Nancy's Chicken Pasta Salad

This pasta salad is delicious and has a yummy, subtle Asian flavor. I got the recipe from Rob's cousin, Nancy. It is perfect for summertime!

• 12 oz rotini pasta, cooked al dente and cooled
• 1/4 cup sunflower seeds
• 1/2 cup oil
• 1/3 cup white vinegar
• 3 TBSP sugar
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp pepper
• 2 cups cold, cooked, shredded chicken
• 1/2 cup chopped green onion
• 1/3 cup soy sauce
• 2 cups torn spinach leaves

In a small frying pan, toast the sunflower seeds in oil over medium low heat. Stir together oil, seeds, soy sauce, vinegar, sugar, salt & pepper. Pour over pasta and chicken. Add spinach and onion an hour before serving. Serve cold.

Cindy's Tabouli

My Aunt Cindy made this last week's for my cousin's baby shower. It was a huge hit! It is the perfect summer salad!

1 cup bulgar wheat (look for it in the International aisle)
1 cup boiling water
2 large carrots, diced
1 medium green pepper, diced
1 medium cucumber, diced
3 medium tomatoes, diced
1 cup parsley, chopped
1 cup green onions, sliced
1/4 cup mint leaves
feta cheese (optional)

Dressing:
1/2 cup lemon juice
1/2 cup olive oil
1 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. pepper

Put bulgar wheat in a large mixing bowl and pour boiling water over it. Let it stand for 10 minutes, then stir gently. Mix together dressing and pour over bulgar wheat. Add remaining ingredients annd toss gently to mix. Cover the salad and refrigerate for 3 hours before serving.

Maryland Steamed Shrimp with Homemade Cocktail Sauce

I made this for both Christmas Eve and New Year's Eve this year. My mom always made it on special occasions growing up, especially after we left the east coast and moved to Illinois. There is no other way to eat shrimp, in my opinion!

*2 lbs uncooked, deveined shrimp (works well with or without shells)
*2 tbsp Old Bay seasoning (no substitutes!)
*1 cup beer
*1 cup apple cider vinegar
*1 tsp salt

In a large pan or soup pot, combine Old Bay, beer, vinegar and salt. Bring to a boil. Add shrimp. Cover and turn off heat. Wait until there all of the shrimp turns pink. (If your shrimp is too cold, you may need to turn the heat back on and return to a boil for a couple seconds.) Drain. Serve immediately or chill for several hours and serve cold. I prefer it cold.

For the cocktail sauce:
*Ketchup
*Pure Horseradish
*Lemon Juice
*Worchershire sauce

Combine all ingredients to taste. I like mine spicy, so I add lots of horseradish.

You could buy prepared cocktail sauce, but as a seafood snob, that goes against my beliefs. It tastes so much better when you make it yourself.

Use the directions for shrimp to make Maryland Shrimp Salad. Chill the shrimp, chop it into chunks, add mayo, chopped celery, a little lemon juice, pepper and more Old Bay to taste. Serve on wheat toast with lettuce and tomato. My favorite sandwich ever!

White Chocolate Fruit Salad

From my cousin, Mary Ann. Her words? To die for. :o) Enjoy!

-1 large can pineapple tidbits in its own juice
-2 regular cans Lite Fruit Cocktail
-2 regular cans mandarin oranges
-1 cup lite sour cream
-12 ounce tub lite cool whip
-2 small boxes instant Jell-O White Chocolate Pudding

Drain pineapple and save 1 ½ cups juice (you may need some of the juice from other cans to make the 1 ½ cups). Mix pudding with juice in a large bowl. Mix in sour cream. Mix in cool whip. Fold in fruit. Refrigerate.

*If you use fat-free sour cream, fat-free cool whip and sugar free pudding, this will count as 3 Weight Watcher points per cup.

Cookie Salads

My sister is in love with these two recipes. What could be better than cookie SALAD?

Keebler Cookie Salad
-2 c. buttermilk
-2 (3 oz. each) pkg. instant vanilla pudding
-1 (16 oz.) Cool Whip
-1 (13 oz.) pkg. Keebler Fudge Stripe Cookies, broken into pieces

-2 small cans mandarin oranges, drained well

Mix buttermilk and puddings. Fold in Cool Whip, add oranges slices and cookie pieces. Chill and serve.

*Susie says not to add the cookie pieces until ready to serve. It keeps them crunchy, although she says this is still good the next day.

Oreo Cookie Salad

-1 (8oz) tub cool whip
-1 jar marshmallow fluff
-1 package oreo cookies, broken into pieces

Fold together and serve!

Pasta Salad with Sun-Dried Tomatoes

This is one of our favorite recipes from Barefoot Contessa. We make this a lot in the summer! Enjoy!

1 lb. fusilli (spirals) pasta (I get the tri-colored fusilli)
Kosher salt
Olive oil
1 package grape tomatoes, halved
1 can black olives, halved
1 lb. pound fresh mozzarella, diced
6 sun-dried tomatoes in oil, drained and chopped
1 cup grated Parmesan
1 cup fresh basil, julienned

For the Dressing:
10 sun-dried tomatoes in oil, drained
1/4 cup red wine vinegar
3/4 cup olive oil
2 garlic cloves, diced
2 tsp capers, drained
2 tsp kosher salt
1 tsp black pepper

Cook the pasta in a large pot of boiling salted water with a splash of olive oil to keep it from sticking together. Drain well and allow to cool.

Place the pasta in a bowl and add the tomatoes, olives, mozzarella, and chopped sun-dried tomatoes.

For the dressing, combine the sun-dried tomatoes, vinegar, olive oil, garlic, capers, salt and pepper in a food processor until almost smooth.

Pour the dressing over the pasta, sprinkle with the Parmesan and basil and toss well.

Pink Cloud

This is my sister's recipe. Ellie loves it, of course! Makes a great breakfast or snack.

1 (15 oz) can crushed pineapple
1 pkg strawberry Jell-O (I use sugar free)
1 (16 oz) container low-fat cottage cheese
1 (8oz) container Cool Whip (use regular, it makes all the difference. Fat free, Lite and Sugar Free could make it runny.)

In a small saucepan, mix pineapple and Jell-O powder together. Bring to a rolling boil. Turn off heat and allow to come to room temp. Stir in cottage cheese. Gently fold in Cool Whip and refrigerate for several hours before serving.

*Tip: Once the pineapple mixture cools, I thoroughly drain every bit of the juice off. I also drain the cottage cheese as much as possible before stirring it in to the pineapple mixutre. I find doing this makes the texture really fluffy. Otherwise it could get a little runny.

Hallie's Salad Dressings

My sister-in-law, Hallie, makes the most delicious salads all year round. I always feel so healthy after I eat one. She always makes organic spinach salads with loads of healthy ingredients, including every color bell pepper you can imagine, red and green onion, apples, beets, fresh cilantro (always a must with Hallie and me), pomegranate seeds, and sunflower seeds or dry roasted peanuts. One of these babies and you're good on vitamins for the day. The veggies are great, but her dressings are really what make the salads.

Mexican Lime Vinaigrette

• Juice of one lime
• Large pinch paprika
• Large pinch cumin
• Large pinch sugar
• 1 clove garlic, finely minced
• 4 tbsp olive oil
• Dash white vinegar

Curry Vinaigrette

• 2/3 cup vegetable oil
• 1/2 cup white vinegar
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tsp curry powder
• 1 tsp dry mustard

The curry dressing is wonderful over a spinach salad with red apples, raisins and roasted peanuts.

PS - Thanks to Hallie, my new obsession is pomegranate seeds. They are delicious and Ellie loves to snack on them. That makes me happy because they are chock full of antioxidents and vitamins. Hallie shared a tip for cutting up pomegranates that really works wonders. Cut both ends off the pomegranate and then score it (cut four slices through the pith, without cutting into the fruit). Submerge the pomegranate in a large bowl of water and start to peel it, as you would an orange. Soon, the pith will rise to the top while the seeds fall to the bottom.