Sassy Pasta Salad

Last year on a trip up north I ate a pasta salad with a kick.  I tried to recreate it for our 4th of July family reunion.

disclaimer:
Usually I want to chop one ingredient or less.  This recipe had 4 chopped items.  The hubs chopped 2 (he is awesome).

Ingredients:

Cooked noodles (I made 16 oz and didn't use them all)

4 oz can of chopped black olives

1/2 bottle Balsamic Vinaigrette dressing

also

Make sure the chicken is COOKED before adding it to the salad. 
*You better believe ours is rotisserie!*

Combine all ingredients in a large bowl and toss together to coat well.

Two years ago I was making pasta salads with fried chicken.  I think that would be yummy in this salad.

I think this salad is hearty enough to eat as a stand-alone lunch.

Or for me, as one of my hearty "snacks" before bed.  I eat all the time.



A pic of dressing, I know, but I was trying to get all fancy with my picture-taking skills.  Are you impressed??? 

No pics from the actual cookout, but we had a great time and the weather was perfect!  We spread out a sleeping bag to sit on and at one point there were 12 kids gathered around our LL (little lady) to admire her cuteness. 

And here we are, our first 4th as a family!  The camera is propped on our trash can!  We live such glamorous lives!

I know, I know, no red/white/blue combo, right?  Well LL and I wore dresses to stay cool, which was my only concern for the day.

Also, I love how you can't see that my hair is a huge frizz ball in this pic.  YAY for that!

And, for good measure, one more of the LL.

BTW, I do not have to try creative composition for pics of Ali.  I'm just happy if some of her squirming body ends up in the frame!

Hoping you all had a safe and happy fourth!

Mexi-Mountain: a Summer-Time Recipe

Before I post, I just have to say woot to my first follower and first comment!  YAY!

We ate this colorful meal for dinner last night.  The idea came from one of my old college roommates, and morphed into this scrumptious summer-time dinner. 

BONUS: It is healthy, and dairy-free.

***We eat this dinner year round, but it is awesome when we get the main items from people’s gardens for FREE over the summer!

So the recipe is as follows:

MEXI-MOUNTAIN

Serves 4

3 bell peppers (one green and two other colors, this time was red and orange), chopped

1 medium/large tomato, chopped

1/2 of a red onion, chopped

2-3 TBSP olive oil (more or less for taste)

1 packet of taco seasoning

1 ripe avocado, peeled and pitted

1 can black beans, drained

Optional: 4 cooked chicken breasts, cut into bite size pieces.

Lime

Directions:

Preheat oven to 450. 

Combine first 5 ingredients in a 9x12 baking dish, toss to coat with the seasoning.

Cover with foil and cook for 40 minutes.

Next, mash the avocado and beans together. 

Divide mixture into quarters and spoon each quarter onto your dinner plates (one quarter per plate), patting down with fork/spoon to make a “bed”.

Scoop cooked vegetable mixture on top of the “bed” of beans and avocado.

If you are using chicken, layer on top now.  Drizzle some of the juices from the cook dish on top of the chicken.  Squeeze lime juice on to taste.

Lick plate clean…

the hubs is a member of the clean-plate club

Editorial comment: We are carb-lovers in this house so we ate food that I did not picture AFTER we were done with this dinner.  Next time, we will try this dinner with CORN BREAD.  We used to eat the early versions of this recipe in crunchy taco shells.

Pretty easy, especially if you use rotisserie chicken. 

And as promised, pics of the lovely.

Hubs and little lady watching Veggie Tales while I eat dinner from the couch, not the table with a pretty place setting as I would have had you believe from the pics above.  Yep, we always eat in shifts, always sitting on the couch.

I'm partying over at Fireflies and Jellybeans.