{Summer Pasta Salad with Chicken, Veggies and Feta}

There are just some foods that scream summer.  Watermelon, Strawberry Shortcake (recipe coming soon), turkey burgers on the grill and my favorite, pasta salad!  I find that even though I love a good pasta salad, it is one of those dishes that I rarely make!  

In fact I generally only make pasta salad when I need a delicious dish to pass at a pot luck or family get together!  Crazy right, considering its one of my favorite summer foods!  Anyways, I have found that pasta salad not only makes a delicious week night meal (and its super easy and quick), it makes a great easy and portable lunch!  I have mentioned before that I am a brown bag lunch person, so I am always looking for new and exciting ways to jazz up my lunch box!  Whip up a big batch of this delicious pasta salad for dinner Monday night and eat the leftovers the rest of the week for lunch!  Hello easy, hello healthy and hello convenient!! 

I love this pasta salad because it features fresh veggies, whole wheat pasta and a delicious tangy dressing!  I also love the big hunks of feta cheese scattered throughout!  This pasta salad makes a great light main meal with the grilled chicken, feel free to leave out to make this pasta salad vegetarian friendly!  

Summer Pasta Salad with Chicken, Veggies and Feta

Brunch N'Cupcakes 

Serves 4-6 

Ingredients 

12 oz Whole Wheat Penne Pasta (cooked according to package directions) 

2 Chicken Breasts

1 Cup Grape Tomatoes Chopped 

3/4 Cup Cucumber Chopped 

1/2 Green Pepper Chopped 

1/4 Cup Fresh Dill Chopped

1/3 Cup Feta Cheese

Dressing:

3 Garlic Cloves Minced

2 Teaspoons Course Black Pepper 

3 Tablespoons Olive Oil 

1 1/2 Tablespoon Course Mustard 

2 Tablespoons Balsamic Vinegar 

1/2 Tablespoon Honey 

Directions: 

1- Lightly salt and pepper chicken breast.  Heat grill (I used a George Forman) and grill chicken until cooked through.  Cut chicken into 1 inch chunks and set aside. 

2- In a large bowl combine chopped veggies, dill, chicken and noodles.  Toss lightly to combine, set aside. 

3- In a smaller bowl whisk together dressing ingredients.  Pour dressing over salad and toss lightly until dressing is evenly distributed.  Top pasta salad with feta and serve immediately. 

Enjoy! 

Some times you just need a good...

...Cookie! 

I whipped up these little gems last night, I decided to bake on a whim!  The recipe is still in the works, but I think they are going to be delicious!  In the mean time check out these other delicious cookie recipes featured on the blog!

{Stir Fried BBQ Chicken}

Warm weather and sunshine are seriously two of the best things.  And since the Minnesota weather has been getting nicer and nicer (yes, even the rain is a welcome change to all the snow we were still getting in March/April)  I cannot help but be in an insanely good mood!  In the Summer months I fid myself craving anything that is grilled, or contains BBQ sauce, and I can never get enough fresh fruit! 

So what does all this talk about BBQ and grilling have to do with today's recipe?  A whole lot, because I put on a new twist on stir fry!  I gave this chicken stir fry a Summer kick by subbing in a tangy homemade  BBQ sauce in place of the traditional stir fry sauce!  The outcome?  Down right delicious, I am surprised that there were even leftovers after this meal!  The homemade BBQ sauce is tangy and sweet with just the right amount of heat, and is super easy to whip up!   The stir fry comes together in a snap, and is delicious served along side steamed veggies, or a simple green salad!  Serve on a whole wheat bun for a healthy take on a traditional sloppy joe, or with corn bread muffins to soak up the extra BBQ sauce (don't want to let the sauce go to waste)!

{Fresh Corn Salad with Herbs}

This week was busy!  And I was a little sluggish this week after a wonderful long relaxing weekend! With my busy schedule this week I feel like I haven't even thought about cooking!  Queue leftovers, they are such a wonderful thing, and perfect for busy weekday nights!  I love when I have healthy leftovers in the fridge, it makes eating healthy so much easier!

I made this delicious Fresh Corn and Herb salad on Monday night to go along with our grilled salmon, recipe here.   And this very salad has been eaten for dinner and lunch the past few days as I run around!  But this salad is so darn delicious that  I am not even mad about the fact that I have eaten it all week!  One thing I love about summer is fresh sweet corn, and this salad features it!  I have cut the corn right off the cob,   combined it with some fresh lightly sautéed veggies, a bit of butter and herbs and voila you have a great summer side salad!   Throw some grilled chicken on top of this salad and call it a meal, or eat it as a side with your favorite meat or vegetarian options!  I have even topped this salad with avocado in my lunch for work!  Enjoy!

Fresh Corn Salad with Herbs

Ingredients:

5 Ears of Corn (Shucked and Cut off the Cob)

1 Jalapeno Seeded and Chopped

½ Cup Chopped White Onion

¾ Cup Chopped Grape Tomatoes

1 Teaspoon Dried Basil

1 Teaspoon Dried Dill

Salt and Pepper to Taste

1 Tablespoon + 1 Teaspoon Butter (Or Olive Oil)  

Directions:
1- In a large skillet heat ½ teaspoon butter.  Once melted add onion to skillet and sauté until translucent, add in jalapeno and sauté until tender about 2 minutes. 
2- Add corn and grape tomatoes to the skillet and sauté for 2 minutes.  Add 1 tablespoon butter, herbs, salt, pepper and garlic.  Stir until herbs and butter are evenly distributed and sauté for 2 additional minutes or until butter is melted.  Serve immediately.

Enjoy!   

{Hiking - Taylors Falls Photos}

I mentioned in yesterday’s post (PS check it out if you missed the recipe for, Grilled Salmon with Orange Mango Salsa) that Derek and I spent about 2 hours hiking in beautiful Taylors Falls!  I wanted to share some of our awesome pictures we took!  

Taylors Falls is located about 45 minutes from Stillwater!  It is a quick drive with beautiful scenery, and the views you can check out while hiking are unbelievable!

What I love about hiking in Taylors Falls is you can hike on the Minnesota side, or venture across the river to the Wisconsin side for even more amazing hiking!  We ended up hiking the Wisconsin side and ended up connecting multiple trails, which is why we hiked for about 2 hours!

I always forget how much I love hiking, not only are you getting exercise, but your able to take in some amazing views and stop and really enjoy life and your surroundings!  Enjoy the pictures!

{Spicy Peanut Noodles with Veggies and Chicken }

Hello, Lovelies!

Friday is here, what a wonderful thing, and to top it off it is a long holiday weekend!  Does anyone have big Memorial Day weekend plans?  We are planning on laying low this weekend.   Maybe a little hiking or biking (gotta get out and enjoy the beautiful Minnesota weather) and of course Memorial Day weekend just wouldn't be the same without a little grilling out with some fabulous people (one of my favorites)!

Speaking about favorites, thats a nice segue into todays featured recipe!  Spicy Peanut Noodles with Veggies and Chicken!   Not only do these noodles feature one of my all time favorite things, peanut butter, but they are delicious!  The peanut butter sauce is slightly spicy that can be dialed down if your not a huge spicy fan.  Derek said after dinner that he was a little skeptical about using peanut butter in a pasta sauce, but he gave this recipe two thumbs up and even took leftovers for lunch!  That my friends is  win in itself, Derek never takes leftovers for lunch!  Im calling this recipe an over all win!!  Sub in rotisserie chicken instead of the shredded boiled chicken if you like, and sub in whatever veggies you have on hand!  Make these noodles tonight for dinner and eat the leftovers all weekend, well in-between grilling!

Spicy Peanut Noodles with Veggies and Chicken 
Brunch N'CUpcakes
Serves 6-8

Ingredients 

1 Box Whole Wheat Spaghetti Noodles 

2 Chicken Breast (Boiled and Shredded) 

1 Onion Roughly Chopped 

1 Green Pepper Roughly Chopped 

3 Garlic Cloves 

1 Cup Broccoli 

Peanut Sauce 

1/2 Cup Peanut Butter 

3 Teaspoons Low Sodium Soy Sauce 

2 Tablespoons Chili Paste 

1 Teaspoon Sesame Oil 

Pepper to Taste 

Directions: 

1- Combine peanut butter, sesame oil, chili paste, 2 tablespoons water and soy sauce in small bowl.  Microwave for 45 seconds and stir to combine, set aside. 

2- In a large skillet sprayed with cooking spray saute onions until translucent.  Add in garlic and saute until fragrant.  Add in pepper and broccoli and saute until tender, but be careful not to over cook.  Start cooking noodles according to package directions, once noodles are cooked drain noodles reserving 1/2 cup cooking liquid.  

3- Add cooked noodles and shredded chicken into the skillet with the vegetables.  Add 1/2 Cup cooking liquid to peanut sauce and once again microwave peanut sauce for 45 seconds and pour over noodles.  Toss pasta, veggies and chicken until sauce is evenly distributed, serve immediately. 

Check out these other delicious recipes from around the web: 

Noodles with Peanut or Sesame Sauce - Mark Bittman 

Peanut Chicken Soba Noodles - Cooking Light 

Spicy Peanut Noodle Salad with Cucumber - Serious Eats

Enjoy!

{Wedding Update; The Venues}

Taking a break from my regular food posts, because I realized I really haven't talked much about the wedding on the blog!  I don't know why that is, but I want to have wedding planning documented somewhere, so the blog seems like the perfect place! 

I have been checking things off my wedding check list left and right!   Hard to believe how much I have gotten done in such a short time, I guess you could say I am excited!  Derek and I have now officially set our date!  We will be getting married on April 11th, 2015 in Minneapolis!  I can hardly contain my excitement, and I already want to countdown the days till we will say "I Do" and become man and wife!  But there is so much planning to take place from now until then!  I would say the hardest thing so far for me in the whole wedding planning process was picking the venues!   It was hard to know where to begin when there are so many wonderful venues in Minneapolis!  However, when we started looking at wedding venues I knew I wanted something unique, and something different, but that is all I knew!  My dream growing up was to get married at the Plummer House in Rochester (my hometown) but being as the max guest count was well under what we are inviting I knew that would not work!

(The Plummer House, Rochester, Source)