Texan Gals' Pasta Salad

If you've spent much time around girls from Texas, you might have noticed their love affair with ranch dressing. We like to say, "everything goes better with ranch." It's not just for salads. I dip my pizza in it, fries, chicken strips, and anything else I can think of. So, when I was looking for recipes for pasta salad and came across this Corn and Pasta Salad with Homemade Ranch Dressing I was inspired to make my own version. I added black beans, grilled the corn, roasted the tomatoes, and used store bought ranch (my favorite from Dion's here in New Mexico) rather then making my own.

Begin with these ingredients:

• 8 oz. rotini pasta
• 3 slices of bacon, cooked and crumbled (add more if you are a bacon lover or if you are sharing your pasta with hungry guys)
• 2-3 cups arugula
• Chili powder 
• Salt & Pepper
• 3 tbsp. Ranch dressing
• 1 cup black beans rinsed and drained 
• 2 cups cherry tomatoes or grape heirloom tomatoes, cut in half
• 1 ear of corn, husks removed

Cook pasta according to package directions. Drain and rinse under cool water. Set aside. Place tomatoes in a bowl and toss with a little olive oil and salt and pepper. Pour tomatoes into foil and wrap them up loosely. Brush corn with olive oil. Place corn and tomatoes (in foil) on grill over medium high heat for about 5-7 minutes, just to char it a bit. Remove corn from grill and cut kernels off.

Place pasta, bacon, arugula, corn, tomatoes, beans, and ranch in a large bowl. Toss so that dressing coats everything. Add chili powder, salt, and pepper to taste. Cool in fridge until ready to serve.

This is the perfect pasta salad for summer. It's easy to prepare in advance and take to a picnic or barbecue. It's also something you can make on Sunday so that you have lunch prepared for a few days. You can take it to work or when you're on the go in the car. This pasta is easy to make your own. Want more spice? Add grilled jalapenos or roasted green chiles. More meat? Add cooked chicken or shrimp. The possibilities are endless!

Pimiento Cheese & Bacon Paninis

Last night I decided to make an easy Sunday night dinner. I made my pimiento cheese and spread some of it on two slices of Trader Joe's sourdough wheat bread. Then I put two slices of cooked bacon between the slices of bread and cooked it in my panini press. This is a wonderful meal for a lazy Sunday night or a weekday lunch. My pimiento cheese recipe will make plenty so that you can make sandwiches for your whole family and/or have some leftover to use throughout the week. It's also great as a dip with crackers.

Pimiento Cheese Crostinis

This weekend I hosted a baby shower for a friend. I wanted to make something that would be easy to prepare ahead of time. So I decided to make Pimiento Cheese Crostinis. These are so easy to put together, and you can prep most of it a day in advance (I planned on doing that, but ended up working on all of it the morning of the shower). I was inspired by a recipe from Food & Wine to use my pimiento cheese on crostinis with bacon. I mean, you can never go wrong with bacon!

You will need:

•  16 oz. shredded sharp cheddar cheese
• 2-2 oz. jars diced pimientos, drained
• 5 tbsp. mayonnaise
• 2 tsp. apple cider vinegar
• 1/4 tsp. cayenne
• Salt & Pepper
• 8-12 slices of bacon
• 2 baguette loaves

Place cheese, pimientos, mayonnaise, vinegar, and cayenne in a bowl and stir together. Add salt and pepper to taste. This pimiento cheese spread can be refrigerated overnight.

Sprinkle pepper on bacon and cook until crisp. Crumble bacon into small pieces and set aside.

Slice baguettes and lay slices on baking sheets. Spread pimiento cheese mixture onto bread and sprinkle with bacon. Bake in 400 degree oven for 3-5 minutes or until cheese is melted.

This time I used half of the cheese mixture on one baguette. I saved the rest of the pimiento cheese to have on crackers or to make sandwiches.

These are so amazing and easy to make. It's the perfect appetizer for any party and is always a crowd-pleaser!

Bacon is Back

I am back from my bacon hiatus. I know, it was short-lived. I bought this delicious peppered bacon from Red Raider Meats the other day. If you live in Lubbock, you can buy it at the Meat Sciences building at Tech, or at any United or Market Street grocery stores. It is really good. I think I have mentioned Red Raider Meats before. They are great!

So, for breakfast Sunday morning, I made bacon and scrambled eggs. I had a little Rotel left over, so I put that and some shredded Mexican cheese on the eggs. It was really good!

For dinner we did not have much around the house, so I made us grilled cheese and bacon sandwiches. I used havarti dill on mine...yum.

Bacon Day

Yesterday was unofficially National Bacon Day (well, at my house at least). I did not plan it this way on purpose, but I ended up eating bacon at breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Ridiculous, I know. I am now on a self-imposed bacon hiatus (at least for a day or two).

For breakfast I had bacon with scrambled eggs, and topped my eggs with shredded havarti dill cheese. One little hint I have for making some great scrambled eggs is to cook the bacon in a pan first. Then remove the bacon, drain the grease, but do not wipe the pan completely clean. Cook the scrambled eggs in the same pan, and it gives the eggs great flavor.

For lunch I had some leftover pasta from Sunday night with half of a grilled turkey sandwich. For the sandwich I put turkey, guacamole, dijon mustard, some chipotle cranberry cheddar, and of course, bacon on a slice of whole wheat cut in half. I grilled it in a pan in olive oil. This sandwich was fantastic! It was full of great flavors, and just half of a sandwich was very satisfying!

I made the guacamole before lunch. Here is my recipe for easy guacamole. Mix together 2 large avocados, 1/2 can rotel (drained), 1 clove of minced garlic, juice of one lime, Julio's seasoning, and pepper. It is very easy to make, and has lots of flavor.

If you have made guacamole before, you probably have figured out that it has a tendency to turn brown after awhile. Some people say squirting lime juice on top will keep it from turning brown, but that does not work. One time I was watching Tyler's Ultimate on the Food Network, and he gave a great tip for keeping guacamole fresh. When you need to store it in the fridge, cover it with plastic wrap, and press tightly on the guacamole so that none of it is exposed to air. Then you can put the regular lid on your container. He said the reason guacamole will turn brown is exposure to air, so covering it tightly really helps. This was my first time to try this, and when I took it out of the fridge at dinner time (about six hours later), I took the picture above. It looked perfectly fresh and green!

For dinner we made burgers. For the patties, I combined about 2/3 pound of lean ground beef, a dash of Worcestershire sauce and salt and pepper. Josh grilled the burgers, and I made some homemade fries. I cut baking potatoes into wedges then drizzled them with olive oil and sprinkled them with chili powder and Julio's seasoning. I baked them at 425 degrees until they were brown (I didn't pay attention to the time because I was a little distracted). We topped our burgers with colby jack cheese, diced roasted green chiles, guacamole, and for the grand finale, bacon. Let me tell you, this was one delicious burger!

I bought a pound of ground beef for the burgers, and since I would not need to use it all, I took out about 1/3 pound before making the patties, and put it in the fridge for dinner tonight, which was pasta with meat sauce (more on that in my next post). When buying meat or other ingredients that will expire within about a week, it is helpful to plan out multiple meals you can make with those ingredients so that they don't go to waste hanging out in the fridge too long.