My Favorite Pasta Salad Recipe, Black Olive Italian Pasta Salad

Soon it will be officially summer, and it's time for all those delicious summer side dishes. Pasta salads, roasted corn, and macaroni and cheese are just some of my favorite foods to pair with grilled meat.

I like making a double batch of this delicious, and simple pasta salad. I can eat it for lunch, or serve it with dinner during the week.

 Either way, I hope it's as big a hit with your family as it is mine!



Recipe for Black Olive Italian Pasta Salad

Ingredients:

3 cups multi-color rotini pasta, cooked and drained
1 cup black olives, sliced
1/2 cup finely chopped red onion
1/2 grated Parmesan cheese
2 tablespoons pesto
1 large tomato, seeded and chopped
1cup Italian salad dressing
salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

Place all ingredients in a large bowl, toss well to combine. Refrigerate 4 hours or overnight to bring out flavors.

Spinach Lasagna Rolls

This is a recipe that is easy, fast and super delicious. Even if the kids in the family don't like spinach, they just might eat this up like my grandchildren did, without even mentioning the veggie.

Pair it with a green salad, and warm garlic bread, and you have a meal that is great for a weeknight dinner.

This recipe is from the skinnytaste.com blog, where you can find lots of great tasting, low fat recipes.

 

Recipe for Spinach Lasagna Rolls

Ingredients:

9 lasagna noodles, cooked
10 oz frozen chopped spinach, thawed and completely drained
15 oz fat free ricotta cheese
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1 egg
salt and pepper
32 oz tomato sauce
9 tablespoons (about 3 oz) part skim mozzarella cheese, shredded

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Combine spinach, ricotta, Parmesan, egg, salt and pepper in a medium bowl. Ladle 1 cup tomato sauce on the bottom of a 9 x 12 baking dish.
Place a piece of waxed paper on the counter and lay out noodles. Make sure noodles are dry. Take 1/3 cup of ricotta mixture and spread evenly over noodles. Roll carefully and place seam side down in baking dish. Repeat with remaining noodles.
Ladle tomato sauce over the noodles in the baking dish and top each one with 1 tablespoon mozzarella cheese. Put foil over baking dish and bake for 40 minutes.

Makes 9 rolls.

Old-Fashioned Banana Cake Recipe From The Barefoot Contessa

It's almost summer, and that means there are lots of family celebrations, barbeques, and picnics coming up.

It's nice to be able to bring a cake that is moist and delicious, and everyone asks for the recipe. This cake is all three of these things, and another one of my favorite Barefoot Contessa recipes. It is from the How Easy Is that? cookbook.

Yes, I have had an Ina Garten crush for many years. She is just the most warm and gracious person on her Food Network TV show, and a fabulous cook, of course.

All of her recipes that I have tried have always come out great, and her books are always so beautiful, and filled with so much helpful information that the home cook will find useful.

So, if you need a delicious cake, filled with banana and walnut yumminess, this recipe for Old-Fashioned Banana Cake is one I really recommend making.


Barefoot Contessa Recipe for Old-Fashioned Banana Cake

Ingredients:

3 very ripe bananas, mashed
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup light brown sugar, lightly packed
1/2 cup vegetable oil
2 extra-large eggs, at room temperature
1/2 cup sour cream
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
grated zest of 1 orange
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1 cup coarsely chopped walnuts, divided to use 1/2 cup on top of cake

For Cream Cheese Frosting

6 ounces cream cheese, at room temperature
6 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
2 1/2 cups sifted confectioners, sugar


Directions:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour a 9 x 2-inch round cake pan.

In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, mix the bananas, granulated sugar, and brown sugar on low speed until combined. With the mixer still on low, add the oil, eggs, sour cream, vanilla, and orange zest. Mix until smooth.

In a separate bowl, sift together the flour, baking soda and salt. With mixer on low, add the dry ingredients and mix just until just combined. Stir in the chopped walnuts. Pour the batter into the prepared pan, and bake for 45-50 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
Cool in the pan for 15 minutes, turn out onto a cooling rack, and cool completely.

To make the frosting, mix the cream cheese, butter and vanilla in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment on low speed until just combined. Don't whip. Add the sugar and mix until smooth.

Spread the frosting thickly on top of the cake and decorate with remaining walnuts.

Pineapple Upside Down Cake

There are some desserts that make me nostalgic for my childhood. Like most women in her generation, my mother didn't work outside the home.

I was lucky enough to have good home cooked meals every night, two parents that, though they weren't perfect, made sure our home was secure, and a place I never had to worry about losing. They both worked hard, and of course, I took it all for granted as most kids do.

Both my parents have passed on, and the older I get, the more I wish I could have recognized all they did for me, and said thank you.

Family life is complicated. We all know that, and it's hard sometimes to get the words out that we want to say. Or we say the words that we wish we could take back, and sometimes they can alter the course of our lives.

So today I made my mother's Pineapple Upside Down Cake. Or at least a version of it, because I don't have her original recipe.

But this recipe is pretty fabulous, and I think she would have approved. Whenever I make this, I think of her in the kitchen, in her apron, and I'm so glad she was my Mom.

Recipe for Pineapple Upside Down Cake


Ingredients:

 1 1/3 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cup sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup vegetable oil
3/4 cup milk
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 egg
grated rind from 1 lemon
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
1/4 cup butter (1/2 stick)
1/2 cup dark or light brown sugar
1 20-ounce can pineapple slices
1 small jar Maraschino cherries

Directions:

 Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
In a mixing bowl, sift together the flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt. Add the oil and milk to the bowl and beat with an electric mixer for 1 minute. Add the vanilla, egg, lemon rind, and lemon juice, mixing just until well combined.

In a 9-10 inch round cake pan, on the stove, melt the butter over low heat. Remove from the heat and sprinkle the brown sugar around the pan. Arrange the pineapple slices and cherries on top.
Pour the batter evenly over the top, and bake for 30 minutes.

Remove cake from the oven and cool in the pan for 5 minutes. Turn cake out onto a circular platter.

 Serves 6.

Find Great Budget-Friendly Meal and Snack Ideas From Kraft

 

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As the mom of five grown-up children, you can bet I've made my share of dinners, breakfasts, and afterschool snacks.

Things haven't changed all that much now that I have four grandchildren. I'm still looking for balanced, delicious meals that they will eat, and will be friendly to the budget.

I was recently babysitting the grandkids while their parents when out for the evening for dinner and a movie.

I was going to be cooking the kids dinner, and I know how much they love Kraft Macaroni & Cheese. So I went to Walmart to pick some up, and a few other things I knew they would like.

The other night on the news, I heard about how the cost of groceries is skyrocketing. It's tough to make the budget stretch all the time, and so I'm happy that Kraft offers lots of $1 or less food items that my family and I enjoy eating.

These are items that we have had in our pantries for as long as I can remember. My own mom used to make my beloved Jell-O chocolate pudding for me for dessert. So I really love making it for my grandchildren too, and it's still as budget friendly as it was all those many years ago.

I added some sliced sausage to the macaroni, which the kids love. They are actually pretty good about eating raw veggies like broccoli and baby carrots with a Ranch dip.

They usually have milk with their dinner, but I thought it would be fun to have Tropical Punch flavored Kool-Aid Bursts.

It's very often a challenge for families to stay on their food budgets, but with Kraft dollar or under a dollar food items, it can be easier. Our dinner was under $10, and the kids and I loved it.

 

Ashley adores macaroni and cheese as you can see, and would eat it for dinner everyday if we let her.

I said the same thing to my grandchildren that I said to my own kids, that if you want dessert, eat your dinner!!

It might take Ashley awhile to eat, but she's a pretty good eater. And when you know chocolate pudding is for dessert, you eat up!

Jell-O pudding is one of the tastiest, and least expensive desserts around. It's made with milk, which I always encourage the kids to drink for healthy bones and teeth.

It didn't take long for us to eat up all our pudding, and then settle on the couch for some story reading and a couple episodes of their favorite cartoon, before bed.

You can find Kraft Macaroni & Cheese, Kool-Aid Bursts, and Jello-O pudding all at your local Walmart.

You can also find many other great tasting, and budget friendly items made by Kraft, that will help you to stretch your food dollars.

It's not always easy to create tasty, family friendly meals on a budget. But with careful shopping, and buying Kraft #1DollarDeals items, it can certainly be made easier.

And who doesn't love chocolate pudding??

#CollectiveBias