Ham and Spinach Pasta Salad

I like pasta, but I don't like mayonnaise. This has proved to be quite the conundrum for many years. I've done my fair share of smiling and making small talk while trying to choke down someone's vile, mayonnaise-drenched macaroni salad. In my opinion, the mild flavor of mayonnaise does not mesh well with the mild flavor of pasta. Traditional pasta salad is little more than flavorless texture. Who wants to eat that? Not me. 

Fortunately, flavorless things lend themselves well to modification. While pasta salad does require some mayonnaise to keep its texture, there's no rule that says you actually have to taste the stuff. No sir. Out with the mayo and in with the Ranch. I never use measurements for pasta salad, so add as much or as little of the ingredients as you want. What I provide here is just a rough estimate. 

Ingredients:

• 3 cups dry macaroni (or any pasta noodle)
• 2 tbsp mayonnaise
• 1/2 cup Ranch salad dressing
• 3 slices ham, chopped
• 1/4 cup shredded parmesean
• 1/2 cup frozen peas
• 1 tsp water
• handful of fresh spinach leaves, chopped
• 1 tomato, chopped

Directions:

Boil the macaroni to your liking. Drain it and set it aside. Put the peas in a microwave-safe dish with the tsp of water. Cook the peas for about 3 minutes, or until soft. If your peas are wrinkly, you cooked them too long. Toss 'em in the trash and try again. We don't want wrinkly, dry, old-man peas in our pasta salad, capiche? Good thing frozen peas are cheap. 

Mix the mayonnaise and the Ranch into the pasta salad until you get the right consistency of liquid to noodles. This varies for everyone depending on preference. Mix in the ham, spinach, peas, tomato and parmesean cheese. Cover the pasta salad and put it into the refrigerator to chill. If you like it warm, by all means, eat it warm, but I want my pasta salad chilled so that I don't have to think about the fact that I'm eating warm mayonnaise. Ick. 

If you're pressed for time, let it chill for a little while in the freezer. Just don't forget its in there. It won't explode like a Coke will, but ice crystals in your pasta salad is almost as bad as tons of mayo. 

Parmesan Herb Potatoes

Ingredients:

• 12-15 new potatoes
• 1/2 cup Parmesan cheese
•  2 tsp thyme
• 1/2 tsp basil 
• 1 tsp oregano 
• 2 tsp California-style garlic powder (with parsley)
• 3 tbsp butter
• 2 tbsp lemon juice

Directions:

Wash the potatoes and cut them into quarters. Melt the butter in a small container. Add the lemon juice and stir until the butter and lemon juice are well blended. 

Add the cheese, thyme, basil, oregano and garlic powder to a plastic ziploc bag. I prefer to ues gallon bags for this but I was out so I had to use a small bag. Larger bags work better since you can fit more potato slices into a large bag. Shake the bag to make sure the cheese and spices are well blended. 

Start dipping potato quarters into the butter/lemon juice mixture. Put the wet potatoes into the bag. Shake the bag to coat the potato quarters with the cheese and herbs. 

Place your already coated potato wedges into a microwave-safe casserole dish. Once all of your potatoes are coated, sprinkle any remaining cheese mixture into the dish. Microwave the potatoes, uncovered, for 15 minutes and serve. 

Gnocchi in Tomato Cream Sauce

Ingredients:

• 1 lb. potato gnocchi
• 3 tbsp butter
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 tsp parsley
• 1 tbsp oregano
• 3 tbsp crushed tomatoes
• 2 tbsp parmesean cheese
• 1/2 cup heavy whipping cream

Directions:

1. Set a pot of water on the stove to boil. Pour the gnocchi into the boiling water. Boil them for about 3 minutes or until they float. Drain.

2. Melt the butter in a medium saucepan. Add the garlic, parsley and oregano. Saute for 2 mins on med/low heat. 

3. Add the crushed tomatoes and parmesean cheese. Mix together until well combined. Whisk in the heavy whipping cream. Saute over medium/low heat for 5 minutes or until hot. 

4. Pour the sauce over the gnocchi. Serve immediately.

Creamy Pesto Pasta

Ingredients:

• About 1/2 a box of wheat penne noodles
• 1.5 cups cream
• 1/2 cup parmesean cheese
• 4 tbsp butter
• 1 tbsp garlic powder
• Salt and pepper
• Pesto (you can make this yourself or buy it in a jar already prepared)

Directions

1. Boil penne noodles until soft. Drain. Set aside. 

2. Put the butter and garlic powder in a skillet. Melt over medium heat. 

3. Add the cream. Whisk the cream together with the butter. Bring the sauce to a low boil. Allow to boil for about three minutes or until the sauce thickens. 

4. Reduce heat to low. Add the parmesean cheese and salt and pepper to taste. Whisk together well. 

5. Add the noodles. Stir the noodles until they are well saturated. Add the pesto and mix throughout the noodles. Everyone's pesto preference differs, so feel free to add as much or as little pesto as you want. Feel free to top it off with more parmesean.

Note: Garlic powder works better than fresh garlic cloves in this recipe. You will rarely ever hear me say that, but in this case its true. 

Olive Oil, Herb and Cheese Bread Dip

Ingredients:

• Olive oil (about a cup)
• Feta cheese crumbles
• 2 cloves fresh garlic, chopped (no, you cannot substitute the powder)
• Rosemary
• Dried basil

Directions

Add the olive oil to a shallow dish. Add a handful of feta cheese crumbles and a heavy sprinkling of your favorite herbs. For this batch I used rosemary and basil, but I almost always just throw in what I have on hand. Thyme, Oregano, whatever. Unless you're tossing in pumpkin pie spice and dry mustard or something crazy like that you'll be fine. 

Squash Casserole

Ingredients:

• 6 yellow squash
• 1 large sweet onion
• 3 tbsp butter
• 2/3 cup sour cream
• 1/2 tsp salt
• cooking spray
• 1 8 oz. block of cheddar cheese
• 1/2 cup shredded parmesan cheese

Directions:

Wash your squash and slice it up. Slice the onion into half rings. Add the butter, squash and onion to a pan on the stove. Set the pan to medium. Cook the squash and onion for about 20 to 25 minutes, stirring frequently. When the mixture is done, the squash will be very soft to the touch, almost falling apart, and the onion will be translucent. 

Drain the squash and onion mixture. Put it into a bowl and smash it up with a fork or potato masher. 

 Add the 2/3 of the cheese, the salt and the sour cream. Mix it in well. 

Set aside the remaining third of the cheddar cheese with the parmesan. You need this for your topping. 

Spray the bottom of a 13x9 glass dish with cooking spray. Pour the squash/onion/cheese mix into the dish. Top with the remaining cheese. 

Bake at 350 for 40 minutes, until the cheese is brown and bubbling. 

Black Beans and Rice

Ingredients:

1 1 lb. bag dried black beans

1 large yellow onion, chopped

2 large tomatos, chopped

4 tbsp cumin

5 cloves garlic, chopped

2 tbsp olive oil

5 cups water

1 tbsp salt

Rice

Directions:

1. Add everything but the rice to your slow cooker. Mix it together well. 

2. Set the slow cooker on high. Cook the beans for 8 hours or until soft. Stir periodically. 

3. Make the rice right before dinner. I use the boil in a bag white rice. I don't expect that brown or yellow rice would taste very good with the beans, but I could be wrong. 

4. Pour beans over the rice and serve.

Note: These aren't very spicy because I have children who balk at spicy food, but feel free to add red pepper flakes or chopped jalapenos if you prefer your black beans with a little kick.