Italian Style Pasta Salad

 This is a basic recipe, easy to make and a favorite. These days I prefer this to macaroni salad with mayonnaise. Add some pepperoni and/or chopped salami for more protein. You can also use sliced cheese sticks instead of the mozzarella balls.

1 box rotini (I use Barilla's protein plus)
1 package small, fresh mozzarella balls dried off.

1 or two cans small black olives, drained.

1 package of 3 bell peppers, diced small.

1 package grape tomatoes diced small.

Zesty Italian dressing.

Cook the pasta, drain and rinse under cool water.

Add rest of ingredients and toss.

Coleslaw 2.0

 I came across this recipe and love it more than the Helmann's recipe. This is from Creme de la Crumb.

3 Cups shredded cabbage & 1/2 C shredded carrots (I use a 16 oz bag of coleslaw mix)

Dressing: 

1/2 C mayo
1 T honey
2 tsp dijon mustard
1 T rice vinegar
salt and pepper to taste

Mix dressing ingredients and toss into shredded cabbage

Farm Stand Potato Salad

 We are trying to get away from mayonnaise based salads, and this potato salad, which comes from MyRecipes.com, is delicious. 

1 3/4 lb. fingerling (or small) potatoes, cut to bite size pieces

1 C sugar snap peas, trimmed

1 C broccoli florets

1/4 C diced red pepper 

1/4 C diced green pepper

1/4 C diced yellow pepper

1/4 C sliced scallions

Dressing:

3 T lemon juice

2 T olive oil

1 T Dijon mustard

1/4 t thyme

1/2 t salt

1/2 t celery seeds

Cook potatoes until tender, about 10 minutes.

Add peas and broccoli, cook for one minute.

Drain and add other salad ingredients

Whisk dressing ingredients, pour on salad and toss

Broccoli Slaw

Again I have found the ultimate recipe for broccoli slaw and the key is the dressing. It's not sweet, although it does call for some sugar. I had to make four times the dressing that the recipe calls for. I started with two large bunches of broccoli crowns and I cannot deal with cutting it in julienne strips so I just chopped it all up in my Ninja. Then I shredded four large carrots and threw in what was left of the slivered almonds I bought for another salad (about 1/2 C?). It made SO MUCH. It filled my largest bowl and we will be eating this for a week. In the future I will just buy the bags of broccoli slaw mix because I cannot judge amounts and it makes such a mess to cut up broccoli.  But this is the recipe I will use. It comes from the website Add A Pinch.

2 12 ounce bags broccoli slaw

1/2 onion, chopped

1/4 C mayonnaise

1 T apple cider vinegar

1 tsp sugar

juice of 1 lime - I used a T of lime juice (x 4)

salt and pepper to taste (I used 1/2 t salt x 4)

(I will add some sunflower seeds if I have them)

I love this dressing! 

Coleslaw

This is Hellman's mayonnaise's simple coleslaw recipe (and their picture).

My mother in-law's coleslaw is the best but this is so easy to make that it is my go-to. Plus the dressing amounts are catered to a bag of store bought slaw. I cut the amount of sugar in half.

1 lb package coleslaw mix

1 C mayonnaise

2 T lemon juice

1 T sugar

.5 t salt

Mix dressing ingredients and then mix with coleslaw mix.

The Best Bean Salad

I go on quests to find "the" recipe that I will always use. Sometimes I will try something different just for fun but will go back to my standard because it's the best. I shared a recipe for Cowboy Caviar which was pretty good but this is the recipe I will repeatedly use. The ingredients are pretty much the same (this one called for just black beans but the ingredients could be whatever I want) but the key is the dressing. Equal parts oil and vinegar and NO SUGAR. This recipe came from the website CookieandKate but I did not make it exactly like she did. I used canned beans and corn and bottled lime juice but it was still absolutely delicious. (I am still seeking THE go to baked bean recipe.)

VEGGIES

3 cans black beans, rinsed and drained (or 4.5 C cooked)

1 can corn, drained, or from 2 ears of corn, or 1 C frozen, thawed

chopped peppers (I used 1 orange, 1 yellow, and 1 red this time)

chopped onion

small tomatoes halved or quartered (she called for 1 cup but use as much as you like)

.5 C chopped parsley (or cilantro)

DRESSING

.25 C olive oil

.25 C white vinegar

2 T lime juice

.5 t chili powder

.5 t ground cumin

.5 t salt

Combine veggies, combine dressing ingredients, and mix the two together.

Broccoli Slaw

I was going to just cook broccoli but why do that when I had the ingredients to make this salad when it's 90 degrees outside? Cold foods for the win!

This is adapted from acouplecooks.com

@ 1.5 pounds broccoli florets, chopped

2 medium carrots or as much as you like, shredded

@ 1/3 C sunflower seeds

Dressing:

.5 C mayo

2 T apple cider vinegar

2 T maple syrup (or sugar)

.5 t celery seed

.5 t salt

Mix veggies and seeds. Mix dressing ingredients, pour into veggies, stir, refrigerate. Done. Quick and easy.

Cowboy Caviar

• .5 C olive oil
• .25 C sugar
• .25 C white wine vinegar
• 1 t chili powder
• 1 t salt
• 1 pound roma tomatoes, chopped
• 1 can black beans
• 1 can black eyed peas
• 1 can sweet corn
• 1 red onion, diced
• .5 C diced green pepper
• .5 C diced red pepper
• parsley

mix dressing, add beans and veggie, toss, and refrigerate

Tracey's Potato Salad

6 medium potatoes
6 eggs
1 medium green pepper, chopped
2 stalks celery, chopped
1/3 C chopped onion
1 1/4 C mayo
1 T vinegar
2 t dijon mustard
1 t salt
1/2 t pepper

cook potatoes, boil eggs, peel & cut up and mix everything together

Grandma V's Potato Salad

2 lbs potatoes cooked in a lot of salt, chopped or sliced
celery sliced thin
sweet onion, chopped
fresh parsley
Mrs. Dash

Driessing:
1 part vinegar
1 part water
1/8-1/4 part sugar
1/4 part oil

mix and then mix into veggies

Broccoli Tomato Salad

1 large bunch broccoli, separated into florets
2 large tomatoes, cut into wedges
3/4 C sliced fresh mushrooms
2 green onions, sliced

Dressing:

3/4 C oil
1/3 C vinegar
2 T water
1 t lemon juice
1 t sugar
1 t salt (optional)
3/4 t thyme
1 garlic clove, minced
1/2 t celery seed
1/4 t italian seasoning
1/4 t lemon-pepper
1/4 t paprika
1/4 t ground mustard

cook broccoli until crisp-tender, cool and drain
mix with other vegetables
mix dressing, pour over veggies
toss gently
voer and chill for 1 hour

Corn Salad

From  the I Don't Cook Cookbook

2 C fresh or frozen (cooked) or canned corn
3/4 C chopped tomatoes
1/2 C chopped green pepper
1/2 C chopped celery
1/4 C chopped scallions
1/4 C dressing (ranch is best)
chopped bacon if desired

Cilantro, Chicken, and Black Bean Salad

from the I Don't Cook Cookbook

1 can black beans, rinsed and drained
1 can corn, drained
1 red pepper, cut in thin strips or chopped or whatever
1/2 cup chopped scallions
1/4 C sliced black olives
1 1/2 C cooked chicken
4 C torn lettuce

1/3 C olive oil
2 T lime juice
2 T chopped cilantro
1 1/2 t sugar
1 clove garlic minced
1/2 t chili powder
1/4 t pepper

combine all salad ingredients but lettuce
combine all dressing ingredients
mix dressing into salad
serve salad on lettuce

Marinades

From the free measuring cup that came with a bottle of Lea & Perrins Worcestershire sauce

Tangy Beef Marinade:

1/4 C olive oil
1/4 C red wine vinegar
1/2 C Lea & Perrins Worcestershire Sauce
fresh ground pepper

Chicken Marinade:

1/3 C olive oil
1/3 C lemon juice
1/3 C Lea & Perrins Worcestershire Sauce
1/2 t ground ginger

Vinaigrette Dressing

1/6 C Lea & Perrins Worcestershire Sauce
1/6 C vinegar
2/3 C olive oil
1 t dijon mustard
salt & pepper

Macaroni Salad

At Christmas?!!! The crazy part of this is, Christmas Eve day is going to be MUGGY with a high of 65-70! Where do we live?! The reality is that my sister is having us over to celebrate her daughter in-law's and granddaughter's birthdays, determined that their birthdays will not be neglected just because of where they fall on the calendar. So, she has asked me to make macaroni salad. My mother in-law makes a delicious macaroni salad, and she taught me how to make it, and I have made it many, many times. However, it is a recipe that is a little of this, more of this, a lot of this, and taste it until it tastes right to you. So, for me at least, it was hit or miss, so I went searching on the internet for a recipe close to my MIL's. This is it, with a couple of tweaks:

Hellman's Macaroni Salad (this is doubled):

1 pound elbow macaroni, cooked until al dente, rinsed in cold water, and drained

lots of carrots (maybe 6), chopped fine* (use your electric chopper and make it easy on yourself)
lots of celery (maybe 6 stalks), chopped fine*
a small onion (optional), chopped fine*
or whatever veggies you want

2 C mayo
1/4 C apple cider vinegar
2 T dijon mustard
1 1/2 t salt
2 t sugar
ground pepper to taste

mix dressing ingredients, allow to blend

mix pasta and veggies, add dressing to desired consistency (you can really halve the dressing, especially if you are using it right away)

*by chopping the veggies fine, kids cannot avoid them when eating the salad, although mine do their best