Garden Pasta Salad

Summer time and the sides get easier! I have a tough time figuring out side dishes to serve during the colder months, but summer time mean veggies fresh from the farm and lots of ways to serve them. This pasta salad is an excellent way to start. You can customize this pasta salad with the vegetables you have on hand or to your taste. But what I really love abut it is the vinaigrette--light and not overly oily or overpowering. Just enough flavor to bring it all together and highlight the crisp veggies. Easy to make too! You can get all the veggies chopped while the noodles boil, then toss together, dress and voila! Plus, this makes a bunch, but you could double it up for a party or BBQ.

Sausage, Butternut and Spinach Pasta

We loved this pasta. It was full of flavor and texture and yes, you can make a delicious sauce from winter squash! Which is awesome because we still have squash leftover from the fall farm shares and got a few in the beginning of the winter shares as well. I'd pureed a bunch and put it in the freezer,but still had some others whole. Just a little sage brings a lot of extra flavor. Spinach bulks up this dish already brimming with good for you stuff like chicken sausage and squash. I thought I would like it, one of those eh, try it once kind of recipes. But I really enjoyed. More surprising, however, was how much Dave liked it. So much that I made it again a shortly after we polished off the leftovers. If you enjoy pasta but want an alternative to tomato based or heavy cheese sauces, this could be your new favorite.

Skillet Squash & Pepper Pasta

This dish was a surprise.  And it's a huge hit in our house, the perfect summer side, that comes together quickly while your chicken or steaks hit the grill.  Lots of late summer veggies come to the table to make this dish fresh and bright.   The late summer brings lots of summer squash and bell peppers to the CSA boxes and this is a great way to let those flavors shine.  Even though I serve this as a side dish with dinners, it's certainly hearty enough on it's own and I've definitely loaded up an extra large sized portion of leftovers for lunches.  If you're still overrun with zucchini, that would also make a perfect addition or substitution to this dish.

Vegetarian Lasagna with Swiss Chard

Wanna hear a secret?  Come here.  Closer.  Shh....don't tell anyone, but lasagna isn't really that hard to make.  I know, right?  Everyone makes such a big deal about it.  Should you boil the noodles first and burn your fingers?  Or buy the "oven-ready" noodles and get a funny texture?  Wanna know what I do?  Neither.  I use regular, plain lasagna noodles, but I don't boil them before I bake up my casserole.  And every time, they come out perfectly, tender and able to hold together layers of cheese and sauce, and this time some Swiss chard.  The method for this lasagna is the same I've been using for years, with the addition of some sauteed Swiss chard, which can be completely eliminated or replaced with spinach, kale, or whatever you fancy.  The result is a cheesy, creamy, filling lasagna that is perfect for a crowd.  The Swiss chard adds a bit of freshness and a different flavor element that's a bit spicy and a touch of spring.

Tuna Mac & Cheese

I'm not a fish person.  I've tried several different kinds of seafood to no avail. I just can't wrap myself around it to enjoy the taste or the texture.  I typically don't even eat tuna, not in a deli-style tuna salad or anything like that.  But, from an early age, tuna macaroni and cheese was something I always enjoyed.  A little something different in this pasta dish to turn it into a complete meal.  Cheesy pasta with tuna mixed through makes this a hearty, delicious twist on comfort food.

Sausage, Peppers & Onions

We're fans of sausage around here.  It's a great main meal alternative to chicken or beef and I like that you can make it into a simple sandwich or a dressy main dish.  This recipe for sausage incorporates peppers and onions in a chunky tomato sauce which is perfect on top of pasta.  We've made this dish a few times and this is definitely a recipe that makes me enjoy sausage more and more.  Alternatively to serving over pasta, you could leave the links whole and serve them on toasted rolls piled high with the sauce and veggies, maybe topped with a little cheese.  Yes, that really sounds good now.

Polish Kluski (Drop Dumplings with Butter & Onions)

These little balls of tastiness were a Lenten staple in our house growing up. They are super quick to make, very tasty and use pantry staples.  My mom would often round out a fish dinner with these tasty dumplings that just get better with the addition of butter and onions.  While mine turned out a little plumper and bigger than hers, they still tasted perfect (although more butter always makes these even more delicious).  I have memories of watching my Mom whip these up to put a quick dinner on the table, so while it may seem unusual, these are comfort food to me.  I served these with tuna patties and salad for a last minute dinner and everything just felt right with the world.  A cross between a buttered noodle and an unfilled perogi, these dumplings remind me of home.

Crock Pot Mac & Cheese

Uh, yes.  I did.  And it's a-maze-ing.  Plus, it's still a true crock pot meal because everything, including the pasta, cooks in the crock pot over the course of the day. This is a beautiful cheesy pasta with a crust from cooking in the stoneware of the crock pot all day.  We loved this.  I made it for a casual dinner party with friends and it was a big hit.  Plus, you can customize the heck out of this--add diced ham or bacon, maybe tuna, some veggies and play with the cheeses to your heart's content.  If you've got a family that loves mac and cheese (or could eat it all by yourself), you'll love this dish.

Enchilada Casserole

It's all about the simple stuff right now. Who has time to worry about dinner when there are presents to be wrapped (and bought), decorations to be hung, and carols to be sung?  And who has time to worry about dinner when there are cookies and other holiday sweets to eat?  Well, since cookies do not constitute dinner (apparently, according to my husband), you may find yourself in the position to cook an actual meal. So may I recommend this quick and hearty casserole with Mexican flavor and lots of pasta?  I love the sweetness of the corn coupled with the spice from the enchilada sauce, chiles and chili powder.  Plus, it's cheesy pasta, so you've got to love that.  I pulled this together in just over 30 minutes for a quick meal, complete with a salad I made while the casserole baked, before I had to run out for errands.

Cincinnati-Style Buffalo Chicken Chili

It's October, fall, and football season, so that means it's acceptable to serve chili again!  And this chili is unique and delicious, blending buffalo chicken  flavors and a Cincinnati-style serving.  Cincinnati-style means serves over pasta and topped with cheese.  It's really tasty and the different texture turns your chili into a stew while the pasta doesn't compete with the chili flavors the way tortilla chips sometimes can.  Serve any kind of chili this way and you'll suddenly have a wonderful new twist on the same-old chili recipe.

For the last year, Secret Recipe Club has been a wonderful blogging-family that I've enjoyed being a part of.  I've met many wonderful people through their blogs, tried many new recipes I otherwise would never have attempted, and have looked forward to seeing the delicious recipes my fellow Group B members put out each month.  So I was understandably saddened and shocked to learn that Daniel from The Haggis and The Herring passed suddenly last month.  Daniel was a kind man who took a lot of time to visit each members post in the blog hop and always had something positive, sweet or helpful to share for each of us.  It was an honor to know Daniel and I was moved by his wife Meredith's touching eulogy which she graciously shared with the online community.  By way of tribute, today is a special Secret Recipe Club reveal featuring recipes from The Haggis and The Herring.  I hope you'll take the opportunity to check out the blog hop below to see how many bloggers Daniel inspired and the beautiful and delicious dishes he and Meredith created for their family and friends.

Chili Mac

This is a quick and delicious recipe that has been in our rotation for a few years now.  I love it for a few reasons, not the least of which is that it's super tasty.  I like that I can change the intensity of the heat based on my preference and the type or amount of chili powder I use.  I like that it can be make lean with turkey or I can just enjoy the beef.  I like that it doesn't care how much cheese I use so on cold days I can dump in a ton of gooey cheddar and on other days I can let the vegetables and sauce sing.  And I love that it's a perfect freezer meal and feeds a crowd.  Which is why I made this the big meal I took over to Cindy's house after Jessie was born.  It was still frozen when I brought over, so Cindy stashed it for later, but I'm pretty sure that after they defrosted and warmed it up, they ate it for about a week.  Mmm, cheesy, beefy, spicy pasta for several days in a row. I'm not too proud to say that I'd eat this every meal until it was gone.

This is actually a Rachael Ray recipe from her 2, 4, 6, 8 Great Meals for Couples and Crowds cookbook, under the name Three-Alarm Italian-Style Chili Mac (a bit long for my tastes, and we just call it Chili Mac around this house).  Technically it's from the section on meals for 6, but I make it for just Dave and I and we generally get 8 servings out of it (more than enough).  It's definitely a filling meal.  I do make a few swaps.  Like I omitted the olive oil to brown the meat in (I just don't see the need for added fat when I use a non-stick pan).  I usually only use a pound of ground meat instead of one and a half pounds.  I use regular crushed tomatoes because I can never find the fire-roasted crushed tomatoes and for cheese, it's whatever I have on hand, not necessarily smoked cheddar.  And sometimes I even transfer it to a casserole dish and broil the cheese for a little browned cheesy topping (like the recipe says).  Other times, I just fold in the cheese and call it a day.  While I wouldn't say I have it on the table in 30 minutes (my kitchen isn't that organized), I will say that it's pretty quick and doesn't take much more than a half hour.  Whip this up and share it with friends.  It's great for a pot luck, a delivered meal, or just a yummy dinner for the family.

Creamy Taco Mac

Yum.  This is good.  A healthy version of a taco casserole that carries a bit of spice, a creamy, cheesy sauce and really satisfies.  This is a great dinner, easy to put together after work and enough to feed a family or provide some tasty leftovers for lunch.  I was surprised at the heat, but really liked the creamy sauce.  Dave couldn't get over it and ate up most of the leftovers (which were just as good as the first night) before I got a chance.  This is perfect for a crowd or a pot luck, since it's a bit different.  And with turkey, fat free cream cheese, fat free sour cream and reduced fat cheese, you can make this a healthy dish as well.

This month, the Secret Recipe Club paired me with Join Us, Pull Up a Chair, and I was excited to sort through so many of Heather's delicious recipes.  I had a hard time choosing, so I narrowed down the choices to five, including Mini Chocolate Chip Scones, Cheesy Jalapeno Beer Bread, Wagon Wheel Taco Pasta Salad, and Roasted Red Pepper Hummus, along with this Creamy Taco Mac recipe.  I let Dave choose and after much hemming and hawing, he was intrigued by the Creamy Taco Mac, so we enjoyed it for dinner one night.  Delicious.  I did add a teaspoon of cumin to the recipe because I like the smoky flavor that develops the Mexican tones of this meal.  I'm so glad to have had the chance to explore Heather's blog a little bit more and can't wait to try a few more of her recipes.  Be sure to check out some of the other recipes in this week's reveal by clicking the blog hop following the recipe.

Goulash (aka American Chop Suey)

We love this dish.  It's a hearty meal without any fanfare and is just plain good.  A little like a pasta dish and a little like a stew, I'm not sure I've had anything else quite like it.  Dave asks me to make it a lot, or forgets about it and when I say, "How about I make goulash?" he gets all excited.  Lean ground meat with pasta and a seasoned tomato-based sauce.  It's so good, filling and this recipe feeds a crowd.  I ended up splitting this up into three meals and giving one to Cindy and Keith this weekend since cooking dinner will be low on their priority list.  Oh, didn't I mention?  They welcomed sweet Jessie this past week.  Everyone is healthy, and I intend to share some meals with them to keep them that way.

A couple years ago, my mother-in-law, Madaline, gave me just about the best birthday gift ever.  My birthday was mid-week and I had a two-hour commute home from work.  Dave and I walked in the door after work to fine our fridge stocked with already made or easy to prepare dinners (as well as birthday cake and danishes for breakfast.  She made me (us) a week's worth of meals so I didn't have to worry about preparing something after a long day, or on my birthday.  This was the first dish we tried.  I had no idea what it was, but it was delicious.  I immediately called to say thank you and ask for the recipe.  Madaline wrote it on a recipe card and I've made it so many times since.  I've also learned that versions of this recipe also go by the name American Chop Suey.  I'm not sure where Madaline got this recipe, but I didn't make any alterations to her version.  Why mess with a good thing?  Don't be tricked by the timeline--once the pasta has cooked, you want to let the whole dish set up (it'll stay warm) for the extra 20-30 minutes.  That's the part that makes it really good.  Makes this, enjoy and share with friends.