a summer favorite: pasta salad!

Pasta salad season is upon us! 
It's one of the most simple, delicious dishes to bring to a cook out or to pack for a day at the beach, and the pasta-bilites are endless! See what I did there? Sorry, had to.

I found my go-to pasta salad recipe at my sister's house, and have tweaked it to make it my own over time. The best part about it is that you can use favorite veggies that you have on hand, and measurements are open to interpretation. There's only one rule: the more color, the better! 

INGREDIENTS

yellow bell pepper

red onion

black olives, pitted

green beans 

cherry tomatoes 

mozzarella pearls 

pepperoni

italian salad dressing

METHOD

ONE.

Cook pasta. Drain and let stand for 5 minutes. 

TWO.

Toss in 1/4 cup italian dressing, allowing pasta to cool to room temperature.

THREE.

Chop bell pepper, onion and green beans into similar-sized pieces. Slice black olives, halve/quarter cherry tomatoes and cube pepperoni into similar sizes pieces as the other veggies. Toss all in with pasta. Add mozzarella pearls to pasta. Mix well! Add more dressing to taste.

So simple, right?! I intentionally left out amounts of each ingredient - the great thing about this pasta salad is that you can choose to go heavy on some ingredients, or do an equal amount of all for a well balanced mix. 

Don't want to play the guessing game? I usually use about 6 handfuls of dry pasta, 3/4 bell pepper, 1/4 onion, 1 handful green beans, 1 small can black olives, 1/2 pint tomatoes, 1/2 container mozzarella pearls, and 1 handful cubed pepperoni.

I've also picked up a few tricks... 

Making it the night before really allows the pasta to take on the flavor of the dressing, but...

To keep the tomatoes from getting mushy, don't add them until a couple hours before you're ready to serve.

With the dressing, less is more. You can always add more, or serve the salad with aside of dressing so people can add their own.

It's all about the noodle shape. 
I'm serious. Pick something that will hold all of the dressing's flavor goodness in its nooks and crannies.

And because you can never have too much of a good thing, here are a few more pasta salad recipes I found that I'm dying to try. 

Zucchini and Oriechetta Pasta Salad with Beans Such a yummy combination of ingredients, and the lemon seems like it would really brighten up all of the flavors.

Cilantro-Lime Pasta Salad Avocado in a pasta salad? Yes please.

Tuna Pasta Salad with Dill & Peas I'm not typically a fan of mayo, but I want to give this a try. I might cut down on the mayo and add some fancy mustard.

Pasta Salad with Feta, Tomato, Kalamata Olives and Sweet Basil Vinaigrette Not only does the vinaigrette sound to-die-for, but I love that there's fresh basil in the mix.


Got any awesome pasta salad recipes or secrets?

xo Emily

quick eats: puppy chow!

This stuff is dangerous. Really. 

If you love peanut butter and chocolate (who doesn't?!) then you'll love this perfect combo of sweet, salty and crunchy. Put it in a small bowl or you will eat the whole bag. 

Here's what you'll need:

INGREDIENTS

• 1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
• 1/2 cup peanut butter
• 9 cups crispy rice cereal squares
• 1/2 cup confectioners' sugar 

METHOD

ONE.

In a saucepan over low heat, melt the chocolate chips. 

TWO.

Add peanut butter. Mix until smooth.

THREE.

Remove from heat. Add cereal and stir until squares are well coated, being careful not to crush the cereal too much.

FOUR.

Pour confectioners' sugar in a large Ziplock bag and add coated cereal squares. Seal the bag and shake until sugar covers all squares. 

She didn't want to be recognized in the photos... but check out that shaking!

So so good. But you will want to eat it all. Immediately. Consider yourself warned. 

Enjoy!

xo Emily

quick eats: twisted guac.

This year for my sister's annual Super Bowl Party we decided to do Taco Night. She was handling all the major stuff but I wanted to bring something awesome (and easy, since I spent the entire morning snowboarding).

I love guacamole and channeled my inner Emeril to kick it up a notch. It was a huge success, so here's the recipe:

INGREDIENTS

• 2 large ripe avocados
• 1 tbsp mustard with a kick (my favorite is Sweet Sombrero from Green Mountain Mustard)
• 1 small tomato
• 4 green onions
• 1 lime

METHOD

ONE.

Cut avocados in half, remove pits and scoop flesh into bowl. Mash.

TWO.

Stir in mustard. Use more if you dare!

THREE.

Dice tomato and finely chop green onions (mainly using the white part); 

combine with avocado mixture.

FOUR.

Squeeze a little of that lime juice into the mix.


Enjoy!

Let me know if you give it a whirl with any variations - cilantro, red onion, other flavors?!


xo Emily

something sweet: chocolate truffles 3 ways.

This holiday season, my go-to recipe for parties and gatherings was chocolate truffles. Making them is super simple, and with a little attention to detail it's easy to make them look oh-so pretty! You can get creative with flavors and toppings, making them the perfect dessert addition to any table, any time of year. The following is my recipe (adapted from SimpleRecipes).

Here's what you'll need:

INGREDIENTS

Basic Chocolate Truffle Ingredients

• 8 oz semi-sweet or bittersweet chocolate (62% cacao or higher), well chopped
• 1/2 cup heavy whipping cream

Base Flavors

• Original - 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• Raspberry - 1 tsp raspberry extract
• Almond - 1 tsp almond extract

Additional Base Flavors (that I haven't tackled yet!)

• Cinnamon - 1 stick
• Amaretto - 1-2 tsp
• Mint - 1 cup chopped fresh mint leaves

Truffle Coatings

• Chopped nuts (walnuts, almonds, pecans), finely chopped
• Shredded coconut (unsweetened) 
• Cocoa powder (I added a couple pinches of confectionery sugar to mine to take away some of the bitterness)

METHOD 

ONE.

In a small, heavy saucepan bring the heavy whipping cream to a simmer. This may take some time. Be sure to scrape down the sides with a rubber spatula every few minutes. If you are using a liquid flavor, stir it in with the cream.

If using mint or other solids for flavor, add after the cream simmers and remove from heat. Let seep for 1 hour. Then strain away solids and return cream to simmer and proceed with recipe.

TWO.

Place chocolate in mixing bowl. Pour heated, flavored cream over chocolate and let stand for 3 minutes, then stir until smooth. 

The more finely the chocolate is chopped, the easier it will be to get a really smooth consistency. 

THREE.

Allow to come to room temperature, then refrigerate for at least 2 hours (it can even sit overnight). Remove from fridge and use a teaspoon to roll out balls of ganache about 1" in diameter. 

It's important to roll fairly quickly as the heat of your hands will melt the ganache almost immediately. And yes, this can be messy!

Place ganache balls on parchment paper-lined baking sheet. You can refrigerate these until ready to decorate.

FOUR.

Roll in selected toppings. Refrigerate until ready to serve.

And you're done! Prepare to have everyone be dazzled by your delicious creations.

What are your favorite party recipes? Do you have any fun truffle flavors you've made?

xo Emily

P.S. Special thank you to Kate for being my demo subject/hand model.