Colorful pasta salad

We eat differently at my house in the summer months. I imagine that’s the story with your family as well.

There are many hot summer days when I go home for lunch that I want nothing more than cheese crackers and fruit, preferably watermelon mixed with strawberries and peaches.

I also love to eat pasta salads in the summer. It doesn’t require much effort to cook pasta, cut some vegetables and mix up a dressing for a dish that can provide lunch, or a side dish at least, for a few days.

I have a few standby pasta salad recipes that I like to make, but I’m always looking for something else to try for variety.

Today’s featured recipe is a pasta salad I first tried at the home Bill and Vicky Stewart in September. I liked the salad immediately, noting the dressing was different from any I had tried before.

A few days later, I asked Vicky about the pasta salad, and she told me how she made the easy dish. I tried it soon after, and my husband and I really enjoyed it.

The dressing is a mix of zesty Italian and creamy Caesar dressings. For her vegetables, she chose a diced red onion, green pepper, broccoli and tomatoes. She also mixed in a cup of shredded Parmesan cheese. To intensify the flavors, she recommends mixing the peppers and onions with the dressings before adding in the other vegetables and pasta.

"I think it helped incorporate the flavors into the whole dish,” she said, adding it’s easy to adapt the recipe by switching up vegetables or adding colored peppers.

I made a double recipe of this pasta salad for my son’s graduation party. It’s a pretty dish for a party with the colorful vegetables. I made it again this week for lunches. The last few times I made it, I used fat-free Italian dressing rather than zesty Italian because that’s what I had in my pantry. For the vegetables, I filled a small container at my favorite salad bar with cherry tomatoes and broccoli and blended them into my salad (after cutting them into smaller pieces.)

Mix in some turkey pepperoni, and you’ll have a delicious meal for a hot summer day.


Vicky's Pasta Salad

• 1 pound box rotini (spiral pasta)
• 1 cup zesty Italian dressing (I used fat-free Italian)
• 1 cup creamy Caesar dressing
• Combination of favorite vegetables such as red onion, green pepper, broccoli and cherry tomatoes, cut in bite-size pieces
• 1 cup shredded Parmesan cheese

Cook pasta according to package directions; drain.

While the pasta cooks, prepare vegetables and stir together dressings.

Mix peppers and onions with dressing before adding in the other vegetables, pasta and cheese.

Chill before serving.

Vicky Stewart

Easy summer meal

Sometimes a single ingredient will inspire me to cook or at least to try a new recipe. It might be fresh produce or a cut of meat that’s on sale. Other times, it’s something new.

At the grocery store recently, a new product caught my eye: shredded Velveeta queso blanco. I had purchased the same produce in block form but hadn’t seen the creamy white cheese sold as a shredded option. My daughter had used the block queso blanco in a dip and loved it.

On the back of the shredded cheese package was a recipe and photo for queso blanco quesadillas. The quesadillas looked delicious with lots of chicken, peppers and cheese inside crispy tortilla shells. I knew my family would love them. So I bought the cheese.

I make quesadillas from time to time, so the only real change here was the cheese.

I prepared the recipe a little differently. Instead of cooking the chicken with the peppers and onions, I did the chicken first, then the vegetables. I also cooked the chicken in a little fat-free Italian dressing for added flavor.

I normally warm the tortillas separately, but I followed the recipe and assembled the quesadillas, then warmed them in a skillet until they had a nice brown color and were a little crispy.

We had sour cream and salsa on the table for those who wanted them; the recipe also suggests serving with shredded lettuce and chopped tomatoes.

We really enjoyed our quesadillas. The family commented on how creamy the cheese was and how much they liked it.

It was a very simple dish to make and is perfect for meals on a hot summer night because you don’t heat up the kitchen.


Queso Blanco Quesadillas

• 1 pound boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut into strips
• 1/2 cup each red and green pepper strips
• 1/2 cup sliced onions
• 4 flour tortillas (8-inch)
• 4 ounces queso blanco Velveeta, shredded

Cook chicken and vegetables in large nonstick skillet on medium heat 10 minutes or until chicken is done and vegetables are crisp-tender, stirring occasionally. Remove from skillet. Wipe skillet clean with paper towel.

Spoon 1/4 of the chicken mixture onto half of each tortilla. Top with Veveeta; fold in half.

Cook, in batches, in skillet 2 minutes on each side or until quesadillas are browned on both sides and cheese is melted.

Makes 4 servings.

Kraft

Ribs and summer

My son has always loved barbecued ribs.

Whenever we go to a restaurant that serves ribs, it’s a safe bet that’s what Robert will order.

I’ve only tried to grill ribs at home a few times. They were awful and very tough the first time, but later attempts were better.

Now that Robert has shown such an interest in grilling, it was only natural that we’d be cooking ribs this summer! And when our favorite grocery story had baby back ribs on sale, I bought two racks for our experiment.

I had been reading the two cookbooks from Food Network stars Pat and Gina Neely. The Neely restaurant in Memphis, Tenn., is well known for its ribs, and the Neelys have several rib recipes in their cookbooks and online.

After some research, we decided on their Sweet Cola Ribs recipe, which Robert found on the Food Network website.

The recipe ingredient list, which includes items for both a dry rub and a barbecue sauce, is a little intimidating to me, but it didn’t bother him.

He assembled the dry rub and prepared the ribs early last Thursday morning while everyone else was away from home. It was nice to come home to the wonderful aroma left behind from the rub preparation and ribs in the fridge.

Robert and I approach this whole cooking thing differently. If you read my column regularly, you know that I very seldom follow a recipe; I make changes. Robert follows the directions exactly as written! For instance, I don’t particularly like cumin and would have left it out of the rub. Not him. It went in. And, truthfully, I didn’t notice the taste in the ribs, which is a good thing.

And when it came time to making the sauce, I told him I couldn’t imagine why we would need to simmer it for an hour and 15 minutes. He insisted we do it though because that’s what the recipe said. So while he was out back cooking the ribs for more than 90 minutes on the gas grill, I was inside doing other things and watching the bubbling sauce get thicker and thicker — just as it was supposed to do. So he was right on both counts.

We had a wonderful Thursday evening, going back and forth between the backyard grilling session and the indoor sauce making. The ribs turned out beautifully, I think, and were very tender and delicious. The flavor combination was a winner, and it was obvious that the ribs had both a rub and a sauce.

I look forward to having this recipe again and to seeing what Robert decides to try next!


Sweet Cola Ribs

Sweet Cola Barbecue Sauce:

• 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
• 1 medium onion, finely chopped
• 3 cloves garlic, finely chopped
• 2 cups ketchup
• 1 can cola
• 1⁄2 cup apple cider vinegar
• 2 tablespoons brown sugar
• 1⁄2 tablespoon fresh ground black pepper
• 1⁄2 tablespoon onion powder
• 1⁄2 tablespoon ground mustard
• 1⁄2 tablespoon lemon juice
• 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce

Dry Rub:

• 2 tablespoons salt
• 2 tablespoons brown sugar
• 2 teaspoons garlic powder
• 2 teaspoons onion powder
• 1 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1 teaspoon chili powder
• 1 teaspoon black pepper
• 2 racks pork spare ribs (about 3 pound each)

For the sauce: In a medium saucepan, over medium heat, add oil. Once heated, add the onion and garlic and sautee until tender. Add all the remaining sauce ingredients and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to a simmer and cook uncovered, stirring frequently, for 1 hour 15 minutes.

For the dry rub: Whisk all dry ingredients together in a small bowl. This can be stored up to 6 months in an airtight container.

For the ribs: Rinse and dry ribs. Place on a clean cutting board, pull off the membrane and trim the ribs of excess fat. Liberally season both sides of the ribs with rub. Wrap ribs with plastic wrap and refrigerate 4 to 12 hours so flavors can permeate.

Preheat grill to 250F using hickory and charcoal. (We used our gas grill with indirect heat and had very good results.) Set up your grill for indirect heat.

Place ribs, meatier side down, on the grill away from the coals. Close grill cover. Cook the pork ribs for 1 hour 15 minutes; flipping several times for even cook. Coat ribs with Sweet Cola Barbecue Sauce* and cook for another 20 minutes.

*Reserve some of the sauce for dipping when the ribs are served.

Pat and Gina Neely from Food Network website

Fill up your cookie jar this summer

It’s summertime, and at my house that means there are lots of people in and out. And those people get hungry!

I try to keep snacks around for my family and their guests to munch on, and I like to make those treats myself when I can. Thanks to a book I came across while browsing in the library’s new books section the other day, my cookie jar is now holding some delicious home-baked cookies.

“Cookies: More than 200 Recipes” by Jill Snider was enticing to me right away. I enjoyed reading the tips and descriptions she puts with each recipe, and I loved the combinations she came up with for her cookies. How about crunchy cereal cookies — a breakfast cookie recipe with crisped rice cereal, rolled oats, almonds, coconut and sunflower seeds? Or chocolate cherry mounds with pecans, dried cherries and two kinds of chocolate?

The cookie names alone make you want to start baking: butterscotch cashew cookies, Hawaiian chews, chocolate caramel oat cookies, cranberry almond oatmeal cookies.

There are many traditional favorites in this book as well, and I chose an oatmeal cookie as my first recipe from this book. A number of cookie recipes in the book use oats, but I tried oatmeal candy cookies and made them the last two Saturday afternoons.

This is a simple, basic oatmeal cookie recipe that uses candy pieces. It also calls for coconut, but I omitted that so I wouldn’t be the only one eating them. (My crowd can spot coconut hidden in any recipe.)

The first time I made this recipe I used my small cookie scoop and made small, uniform cookies that everyone gobbled down. I wasn’t sure if there would be a cookie left before they had time to cool! I cooked these cookies a minute or two more than what the recipe suggests because I love crunchy oatmeal cookies.

I made a few changes to this recipe other than leaving out the coconut. I used self-rising flour instead of all-purpose flour and left out the baking powder, baking soda and salt, and instead of using 1 cup of candy-coated chocolate pieces, I used a mixture of miniature M&Ms and miniature chocolate chips (about half-and-half.)

The cookies were a big hit at my house, and I feel confident I’ll make them again and again.

This is a good recipe to use if you have kids around who want to help. Both times I made this recipe, my 2-year-old granddaughter was at the house, and she poured in the chocolate chips and M&Ms. She also helped me hold the mixer.

Before writing this column, I wanted to try something different, so I made a second recipe, using ingredients I’ve never put in a cookie. I chose white chocolate, fruit and nut cookies.

These buttery, tender cookies are packed with white chocolate, chopped cashew nuts, dried cranberries and dried apricot. I wasn’t sure how I would like the combination, but it was a delicious cookie, and everyone who tried it agreed.

When you’re making these cookies, try to get some of each ingredient in each cookie because the combination is really good.



White Chocolate Fruit and Nut Cookies

• 2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour*
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup butter, softened
• 3/4 cup packed brown sugar
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 tablespoon grated orange zest*
• 8 squares (1 oz./28 g each) white chocolate cut into chunks*
• 1 1/4 cup coarsely chopped cashews
• 3/4 cup dried cranberries
• 1/2 cup chopped dried mango*

Preheat oven to 375F.

Grease cookie sheets or line with parchment paper.

On a sheet of waxed paper or in a bowl, combine flour, baking soda and salt. Set aside.

In a large bowl, using an electric mixer on medium speed, beat butter and brown and granulated sugars until light and creamy, about 3 minutes. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add orange zest. On low speed, gradually add flour mixture, beating until blended. With a wooden spoon, stir in white chocolate, cashews, cranberries and mango.

Drop dough by heaping tablespoonfuls about 2 inches apart on prepared cookie sheet. Bake in preheated oven for 8-12 minutes or until golden around edges. Cool for 5 minutes on sheet, then transfer to a rack and cool completely.

*I used self-rising flour and omitted the salt and baking soda. I didn’t have an orange, so I didn’t use orange zest. Also, instead of cutting squares of chocolate, I used a cup of white chocolate chips. And I also used apricot instead of mango.

"Cookies: More than 200 recipes" by Jill Snider



Oatmeal Candy Cookies

• 1 cup all-purpose flour*
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup butter, softened
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 1/2 cup packed brown sugar
• 1 egg
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1 cup quick-cooking oats*
• 1 cup candy-coated chocolate pieces*
• 1/2 cup unsweetened flaked coconut*

Preheat oven to 350F.

Prepare cookie sheets with parchment paper or by greasing.

On a sheet of waxed paper or in a bowl, combine flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Set aside.

In a large bowl, using an electric mixer on medium speed, beat butter, granulated and brown sugars, egg and vanilla until light and creamy, about 3 minutes. On low speed, gradually add flour mixture, beating until smooth. With a wooden spoon, stir in oats, candy pieces and coconut.

Drop dough by tablespoonfuls on prepared cookie sheet. Bake in preheated oven for 9-13 minutes or until golden. Cool for 5 minutes on sheet, then transfer to a rack and cool completely.

*I made the following changes: I used self-rising flour and omitted the baking powder, baking soda and salt. I didn’t have quick-cooking oats, so I used old-fashioned. I omitted coconut, and I used a mixture of miniature M&Ms and miniature chocolate chips instead of 1 cup of the candy pieces only.

Another good variation: instead of M&Ms and chocolate chips, I mixed in about a cup of dark chocolate chips and 3/4 to 1 cup chopped dried cherries. Delicious!

"Cookies: More than 200 Recipes" by Jill Snider