Squirmy Wormy Pasta

A crazy thing happens to hotdogs when you slice them thinly and boil them. They curl up into wormy shapes. It's awesome; and the pink hotdog color is just right, too. No... I don't really want to know the reason why they curl because I am pretty sure it is yucky. I just think it is awesome that they do curl. It makes a perfect focus for our Wormy Pasta.

Serves: 4
Start-to-Finish: 30 minutes prep + 2 hours refrigeration
Recipe By: Mueller's Pasta

Ingredients:

6 oz uncooked spiral pasta
4 hot dogs, sliced lengthwise
1/3 cup relish
1/4 cup red or green bell pepper, finely chopped
2 green onions, thinly sliced
1/2 cup mayonnaise
1 TBSP yellow mustard
2 tsp cider vinegar
1/2 cup black beans, drained and rinsed
Salt and pepper, to taste

Directions:

1. Slice hotdogs thinly and boil until they curl up. (The hotdogs puff up when you boil them so you need to slice them really thin to get a good worm effect. I was slicing mine into 9ths and felt they could have even been thinner.)
2. Drain hotdogs and set aside.
3. Cook pasta according to package directions.
4. Drain and rinse well with cold water.
5. In a large bowl, mix together all ingredients, except pasta, cooked hotdogs, and black beans.
6. Once thoroughly mixed, add pasta, hot dogs, and black beans tossing gently to coat.
7. Chill for at least two hours before serving. (You don't have to refrigerate this pasta if you would like to eat sooner, the flavors will just be milder so you may want to boost them by adding more mustard and vinegar to taste.)

Summertime Salad

This salad is light, delicious, and fresh. Perfect for a Saturday lunch or a side dish to an outdoor summer dinner. I say it serves two to four because 2 people can easily polish off the entire dish even though it is meant to serve 4. The bacon adds a nice saltiness to compliment the sweet vegetables. The dressing is light and doesn't overwhelm the fresh flavors that you want to shine though. (Photo from Taste of Home magazine)


Serves: 2-4
Start-to-Finish: 35 minutes
Recipe By: Betty Fulks

Ingredients:

2 cups uncooked spiral pasta (I like to use rainbow spiral pasta)
1/2 cup mayonnaise
1 tablespoons lemon juice
1/2 teaspoon sugar
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
1/8 cup sliced green onions
6-8 bacon strips, cooked and crumbled
2 cups shredded romaine lettuce
1 cup fresh sugar snap peas, trimmed and halved
1 cup fresh cauliflower, chopped
1 cup fresh broccoli, chopped
1 large sweet red bell pepper, chopped

Directions:

1. Cook pasta according to package directions.
2. Meanwhile, in a small bowl, combine the mayonnaise, lemon juice, sugar and garlic powder; set aside.
3. Wash and chop green onions, romaine lettuce, sugar snap peas, cauliflower, broccoli,  and red bell pepper.
3. Drain pasta and rinse in cold water.
4. In a large salad bowl combine pasta, mayonnaise dressing, crumbled bacon, green onions, romaine lettuce, peas, cauliflower, broccoli, and red bell pepper.
5. Toss to mix.
6. Cover and refrigerate until serving.

Balsamic Chicken Pasta Salad

This yummy, light pasta has a lot of deep flavors from the smoky bacon to the fresh basil and the fruity balsamic vinegar. You can prepare it ahead of time, just don't pour on the dressing until right before serving. As a side note: It makes much more dressing than the pasta actually needs but to divide it you would have to get down to a 1/16 of a tsp which just felt silly so I left it where it was and I am warning you now not to just dump it all on the pasta.

Serves: 4
Start-to-Finish: 45 minutes
Recipe By: Terry McCarty

Ingredients:

3 cups uncooked bow tie pasta
2 cups cubed, cooked chicken breast
1 cup chopped tomatoes (about 1 tomato)
1/4 cup chopped red onion
4 bacon strips, cooked and crumbled
1/8 cup crumbled Feta cheese
1/4 cup minced fresh basil
1/4 cup olive oil
1/8 cup balsamic vinegar
1 TBSP brown sugar
1/2 tsp minced garlic
1/8 tsp salt
1/8 tsp pepper

Directions:

1. Start a pot of water boiling for the pasta.
2. I don't know about you, but I rarely have precooked chopped chicken or crumbled bacon strips in my fridge, so your next step is to cook the chicken and bacon.
3. Meanwhile, chop tomatoes, red onion, and basil.
4. When your pot of water boils, cook pasta according to package directions.
5. Drain and rinse pasta in cold water; transfer to a large bowl.
6. Combine the pasta, chicken, bacon, tomatoes, red onion, and basil.
7. In a small bowl, whisk the olive oil, balsamic vinegar, brown sugar, garlic, salt and pepper.
8. Drizzle dressing (to taste) over pasta salad and toss to coat.
9. Sprinkle with Feta cheese and serve.

Next Day Turkey Primavera

Happy Thanksgiving! After Thanksgiving most people have lots of food leftover (Which is amazing because we have eaten so much the day before). If you are looking for a way to use up your leftover turkey, then consider this recipe. It has lots of wonderful flavor but with a completely different taste than your Thanksgiving meal. And because many of the ingredients were used in your Thanksgiving feast in one way or another you will probably only need a few more items to put an entirely new meal on the table.

Serves: 4
Start to Finish: 30 minutes
Recipe By: Robyn Hardisty

Ingredients:

2 cups uncooked penne pasta
8 fresh asparagus spears, trimmed and cut into 1-inch pieces
2/3 cup julienned carrot
3 TBSP butter
1/2 cup chopped yellow squash
1/2 cup chopped zucchini
1 1/2 cups shredded cooked turkey
1 medium tomato, chopped
1 envelope Italian salad dressing mix
1 cup heavy whipping cream
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese

Directions:

1. Cook pasta according to package directions.
2. Meanwhile, in a large skillet, saute asparagus and carrot in butter for 3 minutes.
3. Add yellow squash and zucchini; saute until crisp-tender.
4. Stir in the turkey, tomato, dressing mix and cream.
5. Bring to a boil; cook and stir for 2 minutes.
6. Drain pasta; add to vegetable mixture and toss to combine.
7. Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese.
8. Toss again before serving.

Monster Mouths

This meals comes together very quickly; which leaves you plenty of time to decorate your monsters. Their faces are made from carrots, olives, cheese, and pickles (or any other veggies you think would be fun). As for the meat mixture inside... think Hamburger Helper dressed up for a night on the town. The bacon and tomatoes help add that "grown-up taste", making the dish appealing to all ages.


Serves: 6
Start to Finish: 60 minutes
Recipe By: www.howstuffworks.com

Ingredients:

1 medium onion, chopped
4 slices bacon
1 lb ground beef
1 tomato, seeded and chopped (you can substitute 1 cup of diced, canned tomatoes)
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
8 slices American Cheese Singles, chopped
1/2 package of jumbo pasta shells (about 18 shells), cooked and drained
Decorations: Baby carrots, olives, bell peppers, small pickles or cheese slices for decoration

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350°F.
2. Lightly grease 9-in x 13-in baking dish.
3. Cook pasta shells according to package directions.
4. Meanwhile, fry bacon in large skillet until crisp.
5. Remove from pan and crumble.
6. Add onion to pan and cook until tender. (Cook in the bacon grease.)
7. Add beef; cook and stir about 5 minutes or until beef is no longer pink.
8. Stir in tomatoes, cheese, bacon, salt, and pepper.
9. Spoon mixture into cooked shells.
10. Place in prepared baking dish.
11. Bake 5 minutes or until hot; remove from oven.
12. Decorate as desired with olive and carrot eyes, bell pepper fangs, pickle tongue and cheese teeth.

Flank Steak Roll-Up

All the wonderful Italian flavor of spaghetti, while being a little more grown up. This dish is another great choice for entertaining because the rolled flank steak makes such a pretty plate. Serve it with a hearty caesar salad and you are sure to have a dinner everyone will enjoy. As a kid, every time my mom cooked this meal I thought the tied flank steak looked like a huge sausage or wiener dog (which it totally does before it is cut). For those of you who have seen the movie "For Richer or Poorer" it reminds me of Kirstie Alley's line "Or better yet, I'll just eat this gigantic wiener", when she is served a sausage the size of a football. I am laughing now just thinking about it. Anyways it brings back lots of happy, funny memories.

Serves: 6
Start to Finish: maximum of 2 hours (depending on thickness of steak)
Recipe By: Virginia St. John

Ingredients:

1 1/2 lb. flank steak
3 TBSP butter
1/2 tsp thyme
1/4 tsp sage
4 tsp basil
3 TBSP olive oil
1 (28-oz) can tomatoes Any kind of tomatoes stewed, chopped, diced, etc...
1 (6-oz) can tomato paste
1 cup chopped onion
2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
1 1/2 tsp chili powder
1 clove garlic, cut in half
1 (12-oz) pkg broad egg noodles
1/4 cup fresh parsley, chopped

Directions:

1. Pound steak flat.
2. Spread one side of steak with butter; then sprinkle with thyme, sage, and basil.
3. Roll as a jellyroll and tie with string. I can never remember to buy string so I just stick a lot of toothpicks in mine and it works equally as well. They only thing you have to remember is to take them all out before you serve the steak or someone is going to be a winner.
4. In a large saucepan, brown rolled flank steak in hot oil.
5. Add tomatoes, tomato paste, onion, salt, pepper, chili powder and garlic.
6. Cover and simmer for a maximum 1 1/2 hours or until meat is cooked. If you have a fat roll it will cook the full time, if you have a skinner roll it will take less time, so check it often for doneness.
7. Remove garlic.
8. Meanwhile, cook noodles in boiling water and drain.
9. Add parsley to noodles.
10. Take steak roll from sauce and remove string.
11. Slice 1/2" thick.
12. Arrange noodles on platter, place rolls on noodles, spoon sauce over and serve.

Summer Pasta Salad

While I was pregnant with Van I craved fresh vegetables. However, I was usually too sick to prepare real meals, so I ate a lot of TV dinners and sandwiches. It was a treat for me to have someone else cook a meal and bring it by. One of my good friends, Crystal, was always quick to invite me over for dinner if she knew Mike was out of town on business. On one such occasion she made this pasta salad. It was heavenly! Maybe it was all the freshness and simplicity of it or maybe it was because I hadn't eaten anything besides dry cereal, crackers, and a lean cuisine. Whatever the reason. I still remember it as one of my favorite dinners during that time.

Serves: 4
Start to Finish: 20 minutes
Recipe By: Crystal Ross

Ingredients:

1/2 box bow-tie pasta noodles
1 (6 oz) can tuna I prefer solid, white albacore tuna packed in water
1 head romaine lettuce, finely chopped a head of romaine lettuce is smaller than a head of iceberg lettuce. So if you are going to substitute, you will probably only need 1/2 a head of iceberg. Note: romaine lettuce has significantly more vitamins than iceberg lettuce and there is hardly a taste difference.
1 large tomato, diced
2 TBSP low-fat mayonnaise or ranch dressing I don't like mayonnaise, so I substitute it for the ranch dressing but you can really add any kind of salad dressing, Thousand Island, French, Bleu Cheese, etc ... as long as it is thick enough to hold the salad together.

Directions:

In in a large stock pot, boil water for the noodles. Meanwhile, wash and chop the lettuce and tomato. When water begins boiling, cook the noodles according to package directions. Drain and set aside to cool. Drain tuna. You can run a knife inside the tuna can to break up the chucks and cut down the larger pieces. In a gallon-sized Ziploc bag combine all ingredients: cooked noodles, tuna, chopped lettuce and tomato, and dressing. Close and shake. Can be served immediately or refrigerated for later.