a cutting board or with a pair of kitchen shears. I always burn my fingers trying to cut bacon after it is browned! Roux is melted butter (or other fat) and flour mixed together. When the flour has been incorporated into the fat, cook just long enough for the mixture to turn slightly golden before adding the liquid. Cooking too long or over too high a heat will make the sauce lumpy. Better to prevent lumps than try to ... [Read More]
Chicken Spaghetti
Chicken spaghetti is a versatile dish. 1) It can easily handle add-ins, like a 10 ounce package of frozen mixed vegetables or 8 ounces of sauted mushrooms 2) Can be wrapped and frozen for up to six months for make ahead meals, before or after baking. 3) Can be made ahead and kept covered and refrigerated for two days before baking – great for making in advance when you’ll have guests. 4) It’s perfect for a potluck – creamy, cheesy chicken and spaghetti will please everyone 5) Bake in disposable pans for a take in meal when someone is sick or in need. 6) Package in individual serving sized microwavable containers for a weeks worth of lunches or to warm when the family schedule is crazy. A hardworking dish that everyone loves. Serve with vegetable salad for a complete meal. Chicken ... [Read More]
Bacon Ranch Garden Patch Salad
We love a main dish salad for dinner in the summer. Bacon Ranch Garden Salad has it all – meat, pasta, veggies and bacon! It’s perfect for a summer day – make ahead in the morning when the kitchen is cool and it’s ready to serve on the shady deck for the evening meal! Use your favorite pasta, mini or regular. Hidden Valley has a bacon ranch dressing with their signature creamy ranch flavor, Kraft’s version is more zippy with a hint of vinegar in the base. Add bacon cooked crisp and crumbled or packaged real bacon crumbles to up the bacon flavor. To make Bacon Garden Ranch Pasta salad even quicker and easier, I buy the packaged fresh broccoli that has already been trimmed and cut into pieces. They are usually the same price at my store as the heads of broccoli with less work and ... [Read More]
Texas Spaghetti
I needed a dish to take to a family of three big guys and big eaters. Something that could be refrigerated for a few days or frozen until later. Something that could be warmed one serving at a time or all at once for a meal. Something familiar, truly comfort food as they were in the midst of a tough time. I was hesitant to do this sort of thing for a long time after we moved to a metropolitan area. Then I had surgery one year and the neighbors planned things so someone brought us something for the evening meal every day. It was wonderful for the whole family not to have to worry about groceries, planning or cooking for that week! Now I have no qualms about taking things to people who might need a bit of relief. I remembered Texas Spaghetti from Cub Scout days. It fit all the ... [Read More]
Crock Pot Lasagna
I mooshed several different Crockpot Lasagna recipes together to come up with another crockpot special to feed the work crew during the kitchen remodel! I would make this crock pot lasagna again – but flavor it up a little bit. Normally we don’t do spicy, but this was a little bland for us. Since I did not have a stove, I used ground beef that I browned before freezing and added dried onion flakes and minced garlic from a jar. I think this would be better with a small/medium onion chopped and sauted with about twice the garlic I used. It probably would also benefit from using a more flavorful jarred sauce so use your favorite instead of the plain I had. Or add a teaspoon of Italian seasoning. Remember to keep the meat and sauce layer thin enough to sort of see the noodles beneath ... [Read More]
