Taco Pasta Salad

It’s been a while, huh? Truth is, Corrie has been doing a large chunk of our dinner cooking lately.  I have a 40 minute commute home, and he generally at least starts if not completely finishes dinner by the time I get  here.  It is both insanely wonderful and very much appreciated.  Right now, my only contributions seem to come through making a menu for the week and any meals we might make on the weekend.  So, I think perhaps a few guest posts might be in order especially given that he’s has mad writing skills.  While I’m obviously biased, he occasionally writes for a sports website, etc. so I’m pretty confident it’s true.

Taco Pasta Salad

Serves 8-12

• 1 pound bow tie or wagon wheel pasta
• Salt
• 1 (10-ounce) package frozen corn
• 1½ cups salsa
• 1 (15-ounce) can black beans, drained and rinsed
• 2 medium tomatoes, diced
• ½ cup chopped fresh cilantro
• 8 ounces (2 cups) shredded cheddar cheese
• 3-4 tablespoons lime juice
• 1 large (or 2 small) avocado, peeled, seeded, and diced
• 1 tablespoon cumin
• 2 teaspoon chili powder
• ¼ teaspoon freshly ground pepper
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• ¼ cup olive oil

Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Add 1 tablespoon salt and the pasta. Cook according to the package directions. Drain the pasta and then stir the frozen corn into the pasta to cool the pasta and defrost the corn. Stir the salsa into the pasta and corn, then add the beans, tomatoes, cilantro, and cheese.

Combine lime juice and avocado in a small bowl, and stir to coat avocado. Remove the avocado from the lime juice and add to the pasta (if you’re serving that day otherwise keep it separate until ready to serve), reserving the lime juice.

Heat a small stick pan (not non-stick) over medium heat for a few minutes , add the spices and stir just until they start to smoke, no longer than a minute to toast them. Add the spices, garlic, and ½ teaspoon salt to the lime juice, then slowly whisk in the oil.

Mix dressing into salad. Serve immediately or chill for up to one day.

Recipe found at The Way the Cookie Crumbles, adapted slightly from Cara’s Cravings

Rotelli’s Salads

I’m not a big “fast food” person.  I like subs, Chipotle, Panera, etc., but I wouldn’t purposly choose a typical fast food restaurant.  When we lived in Columbus, we had so many quick pick-up options to choose from – take away from Cap City Diner (YUM!), Chipotle, Panera, Potbelly’s, and a gazillion other places were less than a mile from our house.  One of our favorite other take-out options was Rotelli’s.  They have delicious salads served in large bread bowls (basically a pizza dough round with salad on top).  While probably not the healthiest thing ever, they were so yummy!  Since I seem to make pizza dough fairly often now, I decided one day when I had some left over from making BBQ Chicken Pizza that I would try my hand at making us our own Rotelli salads.

They came out extremely delicious, so much so that I’ve made them again since the original time and they’re on the menu again tomorrow!  One of the best things about them is that I’ve had Corrie grill the pizza dough so we don’t have to turn on the oven in this hot Southern summer, and it’s worked out perfectly.

I’ve used several different dressings, but I used this one the other day and it was easy and tasty!

Corrie also loved their spinach salad, so that might be up next!

Rotelli’s Inspired Gorgonzola Salad

Serves 2

• 5 cups of romaine lettuce, roughly chopped
• 1/2 cup of walnuts, divided
• 1/2 cup of roasted red peppers, divided
• 1/2 cup Gorgonzola cheese, divided
• Cucumbers, sliced
• Tomatoes, if desired
• 1/2 batch of pizza dough
• Dressing (recipe below)

Preheat grill to medium high and form individual size (8″ rounds) circles.  Grill the pizza dough on both sides until cooked through.  Make sure to oil the dough and grates a little bit so it doesn’t stick!

Top the first pizza round with 1/2 of each: lettuce, gorgonzola, cucumbers, tomatoes, walnuts, and red peppers.  Repeat for the second pizza round.  Drizzle with dressing and eat!

Dressing

• 3/4 cup canola oil
• 1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
• 1/4 cup red wine vinegar
• 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
• 3/4 teaspoon dry mustard
• 1/2 teaspoon Worcestershire
• 1/4 teaspoon sugar
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste

Whisk all the ingredients together in a bowl.

Dressing from:  Smitten Kitchen

Creamy Cucumber Salad

As I’ve mentioned, I love cucumbers, and I love dill so when I saw Ina make this one day I was immediately sold.  I did make a couple changes to the recipe, but I’ve left it untouched below, because this is really more a salad to adjust based on your preferences more than anything else. For example, although I do like them now, I’m still not a huge in-your-face onion person, so I used less red onion as well as made less “dressing” using less yogurt and and sour cream than the recipe calls for.

I also had reduced the overall size of the recipe thinking how would Corrie, who is just starting to voluntarily eat cucumbers, and I finish an enormous amount of this salad.  Well, that was a mistake.  It was gone in an evening. Guess it’s time to be made again!

Creamy Cucumber Salad

• 4 hothouse cucumbers, thinly sliced (3 to 4 pounds)
• 2 small red onions, thinly sliced in half rounds
• Kosher salt
• 4 cups (32 ounces) plain whole-milk yogurt (I used low-fat.)
• 1 cup (8 ounces) sour cream
• 2 tablespoons champagne vinegar or white wine vinegar
• 1/2 cup minced fresh dill
• 1 1/2 teaspoons freshly ground black pepper

Mix the cucumbers, red onions, and 1 1/2 tablespoons of salt in a bowl. Pour them into a colander and suspend it over a bowl. Wrap the bowl and colander with plastic wrap, and place in the refrigerator to drain for at least 4 hours or overnight. Discard the liquid that collects in the bowl.

Pour the yogurt into a sieve lined with a paper towel and suspend it over another bowl. Wrap the bowl and sieve in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 4 hours or overnight. Discard the liquid that collects in the second bowl.

When the cucumbers are ready, roll them up in paper towels or a kitchen towel and press the towel lightly to remove most of the liquid. Place the cucumbers and yogurt in a large bowl with the sour cream, vinegar, dill, 2 teaspoons salt, and the pepper. Toss well and refrigerate for a few hours to allow the flavors to blend. Sprinkle with 1/2 teaspoon salt and 1/2 teaspoon pepper and serve chilled.

Recipe from Food Network

Caesar Salad with Yummy, Crunchy Garlic Croutons

As I’ve mentioned, I’m relatively new to the world of following food blogs; however, it’s amazing the impact they’ve already had on our menus.  The ease of tagging recipes, having a myriad of recipes available to file away in the first place, and the ability to pinpoint several possiblities based on solely one criteria if desired means that they have at least temporarily hijacked our meals.  Sometimes it leads to some tasty creations, and I really enjoyed this play on a caesar salad and how easy the dressing was to make!

Caesar Salad with Yummy, Crunch Garlic Croutons

Recipe from Pioneer Woman

Croutons

• 4 cloves garlic
• 1/4 cup pure olive oil
• 2 cups bread cubes, cut from a  baguette or other crusty bread
• Pinch of salt

Salad

• 3 romaine hearts, leave as whole leaves or chopped as I did
• 2 Tbsp. lemon juice, freshly squeezed
• 2 1/2 Tbsp. mayonnaise
• 1/4 tsp. Worcestershire
• 5 Tbsp. pure olive oil
• 1/4 tsp. kosher salt
• Freshly ground black pepper
• 1/4 cup Parmesan cheese, grated or shaved (plus extra for garnish)

Using a food processor or blender, put the garlic through the feeder tube while it’s running until minced.  Scrape down the bowl, put the lid back on and add the olive oil the same way as the garlic.  Pulse for about 30 seconds then strain garlic from the oil through a fine-mesh strainer.

In a medium bowl combine the bread cubes with the garlic oil and salt.  Toss until coated.  Once a skillet is heated over medium heat, add the bread and toast the cubes, stirring and turning the cubes often.  It will take about 5-7 minutes until they’re golden brown.  Remove from the heat and remove the croutons to cool.

In a small bowl, whisk together lemon juice, mayonnaise, half the reserved garlic, and Worcestershire sauce.  Put the lettuce in a bowl, and drizzle it with olive oil and salt and pepper.  Toss to combine, then drizzle the lemon dressing over the lettuce and toss again.  Finally, add the parmesan and croutons and toss for a last time.

Panzanella

Ahh…the last of the blurry picture meal.  This salad was just too tasty to wait until I make it again and can take a better picture.
*Picture updated 6/3/10

Panzanella

Recipe adapted from Barefoot Contessa

• 2 Tbsp. good olive oil
• 1 small French bread or boule (I sliced it but am leaving her instructions to cut into 1-inch cubes as another option – 6 cups)
• 1 tsp. kosher salt
• 2 large tomatoes, diced into 1″ cubes
• 1 hothouse cucumber, unpeeled and cubed
• 1 red bell pepper, diced 1″ cubes
• 1 yellow bell pepper, diced 1″ cubes
• 1/2 red onion, thinly sliced half-moons
• 20 basil leaves, coarsely chopped
• 3 Tbsp. capers, drained (I omitted these.)

Vinagrette

• 1 tsp. finely minced garlic
• 1/2 tsp. Dijon mustard
• 3 Tbsp. Champagne vinegar
• 1/2 cup good olive oil
• 1/2 tsp. kosher salt
• 1/4 tsp. freshly ground black pepper

I drizzled the bread with olive oil and grilled it, but you could also heat the oil (recipe showed 3 tbsp.) in a large saute pan and add the bread to that to brown.  Cook over medium-low heat and stir frequently.

Combine the vegetables, bread, and salt and pepper in a bowl.  In a separate bowl, whisk all the vinagrette ingredients together.   Add the vinagrette to the vegetables and bread, and mix to combine.   Let the salad sit for a half hour to allow the flavors to combine.

Cap City Diner’s Two Apple Salad

One of the hardest things  we’ve had to get used to in our move was the reduction in restaurant choices.  In Columbus – I know it gets confusing; we’re from Cleveland, OH; lived in Columbus, OH for the past several years, and have now moved to Knoxville, TN – although we sometimes wished there were fewer chain and more local restaurants, there was a myriad of choices.  We didn’t know how good we had it!  Knoxville…so far, we’ve tried a number of places, but we don’t have a lot that we’ve really loved and wanted to return to.  Nevertheless, my stomach wins out, so we’re continuing to try!  If you have any restaurant suggestions please send them my way.

Cameron Mitchell runs several great restaurants in Columbus including Cap City Diner.  There are two locations, and we used to live basically across the street from one of them.  They have a wonderful Tomato Bisque soup that Corrie, being the sweet hubby that he is, ran across and got for me one day when I was ill, which thankfully doesn’t happen very often.  And when I say wonderful, it’s scrumptious, and as this blog has documented, I don’t like tomatoes!!  For lunch, they have a wonderful trio that allows you to pick a cup of soup, a half of a sandwich and a tiny salad which I loved the variety of.  I always ended up ordering the Tomato Bisque and this Two Apple Salad…delicious!!  Can’t wait to return, visit a few Columbus friends, and stop in Cap City for tasty lunch!

I’ve left the original recipe intact below, but I usually cut the dressing recipe in half as it makes a TON!  There were tomatoes in Corrie’s bowl…

Cap City Diner’s Two Apple Salad

Found at Cap City

• Fresh Spinach Leaves, large stems removed
• Cheddar Cheese, 1/4″ cubes (obviously for me, I included several ounces!)
• Cherry Tomatoes, halved
• Red Onion, julienned
• Fuji Apple, sliced 1/8” with skin on (I only ended up using Granny Smiths, because I love them!)
• Granny Smith Apple, sliced 1/8” skin on
• 1 Tbsp. Bacon, diced

Candied Pecans:

• 1 c. pecan pieces
• 1/2 c. brown sugar
• 1 oz. butter, softened

Sherry Vinaigrette:

• 1 Tbsp. garlic puree  (I just make a paste of a garlic clove using the kosher salt included in the recipe.)
• 1 tsp. kosher salt
• 5 tsp. sugar
• 8 tsp. whole grain mustard
• 8 tsp. sherry vinegar (I used champagne vinegar since that’s what I had on hand.)
• 1 c. corn oil
• ½ tsp. black pepper
• 2 Tbsp. shallots, minced (I didn’t include these since I had already used red onion in the salad and am slowly developing my taste buds for onions!)

The chef’s way to make the candied pecans is to mix the three ingredients for the pecans together and bake until the nuts are golden and sugar has begun to harden in a 350 degree oven.  However, it’s hot here!  I didn’t want to turn on my oven so I just tried to re-create a similar effect by combining the three ingredeients on my stovetop and caramelizing the sugar a little bit.

To make the dressing, combine all the ingredients except the oil in a small bowl.  While whisking, add the oil, and whisk until everything is combined.

Combine spinach, cheddar cheese, red onion, pecans, apples, tomatoes, and bacon.  Drizzle with dressing and toss to combine.  Serve and eat reminiscing about the hundreds of restaurant choices in far-away lands.

Shake Your…Fattoush!

Fattoush is healthy.  I think I need to go on a diet where I am only allowed to eat fattoush for a week and see if I can rid myself of the evidence of all these foolish sweets I’ve been making!  However, since I made Corrie a Reese’s cake with peanut butter frosting for his work potluck and my brother a red velvet birthday cake to be posted later, AND we’re going to Cleveland, Ohio for the 4th; I don’t see that happening this week!  I have high ambitions…I just put them off.

Eat this – it makes up for being undisciplined.

Keep in mind it’s a salad, so add more of what you like or less of what you don’t.  These are just suggestions!

Fattoush

• 3-4 pieces of pita bread
• 1 head iceberg lettuce, torn into pieces
• 2 tbsp. parsley, chopped (traditionally curly, but I’ve used flat leaf if I have it on hand)
• 2-3 green onions, chopped
• 1 green bell pepper, chopped
• 1 cucumber, peeled and chopped
• 1 tomato, chopped (mysteriously missing in mine…)
• 1 tbsp. sumac (this can usually be found with the international foods at your local grocery store)
• 1/4 c. feta, optional

Dressing

• 1/2 c. olive oil
• 1/2 c. freshly squeezed lemon juice
• 1 Tbsp. dried mint (or fresh if you have it – you’ll want to use about double)
• 1/2 tsp. garlic powder
• salt and pepper, to taste

Toast the pita, break into bite-sized pieces and set aside.

Put the lettuce, parsley, vegetables, sumac, and feta into a bowl.  In a separate bowl whisk together the dressing ingredients.  Pour the dressing over the salad, add the pita chips, and toss to coat.  Serve immediately or the pita will get soggy.  If you’re not going to serve immediately, leave the pieces separate and then combine before serving otherwise you do what I did and take a late picture = soggy bread!

Greek Salad

We also had some delicious greek salad to accompany our chicken gyros.  These are just some suggestions of what you could include but when I had googled elly’s gyros to double-check something in the recipe, I came across Annie‘s post and she had made her own dressing so I decided to try it myself!

Greek Dressing (found at Annie’s Eats)

• 1/4 c. red wine vinegar
• 2 tbsp. fresh dill, finely chopped
• 1 tsp. dried oregano
• 1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil
• salt and pepper to taste

Whisk or blend everything together and directly add to the salad.  Just give it a quick shake or whisk to recombine if it sits for a minute before adding.

My salad included romaine, feta cheese, red onion, assorted bell peppers, and cucumbers.  I think Corrie added some of the tomato I cut up for the gyros, and you could also add kalamata olives, I’m just not an olive fan.