Bowtie Pasta Summer Salad with Feta Cheese and Greek Dressing

 For Father's Day every year we do a barbeque. I don't know why we always make dads do the work on Father's Day. But they like it at my house. So we do. And this year we decided to do hamburgers after asking all the dads what they would rather have. I had 3 dads for dinner; my son, son-in-law, and my hubs. Great Grandpa came for dessert after visiting one of my hub's siblings for dinner.



I don't know why dads always like a good burger but they do. So I made some side salads to go with them and we had fresh corn on the cob, watermelon, potato salad, and chips and cream cheese and chili dip too.

Here is the hubs with 2 little grandkiddos who do NOT want to pose for a picture. Isn't this a funny one anyway? Dylan is trying hard to squirm away. I think I got one decent shot of about 8 tries. 

Grandpa and his 2 newest grandkids on Father's Day 2014. Lena and Dylan both just over a year old. (Lena is 17 months) 

This is the Greek dressing that make this pasta salad so delicious. This dressing mixed with the Feta Cheese of course. It is hard to find. And it is wrapped up like a bottle of wine. But it is thick and really rich with herbs and spices and really kind of pricey too. It is $4.00 or more a bottle. I usually find it at Target or Smiths Market. 

 Recipe for Bowtie Pasta Summer Salad 
1 pkg bowtie pasta boiled and drained
3/4 bottle of Girards Greek Feta Salad Dressing
1/2 cup quartered cucumbers
1/2 cup diced tomatoes (or grape tomatoes sliced in half)
3/4 cup feta cheese
1/4 cup finely diced purple onion
salad seasoning just a few shakes (or season salt and pepper)
A shake of dried parsley 
Mix up and toss and let marinate in the fridge for 30 minutes before serving. Makes 10 - 12 servings. 

Then you can buy the Feta Cheese in a brick or already crumbled. I had a small brick of it so I just chopped it up into crumbs. 

I boiled up a package of bowtie pasta too and then drained and cooled it. 

I sliced and quartered a long, hothouse cucumber I got from Costco and added that to the Pasta Salad. 

Then I chopped up a few tomatoes and added them to the Greek Pasta Salad. 

Gotta have some purple onion to add some zest! 

I dice it up really really fine though. I don't like large chunks of onion in salads. It seems to overpower them. So I dice them tiny. 

Then I added the dressing and about 3/4 cup of Feta Cheese. I usually use 3/4 of a bottle of the Girards Greek Salad Dressing to the Pasta Salad. It takes a half hour to marinate in the fridge. Then it is ready to serve. 

Last thing I do is add some Salad Seasoning. I just shake it on and toss and shake it on again and taste. Sometimes one more shake is needed. If you don't have any of that use some Lawry's seasoning salt and pepper to taste.

Here's me and my most local grandbabies. My first two on the left and my only grandson on the right. I lub these critters sooooo much! Can't you just die looking at that cute little vest Dylan is wearing? I think it is just the cutest little preppy look he's got goin on! You should see him trying to walk. He looks like a drunken sailor. It is super cute. 

Two of the grown boy cousins. My nephew Tyler on the left and my son Devin on the right. There's a lotta love in this family. :D 

It must have been a plaid shirt convention. Even my son wore one! My hubs on the right and his brother on the left and his daddio in the middle. Behind him is a giant flat screen we got great grandpa for Father's Day along with John's siblings. He was so surprised! And who can't use another bigscreen T.V. around the house? Hmmmm? 

Great Grandma Merlene and my daughter Tiff and hubs Gary and Marisa my first granddaughter. Hope you all had a fun Father's Day. We sure did! 

Buttery Breadsticks and Pizza Dough

Cheesy Parmesan Breadsticks from Pizza Dough.....

Homemade Pizza and breadsticks.....a great Monday night quickie dinner! 

I used this recipe to make some pizza tonight at home. I had some leftover Parmesan cheese from making chicken alfredo the other night. It is great on breadsticks too. So I used half of the recipe for a medium sized pizza for the hubs and I, and the other half I made some mini breadsticks that will will go great with some cream of broccoli soup tomorrow. (that's not sayin they will last till tomorrow!) tee hee....

Gather your ingredients, start with WARM water to sprinkle the packet of yeast into.  

These are the things I put on top of my cheesy-garlic Parmesan breadsticks! I keep Parmesan in the freezer in the baggie it comes in. I bring it out when needed and that way it is always fresh. It is GREAT on Italian green salads and also in pasta dishes of any sort! 

I just LOVE these little Skookie cast-iron pans I got for my birthday a few years back from my son Jeff and daughter-in-law Wendy. They are perfect for individual pan pizzas!  WOOT! Here is a link for the pans HERE.

Added the sauce and then topped with cheese.....easy peasy.....

Homemade Pizzas and breadsticks ......make it tonight! 

The Weekday Chef loves breads. It's sadly, my downfall. And Pizza and buttery breadsticks are kind of the devil. (stupid buttery morsels of delight....stupid things....) sounds of sniffing....

Here is the recipe. It is from Jamie Cooks it UP!  love her! 
30 minute Pizza Dough 
1 Cup of Warm Water
1 T sugar
1 T. Yeast (I use active dry yeast)
1 teaspoon salt 
3 T vegetable or canola oil 
2 1/2 to 3 cups of flour 

I just pour a cup of warm water in my mixer and then dump in the yeast and then sugar and leave them to bubble up for 5 minutes while I gathered the pizza ingredients. Then I added the teaspoon salt and 3 Tablespoons of oil. (Olive oil works great too) and added 2 cups of flour slowly and then about 2 3/4 when it was about done. Just add enough so it isn't sticky anymore and pulls away from the pan. 

Roll out the pizza dough onto a pizza stone brushed with oil. 

Breadsticks from Pizza Dough...I let them rise a little before baking.....then I painted melted butter on them with a silicone soft brush and topped them with Parmesan Cheese and Johnny's Garlic Salt Mixture.

 I used a little more than half of the dough on my pizza stone and rolled it out and then let it set while I grated the cheese. Then I used the other half, rolled it out in a short rectangle about 1/3 of an inch thick. Then I cut rectangles, twisted them and layed them in my little mini pizza pans. They rise while the pizza is cooking. 

I add PREGO spaghetti sauce for my pizzas and top with Mozzarella cheese and pineapple bits, bacon, tomato slices and green peppers and purple onion. Sometimes I add mushrooms and olives too if we have them on hand. It's yummyrific! 

Homemade Pizza  and Parmesan Breadsticks made from a really EASY PEASY Pizza Dough! 

Add favorite toppings to pizza and cook at 475 for 8 to 12 minutes depending on your oven. 

This is one of the easiest and quickest dinners around....homemade pizzas and breadsticks! 

Homemade Pizza dough breadsticks topped with butter and Parmesan cheese!

Maybe we'll start having pizza nights every Monday! mmmhmmm....

Orange Bunny Buns

Budget Gourmet Mom had a cute bunny orange roll I wanted to try to make.  I love the recipe for orange rolls that I have used in the past but I have never done this cute shape for Easter before. What fun it will be for my grandkids!

That cute site had this cute bunny roll. I liked how they made the eyes with little lumps of dough. 

Orange Rolls

from Simply So Good

¼ cup warm water

1 tablespoon yeast

3 eggs

½ cut butter

¾ cup milk

½ cup sugar

¾ teaspoon salt

4 ½ - 5 cups flour

Dissolve yeast in warm water, set aside for 5 minutes.  In a large mixing bowl mix together eggs, sugar, and salt.  Set aside.  

In a small saucepan, melt butter then add milk.  Slowly pour into egg mixture mixing all the time.  Add yeast mixture and 2 cups flour.  Mix until dough is smooth.  Add remaining flour 1 cup at a time.  Only use needed amount of flour to form a smooth yet sticky dough.  DO NOT ADD MORE THAN 5 CUPS OF FLOUR. Cover dough with plastic wrap or aluminum foil.  Place in refrigerator overnight. 

Orange filling:

1/2 cup butter – melted

1 cup sugar

Juice from 1/2 orange

Zest from 1 orange

To make the orange filling:  Combine all ingredients in a medium size bowl and stir to blend. 

Butter or grease 2 muffin pans then set aside. Roll into a rectangle.  Spread half of the melted butter and orange mixture on the dough leaving ½-inch border around the sides.  Roll dough from the long end.  Cut roll into 24 slices and place in prepare muffin pans.  Allow to rise until double in size.  Bake in a 375 degree oven for about 15 minutes or until golden brown.  Immediate remove from oven and flip rolls out onto a cookie sheet that has been lined with parchment paper.  Allow all the orange glaze to drizzle over the rolls.

Taste of Home   made this cute bunny from bread and added dip.  I like the face on the bunny. I'd like

to add that to my little bunny rolls if I can. 

Taste of Home had these cute rolled bunny rolls.  

Pomegranate Mango Salad with Almonds

Martha Stewart had a good looking recipe I thought I would try to go with our Lasagne for Sunday dinner today. Here is Martha Stewart's recipe. I wanted to doctor it up a little bit.

Pomegranate Almond Green Salad with Raspberry Vinaigrette  

. It would be nice with a crumbly cheese too as an option. Or you could add grilled chicken pieces to it!!

 I sliced up some red onion, mango and threw some slivered almonds and the Pomegranates into a bed of greens for the Pomegranate Almond Salad. Then I drizzled a little bit of Kraft low calorie Raspberry Vinaigrette on top.

POMEGRANATE MANGO SALAD with Almonds
2 to 3 cups Salad Greens
1/4 cup Cut up mango 
1/4 cup slivered almonds
`1/4 of a pomegranate (just take seeds out and drop them on top of salad)
slices of red onion (optional) 
Red Raspberry Vinaigrette 

It was yummy.  It went very good with our Lasagne dinner. It would be great for a Christmas party too.

It would also be good with cut up pears or strawberries in place of the mango. And it would be great for a pretty holiday salad!

Chicken Hawaiian Haystacks

I must be on a rice kick or something. All I want to make are recipes including rice. Why is that? Well this Hawaiian Haystacks recipe is good for all the right reasons, one of which is that you can make it how you want it. Each person's plate looks a little bit different because you get to decide what goes on top! As you can see, I like mine with a cherry on the top! :)

Hawaiian Haystacks are a great meal when you have a crowd coming over....just make more rice, and more toppings! 

Toppings for Hawaiian Haystacks can include any kinds of cut up fruits and veggies! 

The last few days have felt like semi-summer weather with temps in the 60s. It was fun to go out and play kickball with my 2nd graders in the SUNSHINE! I was SO over the freezing cold and windy temps of last week. I had recess duty a week ago during the day AND after school and it was snowing and super WINDY. My umbrella that I was holding kept doing the backward blow up thing and then would almost send me down the street like Mary Poppins. It was embarrassing!  Just call me Mary.  So I long for the white beaches and sun and unfettered relaxation of a Hawaiian Island.

I love the crunch these chow mein noodles add...

Add Cream of Chicken soup, sour cream, milk and spice it up with Lawrys or Salt and Pepper....that's it! 

I like slivered almonds to top my Hawaiian Haystacks....

The kids love coconut....

Have to have a cherry on top!  Or a handful! 

But since I can't wrangle that for now, I can at least eat yummy food with the taste of Hawaii in it.  This recipe is easy, quick and really yummy.  And it's a great choice if you have to feed an army or a crowd at a party.

I diced up some cooked carrots..... chow mein noodles and slivered almonds....

And lots of fresh fruit and veggies.....

The hubs likes my Hawaiian haystacks........that sounds a little weird saying it out loud though......hehe...

So here are the easy ingredients for the basic chicken mixture that goes over rice.  Then the toppings are whatever you decide you want to add. I use one of those veggie and dip platters when I'm doing it for a crowd. You can find them at the dollar store for.....well.....A DOLLAR!  I use them when I'm doing cookie decorating in my classroom too. They are very versatile for putting out little piles of stuff.



HAWAIIAN HAYSTACKS RECIPE

Here is the Chicken base all mixed up....then I just microwave it to warm it ...

RECIPE INGREDIENTS
Hawaiian Haystacks
2 cans cream of chicken soup  (or use large family sized can)
3  chicken breasts diced
1 t. salt  (or Lawry's Season Salt)
1/8 t. pepper  
1/2 cup sour cream
3/4 to 1 cup of milk 
3  cups Steamed Rice

My finished plate of Hawaiian Haystacks....a work of art really!  

DIRECTIONS
Boil the chicken and dice up.  Mix soup, salt and pepper, milk and sour cream and milk. 

I boiled 3 chicken breasts with a handful of carrots.....

Cook rice until tender. I have a rice cooker so I added around 2 1/2 cups.  Put soup mixture on top of rice and top with any or all of the following:

Toppings: Canned pineapple tidbits, mandarin oranges, grated cheese, slivered almonds, chopped red pepper, celery, olives, diced tomatoes, chow mein noodles.

Veggie and fruit toppings for the Hawaiian Haystacks can be as varied as what you can find to cut up from your fridge and then add a few canned fruits and maybe some dried fruits and nuts too....

Well, now he's just acting like Vanna White...he's such a tease! 

 It's really filling, and everybody can pick their own preferences for toppings. That makes it even more of a fun meal. You can see my husband is having fun doing his own toppings...LOL.  Actually I made him pose...he's just a good sport. :O

He doesn't like the fruit as much....he's more of a veggie man....

He does like the almonds and the white grated mozzarella cheese....

Hawaiian Haystacks...My plate is still prettier than the hubs....just sayin........

This recipe for Hawaiian Haystacks is a KEEPER!   Enjoy!