Pasta Salad

I love pasta salad.  When I was a wee lass, my mom would ask what I wanted for my birthday food and my reply was almost always pasta salad!  I can't even explain why I was so obsessed with it as a child.  It may have been the olives, or the water chest nuts.  I remember having store bought pasta salad at a family reunion or something.  I realized in one bite that there was no comparison to my home-made birthday version.  wow.

I had a few things in the fridge left over from making pizza and realized they would go nicely with spiral noodles.

Sun-dried tomatoes, artichoke hearts, and black olives (though unfortunately canned).  Fetta would have been a nice addition, but I had ricotta.  I used liquid from the artichoke hearts and tomatoes with the ricotta to make a sauce.  A dash of salt, black pepper, and oregano rounded out the experience.  Well, eating this yummy dish on my back porch on an amazing spring day is really what rounded out the experience!

~JiMele

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Pasta Salad
(sort of Mediterranean style)
8oz Rotini (or what ever shape you like for pasta salad)
2 artichoke hearts (reserving some of the liquid from the jar)
8-16 sun-dried tomatoes (reserving some juice from the jar)
olives
1/4 - 1/3 cup ricotta cheese
salt, black pepper, oregano (dry or fresh)
Fresh Parmesan cheese

While pasta is cooking (according to package directions) chop artichoke, tomatoes and olives.  Combine ricotta cheese, spices and some of the liquid from the artichoke and tomato jars until the mixture resembles a thick dressing.  Taste to be sure you like the seasoning ratios and adjust if you need to, it's easier to do now than at the end.  Once the pasta is done, drain off the water, add the chopped ingredients and the dressing.  Shred some fresh Parmesan over the top and stir all together.

Chocolate Covered Pretzels

So delicious, and so easy.

I do not have a microwave, so to melt the chocolate I put a glass bowl over a pot of water.  It worked just fine.  I would like to learn a few things about chocolate candy making.  It would be fun, and probably kinda helpful for goodies like this.

Next time I make chocolate covered pretzels I will pay attention to the type of chocolate chips I melt.  I had to taste test (you know how that goes) and was surprised at how tart it was and realized I used bittersweet rather than milk chocolate, oops.

I decided to take advantage of the bittersweet aspect and add some spice.  I sprinkled a bit of Ancho Chili powder and cayenne into the melting chocolate.  I went easy on the spice since I wasn't sure how much it would kick.  It ended up being a pretty tasty amount.  There was just enough heat to leave a warm feeling, and just to be sure I did not confuse the spicy pretzels with the regular ones I lightly sprinkled the batch with paprika.

Rather than dipping the pretzels I put the liquified chocolate goodness in a disposable piping bad and snipped a tiny point off and drizzled it on in a circular motion.  It kept the mess fairly contained, and I could easily control how much chocolate was involved.

Yum.

Enjoy your Monday!

~JiMele

Lime Coconut Muffins

I wanted to make muffins this morning, and quick!  I did not want to make the Lemon Poppyseed mix that was in the cabinet, but I did not have any other muffin mix.  I just did not want to spend the extra 10 minutes to look for a recipe that I had the ingredients for and then mix the dry ingredients.  Silly? Maybe.  But I was racing the clock!

What I make is often dictated my a combination of what I want to make, what I actually have on hand and the items that need to be used quickly.  The result today was Lime Coconut Muffins.

So yummy. So easy.

I bet you can make these.  Or some variation. Do you have pancake mix? ok, than we are in business!

I have often wondered about making muffins with pancake mix.  This was the day for the answer.  I had a lime that was becoming sadly dehydrated, and oh, wait, about a tablespoon of coconut!  That sounds like a good combination, right?

1 cup of multi-grain pancake mix and 1 cup of biscuit mix creates a nice texture and flavor.

I do not keep regular milk on hand any more unless I have a specific use for it, like making ice cream or tapioca.  So I used almond milk.  Ash told me in her experience that the almond milk from the refrigerated section rather than the un-refrigerated section of the grocery store works pretty well as a cow's milk replacement in baked goods.  More experimenting?  why not.

The poor lime barely had any zest to work with, but I used what I could get!  mixing all the wet ingredients gave me the chance to combine and think before adding to the dry mix.  I added lime zest and juice of half the lime along with an egg, almond milk and oil.  I then added almond milk until the batter was about the typical consistency of muffin batter, which I guess is like a medium-thick pancake or cake batter.  The kind that runs off a spoon slightly rather than globbing off in large chunks. 

While the muffins baked, I mixed up a sauce.  Yogurt Lime sauce to be exact.  I did not want a glaze. I did not want a frosting.  I wanted something that would be good for breakfast, not loaded with sugar, even though I am a big fan.  I almost used sour cream until I remembered that I had some vanilla yogurt, though either would work.  I mixed in some lime juice and zest and called it good.  Just use lime juice until it is the consistency you are in the mood for. 

This is a delicious breakfast.  The lime could be substituted for any citrus fruit.  I have some oranges...I may try those tomorrow.
Let me know if you find a particularly tasty combination.
Enjoy! 

~JiMele

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Lime Coconut Muffins
1 cup  multi-grain pancake mix
1 cup biscuit mix (or muffin mix)
1 Tbs sugar
1-3 Tbs coconut (the more the better!)
1 lime, juice and zest
1 egg
1 tbs oil
up to 1 cup almond milk

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.  Mix pancake and biscuit mix with sugar and coconut in a medium bowl and set aside.  In smaller bowl lightly beat the egg.  Add oil, about 1/2 cup of milk and juice and zest of half the lime. Mix into the dry ingredients quickly adding milk to get the proper consistency.  Fill 12 muffin cups 2/3 full and bake 20-25 minutes until toothpick comes out clean.  Time will vary depending on your oven.  You can also use the smell as a gauge if you have made pancakes a few times and are familiar with the smell of your mix.

Lime Yogurt Sauce
1/4 cup vanilla yogurt
lime juice and zest
white grape juice (optional)
Mix lime juice and zest into yogurt until you have reached your desired consistency.  If you run out of lime juice like I did, you can add a splash of another juice, I had white grape juice open.

Drizzle over warm muffins and enjoy!

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