Sweet Pasta Salad (and Homemade Raspberry Vinaigrette Dressing)

I found this recipe on the back of a pasta box and thought it sounded good, so I gave it a try last week. Turns out I had to do some tweaking to give it the contrast of flavors I was looking for, but the result was yummy. We will definitely be repeating this one! (Note: This was made to feed 10 people, so if you're feeding fewer you may want to cut it down by half...)

Sweet Pasta Salad

About 24 oz. whole wheat pasta (this time around I used multi-colored)
1 c. raisins
1 c. blue cheese, crumbled
6 c. apples, chopped
1 1/3 (or a little less) light raspberry vinaigrette*
1/2 c. thinly chopped leek or other onion
1 c. hazelnuts, toasted (optional) (I loved it with salted cashews!)

If you want homemade raspberry vinaigrette, as I did, below is my aunt Kristin's tasty recipe:

*Raspberry (or Fruit) Vinaigrette Dressing

1 c. olive oil

2 Tb. apple cider
4 big spoons of raspberry, cranberry-raspberry, or apple-cherry frozen juice concentrate
1 1/2 tsp. Grey Poupon (or other) Dijon mustard
1 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. pepper

Creamy Bacon, Tomato, and Avocado Pasta Salad

W.O.W! My dad says this is the best pasta salad he's ever eaten. For me, it takes a very close second to my all-time favorite, Krissy Doodle's Noodles (man, do I need to update that pic...). This pasta salad has more of a dark, musky flavor, thanks to the bacon and avocados, but is perfectly lightened up by the lemon-dill dressing. 

I've had this salad on my to-do list all summer, ever since a friend posted it on Facebook. So when I finally had all the ingredients at one time, I took the plunge.

The credit for the amazingness of this salad goes to its inventor, foodie blogger of Life's Ambrosia. (The only modification I made was using whole wheat pasta instead of white.) This recipe will definitely be staying in my personal file!

Note: I love dill, so I thought the amount was perfect, but not everyone in my family agreed. I also would cut the amount of bacon in half next time, as it seemed a little overpowering to me, who am not used to a lot of bacon. I noticed in the comments that there are several other good ideas for modifications (such as using potatoes instead of pasta), so as with everything, modify this to your family's tastes. So many possibilities!


Creamy Bacon, Tomato, and Avocado Pasta Salad

Yield: 4 servings

6 slices bacon, chopped into one-inch pieces
1/2 pound dried rotini pasta (I used whole wheat)
1/2 c. mayonnaise
juice of 1 lemon (or about 2 Tb. lemon concentrate)
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. garlic powder
1/4 tsp. white pepper (didn't have on hand, for some reason, but it was still excellent without it)
1 tsp. dried dill weed
1 c. halved cherry tomatoes
1 avocado, pitted and sliced

Cook bacon until crisp. Transfer to paper towel-lined plate.

Cook pasta according to package directions. Strain. Run cold water over the top until pasta is cooled.

Whisk mayonnaise, lemon, salt, garlic powder, pepper and dill together in a bowl.

Stir cooled pasta, cherry tomatoes, sliced avocado and reserved bacon into dressing (particularly avocados, so they don't turn brown). Toss to combine. Refrigerate for 30 minutes.

Serve.

Homemade Vegetable Dill Dip (and Beau Monde Spice Mix)

A friend made this for us quite a while ago and it was so good I was surprised it didn't have any MSG. I recently made it for my family and, for the first time, my four-year-old ate a few carrot and cucumber sticks! If vegetable dip helps my kids eat more raw veggies (and me too, for that matter), I'm all for it!

Vegetable Dill Dip

1 c sour cream
1 c mayonnaise
1 Tbs dried dill weed
1 Tbs minced onion
1 Tbs dried parsley
1 tsp Beau Monde seasoning*
I typically add an additional 1/2 tsp or so of Beau Monde and some extra dill weed at the end, to taste, to increase the flavor.

Combine all ingredients and refrigerate 8 hours or overnight.

* This can be found in the spice isle, premixed, thanks to Spice Island (and other companies). Or you can make your own mix, like I did (see below), if you already have lots of spices on hand.

Beau Monde Spice Mix

1 Tb. ground cloves
1 tsp. ground cinnamon
1 Tb. salt
1 Tb. ground bay leaf
1 Tb. ground allspice
2 Tb. ground pepper
1 Tb. ground white pepper
1 tsp. ground nutmeg
1 tsp. ground mace
1 tsp. celery seed

Homemade Bleu Cheese Dressing

Not everyone likes bleu cheese, but being one of those who do--especially in a mild dressing--I was excited to get my mom's new recipe for making bleu cheese dressing. The first time I tried making bleu cheese dressing from scratch was from a recipe I found online. It was much too strong and we didn't really like it. This recipe was a different story! Mild, creamy, and delicious, it is a wonderful salad topper. It's also super easy to whip up.

Bleu Cheese Dressing

1/2+ c. crumbled bleu cheese

3/4 c. mayonnaise

3/4 c. sour cream

1 Tb. fresh lemon juice

1/4 tsp. salt

1 tsp. dried onion (fresh green onion would probably be even better)

milk (a couple Tb. to make right consistency).

Blend all together.

Homemade Poppy Seed Dressing

This is my aunt Karen's recipe and the only modification I made was to substitute Florida Crystals less refined sugar or raw (turbinado) sugar for the regular sugar. (Note: This gives the dressing a light brown tint, instead of the pretty pink that the red wine vinegar gives it when using white sugar.) Only 7 ingredients, no preservatives, no artificial anything. Can't beat that! And it's yummy. 

It lasts well in the fridge for up to 2 weeks when I half the recipe, which is usually how long it takes my family to go through that much.

Homemade Poppy Seed Dressing

1 1/2 c. less refined (or raw) sugar
2 tsp. salt
2 tsp. dry mustard (scant)
2/3 c. red wine vinegar
3 T. onion juice (If you don't have onion juice--who does?--liquefy pieces of onion in blender. Or eliminate this altogether--which is what my children prefer.)
2 c. salad oil
3 T. poppy seeds

Mix together sugar, salt, mustard, and vinegar.

Add onion juice; blend.

Using blender (or immersion blender), blend salad oil slowly into mixture until thick. With a spoon, mix in poppy seeds.

Enjoy dribbled over your favorite salad!

Ranch Dressing from Scratch

Have you ever noticed how many ingredients are in those bottles of Ranch dressing you buy at the store? How about soybean oil as a first or second ingredient? And do you regularly add these ingredients to your meals?: autolyzed yeast extract, tapioca dextrin, calcium lactate, caramel color, "artificial flavor" (don't you love that?), xanthan gum, sodium alginate, sodium metabisulfite, maltodextrin, phosphoric acid, sodium benzoate and sodium sorbate (preservatives), calcium disodium EDTA (to protect flavor). Bon apetite, anyone?

I've known for a long time that such dressings really have more gross ingredients than good ones, and that has bothered me even while I eat them, but I never got around to figuring out how to make my own Ranch from scratch. Now I have, thanks to this site.

Like my Italian Dressing mix, this recipe makes a large batch of the mix so that you have it on hand and can easily use 1 Tb. of it at a time to make the dressing. (Which isn't really that much harder than pulling that bottle of syrupy, preservative-filled stuff out of the fridge!) This is definitely a keeper recipe and I'm so glad I found it.

Homemade Ranch Dressing
Makes 12 batches (use 1 Tb. at a time)

2/3 cup dried parsley flakes
1/3 cup dried minced onion
3 Tbsp. garlic salt
2 Tbsp. onion salt
1 Tbsp. garlic powder
1 Tbsp. onion powder
1 Tbsp. dried dill weed
1/4 tsp. pepper

In a medium mixing bowl, combine all ingredients and mix well with a wire whisk. Store in airtight container in a cool dry place.

To make Ranch Dressing, combine 1 Tb. of mix with 1 c. mayonnaise* and 1 c. buttermilk**. Note: If you want it for vegetable dipping instead of drizzling over a salad, use about half as much buttermilk.

Refrigerate until serving. Yields 2 cups

*I used a combination of mayonnaise and sour cream and really liked it.
**Click here for easy buttermilk substitutions (if you're like me, you don't often have the real thing on hand)--for dressing I preferred to use vinegar rather than lemon.

Homemade Italian Dressing

The other day I wanted to make a recipe that called for Italian dressing (a stir-fry, to be exact), but we didn't have any. However, remembering all the extra yucky stuff store-bought dressings usually contain, I decided to make my own. So I found a recipe online, modified it a bit, and tried it out. The result was tasty, though not yet perfection, so I will be tweaking it again until I find the right combination. But I wanted to offer it as food for thought (and experimentation). What I love most, though, is that this recipe prepares a bunch you can store and use by the tablespoon whenever you need to whip up a quick batch of Italian dressing.

Update: I've used this twice now to make chicken and vegetable fajitas and they were excellent!

Homemade Italian Dressing

• 1 Tb.onion powder
• 1 Tb. garlic salt
  
• 1 Tb. white sugar (I'm going to cut this down next time, as I like my Italian dressing more spicy than sweet)
  
• 2 Tb. dried oregano
• 1 tsp. ground black pepper
• 1/4 tsp. dried thyme
• 1 tsp. dried basil
• 1 Tb. dried parsley
• 1/4 tsp. celery salt
• 1 Tb. salt

In a small bowl, mix together the garlic salt, onion powder, sugar, oregano, pepper, thyme, basil, parsley, celery salt and regular salt. Store in a tightly sealed container (or a baggie).

To prepare dressing, whisk together 1/4 c. white vinegar, 2/3 c. canola oil, 2 Tb. water and 2 Tb. of the dry mix.

Update (6/15/10) - The second time I made this I preferred the variation of adding more garlic salt and cutting down on the oil.