Gayle's Glorious Chicken Pasta Salad

18 oz penne pasta
3 cups shredded chicken
1 cup feta cheese, crumbled
1 cup diced cucumber
1 cup shredded carrots
1 cup quartered cherry tomatoes (use grape and save the cutting)
1/2 cup chopped green onion
few handfuls baby spinach leaves

Dressing:

1/2 cup cider vinegar
1/2 cup sugar
1 garlic clove, minced
1 green onion
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup oil
3 T poppy seeds

Blend dressing in blender (add oil slowly) Then add 3 T poppy seeds. Toss salad with dressing. Salad can be made ahead, but add spinach leaves no more than a few hours before serving. It's yummy.

Great Pie!

I love this pie. It's great because if you use frozen blue berries and refrigerated pie crusts you can have all the ingredients for a great Sunday desert in your freezer.

Fruit Pie with Crumb Topping

(From MarthaStewart.com)

Ingredients

            5 cups blueberries

            3/4 to 1 cup granulated sugar

            3 tablespoons all-purpose flour

            1 tablespoon lemon juice

            1/8 teaspoon salt

            1/2 Crumb Topping

Directions

.                 Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Combine 5 cups blueberries or other fruit with 3/4 to 1 cup granulated sugar, 3 tablespoons flour, 1 tablespoon lemon juice, and 1/8 teaspoon salt. Pour into pie shell; sprinkle with 1/2 recipe Crumb Topping.

.                 Place on foil-lined baking sheet in lower third of oven; reduce heat to 350 degrees. Bake until fruit bubbles and crust browns, 1 1/2 hours. If topping begins to brown too quickly, tent with foil. Let cool 6 hours.

Ingredients

            1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

            3/4 cup light-brown sugar

            1/3 cup granulated sugar

            1/4 teaspoon salt

            1/4 teaspoon cinnamon

            1 1/2 sticks chilled unsalted butter, cut into pieces

Directions

.                 In a bowl, mix 1 1/2 cups flour, 3/4 cup light-brown sugar, 1/3 cup granulated sugar, and 1/4 teaspoon each salt and cinnamon.

.                 Cut 1 1/2 sticks chilled unsalted butter into pieces. With your hands, work in butter pieces, until large clumps form. Divide mixture in half; freeze in plastic storage bags.

That So Good Salad from Brigitte W.

That so good salad

Salad dressing is half and half Italian seasonings and Girard’s Caesar

1 whole envelope Good Seasons Italian dressing Mix or similar brand

¼ cup Rice Wine vinegar

3 tablespoons water

½ cup oil (I use olive oil)

This makes about a cup of dressing. To that I add a cup of Girard’s Caesar. I use the light version and find it tastes about the same as the regular.

Salad

Romaine- chopped

Granny Smith- cubed (you can also use blueberries)

Bell pepper- cubed (I like orange and yellow)

Grated Parmesan cheese

Coconut- toasted

Sliced almonds toasted (add a bag of almonds and 1/3 cup of sugar to a pan, stir until golden brown, they can burn quickly)

The cheapest almonds are at Trader Joes.

Katherine Leonard's Southern BBQ

Southern Barbeque

4 lbs. Boston butt roast, fleshed (fat cut off). This is also called a pork shoulder *

Five cloves garlic

2 med. Onions

Sauce:

¼ cup oil

1 cup vinegar (I use white or apple cider)

¼ cup water

½ tsp. dry mustard

¼ cup minced onion (fresh is best. I cut the onion small and then use a chopper to get very minced)

3 Tablespoons Worcestershire sauce

2/3 cup ketchup

1 Tablespoon lemon juice

½ cup sugar

4 cloves minced garlic

3 Tablespoons Tabasco sauce.

After fleshing the roast, place in a crock-pot with sliced onion, garlic and some salt and pepper. You can rub the garlic into the meat first and brown it on the stove in a pan, but I never do because it is too much work.

Combine ingredients for sauce, pour ¼ over the meat in the crock-pot. Cook meat on low for eight hours. Take meat out of crock-pot and let cool. Meat will be falling apart. When cool shred and remove remaining fat. It’s a bit tedious. Pour remaining sauce over meat and warm in a pan or clean crock-pot. Serve on buns with coleslaw ** and Tabasco.

*I have not tried it, but the next time I make this I think I will use a pork tenderloin. There is no fat to deal with. It may not cook as tender or shred as well, but I think I will try it. It may be a lot easier.

** For the coleslaw, I use a couple of bags of shredded cabbage from the store. I add a little bit if mayo, apple cider vinegar and a tiny bit of Dijon mustard and sugar. I try to leave it with a bit of crunch. I’m guessing about a ½ cup mayo, 1/3 cup vinegar and a Tablespoon of mustard and sugar.

I also like to double the sauce using two mason jars (it won’t double into one). The extra sauce gives it a little more zing.