Deviled Egg Pasta Salad

I like deviled eggs, and I like pasta salad.  The other day I was thinking about making a pasta salad to eat for lunch the rest of the week.  I also was thinking about deviled eggs.  I decided to see if I could make a pasta salad with the flavor of deviled eggs.  So Deviled Egg Pasta Salad was born.

I finally got brave and turned my camera so it would take a more vertical picture.  These are better for Pinterest so they say.  I also tried putting text on my  photos for the first time.  There is hope that this old grandma can get in the groove yet.  Now if I can just get brave enough to actually use my DSLR.

When I am making a salad just for me, I always use ingredients that I like.  Change or sub ingredients to fit your tastes.  I had green onions that needed to be used up, other wise I would have used another variety of finely chopped onion.

Since pasta seems to absorb dressing, it may be necessary to add a little more mayonnaise or some sour cream after the salad has set for awhile.

Deviled Egg Pasta Salad
2 c. small shell pasta or other small pasta
6 eggs, hard cooked
1/2 c. thinly sliced green onion or 1/3 c. finely diced yellow, white or red onion
1/3 c. finely diced red pepper
2 ribs celery, cut in half vertically and thinly sliced on the diagonal
10 black olives, cut into eighths
1 medium dill pickle, finely chopped
2/3 c. mayonnaise
1 T. Dijon mustard
1 T. white wine vinegar
1/4 t. coarse ground pepper

Cook pasta in boiling water according to package directions.  Drain.  Cool with cold water and thoroughly drain again.  Pour into large mixing bowl.  Peel eggs and cut in half.  Remove yolks and put in a small mixing bowl.  Chop the egg whites and add to the pasta.  Add onion, red pepper, celery, black olives and dill pickle.  Stir to combine ingredients.  Using a fork, mash the yolks until very smooth.  Add mayonnaise, Dijon mustard, vinegar and pepper to the egg yolks.  Beat until well combined.  Spoon dressing over the pasta and mix until pasta and vegetables are thoroughly coated.  Cover and chill until ready to serve.  Makes 4 generous servings.

Linking to these great parties:
Full Plate Thursday
Thursday's Treasures
Fantastic Thursday
Tasty Thursday
Showcase Your Talent
Catch a Glimpse Party

BLT Salad with a little O

I rarely repost a recipe from another blog, but sometimes I really have to.  A couple of weeks ago, Lynn from Happier than a Pig in Mud posted the most delicious-looking tomato salad recipe.  I knew that I would have to give it a try.

Just that day, I got called into work during my vacation.  Since I had to drive to town, I stopped at our local produce stand and purchased the very first local tomatoes of the season.  We had been waiting impatiently for them.  All I could think about at work was that tomato salad, but I really wanted a bacon, lettuce and tomato salad also.  So, when I got home from work, I made a BLT salad and used the dressing from Lynn’s recipe.  I cannot begin to tell you how good this was.  There is nothing quite as good as fresh, local tomatoes.

I halved Lynn’s dressing recipe using rice vinegar instead of cider vinegar.  I needed to use only half of the dressing for a salad for one.  The dressing kept well, and I had another salad a day or two later.  Thanks, Lynn, for a great new dressing recipe.

About the “O”, I had some red onion that I needed to use up, and I like onion in my salad, so the addition of “O” it was.  Use freshly cooked bacon in this salad.  It makes a world of difference.

The ingredients listed are for a salad for one.  If it is being made for more people, increase accordingly.

B L T Salad with a Little O
2 slices bacon
1 1 /2 c. lettuce cut into chunks
1 medium fresh tomato
1/4 c. chopped red onion
some croutons to top salad

Lynn’s Dressing (This is half of her recipe and I only used half of this for the salad.)
1/4 c sour cream
1/2 T. sugar
1/2 T.  vinegar (your choice)
1/8 t. garlic powder
1/8 t. onion powder
1/8 t. dried dill weed
salt and pepper to taste

Cook bacon until very crisp.  Drain, cool and crumble into large pieces.  While bacon is cooking, stir together the sour cream, sugar, vinegar, garlic powder, onion powder, dill weed, salt and pepper.  Mix well and set aside.  Chop and measure lettuce and place in a large individual salad dish.  Slice and chop tomato and add to lettuce.  Add chopped onion and bacon.  Stir to blend.  Pour half of dressing over the salad and mix till salad ingredients are well coated.  Scatter some croutons over the top of the salad, eat and enjoy.  Serves 1.  Place remaining dressing in a small, covered container and refrigerate to enjoy with another salad in a day or so.

Linking to these great parties:

Tuesday Trivia

Tasteful Tuesday

Totally Tasteful Tuesday

Show Me What You Got

Two Cup Tuesday

Show Me What Ya Got

Tasty Tuesday

Cast Party Wednesday

Show and Share Wednesday

What's Cookin' Wednesday

What'sIn Your Kitchen Wednesday

Whimsy Wednesday

Create and Share Wednesday

Wicked Good Wednesday

 

Oriental Cherry Chicken Salad

Happy Monday to everyone.  Welcome to my new followers.  It is so nice to have you aboard.  I want to extend my weekly thanks to all who take time from their busy lives to read this blog.  It is greatly appreciated, and I hope that what you find here is useful to you.
 
It is almost the end of cherry season here, but hubby bought some free ones home a week or so ago.  I was when it was so hot here so I enjoyed some of the cherries in this Oriental Cherry Chicken Salad.

As with all salads, change the ingredients to suit your personal preference.  I like to put the mandarin orange can in the refrigerator to chill.  Although the components  and the dressing can be made ahead, this salad is best assembled shortly before serving.  The cherries will turn everything purple if the salad sits too long.  The salad is still very good, just not so pretty.

I have a wonderful cherry pitter made by Progressive that pits four cherries at a time so the cherry pitting goes really quickly.

The original recipe came from a recipe card that a local grocery store gave out many years ago.

Oriental Cherry Chicken Salad
1/2 c. mayonnaise
1 t. soy sauce
1 T. lemon juice
1/8 t. ground ginger
1/8 t. pepper, coarse ground if possible
2 c. fresh sweet cherries, pitted and halved
1 (11 oz.) can mandarin orange segments, well drained
1 to 1 1/2 c. diced cooked chicken
3/4  c. diced celery
1/2 c. sliced sugar snap peas
3 green onions, chopped
1/3 c. toasted, slivered almonds

Combine mayonnaise, soy sauce, lemon juice, ginger and pepper until well blended.  Chill several hours or overnight to blend flavors.  Combine cherries, orange segments, chicken, celery, pea, green onions and almonds in a medium bowl.  Spoon dressing over salad ingredients and mix well.  Serve immediately.  Makes 4 servings.

Linking to these great parties:
Made by You Monday
Mix It Up Monday
Melt in Your Mouth Monday
Inspiration Monday
Monday Funday
Manic Monday
Marvelous Monday
Make the Scene Monday
Tuesday Trivia
Tasteful Tuesday
Totally Tasteful Tuesday
Show Me What You Got
Two Cup Tuesday
Show Me What Ya Got
Tasty Tuesday

Barbecued Pork Salad

 A few weeks ago, I needed to fix something for my lunch at work.  When I checked out my fridge, I found I had some roast pork, celery, onion, red pepper, radishes, some cooked asparagus and some black olives.  The roast pork had been glazed with a barbecue sauce so I decided to play that up by using some barbecue sauce in the salad.  It turned out to be a very tasty lunch that I will make again, probably this week since I made another pork roast today.  Since asparagus season is over here, I will  add some frozen, thawed peas.  The recipe is for just one serving, but it could be easily multiplied to serve more.

Barbecued Pork Salad
1/2 c. chopped cooked roast pork, chicken, ham or beef
1 to 2 ribs celery, finely chopped
2 thin slices onion, finely chopped
1/3 c. red pepper, chopped
3 to 4 radishes, quartered and sliced
6 spears asparagus, chopped
3 to 4 black olives, halved and sliced
2 T. mayonnaise
1 T. barbecue sauce
barbecue spice
croutons

Combine pork, celery, onion, red pepper, radishes, asparagus,and olives in a small bowl.  In another small bowl combine mayonnaise and barbecue sauce until well blended.  Combine with pork and vegetables until well blended.  Sprinkle with a dash of barbecue spice.  Chill and serve topped with croutons.  Makes 1 serving

Linking to these great parties:
Make the Scene Monday
Monday Funday
Manic Monday
Sweet Sharing Monday
Inspiration Monday
Busy Monday
Made by You Monday
Melt in Your Mouth Monday
Recipe Sharing Monday
Mix It Up Monday
Marvelous Monday

Peach Chicken Salad with Peach Basil Dressing-Improv Challenge

One of the main things I like about the Improv Challenge which Kristen from Frugal Antic of a Harried Homemaker  hosts is that it makes me think about ingredient combinations that I might not have thought of myself.

This month’s challenge is to use peaches and an herb.  Every time that I thought about what herb to use, a little voice in my head kept saying, “basil, basil, basil,” much like that duck in the Aflac commercial.

I decided that basil it was and went looking for recipe ideas.  I found a salad dressing recipe at food.com that used a peach and basil that I knew I could adapt to what I had in mind.  The poster there used fresh basil, and I would highly recommend that.  I had to use dried basil and felt that it did not quite give me the flavor I was looking for.

For the salad part, I chose to use peaches, chicken, green onions, celery and red pepper.  I sprinkled the peaches with lemon juice and the salad kept well for several days.  To make the salad a little more special, I added some Easy Glazed Walnut Halves for garnish.

This was a really fun Improv Challenge to do.  If you would like to join in next month, you can find all the details on Kristen’s Improv page.

Peach Chicken Salad with Peach Basil Dressing
3 ripe peaches
2 T. lemon juice
1T. extra virgin olive oil
1/2 T. chopped fresh basil or 1 1/2 t. dried
2 1/2 T. vinegar
1/2 t. salt
1/2 t. celery seed
2 t. sugar or to taste
1/8 t. coarse ground pepper
1/3 c. mayonnaise
3 ribs celery, chopped
1/2 c. thinly sliced green onion
1/2 c. diced red pepper
2 c. chopped cooked chicken breast
1 recipe Easy Glazed Walnut Halves (you won’t need them all for this recipe, eat the leftovers for a snack)
Iceberg lettuce leaves for serving

Peel peaches and chop two of them into a medium mixing bowl.  Pour lemon juice over peaches, mix well and set aside.  Peel and slice remaining peach into a blender or food chopper.  Add olive oil, basil, vinegar, salt, celery seed and sugar and blend until smooth.  Add mayonnaise and blend until well mixed.  Add celery, green onion, red pepper and chicken to the peaches in the medium bowl and mix well.  Add prepared dressing and mix until salad ingredients are very well coated.  Chill at least several hours to blend flavors.  Serve in iceberg lettuce leaves and garnish with Easy Glazed Walnut Halves.  Makes 4 servings.

To see what other Improv bloggers chose to do with peaches and herbs, check out the links below.

Linking to these great parties:

Catch a Glimpse Thursday

Full Plate Thursday

Thursday's Treasures

Showcase Your Talent Thursday

Tasty Thursday

Fantastic Thursday

Kale, Leek, Lettuce and Tomato Salad with Bacon Dressing

One of the reasons that I joined the Eating the Alphabet Challenge hosted by Brenda over at Meal Planning Magic was to force myself to try new veggies and fruits.  Since this month’s letters are K and L, I decided to combine kale and leeks with the ingredients of a B, L, T sandwich in a salad.

I am not sure that I am now on the kale bandwagon, but it was an interesting salad to eat.  I will be making the bacon dressing again to used with other salads.

I am listing the ingredients and amounts that I used for the salad.  As with most salads, of course, everything is adjustable.

Be sure to rinse the chopped leeks well to remove any dirt and grit.

Kale, Leek, Lettuce and Tomato Salad with Bacon Dressing
8 cups, chopped kale
4 c. chopped iceberg lettuce
1 medium leek, thinly sliced and centers chopped
20 grape tomatoes, quartered
20 pitted black olives, quartered
8 slices bacon
2 T. olive oil
1 T. vinegar
1/2 t. dry mustard
1/4 t. salt
1/2 T. sugar
1/4 t. pepper, coarse ground if possible
2 T.  bacon drippings
1/2 c. mayonnaise

Remove spines from kale leaves and roughly chop.  Place in a large bowl and add the iceberg lettuce, leeks, tomatoes and black olives.  Toss to blend.  Fry bacon slices until crisp.  Do this in more than one batch if necessary.  Pour drippings into a small bowl and reserve.  Combine olive oil, vinegar, dry mustard, salt, sugar and pepper and mix well.  Slowly stir in bacon drippings.  Stir in mayonnaise until well blended.  Pour over salad ingredients in a bowl and toss well.  Crumble bacon slices and mix into salad.  Serves 4 to 6.

You can join the Eating the Alphabet Challenge anytime.  All the details are here. 

Linking to these great parties:
Tasteful Tuesday
Show Me What You Got
Totally Tasty Tuesday
Tuesday Talent Show
Show Me What Ya Got
Take-a-Look Tuesday
Two cup Tuesday

A Fun Craft and Two Recipe Links-Guest Post

Today my guest is Danni from Silo Hill Farm.  We were fortunate enough to get to meet each other last year when my hubby and I were traveling through Missouri on vacation.  Although Danni is primarily a craft blogger, she does post a recipe every now and then, and I can tell you that she is a very good cook who served a wonderful brunch.

The second recipe link she shares is to the most incredible Caramel Corn I have ever eaten.  Danni made me and hubby each a container to snack on during our trip.  I had never seen hulless popcorn, and we spent quite a bit of time trying to figure out what the deliciousness was made of.


Hello, fans of From Grandma Loy's Kitchen!  Danni here from Silo Hill Farm blog guest posting for Loy today.  

Loy is the very first blogger I ever met and I consider her a true friend. It was so much fun to get to sit and talk with her about blogging. We were so happy to have Loy and her husband as a guest at our farm last year and hope they won't wait too long to return!  

My blog is mostly about crafts, but once in a while, I cook.  Because this is a cooking blog, I'll share links for two of my most popular recipes at the end of this post, but first, I thought I'd combine the two and share a little wall plaque that I made for my kitchen.

I have only recently learned to appreciate olives and was lucky enough to have a chance to visit the Queen Creek Olive Mill in Arizona when I went to visit a friend.  The olive trees were so pretty and this little plaque reminds me of that visit every time I look at it.

This project was under $5 and took me less than an hour to make.

My supplies were simple:

A paper napkin ($3.00 for 20 at Ben Franklins)

A wooden plaque ($1.59 at Hobby Lobby)

Mod Podge

Pop can tab

Paint brush

First, I separated the white backing from the 2-ply napkin.  I thinned the Mod Podge with a little water to make it a little more spreadable and applied a coat of it to the plaque using a paintbrush.

I let it sit for just a minute to increase the tackiness, then I placed the napkin over it.  Next, I immediately brushed another coat of the thinned Mod Podge over the top of it.

I did not bother to trim the napkin, but rather just pushed it down around the sides a little with my brush as I was putting the top coat on.  You can see that it is a little wrinkly, but it does flatten out considerably as it dries.

When it was dry, I hot glued a pop tab to the back as a hanger.

All that was left to do was trim the edges of the napkin and this little project was finished and hanging on my kitchen wall!

As I mentioned, I do cook a little and I would like to share a couple of my recipes with you.  

This first one, is my favorite summer salad and is so delicious, it almost seems like a dessert and the dressing is amazing. 

Strawberry-Mandarin Salad with Coconut Dressing

The other recipe I wanted to share is very special and I made it for Loy and her husband to munch on when they were traveling home. It is one of my most popular posts to date with over 13,000 views and it's delicious and simple.

Caramel Corn Awesome and Easiest Ever!

I hope you'll take a look at these two recipes and maybe even give them a try! 

Thank you so much Loy, for letting me share with your readers today and please come back to visit us at the farm anytime! 

Danni, thanks for stopping by with a great craft idea and your wonderful recipes.

 

Stuffed Iceberg Lettuce Salad-Eating the Alphabet

I will not be posting a Saturday Sweet today as this is the day to post for this month's Eating the Alphabet Challenge hosted by Brenda at Meal Planning Magic.  You can, however, find a recipe for a Double Berry Giant Eclair in Thursday's post.

The letters for June are I and J, and they are, indeed, a challenge.  The only two vegetables I could think of were iceberg lettuce and jicama.

Although it is somewhat looked down upon now, when I was growing up in the late 40’s and 50’s, iceberg lettuce was the most common lettuce found at the grocery store so people ate a lot of it. Creative cooks dreamed up many ways to serve it.  After all, this was the era of peach and pear halves made into faces and bananas made into candles.

In my area of the country, a popular “ladies’ lunch” dish was Stuffed Iceberg Lettuce Salad.  This dish consisted of cream cheese and other ingredients that were combined and stuffed into a cored head of lettuce.  The whole thing was tightly wrapped, chilled for several hours or overnight, then sliced for serving.  Generally, the slice of lettuce was smeared with a mayonnaise-based red dressing.  Because the slice of lettuce was cut up and everything mixed together to eat it,  this was also sometimes called a Knife and Fork Salad.

In the spirit of reviving an old favorite, today I am sharing a recipe for Stuffed Iceberg Lettuce Salad.  I have included two dressing choices, one for vegetable salad and one for fruit salad.

When selecting a head of lettuce to stuff, look for one that is heavy for its size and that has the core centered as much as possible.

The stuffing mixture is very flexible so if I have an 8-oz. package of cream cheese on hand, I use half of it.  If I have to buy cream cheese, I sometimes just buy the 3-oz. package.  Either can be used.

Almost any ingredient that one wants can be mixed in with the cream cheese.  Vegetables such as grated carrot, minced onion, peppers, tomatoes, radishes, celery, cucumber are common.  For a fruit salad chopped fresh or canned fruit such as apples, cherries, peaches, pears, pineapple, mandarin oranges or strawberries can be used.  Usually nuts are added to this.  Chopped cooked chicken, ham, tuna, salmon or bacon can be added for a more main-dish salad.  Consider the recipe below just a basic guide.

Stuffed Iceberg Lettuce Salad
1 medium head Iceberg Lettuce
3-4 oz. cream cheese, softened (regular, low fat or fat-free)

2 T. shredded Cheddar
2 T. minced onion, regular or green
2 T. minced red pepper
2 T. chopped black olives
1/4 t. garlic powder
1/4 t. dill weed
salt and pepper to taste

Combine all ingredients except lettuce in a small bowl and mix until well blended.  Set aside.  Smack core of lettuce against the edge of a counter to dislodge it.  Twist and remove the core.  If cavity does not seem big enough to hold all the cream cheese mixture, reach in and remove additional lettuce with a clean hand.  Stuff the cream cheese mixture tightly into the lettuce cavity.  Wrap tightly with plastic wrap and chill several hours or overnight.  At serving time, remove from refrigerator.  Cut into thick slices with a very sharp knife.  Lay on serving plates and smear lettuce with a thick red dressing such as the ones below.  Makes about 4 servings.

Quick Red Dressing (for vegetable or main-dish salad.
1/2 c. mayonnaise
1/4 c. chili sauce or ketchup
2 T. pickle relish
1 t. lemon juice

Combine ingredients in a small bowl until well blended.  Chill to blend flavors.  Makes about 3/4 c.

Cranberry Dressing (for fruit salad)
1 c. jellied cranberry sauce
1 c. mayonnaise
2 T. lemon juice
1 c. whipped cream (opt.)

Beat cranberry sauce and mayonnaise with an electric mixer until well blended.  Stir in lemon juice.  Chill to blend flavors.  For a richer dressing, fold in whipped cream.  Makes 2 -3 c.

There is still time to join in the fun and help us finish up the rest of the alphabet.  You can find all the necessary details on Brenda's Eating the Alphabet page.

Click on the links below to see what other bloggers have dreamed up for the letters I and J.

Linking to these great parties:
Weekend Potluck
Weekend Bloggy Reading
Party Junk
Strut Your Stuff
Share Your Creativity
I'm Lovin' It
What'd You Do this Weekend
Marvelous Monday
Mix It Up Monday
Recipe Sharing Monday
Melt in Your Mouth Monday
On the Menu Monday
Make the Scene Monday
Mop It Up Monday
Manic Monday
Sweet Sharing Monday
Monday Funday

Barbecue Pasta and Bean Salad

When I did my index for this blog, I found several drafts for posts that I had not posted.  This is one of those drafts.  I made this for a barbecue last year, and the recipe seems to have gotten lost in the shuffle.  I wanted to try a salad with a sort of barbecue dressing.  Since pasta salad seems to be mostly a summer dish, I thought that I should get this one up.

You can, of course, add cooked meat or chicken to make this more of a main dish.  Next time I make it, I think that I will add some cubed cheese.

Barbecue Pasta and Bean Salad
8 oz. rotini or other pasta
1/2 c. chopped red pepper
2 ribs celery, chopped
1/3 c. chopped onion
1 can (15 oz.) pinto, kidney or black beans, drained and rinsed
1/4 c. quartered ripe olives
1 medium dill pickle, chopped
1/2 c. mayonnaise, reg. or low-fat
1/4 c. plus 2 T. barbecue sauce
1 T. cider vinegar
3/4 t. chili powder
1/2 t. cumin
1/4 t. garlic powder
pinch cayenne pepper
1/2 t. hot sauce
salt and pepper to taste

Cook pasta according to package directions.  Drain and rinse with cold water.  Place in a large mixing bowl.  Add red pepper, celery, onion, beans, ripe olive, and dill pickle.  Combine mayonnaise, barbecue sauce, vinegar, chili powder, cumin, garlic powder, cayenne pepper, and hot sauce in a small bowl.  Mix well.  Spoon over pasta mixture and mix in well.  Salt and pepper to taste.  Cover and chill several hours before serving.  This is good with corn chips or the Cheese and Onion Nut Bread.  Makes 4 servings.

Linking to:  Tuesday Talent Show
Tempt My Tummy Tuesday
Tuesday Time Out
Totally Tasty Tuesday
Tuesdays at the Table
Tasteful Tuesday
Terrific Tuesday
Show Me What You Got Tuesday
Take a Look Tuesday
Get Your Craft On Tuesday

Ingredient Spotlight-Taco Corn and Bean Salad

Corn is the Ingredient Spotlight over at Eat at Home today.   I have always liked the so-called Frito Corn Salad that may or may not have originated with Paula Deen, but I wanted a salad that could stand in as a meatless main dish.

I added beans for more protein and taco seasoning to “up the flavor factor”.  I reduced the amount of mayonnaise and added sour cream and cream cheese.  Since I don’t like green peppers, I used red peppers and then green onions to supply the green color.  I also added chopped ripe olives.

Canned corn, cooked, frozen corn or fresh corn, cooked and removed from the cob can be used for this dish.  About 4 cups or frozen or fresh corn will be needed.

Use your favorite beans for this.  I like pinto or red beans, but black ones add a really nice color contrast.

I make my own taco seasoning to save money and avoid unwanted chemicals and preservatives, but a commercial packet may be used.  There are many recipes for homemade taco seasoning on the internet.  Just Google and keep trying them until you find one your family likes.

Although most recipes have the Fritos stirred into the salad, I find that they become soggy if there is any salad left over.  When I make this for eating at home I just set the crushed corn chips out in a bowl and let people top each serving.  If am taking this to a potluck, I sprinkle the crushed chips on top of the salad.  If there is any salad left over, I tip the bowl and let the corn chips fall into a shallow container.  I put them in a plastic bag and store them in the refrigerator.  When ready to use, I put them on a glass pie plate and microwave them a minute at a time until the corn chips are crisp again.

This salad is best made at least several hours ahead of serving.  I like to make mine the day before.

Taco Corn and Bean Salad
2 cans (16 oz.) cans whole kernel corn, well drained or 4 cups cooked frozen or fresh corn kernels
1 can (16 oz.) pinto, kidney, red or black beans, well drained and rinsed
1 c. chopped red pepper
1/2 c. chopped red onion
1/3 c. sliced green onions
1 can (3.8 oz.) sliced olives, well drained and halved
1 (3 oz.) pkg. low fat cream cheese, very soft
1/2 c. Low-fat sour cream
1/2 c. low fat mayonnaise
1 T. chili powder
1/2 T. ground cumin
1 t. salt
1 t. freshly ground black pepper
1/2 t. paprika (smoked if you have it)
1/4 t. garlic powder
1/4 t. onion powder
1/4 t. dried oregano, crushed
1/4 t. red pepper flakes (opt.)
2 c (8 oz.) shredded sharp cheddar cheese or Mexican blend
1 (10 1/2 oz.) bag Fritos, regular or Chili Cheese corn chips (I usually don’t need a whole bag)

 a large mixing bowl combine corn, beans, red pepper, red onion, green onion and olives mix well.  In a medium mixing bowl combine the very soft cream cheese, sour cream and mayonnaise.  Mix until well blend.  Add the chili powder, cumin, salt, pepper, paprika, garlic powder, onion powder, oregano and red pepper flakes, if using.  Stir until spices are well combined with the cheese/cream/mayo mixture.  Spoon mixture over the corn/bean mixture and stir until everything is coated with the dressing.  Add shredded cheese and stir until well blended.  Cover tightly and refrigerate until serving time.  Just before serving, crush enough corn chips to completely cover the top of the salad.  Sprinkle corn chip on the salad.  Serves 8 to 10.

Linking to Ingredient Spotlight

Cast Party Wednesday
Show Off Your Stuff
Wow Me Wednesday-Gingersnap Crafts
Wow Me Wednesday-Polkadots on Parade
What I Whipped Up Wednesday
Whatever Goes Wednesday

Salmon Pasta Ranch Salad

On Monday I decided to make Chili-Mac for lunch.  This simply consists of cooked macaroni, a can of Nalley's Hot Chili thinned with a little water, mixed together and topped with shredded Mexican Blend Cheese.  Since I was going to cook macaroni anyway, I cooked extra to make a salad.  I decided I wanted a salmon and pasta salad.  Hubby doesn't eat either pasta salad or fish.  Yesterday I posted that he does not eat cabbage.  I think that I am making him sound like a picky eater, which he is not.  I just seem to be posting recipes for things he doesn't eat.  I shared the salad with a friend at work.

I have unofficially been doing the pantry clean-out that some of the bloggers are doing this month, and I wanted to use up some food that had been on hand for awhile.

The thing that I love about pasta salads is they are so versatile.  Cook any kind of pasta, combine with almost anything, season with almost anything, and use almost any dressing.  It is just whatever you want to do that day.  Here is my current rendition of pasta salad.  I used 1/2 package of dry Ranch Dressing Mix because it was left from making something else and I wanted to use it up.  If I hadn't used that, I might have instead used Greek seasoning, lemon-pepper, curry powder, Italian herbs just to suggest a few.  The amounts of ingredients added to the pasta are approximate.  Add or subtract as you like.

Salmon Pasta Ranch Salad

1/2 lb. macaroni or other pasta, cooked
1-2 stalks celery, diced
1/2 c. chopped onion, red would be nice if you have it
1/2 c. chopped red pepper (I put red pepper in everything I can)
1/3 c. chopped dill pickle
1/4 c. sliced black olives, drained
1 c. frozen peas
1 (5 1/2 oz.) can salmon, drained (could be tuna, chicken, ham) Use a larger can if you want.  This is the size I had on hand
1/2 c. mayonnaise
1/4 c. sour cream (I used Mexican Sour Cream which they sell in our area)
1/2 pkg. dry Ranch Dressing Mix

In a large bowl combine pasta with celery, onion, red pepper, dill pickle, olives, peas and salmon. Measure mayonnaise and sour cream into a 2-cup glass measuring cup.  Add dressing mix and stir well.  Combine pasta mixture and dressing mixture, blending well.  Chill, covered, in the refrigerator until ready to serve.  Makes about 6 servings.  (Or just for me eaten over several days.)

Ingredient Spotlight-Festive Cranberry Salad

When Tiffany interviewed me over at Eat at Home, one of the questions was about my favorite meal.  This is the cranberry salad that I listed.  This salad has pretty much replaced the regular cranberry side at our Thanksgiving dinners.  I do make it throughout the year, tho.  The recipe was in a magazine ad for Jell-O back when Bill Cosby was Jell-O's spokesperson.  I have never done the molded version but am including the instructions for it.

Festive Cranberry-Pineapple Salad
1 can (20 oz.) DOLE Crushed Pineapple, undrained
2 pkgs. (4-serving size each) or 1 pkg. (8-serving size) JELL-O Brand Raspberry, Cherry or Cranberry Flavor Gelatin (regular or sugar-free)
1 can (16 oz.) whole berry cranberry sauce
1 medium  apple, chopped
2/3 cup chopped PLANTERS Walnuts

DRAIN pineapple, reserving liquid in 1-qt. liquid measuring cup.  Add enough cold water to reserved liquid to measure 3 cups; pour into large saucepan. Bring to a boil; remove from heat. Add gelatin; stir at least 2 min. until completely dissolved. Add cranberry sauce; stir until well blended. (Note: Due to the presence of whole berries in the cranberry sauce, the gelatin mixture will not be smooth.) Pour into large bowl. Refrigerate 1-1/2 hours or until slightly thickened (consistency of unbeaten egg whites.)  Add pineapple, apple and walnuts; stir gently until well blended. Pour into medium serving bowl.  Refrigerate 4 hours or until firm.  Store any leftover salad in refrigerator.  Makes 14 servings (1/2 c. each)

If you don't want the salad to take as long to set up as the instructions above take, you can freeze the cranberry sauce overnight.  I take it out of the can and put it in a heavy-duty plastic bag, seal it well, flatten the bag, and freeze.  Add the cranberry sauce to the warm pineapple/water mixture, breaking it up well.  This helps the Jell-O to set up faster.

You can also just go ahead and stir pineapple, apple, and walnuts into the pineapple juice/cranberry mixture right away.  This will cause the apple and the nuts to float at the top of the Jell-O.  If I am in a real hurry, I don't have a problem with that.

Variation - Molded Cranberry-Pineapple Salad
To serve as a molded salad, substitute a 6-cup mold for the serving bowl. Also, use 1 can (8-1/4 oz.) DOLE Crushed Pineapple, 1/3 cup chopped PLANTERS Walnuts and add enough cold water to the reserved pineapple liquid to measure 2 cups. Makes 10 servings, 1/2 cup each

Tomorrow-Skipping through Blogland to "For the Love of Grub"

Linking to:  Ingredient Spotlight