Salad Days

Before things get weird around here today,

 Danni over at Silo Hill Farm

 has written a review on yours truly and company that makes us sound more like

we're the Petersiks at Young House Love.

If John and Sherry were warped of course, which they're not.

That's our job. 

Danni also does crafts, lots of features, and is an all around good read,

so when you're done here, please, go check her out!

Or do that first.

Go ahead.

We can wait.

 Ahhhhhhhh, the Salad Days of Summer.

Okay, so it's Summer here all the time.

Touche'.

Even more of a reason to have a cold, simple dinner up your sleeve

that can be throw together in a post-beach jiff.

You can also disguise your leftovers as real food.

Intrigued?

Good.

 Because the Minions appear to be hungry.

Nothing tastes as good as a cold beer after a day of salt water,
so that's my suggested pairing for today.
O'Doul's is crisp. bubbly, and doesn't make me imagine David Boreanaz is
on my roof when it's mixed with my meds.
Everyone wins.

As usual, we're doing a version for the carnivores and one for the pescetarians.
Raid the pantry for 2 boxes of tri-color rotini.

Grab two cans of large pitted black olives.
Slice 'em up.
Don't get the kind with pits.
You'll be here all day.

A can of mixed veg for each batch, or a 14oz bag of frozen veggies, divided.
Yes, I know, I usually use fresh vegetables, but were going for handy and fast with this.

2 cans of corn.
Hey, we like corn.

1 bottle of Ranch or fat free Ranch dressing.

An orange pepper, seeded and chopped.

Since you have your handy propagation tower right there,
turn around and plant those seeds right away.

Cook the pasta according to directions and put it in two bowls.
Add half of the veggies to each bowl.
If anyone comes in the kitchen, look exhausted.
When they leave, chortle gleefully and swill your
I Can't Believe It's Not Beer!

Add 1/4 of the bottle of dressing (no exact measuring today, guys),
and mix until you have a nice moist salad.
For vegetarians or those of you thinking "pot luck" or "side dish,"
you can garnish and walk away.
But we're making this into dinner.

We keep these in the freezer as a staple.
They thaw in 30 seconds, and a handful in ramen noodles
with some frozen peas and carrots makes me not shudder as much
when the kids snack on it.
Put two cups of this in the seafood salad.

Shred and add three cups of imitation crab.

For the carnivore side, we're using cubed leftover chicken breast,
but deli ham, salami, turkey, or any meat you enjoy cold will do.

Mix in your stuff.

Note the color coded bowls.
Thom and Savannah will eat only seafood, and very little of that.
Samwow would rather die than eat fish, and prefers to take down his kills personally.
This way, there's no mistakes.

Garnish with some pear tomatoes and parsley from the garden.

Hungry yet?

Biscuits, a green salad, and some sliced watermelon round out this
refreshing Summer dinner.
Pry everyone off the sofa, turn off The Princess Bride, and let's eat!