Veggie Tex Mex Pasta Salad!

05. July 2012 · 40 comments · Categories: cooking, food, recipes, Savory, Side dishes, vegetarian · Tags: , , , ,

Tex mex pasta salad

Here’s another no-cook recipe coming your way! Ok, well I guess you technically have to boil the pasta, but you don’t have to turn on your oven.

This is a nice twist on the traditional pasta salad. The vinegar-based one, I mean.

I don’t really understand the mayo-based pasta salad. Maybe because I didn’t grow up eating it? I always take a bite thinking I’m going to like it and then I don’t. I guess maybe I think it’s going to be like an alfredo sauce or something but it’s actually kind of tangy. I think maybe I don’t mind the taste so much but I just get thrown off because it’s not what I’m expecting.

Tex mex pasta salad

Anyway, non-mayo pasta salads are much healthier…AND they’re good for picnics! I don’t want you to go making something and getting people sick because the mayo sat in the sun too long. And I especially don’t want you to blame it on me.

I suppose I’m a bit late for you to make this for 4th of July, but I’m sure you have plenty of upcoming summer bbq’s that you could bring this to….or you may eat a little too much while doing “quality control” taste-testing and not have any left to bring so you just have to keep it for yourself.

Oh well, these things happen.

Tex mex pasta salad

On another note, Saturday is my birthday!!! My parents are coming into the city and we’re going to see a concert by the singer/songwriter who will be playing at our wedding, David Berkeley, so I’m pretty excited.

Also, Nate ordered me a birthday cake from this little bakery near us called Two Little Red Hens. I got to choose exactly what I wanted and so I decided to go with an orange cake with chocolate pudding filling and orange buttercream frosting. Um, yeah, I know. A.M.A.Z.I.N.G. I’ll be sure to take pics and tell you how it was since there won’t be enough to go around ;)

Vegetarian Tex-Mex Pasta Salad

adapted from Cooking Light

Print this recipe!

Serves 10-12

1 pound uncooked pasta- i like wagon wheels :)
1 1/2-2 cups preshredded Mexican blend cheese
2 cups chopped seeded tomato
1 cup chopped bell pepper
1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro
1/2 cup chopped green onions
1/2 cup sliced ripe olives
1 (15.5-ounce) can black beans, rinsed and drained
1 cup corn kernels, fresh or frozen
2 Tbsp water
1 (1.25-ounce) package 40%-less-sodium taco seasoning (such as Old El Paso)
2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
juice of 1 lime

for next day:
2 Tbsp olive oil
2 Tbsp red wine vinegar
salt to taste

Cook pasta according to package directions, omitting salt and fat. Drain and rinse with cold water. Drain; set aside.

Combine pasta, cheese, and next 7 ingredients (through corn) in a large bowl.

Combine water, taco seasoning, vinegar, oil and lime juice. Whisk well. Pour over pasta mixture; toss gently to coat. 

If you make a day ahead, stir in 2 Tbsp oil, 2 Tbsp vinegar and salt to taste.

*This is best made a day ahead of time.

Marinated Broccoli Salad

01. July 2012 · 12 comments · Categories: food, life, recipes, Savory, Side dishes, vegetarian · Tags: , , , ,

Broccoli Salad

This weather is disgusting.

When you wake up it’s already 80 degrees out, and by noon it’s 90. It just doesn’t feel right turning on the oven to cook. So it’s good to have a bunch of no-cook, cold, fresh salad recipes in your recipe box.

Salsa and tabouli are both great for this purpose, and this recipe is another good one.

Broccoli Salad

You need to make this a day ahead to give the broccoli time to marinate and soften. I didn’t realize this when I was making the recipe, so I blanched it as a shortcut. I recommend following the directions though :)

On a side note, did you know that sometimes pignoli nuts can cause you to have a bitter taste in your mouth for days? Yeah, I didn’t either until it happened to me. It’s not ALL pignoli nuts, but apparently some are affected.

I  also don’ t know if it only affects some people (since Nate didn’t seem to notice it) or if I’m just hyper aware of tastes, but it was disgusting. All food tasted bad/bitter until it wore off several days later. It probably didn’t help that I continued to eat this for 3 days until I realized that the pignoli nuts were the cause. Don’t let that this stop you from making this recipe, and I hope I haven’t in any way affected your love of these tasty little seeds.

On another note, I worked on more wedding crafts this weekend! I have to say they came out super cute…here’s a sneak peak.

I also had my wedding hair trial appointment today. I don’t know what I want to do! I hate making decisions.

Nate is pretty set on having me wear my hair down, and since he hasn’t asked for much I feel like I should honor his request. i know I want it off my face though, so maybe some sort of half up, half down thing? I think I want some loose waves.

The hairdresser showed me a few options. I defintely don’t want anything complex…I’m a simple girl.

Broccoli Salad

 

Cold Broccoli Salad

From mom’s recipe box (original source unknown)

Print this recipe!

Serves 6

1 head broccoli, cut in 1″ pieces
1/2 cup sliced black olives
4 thin-sliced radishes
1/4 cup pignoli nuts
1/2 cup olive oil
3 Tbsp wine vinegar
1 clove garlic, crushed
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
1/2 cup feta cheese, crumbled
tomato wedges for garnish

Soak broccoli in salted water for 10-15 min. Drain.

Add olives, nuts.

Combine oil, vinegar, and seasonings to make dressing.

Marinate broccoli for five or more hours, chilled.

Add rest of ingredients before serving.

I love mac and cheese…and what I’ve been doing

25. June 2012 · 54 comments · Categories: Baking, cooking, Dinner, food · Tags: ,

Tex Mex Mac n Cheese

Sorry for the lack of posts lately. As you may or may not know, I’m getting married in 4 months and I decided to take on quite a bit of DIY projects for the wedding. Any free time I have has been spent cutting, painting, gluing, and sewing.

Here’s just a peek of one of the projects I have going on…wedding signage!

wedding signage

The white parts are an old picket fence I picked up off the street. The directional signs I made use the pointed parts of the fence, but this one doesnt since it doesn’t need to be pointing anywhere. Painting on the letters was quite time-intensive, but I’m so pleased with how it came out! The rest you’ll have to wait and see when I post wedding pics ;)

Anyway, on to the food. I think this must be my third or fourth mac and cheese recipe on the blog, but honestly I don’t think there can ever be too much mac and cheese! (I totally just typed man and cheese by mistake…there can’t be too much of that either!)

Tex Mex Mac n Cheese

This one takes advantage of the fresh corn in season now. It was kind of annoying to roast the corn and peppers but at least it could be done while the pasta was cooking. The chorizo and mexican blend cheese take it to a whole other level!

All in all it came together pretty quickly, which was good because I didn’t have much time.

Tex Mex Mac n Cheese

Since I had plans to meet friends after work later in the week, I knew this would be a perfect meal to start the week off with since it would last for several days. Nate could just portion some out and reheat it in the microwave.

The chorizo totally made this! It added so much flavor to the meal. I also topped my portion with buffalo sauce :)

Tex Mex Mac n Cheese

I doubled the recipe, but think perhaps I didn’t need to double the sauce. There was a LOT there, but i just left a little out when mixing it up.

Overall, I’d give this two thumbs up for when you’re looking for something a little different than your regular old macaroni and cheese.

Tex Mex Mac and Cheese

Slightly adapted from Southern Living

Print this recipe!

Serves 8-10

1 cup cherry tomatoes
2 red peppers, diced
4 ears fresh corn, husks removed, kernels stripped from cob
16 ounces uncooked rotini or fusilli pasta
1 cup chopped cooked Mexican-style chorizo (the hard, cured kind…not raw)
5 tablespoons butter
1/3 cup all-purpose flour
6 cups milk
6 cups shredded pepper Jack cheese
2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
1.5 cup crushed tortilla chips

Preheat broiler with oven rack 5 1/2 inches from heat. Broil peppers, tomatoes and corn at the same time on an aluminum foil-lined jelly-roll pan. Broil 20 minutes or until charred, turning every 5 minutes. Reduce oven temperature to 400°.

Cook pasta in boiling salted water to cover 8 to 10 minutes or until al dente. Drain.

Melt 5 Tbsp. butter in a large heavy saucepan over medium heat; whisk in flour until smooth, and cook, whisking constantly, 2 minutes or until golden brown. Slowly whisk in milk, and cook, whisking often, 10 to 12 minutes or until thickened. Remove from heat, and gradually add cheese, stirring until smooth. Stir in chopped peppers, corn kernels, chorizo, salt, and pepper. Gently stir together cheese mixture and pasta in a large bowl. Spoon into a 9×13 baking pan.

Sprinkle with crushed tortilla chips. Bake at 400° for 12 to 15 minutes or until golden and bubbly. Let stand 5 minutes before serving.

Frozen Lemon Mojito

16. June 2012 · 24 comments · Categories: Drinks, recipes · Tags: , , ,

Frozen Lemon Mojito

If you’ve been searching for an alcoholic summer drink that’s perfect for sipping by the pool, look no further.

As you know I had a couple people over to dinner the other day and I wanted to make something fun and refreshing for them to sip on while I was busy in the kitchen making the rest of the meal.

I don’t drink at all, and Nate only likes wine, so we didn’t have much in the way of hard liquor in the apt. I did have a bottle of Absolut Vodka I had gotten as a gift a while ago, so I was determined to use it.

Frozen Lemon Mojito

I knew the drink would be great with lemon or lime, and I really wanted something frozen since I love using by awesome Blendtec Blender. I was thinking along the lines of a frozen mojito since I couldn’t get the flavor out of my head after seeing this post from Kelly.

After a bit of searching, I came across this recipe for Frozen Lemon Vodka Mint Mojitos. I didn’t have Lemon Vodka but it didn’t make much of a difference. It was basically a Lemon Mojito Slushie. It doesn’t have enough alcohol to make you too tispy and even I couldn’t really taste it, so depending on how strong you like your drinks you might want to up the alcohol content.

That being said you could easily leave out the alcohol and have an amazing Mint Lemonade Slushie. I think I might do that soon because this drink is perfect for the hot and humid weather that’s about to hit us.

I may not have a pool, but at least I can sip this drink and pretend I’m sunbathing :)

Frozen Lemon Mojito

Frozen Lemon Mojito

Very slightly adapted from Salt and Serenity

Print this recipe!

Serves 3-4

4 cups ice cubes
1 1/2 teaspoons lemon zest
3/4 cup plus 3 tablespoons simple syrup (recipe below)
3/4 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice ***check amount on rewritten recipe
2/3 cup vodka
1 1/2 cup, loosely packed mint leaves

Place all ingredients in a blender and process until smooth. Pour into tumbler glasses, garnish with a lemon slice and
mint sprig.

Simple syrup:
2 cups white sugar
2 cups water
Combine ingredients in a small saucepan. Bring to a boil and continue cooking until all the sugar is dissolved. Let cool and pour into a covered jar. Will keep in the fridge for several weeks.

 
 

Cilantro Lime Hummus and a Dinner Party

11. June 2012 · 20 comments · Categories: Appetizer, cooking, food, life, recipes, Side dishes, vegetarian · Tags: , , ,

Cilantro Lime Hummus

This weekend we had a couple of Nate’s friends over to dinner. One of them might cat-sit for us over our honeymoon, so we wanted a chance for him to come over and meet L.C. We also thought we’d sweeten the deal by cooking for him…i.e. Nate suggested that I cook for him.

Cilantro Lime Hummus

In case L.C.’s flirtation wasn’t enough to make him agree, I first liquored him up with some AMAZING Mojito Slushies (recipe to come soon) to decrease his inhibitions…and ability to say no.

After waiting for the alcohol to go into effect, I put a plate of Cilantro Lime Hummus in front of him with some chips. I would never say hummus is particularly refreshing, but this version totally is. The cilantro and lime make it reminiscent of guacamole, but with much less fat.

Cilantro Lime Hummus

Everyone, myself included, was raving about it.

I made a few other things that I will most likely be sharing on the blog in the near future: Pasta Puttanesca and a Cold Lemon Mousse.

Cilantro Lime Hummus

He’s checking on the dates to make sure he can catsit, but I’m pretty sure he’ll say yes.

I’d like to think it will have everything to do with the meal, and nothing to do with this adorable face:

Cilantro Lime Hummus

Slightly adapted from How Sweet It is

Print this recipe!

makes about 2-2.5 cups

2 15-ounce can of chickpeas, drained and rinsed
3 cloves of garlic, minced (more or less, depending on your tastes)
3/4 cup cilantro
zest and juice of 1 lime
2/3 cup olive oil
salt and pepper to taste

Combine beans, cilantro, lime zest, juice and garlic in the food processor and blend until mixed. With the processor on, stream in olive oil until desired consistency is reached. 3-4 minutes to make it super creamy. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Serve with pita chips or tortilla chips.

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