easy colorful pasta salad

Yum! I love this stuff

Easy Colorful Pasta Salad

1 box or 16 oz. of pasta I used rotini
10  quartered cherry tomatoes
1/4 onion
1 cup italian dressing
3/4 cup of pitted olives sliced or plain
1 cucumber sliced


cook pasta. meanwhile mix dressing, tomatoes, onion,cucumber, and olives. mixin pasta refrigerate for at least 2 hours. enjoy!

adapted from: http://www.yummly.com/recipe/external/Easy-Cold-Pasta-Salad-Allrecipes

Tips:

1. slice the cucumber thinly 
2. add enough dressing that the past doesn't feel dry or sticky but don't have pasta floating in dressing either.
3. dice the tomatoes 

Variations

1. Add more or less pasta - I prefer more pasta than toppings
2. add more or less toppings 
3. add chicken 

Caroline 

www.stichesandstationary.blogspot.com

Chicken Pot Pie

2 pie crusts
1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup flour
1 tsp salt
black pepper to taste
2 TBSP finely chopped onion
3 cups chicken broth
1 1/2 cups sliced mushrooms
3 TBSP butter
3 cups cooked chicken, chopped
2 carrots, finely chopped
2 stalks celery, finely chopped
4 potatoes, peeled and cubed
1/2 cup milk

Cook tenderloins in broth for 10 minutes.  Add potatoes and carrots and celery and cook for 5-7 min until softened.  Remove cooked chicken and vegetables from broth.

Melt butter.  Blend in flour, salt, pepper and onion.  Gradually stir in chicken broth.  Cook, stirring constantly, until smooth and thickened. In a separate pan, sautee mushrooms in 3 TBSP butter.    Mix potatoes, chicken, carrots, celery and mushrooms to broth mixture.  Mix well.

Put bottom pie crust in pie plate and place in oven for about 3 min while preheating to 400 degrees.  Take it out of the oven and let cool then brush with egg whites.

Pour mixture into bottom pie crust.  Cover with top crust, seal edges, and cut away excess dough.  Make several small slits in the top to allow steam to escape.

Bake in preheated oven for 30 minutes, or until pastry is golden brown and filling is bubbly.

Laundry Soap

Copied from Little Birdie Secrets
*Box of Borax Natural Laundry Boost (this can be found in the laundry soap aisle)
*Box of Arm & Hammer Washing Soda (baking soda will NOT work as a substitute)
*1 bar of Fels-Naptha soap, a stain removing laundry soap (ANY bar of soap like Ivory, Dove, et. will work, but we like the extra stain-fighting in this one)
*Scented oil of your choice (optional)
*Five gallon bucket
*Empty laundry detergent bottles or milk jugs

Instructions for 5-gallons of liquid detergent:

1. Grate your bar of soap with a cheese grater. Careful, the Fels-Naptha soap really looks like cheddar cheese--kids will want to eat it!

2. Put the grated soap in a sauce pan with 6 cups water. Heat soap and water until the soap melts.

3. Add 1 cup washing soda and 1 cup Borax and stir until dissolved. Remove from heat.

4. Pour 1 gallon hot water into your 5-gallon bucket. Add your soap mixture and stir well. Add about 3 1/2 more gallons of hot water to the bucket and stir again. Add your scented oil now if you choose to. We used about 2 tsp. honeysuckle essential oil. Just add enough until it smells good to you.

5. Pour the liquid mixture into your empty bottles (you might want to try a funnel). Or, leave it in the 5-gallon bucket--it will just be a little more difficult to use. Let the mixture sit for about 24 hours. It will thicken almost to a gel.

6. Shake your bottle well before each use. Use 1/2 cup of detergent for large loads.

The Arm & Hammer Washing Soda was about $3 to $4, and the Borax about the same price. The Fels-Naptha bar ran us about $1.25. You will get about four 5-gallon buckets of laundry detergent from one box of each. With tax, we figure that works out to be about $2.50 for 5 gallons. Sweet! That could cover about 160 loads of wash! You can't get a better deal than that.

Sweetened Condensed Milk

3/4 c. Sugar

1/3 c. Water

4 TBSP Butter

Cook until it starts to bubble. Put in blender and add 1 cup powdered milk. Blend until smooth. Equals 1 can of sweetened condensed milk.

Easy Lemon Cookies

These are Carter's favorite cookies to make--he found the recipe and has made them a family favorite.

1 (18.25 oz) package lemon cake mix
2 eggs
1/3 c vegetable oil
1 tsp lemon extract
1/3 cup powdered sugar

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.  Pour cake mix into a large bowl.  Stir in eggs, oil, and lemon extract until well blended.  Drop teaspoonfuls of dough into a bowl of powdered sugar.  Roll the cookie around until lightly covered. Place sugared ball onto an ungreased cookie sheet.  Bake for 6-9 minutes in preheated oven.  The bottoms of the cookies will be light brown and the inside chewy.

Chocolate Chip Scones

2 c. flour

1 T. baking powder

½ t. salt

¼ c. sugar plus 3 T.

1 scant cup choc. Chips

1 ¼ c. cream

3 T. butter, melted

Preheat oven to 425 degrees.  Mix dry ingredients leaving the 3 T. of sugar for later.  Add cream and mix with fork till just blended. 

Knead dough ten times.  Shape dough into pie-sized circle.  With sharp knife cut into 12-16 pieces ( make pie cuts).  Brush with butter and sprinkle 3 T. sugar.

Bake 14 minutes.

No-Bake Energy Bites

3 cups oatmeal

1 1/2 cup peanut butter (or other nut butter)

1 cup honey

3 cup coconut flakes

1 1/2 cup ground flaxseed

1 1/2 cup mini chocolate chips

1 tbsp vanilla

Mix everything above in a medium bowl until thoroughly incorporated. Let chill in the refrigerator for half an hour. Once chilled, roll into balls and enjoy! Store in an airtight container and keep refrigerated for up to 1 week.