All-American Italian Pasta Salad

This is Memorial Day weekend and it seems fitting to serve good ol' American home cooking, so at our house we're going to start off the weekend with Italian Pasta Salad, made in my good ol' American kitchen.

Here's my recipe.

All-American Italian Pasta Salad

16 ounces rotini pasta
8 ounces mozarella cheese chunk, cut into small cubes
4 ounce can sliced black olives, drained
2 small zucchini, cut into chunks
1 package pepperoni; cut slices in half if they're big
1/4 to 1/2 cup chopped red onion
2 medium tomatoes, cut into chunks
1 bottle of your favorite Italian-style dressing

Cook the pasta as package directs. Drain and rinse with cold water; drain well. Combine all the ingredients except dressing in a large bowl. Add about three-quarters of the bottle of dressing and stir well. Cover the bowl and chill for at least a couple of hours for flavors to blend. Before serving, add the remainder of the dressing and toss. (The pasta tends to absorb the dressing, so it's nice to save that last little bit for serving time.) Makes a nice, main dish pasta salad. Serve with garlic bread.

During this Memorial Day holiday weekend, don't forget to fly the flag to honor those who have died in service to our country. If you need to review a little history to remember what Memorial Day is supposed to be all about, I would suggest this page from history.com.

Have a wonderful red, white, and blue weekend!

Do Not Adjust Your Set, or When to Serve Jell-O by Candlelight

I was hungry for fruity Jell-O the other day and found fruit cocktail on sale while shopping at the local grocery store. I happily grabbed a couple of cans, looking forward to soothing my craving, then headed to the gelatin aisle.

Now, fruit cocktail just screams “red Jell-O” to me, and that was going to be my dilemma, deciding from among the various red flavors. Would I choose cherry, the perennial favorite, or would raspberry win out? And what about the strawberry, or even the cranberry if it were in stock this time of year? I rounded the corner of the gelatin aisle and, lo and behold, what did I see but a sale sign. Sales are good and their accompanying signs always catch my eye. This one was no different but, interestingly, there was only one sign and it was below the lime Jell-O, the only flavor on sale. Well, now I had a dilemma. It’s pears that scream “green Jell-O,” but I had chosen the fruit cocktail. Do I mix and match instead of color coordinate, or do I return to the canned fruit aisle and pick up pears? Was the sixteen-cent markdown on the green Jell-O enough to justify going against tradition and altering my usual fruit/Jell-O pairings? Not surprisingly, the sales won out and fruit cocktail with green Jell-O it would be.

This afternoon, as I began to prepare the fruity Jell-O to accompany the chicken and noodle casserole for dinner tonight, I opened the cans and knew even before I added the boiling water to the gelatin that I had a mis-match situation on my hands, but the decision had been made, the cans were open, and my anxious taste buds (which don’t have eyes) had made up my mind to go for it.

It’s the little cubes of orange peaches that clash the most, I think, but I know that even though it’s going to look a bit unusual, even teetering on the edge of unappetizing, my Jell-O fruit salad is going to taste just fine. I think we will dine late tonight, and by candlelight.

Snacks for Cub Scouts (and other kids)

When my younger son was Cub Scout age, I was the den mother for his little den of Cubs. In one of my cookbooks is a piece of paper that I obviously copied for the boys, labeled "Easy Snacks for Healthy Cub Scouts." Here are a couple of the recipes that I included.

Snack on a Handle

Spear cheese cubes, meat, or fruit (pineapple, grapes, strawberries) on straight pretzels.

Apple Pinwheel

Core an apple. Stuff the opening with peanut butter, cream cheese, or cheese spread. Chill. To serve, clice crosswise.

Both of those still sound really good. The apple pinwheels would require a lot of adult help for little guys, but the snacks on pretzel handles would be a great "recipe" to use to show children how to prepare a nice plate of snacks for family or friends - or maybe for a Blue and Gold banquet!

The Best Easy Banana Pudding Recipe

I love banana pudding. Mmmm. Made some for Easter dessert and it's almost gone. I may just have to make another batch! Here's the recipe. It really is easy quick and easy, and the result is absolutely delicious!

My Best Easy Banana Pudding Recipe

2 boxes Jello vanilla instant pudding
1 1/2 cups cold milk
3 bananas
about half a box of vanilla wafers
1 carton Cool Whip

In a mixing bowl, prepare pudding by whisking the pudding mixes into the milk. Peel and slice the bananas and stir into the pudding. Gently fold in about half of the carton of Cool Whip. Cover the bottom of a pretty glass serving bowl with the vanilla wafers and stand a few wafers upright around the edges (so they show from the outside). Pour in about a quarter of the pudding mixture. Add another layer of vanilla wafers and stand a few up around the edges. Pour in about half of the remaining pudding and repeat a layer of vanilla wafers. Pour in the rest of the pudding, add some vanilla wafers around the edges and then top with the remaining Cool Whip. Cover and refrigerate for at least an hour, preferably a few hours or overnight. Serve.

This is so very creamy and rivals homemade banana pudding. You can substitute the cooked version of the pudding if you prefer; just cool a bit before adding the bananas and the Cool Whip. You could also use a pie crust of your choice (graham cracker or a regular baked pie crust), leave out the vanilla wafers and make an easy banana cream pie instead.

Let me know how you like it!

Spring Ahead to Easter

Seems like we just had Leap Day, now tonight we "spring ahead" for an extra-early daylight saving time. Easter is sneaking up on us quickly, too, so it's time to mention my Pink Pickled Eggs recipe again. Have you tried it? If you or your kids can't get past the "pickled" part of the name, call these gorgeous pinkish-purple eggs something else, like Real Pretty Pink Easter Eggs That Taste Good, because they are!

Have you planned your Easter menu yet? Will you have Easter brunch or a big Easter dinner? If the thought of planning makes you want to tear your hair out, you probably could use this guide to A Stress Free Easter Holiday. Lucky for you (and me) it's an e-book, instantly downloadable, and, as one of those cute little marshmallow peeps might say if it could talk, it's "cheep!"

And, if you need a special activity to help your children understand the importance of Easter, consider making Resurrection Cookies with them the night before Easter Sunday. It's a great way to teach them why Easter is really cool, and the cookies are good, too.

Easy Crockpot Stuffed Peppers Mexican Style

Yesterday was Valentine's Day, so I wanted to have something red for our dinner. Turns out my favorite grocery store had red bell peppers on sale, two for a dollar, and that is what I chose. I needed to fix something that would be ready when my sweetie got home, and his schedule is very unpredictable these days, so I chose to stuff the peppers and prepare them in my handy-dandy slow cooker. Here's what I did.

Easy Crockpot Stuffed Peppers Mexican Style

two red (or green or yellow) bell peppers
about a pound of lean ground beef
about half of a medium onion, diced
about a cup of frozen cut corn, thawed (or use a can of Mexicorn, drained)
one can enchilada sauce

Wash the peppers and cut them in half; remove seeds and the white membranes. Mix the ground beef, onion, and corn together. Use the mixture to stuff the peppers, then place in the crockpot or slow cooker, setting them upright. Pour the can of enchilada sauce over the peppers. Cover and cook until done. I have a small slow cooker, so I let them cook for about three hours on high then reduced the temperature to low until we were ready to eat (about another half hour). Of course you can increase the number of peppers and use a larger crockpot or slow cooker to feed more people. This was more than enough for the two of us.

With the enchilada sauce I expected this to be rather spicy, so I did not add spice to the meat. We were surprised that it turned out rather mild. Next time, if I'm in a spicy mood, I might add some chili powder to the mixture. Even without the spice, they tasted as good as they looked!

Dump Cake, Our Favorite

I have a dump cake in the oven and it's almost ready. I can tell because it's starting to smell really, really good. It just occurred to me that I hadn't posted the recipe here on the blog and there may be people who don't remember the details of the recipe or others who haven't discovered how easy and good this cake is. So, here's my favorite quick, easy, very tasty dump cake recipe.

Dump Cake

1 can crushed pineapple
1 can cherry pie filling
1 box yellow cake mix
1 stick butter or margarine
chopped walnuts or pecans (optional)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Open and dump the can of pineapple into a 9 x 13 inch cake pan. Use a spoon to even it out in the pan. Open the can of cherry pie filling and gently use the spoon to dump it evenly on top of the pineapple. Open the box of cake mix and gently distribute the dry mix evenly on top of the fruit. Don't stir. Now, either melt the butter and pour it evenly over the dry cake mix or you can do as I do and cut the butter into little chunks and place the little chunks of butter evenly on top of the cake mix. If using, add the nuts on top. Bake at 350 for about 50 minutes or until the cake is bubbly and golden brown. Serve warm (not hot) or at room temperature with or without a scoop of ice cream on top. I promise, it tastes as good as it smells!

You can use two sticks of butter if you want it to, but one works just fine if you distribute it carefully. That's why I prefer the chunk method to the melt-and-pour method; the "crust" comes out better that way for me.

When 9 x 13 is more than I need, I make a smaller version by using just the pie filling and a one-layer cake mix in a 9 x 9 inch pan, more or less converting the recipe to cherry cobbler.

Mine's done and looks absolutely beautiful. Wish I would have bought the ice cream after all, but even a plain dump cake tastes pretty fancy.

Super Fast, Super Good Supper

I love Woman's Day magazine. I've subscribed for many, many years and always look forward to receiving a new issue in the mail. On the cover of the February 1 issue, one particular "teaser" caught my eye - "50 Ten-Minute Meals." Now, ten-minutes meals I can really get into. Here's the first one I tried. It doesn't have a name but was number 25 on the list.

Super Fast, Super Good #25

Brown ground beef in large skillet, stir in canned chunky tomatoes and green chiles, tomato sauce and chili seasoning mix. Simmer until slightly thickened; stir in canned corn and rinsed beans. Heat through.

Now, that's my kind of recipe; leaves a lot of room for individual preferences and doesn't dirty up the measuring cups. I used frozen corn that I had set out earlier to thaw and I used a can of black beans. We had one tasty meal and it was on the table in a big hurry, which is my usual, normal speed. Perfect!

Easy Cheesy Garlic Biscuits

I got this Bisquick recipe from the Betty Crocker site, but when I made it I changed it a little bit. First the original version, then I'll tell you what I did.

Cheese-Garlic Biscuits

Prep Time: 5 min
Start to Finish: 15 min
Makes: 9 biscuits

2 cups Original Bisquick® mix
2/3 cup milk
1/2 cup shredded Cheddar cheese (2 ounces)
2 tablespoons butter or margarine
1/8 teaspoon garlic powder

1. Heat oven to 450ºF.
2. Stir Bisquick mix, milk and cheese until soft dough forms. Drop dough by 9 spoonfuls onto ungreased cookie sheet.
3. Bake 8 to 10 minutes or until golden brown. Stir together butter and garlic powder; brush over warm biscuits.

Now, that sounds really good and resembles the biscuits they serve at Red Lobster. When I made these to go with a big pot of soup the other night, my cheese grater was in the dishwasher waiting to be washed. Lazy me, I didn't want to take time to mess with that and didn't have pre-shredded cheese, so I grabbed the big container of parmesan cheese and used that instead!

Clever, huh? You know what? We loved the biscuits with the parmesan cheese! They turned out very light and fluffy, exceptionally so for drop biscuits, and tasted great with our homemade chicken/turkey noodle soup. I will be making that variation again, and very soon. Let me know if you try it.

Ham and Bean Soup

Got leftover ham? Here's a perfect recipe to help you use up that ham as well as warm your insides on a chilly, wintery day.

Win-Win Ham and Bean Soup

1 bag dry navy beans (2 cups)
6 cups water
1/4 lb ham, cubed (throw in the ham bone if you have it)
1 medium onion, chopped
1 or 2 cloves of garlic, minced
1 cup diced celery
1 carrot, diced
1 potato, peeled and diced
2 tsp instant chicken bouillon
salt and pepper to taste (there's enough salt in the ham and the bouillon for our tastes)

Sort and wash beans, cover with water and bring to a boil; boil 2 minutes, cover and remove from heat. Let stand 1 hour. Add remaining ingredients. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer 2 or 3 hours until tender. Remove the ham bone and pull off the bits of ham and return to the soup. (Those bits are my favorite part.) Add 6 cups of water during cooking. Serve with cornbread.

You already know that beans are good for you, and this is such a flavorful bean soup, so those two things make this a win-win recipe in my book. We love it.