Shirley's Thai Noodle Salad

This cold pasta dish is so amazing, it's great for a hot day when you still want the comfort of pasta.  It can be a side dish or you can add some grilled chicken (or protein of choice) and call it a meal. 

 

Dressing:   ½ c. canola oil

                  ¼ c. sesame oil

                  1/2 tsp. red pepper flakes

Heat mixture over medium heat for 2 minutes. Remove from heat and leave at room temp. for 2 hours.

 

After 2 hours…

 

Cook 1 lb of spaghetti (angel hair), drain and rinse.

Reheat oil and strain pepper flakes out.

 

Add to oil:  5 Tbs. soy sauce

                  6 Tbs. honey

Toss with noodles.  Refrigerate for at least 4 hours

 

Before serving…

 

Add:  ½ c. chopped green onions

         ½ c. cilantro (optional)

         2 Tbs. sesame seeds lightly toasted

 

Top with ¾ c. chopped peanuts right before serving

Another awesome dinner in the books

This was Pampered Chef inspired, but I'm not sure that I stuck to the recipe. I didn't have it handy and didn't want to look it up.

Ingredients:

• Boneless Skinless Chicken Breasts (I had some cutlets leftover from the last time I cooked chicken so they were perfect)
• Olive Oil
• Pampered Chef Sweet Basil Rub (this stuff is amazing)
• Tomatoes (I sliced up about a dozen cherry tomatoes)
• Garlic (I used 5 cloves)
• Fresh Basil
• Grated Parmesan Cheese
• 1 Box of Penne Pasta (it was way too much for the amount of chicken/tomatoes I had 1/2 a box would have been better)

Directions:

While a large pot of water was heating up to boil I seasoned the chicken with the rub and olive oil, then set it aside to mini marinate while I chopped up the garlic and tomatoes. 

Sprayed my frying pan down with a light coating of Pam then tossed in the seasoned cutlets. 

Once the chicken was about halfway cooked I put the pasta in the pot of water and also added a little garlic to cook with the noodles. 

Back to the chicken. When it was mostly cooked I added in the tomatoes and garlic and stirred in the pan frequently. As the meat was starting to brown I tore strips of the basil leaves and cooked along with the other ingredients. 

By the time the pasta was cooked (al dente) the chicken mixture was ready to be added in. 

Sprinkle Parmesan to taste and serve up.

Mediterranean Mac & Cheese

I was house sitting at my parents' house and realized that they hadn't gone grocery shopping in awhile and I was hungry and didn't want to go to the store, so I starred into the abyss (I mean fridge) pulled out a bunch of ingredients and came up with this fabulous dinner.  I didn't measure anything, just tossed things in and kept tasting it until it felt "right" the only thing I would add would be basil and using fresh garlic instead of the jarred, otherwise it was amazing.

 

Lo's Fancy Mac & Cheese

 

• Pasta
• Feta Cheese
• Butter
• Parmigiana Reggiano Cheese
• Grape Tomatoes (sun dried tomatoes are fabulous too)
• Kalamata Olives
• Garlic

I've also made this with some pre-cooked grilled chicken strips from Trader Joes... adds a little more substance to the meal, it's great with or without.

 

 

Cook pasta to package instructions, drain saving a small amount of pasta water.

Add in butter and other ingredients stirring until cheese has melted completely.

 

Top with parm and basil if you have it.