One Old Recipe & One New Recipe

Garden Pasta Salad

Don't faint. Two recipes in one post. I made the pasta salad for a church dinner last Sunday. It's a never fail kind of recipe. I first posted it here on the blog in 2011 when Little Sister was one year old. She has her drivers' permit now. I could not begin to tell you how many times I've made this salad. I like all the pasta salads (except the ones with olives) but I like this one best because it's loaded with vegetables. I use five cups of cut up veggies—every color I can put in. You get vegetables with every bite of pasta. Some pasta salads are mostly pasta. You know what I'm talking about. 

GARDEN PASTA SALAD

16-oz. box of rotini pasta, cooked and drained

14-oz. bottle Italian salad dressing (use your favorite--I like Wish Bone Italian)

3-4 tablespoons McCormick's Salad Supreme seasoning

about 4-5 cups of fresh vegetables, cut up

Stir all ingredients together and chill for at least an hour. But it's better made the day before.

I typically use a mix of broccoli, grape tomatoes halved, cucumbers, red and yellow bell peppers, fresh corn (cooked and cut off the cob), diced onion, celery and carrots.  This time I only had red pepper, I skipped the celery and added zucchini and yellow squash. Use the vegetables that you like. I make sure to have a lot of colors. 

This salad keeps for days in the fridge. We finished Sunday's leftover salad today at lunch. The only issue I've had with the recipe is what to do with all the vegetables left that didn't go in the salad. Yes, I could buy one yellow squash. But it's hard to buy one carrot. And red onions are so big, I only used half. And I used half a red pepper. Fresh corn usually comes in a 4-pack. 

Here is a photo of my cut up vegetables. You can see how many vegetables I used. With this many different vegetables, you get to five cups quickly. I had half of this and half of that left in the fridge.  The internet fairies must have known my dilemma. The day after the church dinner, a quick, one-pan recipe popped up. It called for the same vegetables that needed to be used up. Perfect!

I used the rest of the red onion, the other half of the red pepper. The rest of a broccoli crown. It was perfect! I almost always have a can of pineapple chunks in the pantry. Plus, I had bought a pack of chicken thighs without a particular recipe in mind. 

 

Is this the most delicious recipe I've ever made? No. But it's plenty good. Where it shines is in the ease of making it. It took me make 10 minutes to cut everything up and put it on a baking sheet. After it was seasoned and in the oven, I got to sit down for nearly 20 minutes. Line the pan with foil before cooking and the clean up is a breeze.

Sheet Pan Pineapple Chicken

SHEET PAN PINEAPPLE CHICKEN

1-1/2 lb. boneless chicken breasts or thighs, cut into 1-inch pieces

1 tablespoon olive oil

salt, pepper, garlic powder (or House Seasoning*)

1/2 can pineapple chunks, well-drained

1/2 red bell pepper, cut into one inch pieces

1/2 red onion, roughly cut

1 cup broccoli florets

1/2 cup teriyaki glaze

Preheat oven to 400º.  Toss chicken, pepper, onion and broccoli with olive oil. Season with salt, pepper and garlic powder. 

Spread the chicken, vegetables and the pineapple evenly on the pan. Bake for 16-20 minutes, until the chicken is done. 

Remove from oven and drizzle teriyaki sauce over it all and stir.  (I didn't measure anything. No real need to with this recipe.)

I fixed a bag of microwave jasmine rice to finish our super easy supper. 

PS...we finished the leftover pineapple chicken tonight. I declare it was better than the first time.  

Now the weekend has rolled around again. And thinking about what to cook starts all over.  Ever calculated how many meals you've made? It's probably best if we don't. 

*House Seasoning:   Mix 1/4 cup salt, 1 tablespoon black pepper and one tablespoon garlic powder. Store in an airtight container.