Southern Chicken Salad

3-4 cups diced cooked chicken or leftover turkey
1 cup mayonnaise
1/2 cup sour cream

4 green onions, chopped well
2 stalks celery finely diced
1/2 tsp pepper (I add more to taste)
1/2 tsp seasoned salt
1 Tbsp honey
2 tsp lemon juice
1 cup red grapes, halved lengthwise

1/2 cup cashews (add just barely prior to serving because they absorb moisture and get chewy otherwise.)

Mix all together and let set for flavors to blend. Serve in rolls or croissants. 

SELF NOTES: This is what I made for Courtney's wedding shower delicious. No grapes and no nuts for Trent, but he loves it :)

Acini de Pepe Salad (Frog Eye Salad)

This makes a big salad for parties or pot lucks, serves 25. Saves well for leftovers too. Start this the night before you want to serve it, or at least 12 hours minimum beforehand.

You will need:

1 cup sugar

2 Tbsp flour

1/2 tsp salt

1-3/4 cup pineapple juice *

2 eggs

1 Tbsp lemon juice

1 box acini de pepe pasta

3 cans mandarin oranges 11 oz each

2 cans pineapple chunks 20 oz each

1 can crushed pineapple 20 0z

1 carton cool whip 9 oz

1 cup miniature marshmallows

1 cup flaked coconut (optional)

The night before you want to serve the salad, combine in a saucepan the sugar, flour, salt, pineapple juice and beaten eggs. Cook over medium heat until thick then stir in the lemon juice. Set aside to cool. Cook the acini de pepe pasta according to package directions. Drain and rinse with cold water. Combine pasta with egg mixture in a large bowl and refrigerate overnight.

The next day, combine the pasta mixture with the oranges, all of the pineapple, cool whip, marshmallows and coconut. Fold all together and chill until ready to serve.

*Get the pineapple juice from the cans of pineapple, drain the pineapple saving the juice and then save the pineapple for the next day when you put the salad together.

Cranberry Salsa

This is a very tasty salsa, made with cranberries, my friend Christina brought it to our Christmas party. Serve over bricks of cream cheese with wheat thins crackers. Great pot luck or party dish. Buy a few extra bags of cranberries during the holidays and freeze them to make this recipe in the summer. Freezing cranberries is easy and works well, just place the bag of cranberries into a freezer bag.

12 oz. bag fresh cranberries
1/2 cup sugar
1 medium jalapeno pepper, seeded
3 green onions
1/2 a bunch of fresh cilantro
1/4 tsp cumin

Pulse all ingredients in a food processor until well chopped and combined. Chill for at least a few hours or overnight to allow flavors to blend.

Potatoes Au Gratin (Homemade)

8.5 cups sliced potatoes
1-1/2 cubes butter (3/4 cup)
3/4 cup flour
2 cups milk
2 cups cream
2 cups chicken broth plus 3 chicken boullion cubes added
White pepper to taste
Cheddar cheese to top

Cook potatoes in boiling salted water until partially done, 3-5 minutes, and drain. Place potatoes in a 13x9 dish. Melt butter in a saucepan and stir in flour to make a smooth paste. Add the milk, cream, and chicken broth and cook, stirring constantly, until thickened. Add pepper and pour the mixture over the potatoes. Bake at 350 for 45 minutes, add the cheese on top and bake for an addition 4-5 minutes.

Salsa (Blended)

I've come frighteningly close to cloning Plum Loco's salsa in the squeeze bottle. Danger! Mine is hotter...fills two squeeze bottles nearly full.

Tomatoes, either three quarts of home canned or 6 cans italian style stewed tomatoes,

(drained well)

2 large cloves garlic, peeled

1 large onion, peeled

1 tbsp ground cumin

1 tsp cayenne powder

1 tsp black pepper

1 tsp chipotle powder

1 tsp jalapeno powder

1 tbsp chili powder (texas style)

1 tsp salt, more to taste

1/2 tsp accent (optional)

2 tsp balsamic vinegar

2 tsp lemon juice

2 tsp oregano IF you are using home canned or unseasoned tomatoes.

Blend the garlic and onion in the food processor. Add everything else and blend until well pureed. Fill squeeze bottles and squeeze onto chips. Bliss!

Fresh Pesto

2 cups packed fresh basil (or substitute some spinach), rough chopped
1/2 cup (4 ounces) walnuts or pine nuts, rough chopped
2-3 cloves garlic, peeled
Olive oil

In a food processor, pulse nuts, basil/spinach, and garlic until well blended.
While processing, drizzle a thin stream of olive oil into the processor. Continue adding olive oil until desired thickness is achieved, usually between 1/8 and 1/4 cup.

Store in a covered jar or bowl, lasts a few days. Use as a spread for bread, or mix with heavy cream for pesto sauce.

Rod's Famous Baked Beans

Beans and Frank! Rod Frank that is!...Good. Feeds a crowd...is also a great main dish because it has a lot of meat in it. Takes 3-4 hours in the crock pot.

8 regular size small cans pork and beans

1 lb of bacon, fried and chopped

1 lb jimmy dean sausage, fried and crumbled (we used elk sausage from my friend Matt Leatham)

1 large onion chopped very fine

4 tablespoons garlic minced well (I use the bottled kind)

4 generous splashes worcestershire sauce

2 cup brown sugar

2 tablespoon dry mustard

Jalapeno powder or habenero powder to taste.

Mix all together and crock pot for 3-4 hours...longer the better. Thanks Rod!

Fry Sauce

My sister Dani moved to Texas when she got married in 1990...asked for fry sauce at fast food restaurants and they looked at her like she had two heads or something. Same thing back east, Trent and I found out. So HEY, United States! This is fry sauce! This is based on my mom's recipe from when we were kids, and I enhanced it. I'm trying to clone Red Robin's...this is getting verrrrry close.

1 part ketchup (like a half cup to a cup, depending on how much you want)

1 part mayonnaise (same)

At least 1/2 tsp cayenne pepper (less if you're "sensitive" lol)

Worcestershire Sauce, one teaspoon to start

Two generous splashes Liquid Smoke to start

Black pepper to taste (couple shakes!)

Mix together and taste, taste, taste again and add more of what you want...We always end up adding more Worc, liquid smoke, and cayenne (a lot more cayenne, maybe another few generous shakes of the Worc and smoke.)

Don't be afraid to make a lot, this will keep in the fridge for a few months, just like ketchup. Go to Rush's restaurant supply and get a squeeze bottle with a little cap and keep it in the fridge.

Cheesy Grits Souffle by Christina's Mom-In-Law

I don't even know Christina's mom-in-law! But I love her for this recipe! I don't like grits but I LOVE it in this recipe. It's light, delicious, and a perfect breakfast or brunch dish. I made it for Easter dinner, and it was absolutely wonderful.

Don't be afraid of a souffle, this is the first one I have ever made and it came out perfect.

2 cups milk

1/2 cup instant grits

1/2 tsp salt (if you use cheese) if no cheese, use 1 tsp salt

1/2 tsp black pepper

1/2 tsp baking powder

2 Tbsp butter, melted

1/2 tsp sugar

1/2 cup sharp cheddar or parmesan cheese

3 large eggs separated

Preheat oven to 375.

Grease a souffle dish, mine is 1.5 quart size and worked perfectly for this.

Scald milk (bring to just before a boil while stirring), add grits. Cook until thick, stirring constantly. Make sure the grits are well cooked.

Add salt, baking powder, sugar and butter, and mix well. Remove from heat. Beat yolks and add to that mix and add cheese (cheese optional).

In another bowl, whip egg whites to soft peaks. (when beaters are removed, soft peaks form and curl over like waves.) Fold egg whites into grits mixture in the saucepan.

Pour all into the greased souffle pan, bake at 375 for 30 minutes.

Potatoes Au Gratin (Mix)

This recipe probably only applies to me, because I got lucky and a friend who works at a potato packing plant scored a box of food service size au gratin potato mixes. I have had to figure out myself how to use them because they have no instructions. Finally figured it out last night. Dani, take some of these packets home, these are good when you have to feed a crowd. Would be good with pork chops, pulled pork, or fish.

5 cups dried scalloped potatoes from Winco bulk food

8 cups boiling water

1 cube margarine, melted

1 package au gratin sauce mix

Mix all together well in large, deep casserole dish or a foil disposable pan. Cook at least an hour at 350-400, depending on whatever else you are roasting or baking. Just bake the potatoes side by side with bread, meat, or whatever.

Will thicken upon standing, stir occasionally to release some of the moisture. This makes a lot. Enough for at least three meals, or a pot luck, or enough for us and to take some to the folks.

Chicken Wings

I love homemade hot wings! This is the best I've done...

The actual recipe is in a book called Top Secret Recipes 2 by Todd Wilbur. Of course any commentary is my own. I am a big fan of his clones. Don't confuse Frank's cayenne pepper sauce with Frank's wing sauce. The wing sauce is ready to use on wings. Frank's cayenne pepper sauce is the base for this hot wing sauce...I prefer this, even though it takes a little time.

Buffalo Wild Wings Medium Spice Wings

This coats 20 wings well. Make the sauce first:

1 cup Franks's cayenne pepper sauce

1/2 cup vegetable oil

1 tsp sugar

1/2 tsp cayenne pepper

1/2 tsp garlic powder

1/2 tsp worcestershire sauce

1/8 tsp black pepper

1 egg yolk

2 tsp cold water

2 tsp cornstarch

Combine the first 7 ingredients (everything but the egg yolk, water, and cornstarch) in a saucepan. Heat to boiling, reduce heat and simmer for 5 minutes. Remove pan from heat and allow to cool 10 minutes. Marvel in the smell of your house! mmmm.

While the sauce cools, vigorously whisk egg yolk and the 2 tsp water in a medium bowl for a full two minutes. It will be pale yellow and frothy. Then add the cornstarch and whisk to combine well.

Drizzle the hot sauce mixture into the egg yolk mixture in a slow thin steady stream while rapidly whisking. This creates an emulsion that prevents the oil from separating. Cover and chill until sauce is needed.

Wings:

Fry. That's it. Really. Heat a couple inches of oil in a frying pan or an electric fryer until very hot. Carefully drop in thawed, rinsed and patted-dry wings sections...I can do 15 at a time in my huge frypan. Fry at least 10 minutes, I do mine 12 minutes but no longer. Drain on racks or paper towels and then toss in the delicious sauce.

Spread a tarp over all exposed areas, wear clothing that is practically disposable, and be sure no one is present that has not already formed a first impression of you. Get plenty of blue cheese dressing, celery sticks, and napkins handy... and suck those wings off the bone like a screen door in a hurricane. ooooh yeah.

Old Fashioned Egg Salad

The white bread I made started a chain reaction. Trent remembered his mom made egg salad all the time to feed a crowd for cheap, and he loved it. So, I found a recipe, tweaked it a bit, and it is really good.

We only have this once in a while because even if you use fat-free or light mayo, the salad is mostly egg so it's pretty heavy on the cholesterol.

A note about boiling eggs: Use your oldest eggs. As eggs age, they become better candidates for boiling because fresh eggs are harder to peel. I boil eggs using a shut-off method. Place eggs in pan. Cover with hot water at least an inch over the tops of the eggs. Turn burner on high. Bring to full rolling boil. Leave the pan where it is on the burner but shut the burner off. Leave there for 13 minutes. Place pan in sink and run cold water over the eggs until the water is cool enough for you to easily drain. Then cover the eggs completely with cold water. To peel, crack eggs on all sides and gently roll to loosen shells. Dip in and out of the water while peeling to make it easier.

Egg Salad

12 boiled eggs, peeled and chopped

3/4 - 1 cup cup mayonnaise, depending on the creaminess you like (light is ok)

1/4 cup fresh onion very very finely chopped (or substitute 1/2 tsp onion powder, I prefer fresh)

1 tsp lemon juice

2 -3 Tbsp regular mustard

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp pepper or to taste (I add a bit more)

Mix, chill and serve. I make the "sauce" (everything but the eggs) first and let it sit while I prepare the eggs, that gives the flavors time to blend.

You could add optional diced dill or sweet pickles, or very finely chopped celery, which I add to my portions but Trent does not like that.

Enjoy! Next assignment...chicken salad. Stay tuned.

Soft White Bread

Oh! I hear it in the background...the music...Survivor singing "The search is overrrr." Yes, ladies and gentlemen, I have found it. After years of baking brick bread, poof bread, weird bread, and some downright wrong bread, I found the best bread recipe ever. I made this after work last night and we had some for dinner. Trent said it's so good that I should CSI the recipe, cost it out, and decide if we should start making it for everyday use instead of buying wonder bread.

This was born out of necessity, grocery shopping money is all spent this week and we are adhering to a strict budget, as many are right now. Trent's kids coming for the weekend, so basically, I need bread. I know my kitchen is stocked well enough to solve the problem. I googled something like "Best soft white bread recipe" and found this. Tip: buy yeast in bulk at winco and keep it in the freezer to keep it fresher.

The best part of this recipe...if you have a bread machine, you do almost nothing. If you have a kitchenaid mixer instead, you do a little more than nothing, but still very little work in comparison to most bread recipes.

The directions called out in the recipe (and what I did) were for the bread machine on the dough setting, keep in mind my dough setting takes about one hour because it proofs (raises) the dough the first time in a two-raise loaf, then the 40 minutes of additional raise time in the loaf pan, then bake.

If you use a kitchenaid, one of the comments on this recipe said to mix the ingredients with the paddle attachment (the regular one) then switch to the dough hook and work the dough for 7 minutes with that, then go on to the raising process (raise once in the bowl in a warm place for about an hour, shape into a loaf pan, raise again in warm place about 40 minutes until it's loaf-sized, bake.)

Raising: I always raise any dough I make in my oven, turn the oven on for about two minutes to 350, shut it off, put your hand in there to make sure it's not too hot but nice and toasty warm and raise the dough in there.

Last thing! (I know, I know, get to the recipe already!) A note about yeast...packet yeast contains 2 and 1/4 tsp yeast, so you would not use a whole packet, you have to measure it. Ok! Here's the recipe, geez.

Soft White Bread (makes one loaf)

Add ingredients to your machine in the order called for by your machine (nearly all I have seen are liquid first, then dry over that, then yeast on top, that's how mine is.)

1 cup milk, warmed in microwave for one minute
1 tsp salt
3 tablespoons margarine or butter, softened
1 tablespoon honey
3 cups all-purpose flour
2 tsp sugar (necessary for browning)
1-1/2 tsp yeast (a teaspoon and a half)

Select dough cycle on bread machine. Oil a loaf pan. When cycle is done (which is mixing and raising the dough once), lift dough out with slightly floured hands, DON'T knead it...just shape into a loaf shape. Place dough in oiled loaf pan and flip it over so oil is on all sides of the dough. Lightly cover with plastic wrap and raise in a warm place for about 40 minutes. Preheat oven to 350. Bake 30 minutes until golden brown.

Sweet Potatoes

Sweet potatoes are different from yams. If you go to walmart, they don't make that distinction, because in the south, sweet potatoes and yams are considered the same. But they are very different. Winco has both kinds...sweet potatoes and yams. Sweet potatoes are the pale yellowish root-looking potatoes. Yams are the red/orange root potatoes that are often canned under the name of sweet potatoes.

Sweet Potatoes

3-4 large sweet potatoes

1 cube butter

Canned milk if needed

Do yourself a favor and do not try to peel these before you boil. What a colossal pain that is. Wash them well and cut into 3"-4" sections. Boil in a pot of water for about 30 minutes until a fork pierces the center easily. Drain carefully. Peel the hot potatoes at this point by slitting one side with a sharp knife and pulling the skins free.

Place a cube of butter in the bowl and plop the peeled sweet potatoes on top of it to melt it. When they are all peeled, mash them with a masher and blend them up with the butter. You can use an electric mixer if the potatoes are a little stringy or lumpy, but usually a masher works well. Add canned milk a tablespoon at a time if the potatoes appear dry. These kinds of potatoes can vary in consistency...different crops can be dry or moister, depending on the growing conditions.

Keep warm until ready to serve. The flavor of these is like a slightly sweet mashed potato but not as starkly sweet at candied yams. Yes, I make both on holidays....my husband likes the yams and me and my daughter like the sweet potatoes. Enjoy!

Candied Yams

Mashed, candied yams like Trent's mom used to make. Can be made before hand, just don't add the marshmallows until they are reheated and ready to serve.

2 cans Princella Cut Sweet Potatoes in light syrup (29 oz each)

1/2 stick butter (1/4 cup)

1/2 cup brown sugar

1/4 cup condensed milk

mini marshmallows

Drain potatoes but don't rinse. Mash in a 4 qt saucepan. Add melted butter, brown sugar, and canned milk. Cook on low/med stovetop until sugar is dissolved and incorporated. Don't be afraid to use an electric hand mixer to mash and blend, these can be slightly lumpy and stringy so an electric mixer is the way to go.

Place into a serving dish, a casserole, or foil pan (the round foil ones like they give at Bajio's work perfect.) Cover with foil and bake at 350 or so until the potatoes are heated through. Cover with a layer of mini marshmallows and bake until the marshmallows are puffy and very slightly browned.

Sausage Gravy

This is my take on a Paula Deen Milk Gravy recipe, but I add sausage. It's so good. I bake Grands Biscuits from the pop-open tubes for biscuits and gravy. This makes enough for 2 or 3 people, I will double it for more.

1 package Jimmy Dean hot sausage, browned and drained
1/2 cup bacon grease (reserved from the last time you cooked bacon! Never throw that stuff out)
2 Tbsp Butter
1/2 cup flour
3 cups warmed milk
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp black pepper
Seasonings: ground thyme, cayenne pepper, ground rosemary, and Accent

Heat grease and butter and whisk in flour. Cook on medium heat until the raw flour smell and taste has cooked out, stirring constantly. It should be smooth and bubbly. Add milk slowly and stir it in, continue stirring until the gravy thickens. Add sausage and season with the seasonings...start with 1/4 tsp of each seasoning and add more to taste. I usually season with about 1/2 tsp of each spice listed. Serve over warm biscuits.

Holiday Stuffing

I make my own stuffing for holiday meals. My motto for stuffing is, you pretty much can't season stuffing enough. Dedicated to my Grampa Harper who LOVED sage...would tell my mom "Oh just go ahead and put more sage in there." I like small chunks of vegetables, so I cut them very fine. If you want larger onion and celery, just chop into larger pieces.

This is for a LOT of stuffing as I usually cook for between 15 and 20 people. Half it if you want.

2 bags stuffing bread cubes, the large bags at winco
2 cubes butter
2 large onions, diced very fine
1 celery bunch, cleaned and chopped very fine
2 tsp salt
1 tsp black pepper
2 Tbsp dried sage
1 Tbsp dried thyme
2 Tbsp dried parsley
2 cans chicken broth

Heat butter in a skillet or stockpot and saute onion and celery until very soft but not browned. Place bread cubes in a large bowl and add all the spices and toss well to mix. Go ahead and add the little seasoning packet that comes with the bread cubes too. Toss it all together and pour the cooked celery/onion/butter over the seasoned bread cubes. Add 1 full can of chicken broth and toss. Test the dryness and flavor by tasting and add more chicken broth if it's dry and more seasonings to taste. I always end up adding a little more of all the spices and I will use both cans of broth, sometimes a little more. I like a moist stuffing so I use broth to the point of sort of a partly saturated stuffing bread, but not soggy. Just don't go too overboard with the broth. You can also add apples, raisins, walnuts, whatever, but if I did that, my husband would freak and ask me if I just turned into a granola-muncher.

Stuff some in the bird if you want. The rest goes into a baking dish into the oven to warm it through, probably 325 degrees for 45 minutes.

Bread Dipping Oil

Think Johnny Carino's style here. Good stuff. This makes a really cool gift for the holidays or a housewarming. I bought small bottles with corks one year and filled them with this dipping oil. Gave them to my family and friends along with a loaf of french bread and some roasted dried garlic to serve with the oil, just like they do at Carino's. Oh, and call me if you need the garlic, I bought a big canister of it...still have over half of it left.

This is for one gift...you can double, triple, quad this for however many gifts you are making, or adjust for the size bottles you are using. Keep in mind the best way to buy the spices for this is in bulk food at Winco, much cheaper than the bottles you find on the baking aisle.

Dipping Oil:
1 tbsp. dried rosemary
1 tbsp. dried parsley
1 tbsp. dried oregano
1 tbsp. dried thyme
1 teaspoon Red pepper flakes (optional)

Mix all spices and add to 3/4 cup extra virgin olive oil. When serving, swirl the bottle to shake up the spices and drizzle over the roasted garlic pieces on a plate. Sprinkle the oil with a little salt and dip the bread in it. Very good stuff.

Oh yeah, and this makes a good marinade too, especially for wild game. I had deer steaks out and ran out of marinade. I saw a half bottle of this bread dip in my cupboard and thought "what the heck..." It is now mine and my friends' favorite game marinade.

Turkey or Ham Gravy

Holiday time is approaching! Heeeeeere's Gravy!

Keep in mind this does not look like restaurant yellow turkey/chicken gravy. It is a darker brown and much better tasting.

You can do the whole “boil the neck” thing…but I don’t. It takes forever, uses up your saucepan which you always need for something else when you're cooking a holiday meal, and then you have to pick pick pick the small amount of meat off. I think this was a “depression” thing where they used every bit of meat they had, God bless 'em!
I also don't use any "innards" in gravy...but you can cut up the heart and liver and add it if you want. I choose not to, I use drippings and shredded dark meat as my base for turkey gravy.

Turkey Gravy:
Take as much of the turkey drippings from the turkey roaster to get the amount of gravy you want. Err on the side of too much gravy, especially if your turkey ends up a little dry. Try to skim off some fat, but leave some fat in, I wish I had one of those separators. Taste it, if it’s too salty, dilute with water (it usually is not too salty at this point, usually I have to add salt) Put it in a saucepan, bring to a boil. Add dark meat shreds, shredded quite fine. If you have a decent sized turkey, just pick the meat off of the back area, shred it and put in the gravy. TASTE IT again. Add thyme, poultry seasoning, salt, onion powder, pepper if needed. Add chicken broth if you need to stretch it. Taste taste taste, taste again! It should taste like slightly strong, yummy gravy because you are going to dilute the flavor a little by thickening it. Two mistakes people make: 1) Not making it strong flavored enough with drippings and spices BUT…. 2) don’t over-salt it. So it should taste good like you want the gravy to taste but slightly strong because you’re going to dilute it a little. Mix cornstarch with water, I start with about ¾ cup cold water and put 2 heaping tablespoons cornstarch in the water, mix well, for my 4 qt saucepan full of gravy. Add the cornstarch mixture to the gravy, boil to thicken, if you need it thicker, do another 1/4 cup cold water with one tablespoon cornstarch.

Ham Gravy:
Have a plan beforehand when it comes to ham. Do you want gravy or are you serving something other than mashed potatoes? If you want potatoes and gravy, you have to strain off the ham drippings BEFORE you glaze the ham. You don't want honey gravy. Bleh.

Baste your ham one last time, then drain off the drippings into a saucepan. Taste the drippings and add chicken broth or water to dilute the salty flavor. Ham is salty. Ham gravy is salty. But you have to dilute the ham broth somewhat or it's waaaaay too salty for gravy. Taste it, add pepper and accent if needed. You can add some thyme if you want and maybe one drop of liquid smoke. Taste taste taste, it should taste like strong gravy flavor, but watch the saltiness. Depending on how much gravy base you have, thicken as needed with cornstarch/cold water mixture. Start with ½ cup cold water with one heaping tablespoon cornstarch. Boil to thicken. If that's not thick enough, do it again with 1/4 cup water with one tablespoon cornstarch and continue from there.

Antipasti Salad

Good salad to take to parties. ..this was enough for 20 people. Makes a lot, can be halved for smaller groups. I took this to a picnic and served it with bruschetta and baguette bread, with slices of honeydew and cantaloupe melon.

Salads with pasta will soak up dressing fast, so I always put the dressing on it just before serving. Lesson learned this time: I mixed the dressing the night before and put it in a jar in the fridge, it was fine, BUT do not put it in a cooler with ice...the olive oil will solidify (did it.) But remember you can run the jar under hot water and get the oil to 'melt' back to it's correct consistency. Whew.

6 cups dry pasta. I used mini raviolis I found at Winco in bulk food. It is stuffed with parmesan cheese and it's good!

2 cans medium olives (drained)

2 jars marinated artichoke hearts (drained)

2 jars sun dried tomatoes (I used the dry packaged kind at Winco and chopped them then soaked in a little olive oil...way cheaper and very delicious)

Sliced banana peppers to taste (I used about 3/4 cup, drained)

3 cans sliced mushrooms or 1pkg fresh sliced mushrooms

1 each red, yellow, green bell pepper, chopped

3 cups chopped or sliced meat...pepperoni, salami, ham, whatever. I used these cute little mini pepperonis from Winco

Cook pasta, rinse and cool. You can toss in a little olive oil to keep it from sticking. Toss with all the salad ingredients except the dressing and the meat and refrigerate until ready to serve.

Dressing:

1 1/2 cups olive oil

3/4 cup red wine vinegar

3 tbsp dried basil

3 tbsp dried parsley

3 tbsp dried rosemary

1 tbsp fresh minced garlic or 1 teaspoon garlic powder

3 tbsp parmesan cheese

1 tsp salt

red pepper flakes to taste (I used 3 packages of the dominoes kind lol!)

Mix and shake all together in a quart jar or bowl. Best if made a few hours in advance or the night before. To Serve, add the meat to the salad then shake the dressing very very well and toss into the salad. I kinda winged this for our picnic trip...it turned out great and everyone liked it. Looked impressive and was filling enough for lunch. Enjoy!