Heavenly Homemakers

Encouraging women in homemaking, healthy eating and parenting

Pasta Salad Bar – Easy, Inexpensive, Nutritious, and Cool

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pasta salad bar 3

Yum

Here you will find one of the coolest (literally) meal ideas for summer. Here you will see a great way to feed your whole family – even the picky ones. Here you will experience deliciousness that isn’t expensive, offers lots of nourishment, and is super easy to put together. Yes, here is a great idea given to me by several readers last summer that I finally tried last week. Again, I must ask:  Why did I wait so long to try this?

Welcome to our lives, oh lovely Pasta Salad Bar. We’re sorry we never met before now. You’ll be a regular visitor at our house this summer. We will load our bowls full of your goodness, based on what sounds good to each of us at that moment. You are deliciously fun.

Pasta Salad Bar

How do you put together a Pasta Salad Bar? Simple. Just set out everything you have on hand that might taste good in a pasta salad. This is a great way to eat up leftovers or odds and ends from your fridge. Here are some Pasta Salad Bar food suggestions:

  • Cooked and cooled whole wheat or brown rice pasta – any shape
  • Chopped sweet peppers
  • Chopped carrots
  • Chopped tomatoes
  • Cooked chicken, tuna, steak, roast beef, or other meat that sounds good
  • Chickpeas or other cooked beans
  • Corn
  • Olives
  • Shredded cheese
  • Favorite salad dressings – we prefer homemade Italian Salad Dressing and Ranch Salad Dressing

Once your food items are set out, simply let everyone fill their bowls with whatever they like. Stir in favorite salad dressings to make a creamy pasta salad, a tangy pasta salad – or a mixture of both! (Yep, I like both Italian and Ranch in my pasta salad.)

This meal is extremely filling and hearty. Oh, and a side of fresh pineapple or chilled watermelon goes great with this.

Ever done something like this before? What other ingredients do you think you would add to this Pasta Salad Bar?

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Cheesy Beef and Pasta Casserole ~ Finishing Freezer Cooking Week One

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Heya! We are in our final stretch with week one of the Freezer Cooking Challenge. I have loved hearing from so many of you that have joined in. This is so much fun – cooking together! Too bad we can’t also do dishes together. Or make our kids do dishes together so that we can all just sit and drink coffee together and chat. Yes, I like that plan. Why did I not think of that before?

Here’s what we’ve made so far:

Now, we’re down to Cheesy Beef and Pasta Casserole (recipe in {Healthy} Make-Ahead Meals and Snacks eBook). This casserole has definitely become a family favorite. It is as simple to make as spaghetti, yet it tastes like something super special. That’s probably because I always stir in a lot of love.  Love, that is, in the form of cream cheese. It has a love language all its own, right?

To finish up this week’s freezer cooking assignments, all you need to do is get out the remainder of your cooked meat, boil your noodles, stir together all remaining ingredients, spread mixture into pans, top with cheese, put on a lid, label, and you’re done. Phew. Sounds like a lot, but really, it’s as easy as making spaghetti. While stirring in love.  And cream cheese.

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The night I finished this and served it, we ate it with a simple salad and roasted asparagus. So much deliciousness! I love knowing I’ve got another dish of this casserole in the freezer ready to be served on a busy day.

cheesy beef pasta meal

At this point, hopefully you’ve put together eight casseroles: four to eat this week, and four to freeze for another day. This freezer cooking thing really isn’t so hard, is it?

Stay tuned for upcoming plans for Freezer Cooking Week Two – the week of the chicken. I’ll have a grocery list and game plan ready for you on Friday. :)

Give us an update! How is the challenge going for you this week?

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Easy Noodle Stir Fry

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You’ll want to make this stir fry recipe a part of your weekly menu plan!

It is a fact that earlier in the summer, my oldest son requested Ramen Noodles for his 14th birthday lunch. Bleh. I obliged because it was his birthday and because I could afford the 17¢ required to purchase the desired package of what can’t possibly be food since it only costs 17¢. Asa completely understands why we don’t normally eat MSG covered cardboard – but doggonit – he likes the stuff and it was a birthday treat.

Our family used to make a great stir fry dish using Ramen Noodles “back in the day” before we began our healthy eating journey. Asa has fond memories of that dish and was actually the inspiration behind this new version. One day he simply said, “Mom – don’t you think you could just use spaghetti noodles and soy sauce instead of ramen noodles and make the Stir Fry taste the way it used to taste?” Huh, well now why didn’t I think of that?

We tried it and WOW. We all devoured it (which isn’t entirely shocking because “devour” is typically what we do around our table three or more times each day). This dish is great for several reasons:

  • It is very easy to make.
  • It is completely healthy.
  • You can make it a variety of ways, depending on which vegetables your family likes and has on hand.
  • You can make it a meatless dish or add chicken to make it a complete meal!

Easy Noodle Stir FryYum

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Easy Noodle Stir Fry
 
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Serves: 6-8
Ingredients
  • 2-4 cups fresh or frozen veggies of your choice (broccoli, carrots, peas, peppers, corn, zucchini, squash, etc.)
  • 3 Tablespoons olive oil
  • 1 clove minced fresh garlic or ½ teaspoon garlic powder
  • 10 ounces whole wheat spaghetti noodles
  • Soy sauce (to taste)
  • Sea salt (to taste)
Instructions
  1. In a skillet, toss vegetables, garlic and olive oil together - cooking on medium heat until veggies are tender.
  2. In the meantime, boil the spaghetti noodles in water and drain.
  3. Stir cooked veggies and noodles together.
  4. Add soy sauce, stirring until the noodles are barely coated.
  5. Add sea salt (and more soy sauce) if desired.

Easy Noodle Stir Fry

What is your relationship with Ramen Noodles? Love ’em? Hate ’em? Do you know what’s in ’em? You don’t want to know. I highly recommend switching to whole grain pastas and skipping any MSG filled sauces and flavorings as part of your Funky Fresh Kitchen challenge. You can do it! Look how tasty this dish is without any artificial anything!

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malachi cutting
My youngest son can now cut all the veggies for this meal. I LOVE THIS!
This week only, grab the FREE Knife Skills Videos so your kids can learn how to cut fruits and vegetables safely!
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