All-American Pasta Salad

This dish is a fresh, cool, simple, make-ahead treasure for summer pot-luck dinners like the one we are attending tonight!

Ingredients:
1 pound Penne pasta
8 ounces smoked Gouda cheese
1 jar diced pimentos
1 jar artichoke hearts
1/2 purple onion
1/2 pint grape tomatoes
1/2 green bell pepper
3 green onions
1 can sliced black olives

Dressing Ingredients:
1 cup mayonnaise
2 tablespoons sweet pickle relish
2 tablespoons red pepper jelly
2-3 tablespoons vinegar
salt and pepper to taste

Instructions:

• Boil up the pasta to the al dente stage.  Drain, rinse, and set aside to cool.

• Slice the Gouda cheese wheel in half and cut into pie shaped wedges.

• Then, dice up those wedges into small bite-sized pieces.

• Admire it just a bit because it is beautiful, fragrant, and good-a!  
• Slice half the purple onion and dice the slices up into little yummy pieces. (Save the rest for salads later in the week ahead.)

• Slice and dice half the green pepper and put the rest in the fridge for another recipe.

• Pick three beautiful green onions from Mike's garden and wash them up in the sink.  Well, you might want to pick yours from somewhere else but make sure you wash them up somewhere.  Then, snip them up into tiny little pieces. Yep, the whole thing - green and white as well.

• Drain the black olives in your favorite little colander spoon thingy.

• Drain, rinse, and chop the artichoke hearts - right in the heart of them.

• Rinse the grape tomatoes.  It's okay if you eat a couple, too.  Then, slice them in half.

• Open the jar of diced pimentos and pat yourself on the back that you thought to get the diced ones which will save you a bit of chopping.

• Plop each of the veggie pieces on top of the al dente pasta in a big old beautiful bowl.  Do it in an arranged way so that the colors look beautiful for a photo.

• Now mix up a little tangy and sweet dressing for this beautiful concoction.  Start out with a cup of mayonnaise.

• Add some home-made sweet pickle relish - about two tablespoons.  (If you don't have home-made relish, it will be okay to use some of the bought kind.)

• Plop in a couple of tablespoons of red pepper jelly to add some tang to it.

• Pour in a little bit of vinegar - two to three tablespoons.  I used some out of my home-made bread-and-butter pickles so it would have a bit more bite to it.  Then, stir all this together and admire the beautiful little flecks of wonderfulness inside.

• Sprinkle in some salt and pepper to taste and plop this right smack dab in the center of the bowl of veggies and pasta.

• Toss everything together making sure to coat all of it with a bit of the yummy dressing.

• Cover with some clear plastic wrap so you can admire the colorful beauty of it as you set it in the fridge for all the flavors to marry together for a couple of hours or so.  Give it a quick, refreshing toss just before you serve it!

(It is quite alright if you dish yourself up a spoonful to eat with some left-over chicken livers as a late lunch so long as nobody - well, at least Mike - knows.  After all, somebody has to taste it to make sure it is going to be alright for the pot-luck!)

Beef and Bean Chimichangas

This is a recipe I adapted using leftovers from one by The Pioneer Woman, Ree Drummond.  I had set up a buffet to build-your-own nachos for Father's Day.  We enjoyed the Loaded Nacho recipe found HERE as a rerun the next day but I wanted something a little different after that and there was still a lot of beef and bean filling left.  So, I adapted this Baked Chimichanga recipe and it turned out to be yummy!

Leftover beef and bean mixture (See further info in the Loaded Nacho recipe link above.)
8 ounces cream cheese
Tortillas (I used Tomato-Basil flavored ones but any will work fine.)
Grated Cheese (I used a Mexican Blend.)
vegetable spray
Pico De Gallo (See further info in the Loaded Nacho recipe link above.)
cheese sauce (I bought one but you could also easily make one.)
sour cream (optional unless you are married to my husband)

• Gently warm the beef and bean mixture in a skillet.

• Add cream cheese and stir as it melts into the beef and bean mixture.

• Take one flour tortilla and add a dollop or two of the beef/bean/cream cheese mixture.

• Top with a spoon full of kernel corn.

• Sprinkle with a little bit of grated cheeses.  

• Gently fold the tortilla in at the top and bottom a little bit and gently fold the sides over the dollop of filling and roll it into a bundle.  (I didn't forget to take a picture of this step but I didn't have enough hands and Toby didn't feel confident serving as photographer!)
• Lay the tortilla bundles (chimichanga) seam-side-down onto a foil lined baking sheet that has been sprayed lightly with vegetable spray.

• Lightly spray the tops of the chimichangas with vegetable spray.  (See how they glisten with the light spritz of oil?)
• Bake 15 minutes at 350 degrees.
• Flip chimichangas and bake an additional 5-10 minutes till the tortilla is crisp and golden.

Serve with rice, Pico De Gallo, cheese sauce, and, if you are my husband, sour cream.

Note:  I froze a couple of these and then sent it to work with Mike a day or two later and he says it tasted just as delicious.

Gingerbread with Lemon Sauce

Make your favorite gingerbread cake recipe.  I like the Betty Crocker Mix!

Lemon Sauce

1/2 cup sugar
1 tablespoon corn starch
Dash of salt and nutmeg
1 cup boiling water
2 tablespoons butter
1 1/2 tablespoons lemon juice

• Mix sugar, corn starch, salt, and nutmeg in a small saucepan.
• Gradually add boiling water.
• Cook over medium heat till thick and clear.
• Add butter and lemon juice.

My mother's friend, Louise Lynch shared this recipe and it is like a nectar.  I just love the tart and sweetness of it!