Farfalle Salad with Chicken & Apple Sausage

Everything-But-the-Kitchen Salad

At the very least this dish proves that you can put just about anything you have on hand in Pasta Salad and wind up with a winner…even if it does sound vaguely like something MacGyver would make out of old snowblower parts.

Anyhoo, in this particular case we’d had quite a few odds ‘n ends lying around that we really wanted to eat – Sweet Chicken Apple Sausage, Farfalle, Radishes, etc. – but, though they sounded great individually, they didn’t really seem like they went together all that well until we struck upon the whole Pasta Salad idea. Continue reading

Orecchiette Salad with Fresh Mushrooms & White Beans

orecchiette-salad-with-fresh-mushrooms-white-beans

Giada recently had a deliciously different and simple salad on her show that needed only sliced fresh Mushrooms, shaved Parmesan, and a very simple Lemon Juice & Olive Oil dressing. It was so elegant and fresh tasting that we loved it right away, and leaving the Mushrooms raw gave it a lighter than air texture.

Of course it’s us, so we immediately began to think of ways that we could tweak it by adding a little of this or that. Julie right away struck upon the idea of adding Orecchiette pasta, White Beans, and some sweet little Green Peas to build it up a bit and our new favorite summer Pasta Salad was born.

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No-Shiitake Sesame Dressing

no-shiitake-sesame-dressing

So, we had/have this favorite dressing from a popular brand and we were ordering cases of it and they were very expensive and we got to thinking…what’s in this incredibly delicious dressing that we love so much and can’t live without, anyway?

Turns out, not too much. Apple Cider Vinegar, Tamari, Sesame Oil, Sesame Seeds, and Olive Oil to be exact. Ok, that and shiitake mushroom bits but honestly they don’t really do much for the flavor as far as we can tell. And they used Canola Oil, which has no flavor whatsoever so why bother? Continue reading

Grilled Chicken Salad with Sauteed Mushrooms

Salad with Sautéed Mushrooms and Grilled Chicken Breast in Tarragon Vinaigrette

Grilled Chicken Salad with Sauteed MushroomsThis is an über-dooper easy dinner salad that’s a fun twist on chef’s salads. The only real trick with this one is that you’ve got to be ready to serve it when the mushrooms are done sautéing, else-wise you’ll serve a warm, cheesy, steaming pile of mushy lettuce and mushrooms, not-so-very-much-good… Continue reading

Green Bean Salad v2

Fresh Summer Green Bean Salad

Green Bean Salad v2So, we were supposed to bring a salad to dinner and Mom & Dad’s. The bummer was that we didn’t have any lettuce or greens of any kind. What we did have, though, was bunches of fresh beans from our trusty CSA. And we knew they were delicious because we’ve been getting them for a couple of weeks. We threw in some of the fresh Basil we’ve been getting and had the start of a rockin’ summer salad… Continue reading