Choice Morsels

I always like trying new summer pasta salads and found this one on Pinterest:   Two Bean Pasta Salad! It involves mixing chick peas & kidney beans with pasta for a higher protein/veggie salad. This recipe came from a blog, but I felt it didn't have enough dressing. Even waiting to the last minute to add it, the pasta still absorbed and it tasted a little dry.  So, here, I've doubled the dressing ingredients, to give you extra to add to help prevent the dry-out! It's a pretty salad and I did add extras like grape tomatoes and carrot matchsticks because I like a lot of color and I didn't have any spinach and I don't like black olives. I also used colorful veggie pasta. (Photo my own) Two Bean Pasta Salad 2 cups cooked pasta, any kind 1 can red kidney beans, drained & rinsed 1 can chick peas, drained & rinsed 1/2 cup sliced black olives 1/4 to 1/2 cup diced red onion 1/2 cup fresh Kraft Parmesan or Romano cheese 1 1/2 cups fre...

Last summer I tried out new Potato Salad recipes; this summer I'm trying out new Pasta Salad recipes. Sweet Macaroni Salad was the first. I found it on Pinterest.  What makes it unique is it calls for Sweetened Condensed Milk (like Eagle Brand). It's actually sweet-sour, since it uses vinegar to balance the sweet. It's not rich or overly sweet or anything. I felt it could stand a tad less vinegar, but I'll give you the measurements as is and you can try it out and make your own adjustments. This salad needs to be made and refrigerated overnight---so remember to make it the day before you want to serve it. (photo is from Pinterest) Sweet Macaroni Salad Ingredients: 1 (16oz) box elbow macaroni 1 cup carrot matchsticks  1 fresh green pepper, chopped small 1 red onion, chopped small Dressing Ingredients: 2 cups mayo 1 (14oz) can sweetened condensed milk (like Eagle Brand) 1 cup apple cider vinegar 1/4 cup sugar 1 teaspoon salt 1/2 te...

Today's Good Eating recipes is a delightful side-dish for all your summer grilling: Caprese Pasta Salad! (pronounced kuh - prey - zey )  It's originally from Pinterest and I've found it so tasty, I've made it twice now! I love it! It's a great recipe to use your abundance of summer garden tomatoes in! And, if like me, you have tons of fresh Basil growing outside, great for that, too!  I didn't know that I like fresh Mozzarella until I tried this recipe, but now I love it! The soft cheese absorbs the flavor of the pesto! The recipe comes from a cooking blog called Pip & Ebby I make my own Basil Pesto by adding to a mini-chopper 1/2 cup Kraft Red Roasted Pepper Italian Dressing (just 30 calories per 2 Tbsp), 3 or 4 Tablespoons olive oil, 1 clove of garlic & a gob of fresh Basil leaves. Pulse this well chopped, then pour over the tomatoes & mozzarella & stir to combine and set aside until pasta is cooked, cooled and ready to add! Or...

Welcome to June! I've been busy most days over the past couple weeks carefully photographing my various day lilies as they open. I have a number of specialized colors including a creamy white, which just bloomed for the first time this year. I use these photos for Calendar designs. I had an idea the other day to make a "Devotional Calendar" featuring a day lily with a scripture and a brief devotional---original, of course. It would make a good writing challenge for me! Today's Good Eating Recipe is Chicken Pasta Salad. And the special seasoning ingredient is home-made Basil Pesto! The actual salad I made Pasta Salads are an easy make-ahead meal for any occasion! I this one last night for the military singles who come to our house for Bible Study. I served it with hot whole-grain garlic bread and lime-pear jello. For this recipe I used a rotisserie chicken because it's easy and already seasoned. Also on dressing options, I recommend you check...