Thai Pasta Salad

Just wanted to share a simple, easy, and VERY tasty recipe I tried recently. :)

Thai Pasta Salad (adapted from TastyGalaxy's Pasta Salad with Peanut Sauce)

• 1/2 pound of spaghetti
• about a cup of chopped carrots
• 2 or 3 scallions, chopped
• a big handful of cilantro
• 1/4 cup smooth peanut butter
• 1 tbsp vinegar
• 1 tbsp soy sauce
• 1 tbsp water
• 1 or 2 tsp fresh ginger, grated (optional)
• 1 clove garlic, chopped (optional)
• toasted sesame seeds (optional)

1. Cook the pasta according to package directions.
2. While pasta is cooking, in a small bowl, mix together the peanut butter, vinegar, soy sauce, water, ginger, and garlic.
3. Drain pasta and rinse with cold water. Drain again, very well.
4. In a big bowl, combine the pasta, carrots, and scallions.  Mix in the peanut sauce.  Add the cilantro and toss.  Top with sesame seeds.

This was really really good cold, but I think it would also work if you served it warm.

There are not many things I love more than recipes that are as easy as they are yummy.

Cheers,

L

Welcome, Summer!

It's only fitting that I write my first post of the "summer" on Memorial Day, the unofficial kickoff of the season.  It's a lovely 93 degrees F and humid outside... that part of summer I'm not so excited about, but I am excited about the food.  Summer food is the best.  Fresh delicious produce, simple salads, classic American cookout dishes (who doesn't love burgers/hotdogs fresh off the grill, potato salad, and a refreshing glass of iced tea ?).  It's even better when some -- or most, if you're lucky! -- of the ingredients come from your own garden.

A couple months ago I wrote about my burgeoning container garden.  Well, it was mostly an epic failure.  All that survived out of those many tomato seedlings is this one bad boy, who is still hanging on for dear life:

He's still growing little by little every day. I'll be quite impressed if he actually ends up producing any tomatoes!

In light of my tomato seedling failure, I gave up and purchased a cherry tomato seedling, which I'm excited about:

And as for basil...

The bunch you see to the left is all that's left of the basil I planted months ago.  The bigger plant on the right was a store purchase (there's another one too, not pictured).  All are growing like wildfire! :)

Sigh, cilantro.  This was grown from seeds, and was going pretty strong, but has started to wilt quite a bit the last couple days, despite plenty of sunlight, allowing the water to drain, and not over- or under-watering.  Cilantro seems to be a pretty fickle herb to grow.  Any pointers??

I purchased this lavender plant for the wonderful aroma and beautiful purple flowers that will bloom (and have already started to bud).

As for what's been cookin' lately...

In celebration of Memorial Day weekend, I felt compelled to make some sort of BBQ stable, so I went with this basic pasta salad recipe, with the omission of chickpeas and eggs, and the addition of fresh basil from my garden.

In the words of Paul, "Can you make this again??? I could eat this all week..."

And, nothing says summer like a simple caprese salad (again, basil from the garden).  I hope someday soon the tomatoes will be from my patio, as well. :)

Simple Memorial Day lunch.

What summer foods are you most excited about?

Cheers,
L

Pasta Salad

Today is a rainy Sunday.  Not the downpour kind, but a gentle mist that has persisted throughout the late morning and afternoon.  I love these kinds of days...the rain is soothing, it puts me in the mood to drink that extra cup of coffee, and it [usually] puts me in the mood to cook.  And that I did.

Admittedly, this is not the most exciting dish to blog about.  Pasta salad, macaroni salad, whatever you call it -- a routine summer staple.  Still, it's one of my favorite things to eat, and I have never made it from scratch.  I had fun making this today as I sort of made it up as I went along and it turned out delicious.  So, blog-worthy to me!

Sunday Pasta Salad
dressing adapted from  Taste of Home's recipe

Salad:

• 2 cups uncooked pasta -- I used mini penne
• 1 large celery stalk, diced
• 1 small-to-medium tomato, diced
• 1 green onion, chopped
• about half of a 16 oz. can of chickpeas, drained and rinsed
• 2 hard-boiled eggs, chopped
• Optional: 1/2 cup cooked chicken breast, cubed

Dressing:

• 1/2 cup mayonnaise
• 1/4 cup prepared ranch dressing (eyeball it)
• 3 tbsp milk
• 3 tbsp cider vinegar
• 1 tbsp dried minced onion
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp pepper
• 1/4 tsp dried parsley flakes
• 1 tsp prepared Dijon mustard
• 1 tsp sweet relish

1. Cook pasta according to package directions.  Drain and rinse with cold water.
2. While the pasta is cooking, mix together dressing ingredients and let sit.
3. Toss together the salad ingredients, and add the dressing. Mix well.

 Dressing.

 Salad ingredients ready to be tossed.  Not pictured: eggs which I added after this picture was taken, and the chicken, which I decided to add at the last minute after everything was mixed together.  The chicken was left-over from a stir-fry Paul made a couple nights ago, and I didn't want it to go to waste.  I labeled the chicken as "optional" in the recipe because I added it in order to make it more of a meal (I had not yet eaten lunch and was getting hungrier and hungrier as I was preparing it!).  Personally, if this is just a side dish, I'd leave the chicken out.  But it's up to you!

Yummy side-dish or, in my case today, a light lunch.

Hope you're enjoying your Sunday, rain or shine.

Cheers,
L