Chicken & Mini Farfalle Pasta Salad
This chicken and pasta salad would be a nice pasta salad to make use of whatever leftover chicken you’ve got in the fridge. Having said that though, I actually didn’t use leftover chicken here but I just want you to know that you could easily use leftovers. And this is just a different version of the other pasta salads I’ve made before. I just added chicken here and used raspberry vinaigrette instead of Italian dressing. And of course, different pasta.
Mini Rotelle Cold Pasta Salad W/ Cheese & Sunflower Seeds
Summer means a lot of things. One of them is making cold pasta salads. I suppose it’s ok to make them during winter too but it is usually during the Summer that I get to indulge in whipping up different kinds of cold pasta salads. They’d go with any grilled meat entrees, including kebabs, satays, burgers, just to name a couple. Pasta salads prefect to serve as side dishes during the summer parties in the backyard or as lunch for the family on regular days. This Mini Rotelle Cold Pasta Salad W/ Cheese & Sunflower Seeds is basically another version of Pasta & Broccoli Salad W/ Golden Raisins and Sunflower Seeds but without the golden raisins and chopped fresh broccoli. I added chopped eggs instead.
Salmon & Penne Alfredo
This Salmon & Penne Alfredo was inspired by the seafood with pesto cream penne alfredo from Ragazzi’s Italian Restaurant. The seafood with pesto cream involves basil with walnut pesto blended into penne alfredo sauce with sauteed shrimp and fresh salmon. It’s $14.99 a plate which I’m telling you is sooooo worth it coz it’s soooo good and you get so much of it. I can only eaT half of the plate then save my leftovers for lunch the following day. Delicious creamy pesto with alfredo sauce, and large pieces of shrimp and chunks of salmon. If I could somehow name a kid from this dish, I would.
My own version of course is very much simplified. It doesn’t have the creamy pesto sauce coz I didn’t have the stuff to make it(basil, walnuts) and I also omitted the shrimp coz we just had shrimp last Sunday. It was delicious nonetheless. I just love creating my own version of restaurant dishes that I love even though I don’t create the exact same thing all the time. I just have fun working in my kitchen with a particular dish to copy in mind.
Next time I’ll make it the Ragazzi’s way, but for now, here’s my simplified version.
Creamy Beef Linguine W/ Black Olives
Here’s something creamy and easy to make beef linguine with black olives pasta dish. I had some leftover Chardonnay from the Nathanson Creek bottle so I figured I’d pour a little bit of it in the sauce too. Generously sprinkle with Parmesan cheese, and serve with cheesy-garlic bread(use shredded mozzarella cheese for a change) on the side for one delicious pasta meal.
| Creamy Beef Linguini W/ Black Olives |
- 1 box of linguine, cook according to the box(al dente)
- 1 pc of thin steak, slice in strips
- 1 sm onion, chopped
- 3 cloves of garlic, chopped
- 2 tbsp of oil
- 1 can of cream of mushroom soup
- 1 can of water(use cream of mushroom can)
- 1/2 cup of white wine
- 1 sm can of sliced black olives, drained
- a handful of capers
- sprinkle of dried basil
- sprinkle of dried oregano
- sprinkle of salt and pepper
- Parmesan cheese for garnish
- Cook the linguine according to the box. Make it al dente.
- Heat up oil in a pan, saute’ chopped onions and garlic. Add the strips of beef. cook until tender, about 5-8 minutes or so. Add the cream of mushroom soup, fill the empty can with water then add that in the pan. Add the white wine and a handful of capers too. Season with dried basil, dried oregano, salt and pepper. Stir everything around, cover the pan and simmer until it boils.
- Stir in the black olives then add the cooked pasta into the pan. Stir everything together gently.
- Serve in a plate with cheesy-garlic bread.
- Generously sprinkle with Parmesan cheese.
Entry for Food Friday. 
Baked Spaghetti Alfredo W/ Mushrooms & Capers
For lack of a better chefy-gourmet-ish word, this Baked Spaghetti Alfredo W/ Mushrooms & Capers is what you call the white version of Baked Spaghetti W/ Mushrooms. White, of course comes from the Alfredo sauce and Mozzarella cheese, instead of the usual tomato based spaghetti sauce and shredded cheddar cheese. And to add another twist, I threw in some capers which in my opinion work really well with Alfredo sauce.
Corabella 4-Cheese Tricolor Tortellini
I saw these cute small bags of Corabella Tortellini at the pasta aisle. 8.oz each bag to be exact. There were other flavors but I picked 2 bags of tricolor four cheese. All you really have to do is boil some water, add the tortellinis, drain, then add the sauce of your choice. I used 1 bag as a side dish to a disastrous baked salmon pie (I’d rather not talk about it anymore) so I didn’t add any sauce but just butter and sprinkle of Parmesan cheese.
Shrimp Alfredo Pasta
Here is a simple pasta dish for a busy day. A bag of frozen shrimp and a box of pasta could go a long way. It’s delicious and very filling no matter how simple it is to make.
Spaghetti ala Philly
Philadelphia Cream Cheese that is. I saw the recipe of Spaghetti ala Philly in the back of the cream cheese box while making the frosting of the cinnamon rolls that I made for the neighbors on Christmas Eve. I decided to make it for our dinner that night. It was really good. It was creamy and delicious!
That’s the ingredients list. I also added 1 tbsp of sugar, sprinkles of dried basil and oregano.
Brown the meat, drain the fat off, then add the spaghetti sauce. Sprinkle 1 tbsp of sugar, sprinkles of dried basil and oregano, then add the cream cheese.
The red spaghetti sauce turns into orange. I must confess though that I added more cream cheese than what the recipe asked. If you like it really creamy then that’s fine but if you don’t, follow the recipe to a T or add less cream cheese.
Add your cooked pasta. I love angel hair so that’s what I usually use when making spaghetti. I think this sauce will work on any kinds of pasta. I might make this again with penne sometime.
Just mix it all up to coat the pasta with the sauce. I had to taste it of course.
YUM!!! Sprinkle grated Parmesan cheese on top if you want. I chose not too coz I figured this spaghetti was cheesy enough to stand on it’s own.
Pasta & Broccoli Salad W/ Golden Raisins and Sunflower Seeds
This pasta & broccoli salad is not that complicated to make. Besides boiling water for the pasta and chopping the broccoli florets, there’s really not that much to do.
INGREDIENTS:
half a box of Rotini garden pasta (cook al dente’)
1 medium head of broccoli florets (chopped coarsely)
3/4 cup golden raisins
3/4 cup sunflower seeds
2 generous drizzle of Italian salad dressing
3 big spoonfuls of mayonnaise
3/4 cup of shredded cheese
sprinkle of black pepper
Cook the pasta according to the box. Drain the water. Transfer the cooked pasta into a salad mixing bowl.
Chopped the broccoli florets. Add into the pasta.
Add golden raisins, sunflower seeds, shredded cheese, mayonnaise, salad dressing, and black pepper. Stir everything together.
Cover the bowl. Store in the fridge until ready for serving.
Penne Alfredo & Capers
This Penne Alfredo is a very simple and easy to make pasta dish with a bit of kick thanks to the capers.
INGREDIENTS :
a box of penne pasta, cooked al dente
1 jar of Alfredo sauce
half a jar of water
half-a pound of ground beef
half a handful of capers, chopped finely
Italian seasoning
salt and pepper
a few more capers for garnish
Cook the pasta, al dente.
Brown the ground beef. Discard the fat form the meat. Add the Alfredo sauce. Pour water on the Alfredo sauce jar. Cover and shake to incorporate all the remaining sauce from the jar with the water. Pour it onto the beef and sauce mixture.
Season with Italian seasoning, salt and pepper. Stir in the chopped capers. Cover the pan and simmer for 10 to 15 minutes, stirring occasionally.
Once plated, just add a few more capers on top as garnish and more flavoring.
—-originally posted at old Blisstree underb5media—–
