Chicken Orzo Salad

I love pasta salads as they are so diverse and can be made so many different ways and are easy to change up. I recently went to a potluck for my daughters reading club. She asked me to bring FRUIT? What the heck? Fruit? My heart sunk... I need to cook... I need to, it is not a choice... it is just how my brain works. I compromised and took peaches and cream muffins. The recipe is soon to follow. They turned out great. But... I wanted to take more, so I made a batch of chicken orzo salad with dill. It received many compliments. I just threw things in it that I had in my pantry. Again, all of my cooking are not measured out well... I just throw this and that in and play with it as I go. These are approximate and I know you will play with it as well to your liking.

1 box of orzo cooked and cooled and placed into a bowl
1/2 bottle ranch dressing
1/2 bottle Bernstines cheese and garlic fat free dressing
1 can asparagus
1 can olives sliced
1 can garbanzo beans
1 large can of chicken packed in water (it is found near the tuna in the grocery store... and tuna is fantastic in this salad also)
1 carton grape tomatoes halved
1 zucchini sliced
1/2 onion diced
1/2 cup parmesan cheese
1 bunch of fresh dill chopped

Mix all the above ingredients and place in large bowl and chill. It is great with feta cheese as well, but I didn't have any on hand. Enjoy. Fantastic. Makes a big salad for potlucks.

Hawaiian Mac Salad

There is something about Hawaiian Mac Salad that beats all other macaroni salads. There are many different versions. As, me, I have tried most of them. I like the creaminess of the Hawaiian Style mac salad. No plate lunch would be complete with mac salad. I have adapted from all the salads what I like best about mac salad and combined it into my own. We make it in large quantity when I do make it, which isn't nearly enough.

I hope you try this and enjoy. I don't have the exact measurements as I play with it to have it just come out so. You do the same... but these are approximate measurements. Enjoy... and mahalo for coming back to my page.

Wendy's Hawaiian Mac Salad

1 pkg macaroni noodles cooked and drained. (I never use salad macaroni size, full size so it holds
the dressing better.

Place noodles in a large bowl and cool completely.

4 red potatoes cubed and cooked. Don't cook them to be mushy... No bueno... tender but not mushy....

1 handful of matchstick carrots. You will find them in the produce aisle already cut for you, they are very small... like what you would find in an iceburg lettuce salad mix.

Six hard boiled eggs cooled, cracked, peeled and sliced.

2 cans of tuna fish drained and shredded well with a fork, no big chunks....

1 can olives sliced

1 cup cubed cheddar cheese

Just throw all of this in the big bowl with the noodles.

For the dressing, I toss the mixture in the bowl with about 6 Tbls milk. This gives it that extra creamy I spoke about.

I then mix 1 and a half cups of mayo to start into the salad, and if needed, I will add more. I put in a couple of Tablespoons of mustard. It will not be enough to turn the noodles or mixture a yellow color... it is just for a little zip. Fold all ingredients well, add salt and pepper to taste and enjoy. With left overs, you may want to add more mayo if it has been soaked up by the noodles.

Chinese Chicken Salad

The dressing was shared with me by Carlie's Great Auntie Janice. It is a great salad and so nice to have in the summer months. Enjoy this... it is one of our favorites.
Lettuce
Slivered Almonds or
Sliced almonds
Chinese Noodles
2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts boiled, and shredded
(this would also taste good if they were bbq'ed)
Small can of mandarin oranges
Green onions sliced
Lots of fresh ground pepper, to your taste.

I make these in layers on individual salad plates. First I put on lettuce, then the chicken, the mandarin oranges, the chinese chicken noodles, the almonds, then the green onions... Pour the following dressing on the top.

Dressing:
2 tbsp. sugar
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. MSG
1/2 tsp. pepper
1/4 c. salad oil
1 tbsp. sesame oil This is not like cooking oil. It comes in a small bottle in the Asian food section of a store. It is a very intense flavor and not watered down like other cooking oils.
3 tbsp. white vinegar

Combine first six ingredients, toss gently. Mix dressing in covered jar or bowl by shaking thoroughly. Pour dressing over other ingredients and toss again. Can be made ahead and put into a tupperware bowl. When ready to serve just add noodles and dressing.

Polish Sausage Potato Salad

Potato salad is always a favorite in my house. I am impressed with all the new kinds of potato salads that there are not. Not just the typical mayonnaise, pickles and celery with onions. I love the version with fresh green beans, onions, red potatoes and garlic. So yummy... to follow another day.

For a recent gathering that I went to last week, I took this potato salad I played by ear. Again, Not exact measurements as I played around to get this taste, so please as you do this, play with it and make it your own... what you like.

What I used:

2 1/2 lbs red potatoes cut and boiled (not to long cooking as you don't want them soggy)
12 polish sausage cut into rings and fried
2 large onions cooked with the polish sausage
1 large tblsp minced garlic
Salt and pepper to taste

What I mixed as a dressing

1/4 cup creamy horseradish
5 Tbls horseradish mustard (I am assuming this amout, a huge squeeze)
1 Tbls minced garlic
1/4 cup red wine vinegar
2 cups of mayonnaise
2 Tbls fresh ground pepper
fresh ground salt to taste
5 Tblsp olive oil
1 Tbls powdered chinese mustard

I simply whisked this all together and folded into the potato salad. I must say I like a lot of dressing on my potato as if there is extra it soaks into the salad and it becomes too dry.

I hope you enjoy this recipe. It is good and hearty meal all on it's own with some fresh fruit. I garnished with green onions as I always do.

Broccoli, Cauliflower Delight Salad

One of the things I like most about cooking is adapting recipes. I, for instance, have seen this recipe so many different ways that it is not even funny. I also make it a lot of different ways. This salad originated as this...

Broccoli Delight Salad

1 lg. bunch fresh broccoli, cut in pieces (4 to 5 cups)
1 c. raisins
1/4 c. diced red onion
10 strips bacon, fried and crumbled
1 cup sunflower seeds

DRESSING:

3 to 4 tbsp. sugar
1/4 c. mayonnaise
1 tbsp. vinegar

Put washed, well drained broccoli pieces in large bowl; add raisins, onion, bacon and sunflower seeds. Mix together dressing ingredients; pour over salad. Yield: 6 servings.

However I added cauliflower to it as well as I had seen it done that way in the past. I then had to increase the dressing to one and a half... Thank GAWD I did so well in math class... who would have ever thought I would need it for a broccoli salad... I also have added things such as fugi apples sliced to mine, dried cherries, dried cranberries, cut up mandarin oranges, slivered almonds, shredded cheese. I always make sure that there is cauliflower, broccoli, the sunflower seeds (although I used honey roasted... just for the effects of helping my butt grow at a more rapid rate... nothing better...) bacon and red onion.... and the dressing as well of course. Then, after that it really depends upon my mood for the day (which interprets into what Carlie or the other kids are in the mood for... as we all know I will eat just about anything that suits my fancy.) This is a great summer salad, as you can eat it for dinner just alone, and never have to turn on the oven...... thank goodness for small miracles when we get old and grumpy with too hot of weather. I hope you enjoy this very versitile and wonderful salad... Just remember, there is a lot of fiber to this salad... as a friendly reminder. GRIN! And no, this is not an ad for Beano.

Fresh Tomato Basil and Mozzarella Salad

I went to Trader Joe's today. If you really know me, you know I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE, LOVE Trader Joe's. So much so that yesterday was their fourth day open here in Salem and it was my third trip in... I love them that much. I think I will even go there today. EWWWWW... this may be a problem. Anyhow... there was fresh basil there that I will be planting in the yard so it will continue to grow. I love it. They also had a sample of a mozzarella cheese logs. This is fresh, where it is not hard, or in the string cheese form. It is soft and wet and ohhhhh so good. So, this was simple....

Collect fresh tomatoes. Aren't tomatoes fantastic right out of the garden and when they are fresh? I love them. So good to just eat with salt. Also gather fresh basil, and the mozzarella cheese for the salad. I put a bit of garlic powder in it as well...
This is what I am talking about... don't those tomoatoes look good... just slice the tops off and wash... eat them raw. So good.
I had to include the above photo... it is Carlie, my six year old daughter. She picked the basil off of the plant for me and was ripping the leaves and adding it to the salad for me. I love she is six and tells me... mommy it is so fun to cook together. It makes me so very happy.
Cut the tomatoes and add the basil as shown above. I love the colors and how they contrast against each other so much. It just looks so fresh and appetizing.

Slice and add the mozzarella cheese to the mix. Easy enough. Now... add balsamic vinegar to the salad. I also added, after the photo... a dash of salt, pepper, and garlic powder. I thought of getting wild and crazy (hahahaha, this is my idea of wild and crazy at 44) and adding red onion and olives to the mix. It was so very good. If you wanted a meat to the salad, a salami would be nice or prosciutto would be fantastic. I served this with some french bread, and it was dinner. Grantid, nobody in the house liked it. He didn't like fresh mozzarella and she didn't like balsamic vinegar. However, mommy loved it... and that, for last night is all that counted. THUS... I had to make a spinach salad as well and a turkey pita pocket for miss Carlie.