Greek Pasta Salad

I posted this picture on Instagram and Facebook the other day and got a lot of comments and ‘likes’ about it.  Clearly you are all as into bright, colourful, fresh veggies about as much as I am!  As I was cutting up the cherry tomatoes I looked across the counter at my other ingredients and realized that this salad incorporates all kinds of colours and flavours.  It really does brighten the mood.  Eat the rainbow!

We were attending a backyard barbecue turkey boil (!) for our friend Jessica’s birthday and when we started discussing salads to bring I really wanted to do something Greek.  Maybe I’m really starting to miss actually being there last year!

I wanted to make sure the dish was big enough to feed the whole party so I decided to ‘beef things up’ by rounding out the veggies with a box of pasta.  A little twist I’m sure the Greeks would tsk-tsk me for but otherwise I didn’t stray far from the delicious Greek salads we enjoyed on vacay last year.

Greek-Style Pasta Salad with Easy Oregano Dressing

Yields enough to feed about a dozen people at a potluck :)

Ingredients:

• 1 (454 gram) box rotini (or small pasta of choice…orzo would be fun)
• 1 pint grape tomatoes, halved
• 1 English cucumber, quartered and chopped
• 1 orange or yellow bell pepper, chopped
• 1 small red onion, diced
• 1 cup pitted Kalamata olives, halved
• 125 grams feta cheese, cubed small

Homemade Oregano Dressing:

• 2 tbsp dried oregano
• zest & juice of half a lemon
• liberal pinches of salt & pepper
• 4 tbsp water
• 2 tbsp olive oil

Directions:

1. Cook pasta according to package directions until al dente.  Drain and immediately rinse thoroughly with cold water.  Place in refrigerator until ready to use.
2. While pasta is cooking, chop veggies, olives and cheese.
3. Prepare dressing by adding all ingredients to a sealable container (I use a small mason jar) and shake until combined.  Shake occasionally until ready to use.
4. Reserve a couple of tablespoons of feta, then mix all pasta, veggies, olives and cheese in a large bowl (use your hands!).  Add dressing and toss until coated.  Transfer to serving dish and garnish with reserved, crumbled feta.
5. Cover and chill until ready to eat.

Simple, fresh, salty.  I think the Greeks I met on vacation would be OK with this one!  Opa!  Enjoy.  :)

Belated Barbecue & Pasta Salad

Oh sorry!  Did we forget to invite you to our first BBQ of the year?  Geeeeze.  How rude.

And with all this food too?  We really could have used some help demolishing the burgers and corn and salsa and salad and watermelon.  Really. 

How could we have not invited you all?!  Next year I promise!

Since we were away frolicking in Ucluelet for Michael’s actual birthday we decided to plan a belated bday BBQ and invited his bigass family over to help us eat and celebrate!

The weather cooperated for the most part, we devoured copious amounts of deliciousness, and spent the afternoon watching the kids try to roll a tent around the back yard.  When the wind kicked in, the diehards stayed warm with Bailey’s coffees and the rest of us migrated indoors to stand at the kitchen counter to pick the strawberries and candied pecans out of the leftover salad.

I kinda, sorta, maybe never thought to pick up candles or sparklers for the Creamy Citrus Birthday Tart or mini Red Velvet cupcakes…but I’m pretty sure I’ve been forgiven for not wrangling 21 people to warble Happy Birthday in the afternoon rain.  :)

As an apology for not inviting you to hang out with us, here is a super easy, delicious and adaptable Pasta Salad recipe for you.  Originally based on the most popular menu item from the restaurant I worked at as a teenager, I’ve modified this a thousand times and it turns out yummy every time.

Cold Pasta Salad with Fresh Dill and Buttermilk Dressing

Yields 10 – 12 cups, plenty for the family BBQ

Ingredients:

• 1 box small pasta of choice (I prefer fusilli or rotini)
• 1 cup broccoli florets, bite sized
• 2-3 medium carrots, diced
• 2-3 celery stalks, diced
• 1/3 cup red onion, diced
• 1/2 cup red/yellow/orange pepper, diced (or green if you like them!)
• 1/3 cup cheddar cheese, small cubes
• optional:  3-4 dill pickles, chopped small; fresh parsley; fresh greens
• all measurements approximate, get creative!

Buttermilk Dressing:

• 3/4 cup buttermilk (and extra for thinning if needed)
• 3/4 cup sour cream or plain Greek yogurt
• 1 1/2 tbsp Dijon mustard
• 3 tablespoons fresh dill, coarsely chopped
• large pinches of salt and fresh cracked pepper (to taste)

Directions:

1. Bring a large pot of water to a boil and cook pasta a little less than package directions.  Do not overcook! 
2. For the last minute of cooking, add the broccoli and carrots to the pot.  Drain and immediately run pasta and veggies under cold water, tossing to cool.  Drain well.  Refrigerate.
3. While the pasta is cooking, prepare the dressing by whisking buttermilk, sour cream, Dijon and salt and pepper together until smooth.  Cover and refrigerate until ready to serve.
4. Once the pasta has cooled, toss with remaining vegetables (except fresh parsley or greens if using).  Refrigerate until about 30 minutes before ready to serve.
5. When ready to serve, carefully toss pasta mixture with dressing.  Add fresh greens if using, and cheese cubes and toss again.  Transfer to serving dish and garnish with extra fresh dill and sprinkle of salt.

Quick Ravioli Dinner

Did you guys all check out last night’s post about the awesome crab dinner I helped Michael host this weekend?  Do it! :)

Rather than try to recap every bite of food I took this weekend I thought I’d just mention a couple of meals we threw together that turned out quite well.

Saturday night I wanted to use up some ingredients I had in my fridge so created this easy, filling pasta dinner.

Ingredients:

• 1 package spinach and cheese ravioli
• 1 small zucchini, diced
• 12 mushrooms, quartered
• 1/4 of a medium onion, diced
• 1 400ml can diced tomatoes (I used garlic & herb)
• 2 sausages of choice, removed from skin (I used 2 local seasoned pork sausages from EdGe)

Directions:

1. In a large non-stick skillet cook the crumbled sausage over medium-high heat (you’ll probably need to break it up with a wooden spoon or spatula as you go).  When it’s about half cooked, add the onion. 
2. When the meat is browned through, add the zucchini and mushrooms.  Continue stirring until veggies become tender.  (You can reduce the heat and add a lid to speed this along and ensure you don’t overcook anything).
3. Drain the tomatoes of excess juice, then add to the pan.  Stir.  Reduce to medium-low heat and leave to simmer while cooking the pasta.  Cook the pasta according to package directions, drain, then add to sausage mixture.  Stir.

That’s it!  If you use plain diced tomatoes you’ll probably want to add seasoning…maybe some garlic and/or Italian seasonings such as oregano or rosemary.  A sprinkle of parmesan would have been nice too.

This made four substantial meal sized portions and the leftovers would freeze beautifully for future use.  Enjoy!

Tummy Happy Supper

Antibiotics can be harder on your body than whatever was actually wrong with you, I’m tellin’ ya!  All weekend I’ve been having trouble discerning whether my symptoms were due to my sickness or my drugs.  But being as most of my original issues have passed I’m chalking the headaches and now unhappy tummy up to the stupid drugs.  Glad I just took the last one. 

Needless to say yesterday was as light and simple on the eats as possible (I don’t have much of an appetite yet anyway).  Almond butter toast was all I could muster after my body violently told me that coffee was soooo not going to happen.  Bastard.

After a super chill doggie party in the park with Michael and Burl I stocked up on fresh groceries and came home to immediately make a tummy soothing smoothie.  Frozen banana + fresh baby spinach + unsweetened plain Almond Breeze.  Simplicity.

Come dinner time I was ready for something more substantial!  All afternoon I’d been formulating a plan for something involving ground turkey breast and fresh zucchini…I wanted to keep it simple and light. 

Once I settled on spaghettini as my base, I decided a light tomato sauce would be the best way to go.  Easy on my tummy and a good pairing for the ingredients.

I simply sautéed diced onion and minced garlic with fresh oregano & rosemary from my deck.  Added salt and pepper and a large can of plum tomatoes (which I smushed with a spoon to break up for cooking) and let it all simmer while I prepared the rest of the meal.  When I was ready to serve I blasted the mixture with my immersion blender to make it the right consistency.  Easy peasy.

In a separate pan I sautéed zucchini, carrots, onions and more garlic then added one pound of extra lean ground turkey breast, more herbs (including some dry Italian seasoning) and lots of salt and pepper and kept cooking until the turkey was all browned.

Once the pasta was cooked and drained, I served my plate up.  Pasta, then sauce, then meat & veggies.  Sprinkled with fresh basil.

You could mix the meat & veg into the sauce but it’s prettier this way!  That, and I wanted the leftovers to be separate just in case I have other inspiration for them. :)

A perfectly filling, easy on the tummy, light meal.

I didn’t even want dessert.  I must be sick.

This and That

My entire grocery budget for this week is dedicated to potlucks for hockey game nights.  Whoooops.  So between game days I’m happily eating away at whatever is left in the fridge and pantry.

Last night’s dinner was supposed to be a recipe for you all, but what I got was a bowl of undercooked pasta with overcooked veggies and mediocre sauce.  Edible but not worth sharing the recipe…if you can call it that.

The crumbled pork sausage a la EdGe restaurant saved the meal.

Grapefruit Perrier is surprisingly deeeelish. 

Sitting on my deck this afternoon I looked up and saw this…a raccoon sleeping the day away on a big tree branch!  Crazy.

A sunny Friday calls for a night out!  Well, pizza and beer anyway. :)

Pizzeria Prima Strada – Diavola pizza, SaltSpring beer, pistachio gelato.

Gorgeous sliver of a moon tonight…

Looks like another sunny weekend is upon us.  Yay!

Pasta Challenge

Time to change up breakfast.  Back to smooooooothie town.

In the KA: baby spinach, banana, ice, flax meal, Amazing Grass, and vanilla soy milk.  The original.

Lunch was a bit of a redo on yesterday’s bigass salad.  Mucho veggies but today avocado came to visit, lime juice was added, and the cheese made it’s way into a quesadilla instead of the bowl.

To quote a beloved blogger…amazeballs!

At the end of my work day a few things caught up with me and threw me off schedule.  A few Aussie cookies helped save the day.

Laura:  These are deeeeeelish!

Later than planned I finally got myself to the gym for my planned workout.  Lunges and squats and deadlifts, oh my.  Along with jumping rope and treadmill walking for the win.

By the time I got home I was soooooooo hungry.  This whole working out after work thing is great except dinner ends up being at like 8:30!

I wanted pasta.  But this new portion control kick I’m on stopped me in my tracks.  Pasta is calorific.

So I made a delicious compromise…pasta fully over run by veggies!  1/2 cup fusilli cooked with 1 cup broccoli, 1/2 cup carrots, 1/2 cup sweet peas.  Leftover grilled chicken for protein.

You want low calorie, easy peasy cheeeesy sauce?  Do this:

When your pasta and veggies finish cooking, drain them but leave them damp.  Add a wedge or two of Light Laughing Cow (depending on your servings size…I used two), let it start to melt, sprinkle with salt and red pepper flakes (to taste).  Stir all together.

The cheese will combine with the little bit of leftover water to make a cheeeesy sauce coating your pasta.  Nom.

I sprinkled with a smidge of parmesan.  Purely for photographic purposes of course.

Pasta craving take that!

The kettle is boiling and there’s a granola bar with my name on it.  Time for last night’s Glee.  Weeee. :)