Green Goddess Pasta Salad Hot & Cold

The hardest thing about my shoulder surgery was not the pain but the fact that my left arm (I am indeed left handed) was in a sling and I have been able to do very little. Last week I had the go ahead to do things while I wore the sling. Pretty immobilizing -- as it should be -- which left me with very limited use. Still I was able to do light cleaning, laundry and folding -- not a great job, but better than nothing! I was given permission to take my arm out of the sling and move it from the elbow down. Yesterday I started physical therapy. My upper arm muscles and my shoulder/upper back muscles have already started to atrophy after just 2 weeks of no use. My arm is week and my range of motion is severely limited. For the next few weeks we will work on the range of motion and after that we will rebuild muscle strength. After just one day I have noticed a significant improvement. I am still supposed to be in my sling this week. I keep it on when I am out and about, but truth be told it has been off while I have been at home. Last night I tried my hand at cooking. Nothing fancy, just a simple pasta recipe. But I was cooking nonetheless and it felt fabulous!

Green Goddess Pasta Salad Hot & Cold is a nice way of saying we enjoyed this meal warm one night and cold the following night as leftovers! We waste so much food and I have decided to put a stop to it. Luckily everyone enjoyed this tremendously both last night and with slight additions, cold, today!

Warm Green Goddess Pasta Salad
Ingredients:
1 box small pasta (I used small shells)
1 red pepper, diced
1 orange pepper, diced
1 yellow pepper, diced
(Feel free to add 1 green pepper. My kids are not fond of it.)
1 can of olives, or container of kalamata olives
1 package of feta or goat cheese, crumbled
1 small bunch of scallions, sliced and ends trimmed off (about 8)
2 cloves of garlic, minced
1 can of garbanzo beans rinsed and drained
1/8 cup Trader Joe's Green Goddess Salad Dressing -- If you cannot get this use a good quality Greek Salad Dressing

(I am endorsing another packaged product... this stuff is amazing!!!)

Place pasta in a large pot and cook per directions on package.
While pasta is cooking cut veggies and set aside in a large mixing bowl. Add garlic, garbanzos, olives and salad dressing. Mix well so that the flavors have a chance to marry.

When the pasta is ready, remove from heat and drain. Return to pan. Add vegetable mixture and mix well. The feta will melt and blend in with the pasta and dressing. Serve immediately.

Green Goddess Pasta Salad Cold
This is more of a traditional pasta salad. Would be a great side dish to accompany any summer barbeque.

To the pasta add 1 small cucumber cubed
3-4 medium campari or plum tomatoes (If in season use garden grown of course!)
Add about 2 tbs of the Green Goddess Dressing and mix well.

Note: Freshly grilled vegetables would make a wonderful alternative to the raw veggies.

Summer BBQ With Friends

We had our close friends over for a BBQ lunch yesterday. Our friends Beth and Chris were celebrating their 13th Anniversary and our friends John and Kara had just returned home after 2 years in Japan. Mutual friends Mike and Laurie joined us. All donned their children. Great time and great food was had by all!

The Menu

Grilled Vegetables
Corn Salad
Lemon Parmesan Pasta Salad
Tomatoes with Basil and Feta
Cherry Tomatoes Stuffed with Goat Cheese and Basil

Grilled London Broil
BBQ Chicken
Lemon Garlic Chicken

(For the children:
Corn on the Cob
Grilled Hot Dogs)

Dessert

Warm Brownie Ice Cream Sundae
Watermelon

Grilled Vegetables

4 Summer squash

3 zucchini

3 red peppers

1 orange pepper

1 green pepper

1 container white mushrooms
1 package Italian Dressing Marinade (Good Seasons)

I washed and cut all vegetables into chunks

And made the low oil version of the dressing (recipe on the back of package)
I put all the veggies in two large Tupperware containers and poured the dressing equally over both batches and left the veggies to marinate overnight.

You can either grill the veggies prior to serving or grill ahead of time and serve at room temperature. If you want to grill the night before just remember to take the vegetables out of the fridge at least an hour before serving to bring them back to room temperature. I'm all for getting as much done ahead of time as possible.

You can use any salad dressing (use a low oil for less flare up on the grill) you desire. These vegetables are wonderful in balsamic dressing as well.

Corn Salad

The corn salad is The Barefoot Contessa's Recipe. It's a summer staple. I've posted it before. Click here for the recipe.

Lemon Parmesan Pasta

The lemon Parmesan pasta salad is another summer staple. I adapted it from Giada de Laurentis' recipe. This time I added some fresh parsley from the garden. It was a nice touch! To see the recipe click here.

London Broil

My husband has a dry rub recipe that we adore and therefore he seldom alters. Because he never writes down amounts certain elements vary from time to time, though the flavor is very consistent.

Ingredients:

1 or 2 Top Round or Shoulder London Broil
Garlic Powder
Charcoal Seasoning
Meat Tenderizer (Adolph's)
Salt
Pepper
Cayenne Pepper

Trim steak of all fat

Rub generous amounts of charcoal seasoning, tenderizer and garlic powder onto both sides of the steak. Massage well.

Add a little salt, pepper and as much of the cayenne pepper as you can handle!

Wrap steak in Saran Wrap for at least an hour so that the meat can absorb the flavors.
Grill to taste for rare, medium rare, or well done

BBQ Chicken

We totally cheated and used our favorite jarred recipe. I trim the breasts of all fat and "goop."I then cut each chicken breast into quarters that I let the chicken sit in the marinade overnight and thinly sliced some garlic for additional flavor. I use a fork to poke holes in the chicken so that the flavors can penetrate deep inside. I used 6-8 breasts and 2/3 jar of the sauce. The remaining sauce was poured over the chicken as it was grilling. (The chicken cooked about 5 minutes per side because the pieces were fairly small. You will want to check for done-ness as you do not want undercooked chicken!)

Lemon Garlic Chicken

For the marinade:

1/2 Cup of olive oil
Juice of 2 lemons
3 cloves of garlic, thinly sliced
Lawry's Seasoned Salt

Trim and cut the chicken as in the above recipe and place in a large marinating dish. In a small bowl mix together lemon and olive oil, pour over chicken. Lightly sprinkle each piece of chicken with the seasoned salt (both sides) and use a fork to poke holes in the meat so that the flavors can really penetrate. Sprinkle garlic over the marinating chicken. Flip container from time to time to help enhance flavors -- so that each piece is completely covered in the olive oil mixture.

(Pictured below, BBQ and Lemon Garlic Chicken)

Cherry Tomatoes Stuffed With Feta and Basil

My friend Laurie brought this with her and it was out of this world. She got the recipe from the Williams-Sonoma website. I will be making this for sure!

Sliced Tomatoes with Feta and Basil

Had I know Laurie was bringing the other I would have made something different. But nary a tomato was left over so people must have enjoyed!

5 tomatoes
1/4 cup crumbled feta
2 Tbs. chopped basil
Olive oil
Sea Salt

Wash and slice tomatoes. As you pile them in the plate be sure to sprinkle each slice with feta and basil and lightly sprinkle with salt. Repeat so that each slice is covered. Drizzle olive oil over the top.

Brownie Sundae

Whether you opt to make yours from a box or from scratch, this recipe will delight everyone!

You will need, brownies pre-cut into square
2 flavors of ice cream, more if you dare!
Hot fudge sauce
Caramel Sauce

I arranged everything on the table and left it as a make your own Brownie Sundae bar! Couldn't be easier!

Sliced Watermelon
Simple and perfect for summer. Need I say more?