Pasta Salad

Here in Pittsburgh, we know it’s summer time when we have 3 consecutive days of beautiful sunshine or road construction is in full swing. We’ve had 3 consecutive days of 80° weather and traffic cones are starting to pop up everywhere…summer is here.

One of our favorite dishes to make during the summer is pasta salad. It is perfect on a hot day when all you want to eat is something light and cool. It also makes a perfect side dish…or a main course. Whatever your heart desires, pasta salad will always be there for you…until it betrays you after you finish the last bite!

WARNING: You may experience symptoms of withdraw after you finish the last noodle of pasta salad. Please do not eat alone. Not for pregnant women, this recipe may develop life-long addictive pasta salad cravings for your child. We’re just kidding about all that, but this pasta salad is addicting.

• Servings – 6 cups
• Prep time – 90 minutes
• Cook time – 12 minutes

Ingredients

• 1 pound of tri-colored pasta
• 8 ounces of your favorite Italian dressing (we like Kraft Zesty Low Fat)
• 1 chopped green pepper
• 1 chopped red pepper
• 1 medium chopped onion
• 2 ounces of grated or shredded Parmesan cheese

Protocol

1.) Follow these steps to cook your pasta.

2.) Once pasta is cooked, drain and place in fridge to cool for about an hour.

3.) Remove from fridge and mix together the chopped red and green peppers, chopped onion, Italian dressing and Parmesan cheese into the bowl.

4.) Place this in the fridge for another 30 minutes.

5.) Enjoy as a side dish or an entire main course!

-D&E

P.S. – Use the hashtag #cookingincollege anytime you tweet about, well, cooking in college!

Mexican Monday, Monday!

“Uhh, D&E why did you start off this week with that?!” Well, aside from our obsession of the 1960’s , it’s a hint of where we are going for vacation this summer…that’s right we’re going to CALIFORNIA! We are so excited! For one, we get to visit Declan’s family and for two we get to eat our favorite food in the world…MEXICAN!

Since our trip is still 65 days away, we just have to share our favorite meal with you, FAJITAS! No joke, this meal has been our staple for the past year… actually it’s the first meal we ever cooked together! So without further ado…

Fajitas

Extremely versatile meal that can easily exclude the chicken to become a vegetarian meal or substitute the chicken for steak (but we’re in college so…) If you haven’t bought fajita seasoning from Penzey’s yet you can always buy a small packet from your local grocery store to make sure you actually like it first.

• Servings – 3 to 4
• Prep time – 5 minutes
• Cook time – 10 -15 minutes

Ingredients

• 2 thawed boneless chicken breasts
• Pack of flour tortillas
• 1/2 green pepper
• 1/2 red pepper
• 1 small onion
• Fajita seasoning
• 1 can of re-fried beans*
• Sour cream*
• Mexican cheese*

(*optional)

Protocol

1. Cut your chicken into “french fry” like strips…or any shape you desire but the longer and slimmer they are, the faster they’ll cook.

2. Cut both peppers into long strips as well, again refer to this video for tips on cutting peppers.

3. Slice your onion into half-arcs like we did in the Balsamic Braised Chicken recipe.

4. Over medium to high heat, brown your chicken strips for 2-3 minutes a side or until evenly cooked.

5. Throw in your peppers and onion into the pan, cook until tender. Tip: add a little bit of water to the pan to give the veggies a little steam.

6. Add the fajita seasoning to your desirable amount, everything in the pan should be coated evenly. 

7. If you want to be somewhat authentic, heat up a can of re-fried beans. Refer to the instructions on the can. Oh and make sure to wear a sombrero during this step, it’s extremely important.

8. Serve with sour cream and cheese on a flour (or corn) tortilla and enjoy!

Let us know how it went!

-D&E

Kielbasa and Beans

“Man, D&E are on a kielbasa fix this week!” You got that right, it also goes along with our easy-cook-and-clean-meals theme for this week. But don’t worry, we’ll have another theme ready for you next week!

As you will see below, this recipe does call for a lot of ingredients. But, the majority of the items you might have on hand already. If not, feel free to improvise with the sauce (that’s pretty much what we do).

This is a one pan dish so clean-up is a cinch. And a one-a, and a two-a, and a...

Healthier than our “Kielbasa and Potatoes” recipe, this recipe is super-fun to improvise and customize to your liking. Yes grasshopper, you finally are cooking on your own now…

• Servings – 3 to 4
• Prep time – 5 minutes
• Cook time – 15 minutes

Ingredients

• 1lb of your favorite kielbasa (again: low fat, or low sodium, or fresh from a butcher)
• 1 small onion
• 1/2 red pepper
• 1/2 green pepper
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 2 tablespoons of steak sauce
• 1 tablespoon cider vinegar
• 1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
• 1 (15 ounce) can of white kidney or cannelini beans
• 2 tablespoons ketchup (Heinz of course!)
• 1 tablespoon of mustard

Protocol

1. Cut your kielbasa into 1/2 inch coins diagonally, just like in our previous post.

2. Chop both peppers and onion into small pieces (save the other half of the peppers for one of our recipes for next week). Since this is the first recipe post with peppers, please refer to this for help.

3. In your pan, cook the kielbasa on med-high heat for 2-3 minutes.

4. Stir in your peppers and onions and cook until the kielbasa is lightly browned and/or the veggies become tender. Another 3-4 minutes.

5. Combine the brown sugar, Worcestershire sauce, cider vinegar, steak sauce, ketchup, and mustard. Taste to make sure the flavor is what you like, if not adjust with the ketchup, steak sauce, and/or brown sugar.

6. Rinse and drain your can of beans and add to the pan. Cook until the beans are done.

7. Serve over rice or on its own (like we prefer) and enjoy!

Tell us how this recipe worked out for you and if you have any suggestions for the sauce in the comments below!

-D&E