I am constantly on the look out for new pasta salad recipes. Pasta salad is the easiest summer side dish. It goes with anything you grill or you can even eat it by itself for meal. I love to make a large batch and serve it for a couple of meals… usually with dinner and a couple of lunches. Or for when you meet up with friends and have an impromptu dinner date.

And the best thing about pasta salad? You can make it early in the day, stick it in the refrigerator, and not think about it again until you are pulling the burgers off of the grill that evening.

You will need:

8 oz rotini pasta
1/2 c Italian dressing
1TB dijon mustard
1TB mayonaisse
1lb grilled chicken breast, cut into strips*
1 small can sliced olives
1 jar roasted red peppers, draned and chopped
1 can artichoke hearts, rinsed, drained and chopped

*I used the premade/precooked grilled chicken breast strips that come frozen at the grocery store to make the recipe that much easier. When I grill chicken breast for a meal I like to save a few breasts for using in recipes like this, but this time I didn’t have any.

Step 1: Cook the pasta according to the directions on the box. Drain and rinse with cool water until the pasta is completely cool.

Step 2: Combine the salad dressing, mayonaisse, and mustard and pour onto the pasta. Stir to coat.

Step 3: Add remaining ingredients. Stir.

Step 4: Cover and refrigerate until dinner time.

Balloon tied to your chair optional, but why not. It makes meal time so much for festive. And by festive I mean cause your children to punch the ballon into each other constantly, and whine and cry until you threaten to spear the balloon with your fork. Not that I would know this from personal experience or anything. Ahem.

Looking for a new summer side dish? I have a great one for you. This recipe is so easy that I do not even have photos of the steps because I think that you know how to open cans. Right?

You can make this early in the day and leave in the fridge until dinner time. Perfect for those days when you are going to be out of the house all day and just going to grill some hamburgers for dinner.

Also, it looks so pretty. Doesn’t it?

Black Bean and Corn Salsa

1/4 c Hellman’s Light Mayonnaise
2T lime juice
1/2tsp ground cumin
1 can black beans, rinsed and drained
1 can whole kernel corn, drained
1 cup quartered cherry or grape tomatoes
1/2 c chopped red onion
2T chopped fresh cilantro (I left this out because I could not find any at my grocery store)

Combine mayonnaise, lime juice, and cumin in a medium sized bowl.

Stir in remaining ingredients.

Serve chilled or at room temperature.

This was loved by all. Except for the child who insists he doesn’t like beans, though I doubt that a bean has ever crossed his lips. So really he doesn’t count. The rest of my children said it was wonderful and that it should be made again and again. My eldest son even ate some of the leftover with his lunch, which says something because his general feeling is that leftovers are garbage that I store in the fridge.

For the month of November there is something fun happening over here at this little cooking blog. I asked some of my favorite bloggers to share a recipe that they will be making this holiday season. Whether it is a holiday specific recipe or just something they will be cooking for their families while they are in the midst of the rat race know as the holidays.

Without further ado, let me introduce you to Metalia. Surely all of you are reading her blog? She is a working mom of two young ADORABLE children and she is hilariously funny.

When I asked her if she had a recipe she immediately told me about this praline sweet potato pie. She had already made it a few times, FOR PRACTICE, so that she would know how to do it for Thanksgiving. God, I love her. And now that I have read the recipe and seen the photos, I would practice making this pie and practice eating this pie for the entire holiday season. I do need practice eating stealthily in my pantry I think.
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My garden runneth over with non-ripe vegetables. And sadly, the warm summer growing days are over. We have had frost a couple of nights now and so I was forced to pick everything.

Remember the movie Fried Green Tomatoes?  I love that movie.  If I had to rank my most favorite movies of all time it would be at the top of the list.  Along with the Princess Bride and the Wizard of Oz.  I am sure that there are others that I just can’t even think of right now.

The movie was what first introduced me to fried green tomatoes.  Before that green tomatoes were something that sat on your windowsill until they turned red or rotted.

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When I find a food that I like I tend to eat it over and over again until I am so sick of it I don’t want to even look at it for another decade or so. Hummus recently joined this illustrious list, which includes foods like stuffed peppers, peanut butter and honey sandwiches, and Hot Tamales (the candy).

This is my newest obsession. The sweet potato. No longer is it relegated just to Thanksgiving.

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Everyone loves a parfait. Isn’t that what Donkey says in the Shrek movie? And just think, you can use the movie tie in to actually get your kids to eat the healthy yogurt parfait.

But what exactly is a parfait?

Behold, the layered goodness that is the parfait.
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Oh my. When I die and go to Heaven, shut-up you in the back, this is going to be served everyday.

Back in the days before I had to go gluten and dairy free this was one of my most favorite summer meals. I think out of all the foods I have had to give up, it is the only dish I truly miss.
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Nataly emailed me last week asking if I had any no cook recipes in my repertoire and could I pretty please share them.

My first thought was, “Well, I can pour a mean bowl of cereal!” Because who among us doesn’t try to convince our children that it was THEIR idea to have a bowl of cereal for dinner every now and then.

But I got thinking about summer schedules and the heat and how most of us want to be out enjoying the weather, not tied to our hot stoves once we get home from work. So I thought I would offer up some tips to making summer cooking easier.
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Who doesn’t love corn-on-the-cob?

My favorite thing to do with corn on the cob is to grill it.

Step One: Peel off the first few layers of husk.

Step Two: Soak the corn on the cob in water for at least 15 minutes while you warm up the grill

Step Three: After soaking gently pull back the layers of the husk and remove the corn silk as much as possible.

Step Four: Brush a little oil on the corn, then wrap the husk back around the corn, and wrap the entire corn on the cob in tin foil

Step Five: Put the corn on the grill over medium heat. Turn every couple minutes. Then move the corn to a more indirect source of heat like the upper rack of the grill.

Step Six: After about 15 minutes remove the corn from the heat.

Step Seven: Keep the corn wrapped in the tin foil to keep it warm on your buffet table.

Now, you can melt some butter and serve the corn with that. But how about making a spicy butter to give the corn on the cob an extra little zip? Your guests will love it.

In a small sauce pan mix together (enough for about 10-12 ears):

1 cup butter
2 tsp chili powder
1/4 tsp dried oregano
1/4 tsp onion powder
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper (or to taste)
1/4 tsp garlic powder to taste
salt and pepper to taste

Heat long enough for butter to melt. Put a pastry brush out with small saucepan so your guests can brush the spicy butter onto their corn.

Once you have your corn cooked this way, you will be hard pressed to go back to regular plain, boiled corn.

(I will add photos later. I am still cooking my food for this weekend, but wanted to get the recipes up since I have had so many requests for the Fourth of July recipes. I am also cooking entirely on my outdoor grill. Have I mentioned here that we are in the middle of a kitchen remodel? We are at the point right now where we have no appliances. Woooo hooooo. Or something like that.)

Along with the potato salad it is a law that you must have pasta salad. Yes, really. I generally make more than one but this one is an old favorite stand-by that everyone loves.

It conforms to the trifecta of a good recipe:

1) Easy.
2) Can be made in advance, actually it is preferable to make it the day before so that the flavors can meld together.
3) Loved by everyone.

1 (16 ounce) package of pasta, I like to use the tri-color ones

can black olives, chopped
1 small yellow onion, chopped
1 clove garlic, minced
16 ounces mozzarella cheese, cubed*
cherry tomatoes, halved
1/4 pound Genoa salami, cut into bite sized pieces
1/4 pound pepperoni, pizza style, cut into bite sized pieces

3/4 cup olive oil**
1/2 cup balsamic vinegar**
ground black pepper to taste**

(fresh mozzarella is delicious, but you can use the regular kind too)

(*you can substitute your favorite Italian dressing instead. Buy an extra bottle to leave on the buffet table for people who want to add a little more zing to their pasta salad.)

Cook the pasta.

Drain the pasta and run under cool water.

Toss all the ingredients together in a bowl.

Refrigerate until your guests arrive.