By Heidi Bell Gease
I don’t know about you, but when summertime comes I don’t much feel like cooking. It’s hot and I’d rather be outside.
That’s why I like to keep a bowl of pasta salad and a jug of iced tea in the fridge, ready for a quick snack or light meal.
Here’s one of my favorite pasta salad recipes. The original version came from the Rapid City Journal years ago.
If you have a favorite pasta salad recipe you’d like to share I’d love to try it!

Heidi’s Pasta Salad
8 oz. (3 c.) uncooked pasta (shells, spirals or penne work well - I like to include some Wacky Mac for color)
1 can tuna, drained (the original recipe calls for a 16-ounce can of salmon, drained with skin and bones removed - also very tasty but more rich)
1 c. thinly sliced carrots
1/2 c. green stuffed olives, halved
1 c. frozen peas, partially thawed
1/2 c. chopped fresh parsley
1/2 c. red pepper, julienned
1/2 c. chopped celery

Dressing
1/4 c. vegetable oil
3 T. lemon juice
1 T. rice vinegar
2 t. Dijon mustard
1 t. dillweed
1/2 t. salt
1/4 t. pepper

Cook and drain pasta. Mix with 1 T. oil and refrigerate. Whisk dressing ingredients together, then add dressing to pasta, fish and vegetables. Mix together and chill 30 mins. before serving.

By Tanya Manus

My blog pal Jomay has gotten us ready for grilling season with her last post about food safety. But now that you’re ready to grill, what’s on the menu?

One of my all-time summer favorites is pasta salad - not the mayonnaise-drenched macaroni versions, but lighter salads that have lots of color and flavor, and some spice. And these salads pair well with chicken, beef or fish straight off the grill.

I was looking for some new ideas for dressing up summery salads when I came across the following recipe. “I lightened up this recipe I found on the back of a pasta box many years ago,” writes Pat Morris, Marlton, New Jersey, the woman who posted the recipe. “It’s become a staple at our home and for family gatherings.”

Fire up your grill, Jomay, because I’ve got a yummy new side dish!

Pat’s Pasta Salad

1-1/4 cups uncooked tricolor spiral pasta
1/4 cup reduced-sodium chicken broth or vegetable broth
3 tablespoons red wine vinegar or cider vinegar
1 tablespoon canola oil
1 garlic clove, minced
1 teaspoon sugar
1 teaspoon dried basil
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 cups broccoli florets
1 cup halved cherry tomatoes
1 large sweet red pepper, julienned
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese

Cook pasta according to package directions; rinse under cold water. Drain. In a large bowl, whisk together the broth, vinegar, oil, garlic, sugar, basil and salt. Add pasta, broccoli, tomatoes, pepper and Parmesan and toss to coat. Yield: 8 servings.

By Tanya Manus

One of my favorite salad-side dishes was inspired by a salad Albertsons used to make in its deli. Just three ingredients - cucumber, tomato and red onion - and some dressing makes a light, refreshing and delicious side dish. I don’t eat mayonnaise, ever, so I love finding summery salads like this one that are big on flavor without needing a mayo-based dressing.

We’re going to be trying a new grilled salmon recipe at my house, and this cucumber salad is a wonderful, colorful complement to fish or chicken. I am looking forward to eating this cucumber salad many times as the weather gets warmer (when it gets warmer!)

And if you have a great pasta or other salad recipe that is not made with mayonnaise, please share it! I’d love your suggestions.

Cucumber, Tomato and Onion Salad

1 large cucumber

1 medium red onion

1 large tomato

Zesty Italian dressing

Wine vinegar

Salt and pepper to taste

Slice cucumber and onion, and cut tomato into small cubes. Salt and pepper as desired. Add 1 tbsp. wine vinegar. Add enough Italian dressing to cover (more or less to desired taste).

By Crystal Hohenthaner
Journal staff

My pastor will be having all the single young adults from our church over to his house next Friday and I offered to help with the food — and now I need the help of all of you creative foodies out there.

We have decided to have tacos for the main dish, which should be easy and we will be able to have some people bring a little something without actually cooking. You know, sour cream, salsa, shredded cheese, lettuce, tortillas and so on.

At first I thought this was a brilliant idea (because it was my idea), but now I find myself hard-pressed to think of any good sides. My mom has offered to whip up a batch of fiesta rice salad for the event — which will be great — but I can’t really think of any other mexican food that you wouldn’t just put on the tacos.

I’m thinking of things like guacamole and queso dip, but what else can we serve with the tacos? Oh, and I’m thinking we might want a good dessert to go along with it all too.

Help me people, I’ve got nothing.

First of all, as a downtown girl, I am rather sad that Albertson’s is now Family Thrift — except for one thing. Now I can get Krab salad without going through the gap or over to the south side. (Unfortunately, now I can only get my pickles at Wal-Mart. But, I’ll get over that soon enough.)

Now I have always been a fan of krab salad. I have even been known to think about it for days and weeks on end. Yes, I crave it. But until this weekend it had never occured to me to do anything with it but eat it on the standard cracker — or even with a fork.

But Sunday, as I was picking up a tub of the lovely salad, I had a revelation — it sort of tastes like the yummy good stuff inside the stuffed mushrooms I love to get at restaraunts.

Now many of you may have thought of this a long time ago, but it was my brilliant moment of the week so I thought I should share — the idea, not my krab salad. I can’t share my krab salad. I’m going to need all of it that I bought to fill in mushroom caps this evening. Now I just have to decide what kind of cheese to top them with and how long to leave them in the oven.

I’m thinking Swiss for the cheese and maybe I’ll just pop a few in the microwave and see how that goes. Any sugestions? For that matter has anyone else had any brilliant moments at the market they’d like to share?

By Crystal Hohenthaner
Rapid City Journal staff 

I have been told by friends and family members that I have unusual tastes. Okay, I like to eat some weird stuff and I do it in some weird ways.

For example, at restaurants I often eat my salad like one might eat chips and dip. It seems perfectly logical to me — it’s a simple way to ensure the right amount of dressing gets on the lettuce. It’s especially useful with thick dressings like ranch and thousand island. Nonetheless, it drives my father crazy every time the family goes out to eat.

I also have a penchant for sweet and salty food combinations — especially in breakfast food. For example, I really only like sausage if it is dipped in syrup or smeared with jelly. My friend Dee caught me eating turkey sausage patties slathered with strawberry jam just Saturday and she was truly aghast. 

I have even been known to eat my french fries with mustard instead of ketchup. That one really grosses out my sister.

I could probably go on an on about my strange eating habits and tastes (I have some especially interesting tales about Worchestershire sauce), but I’m more interested in the oddities of others. What are the strange things you all like to eat — or even the strange ways you eat them?

Much like other people who make a living behind a computer 8 hours a day I have a bit of a weight problem. I’m not obese, but – like many people in America – I need to lose about 20 pounds. And it would probably be best if I lost 30 – or 40.

Plus it’s diet season.

Okay, I want to lose weight – I do. But my sedentary lifestyle isn’t the only obstacle I have to overcome. First of all, I’m lazy. Not sit on the couch and fondle the remote lazy. (Well, I am that kind of lazy sometimes.) But I mean cooking lazy. I want stuff to be easy. I want it to be easy to prepare, easy to store and I want it to keep in the fridge for at least week.

Diet food is rarely easy. And if it is easy – like NutriSystem – it is freaking expensive! Which is a problem, because I’m also somewhat monetarily challenged. So I need food that is cheap. I can’t afford to buy expensive cuts of meat for all of my meals. Heck, I can’t even afford the good cold-cuts for my sandwiches.

In the rare occasions that I have found easy and inexpensive diet foods – like Weight Watchers frozen dinners – they tasted like cardboard. To be fair the Weight Watchers frozen dinner tasted like cardboard with pretty good marinara sauce on it; but cardboard nonetheless. So, to top it all off I have these pesky taste buds that desire elaborate heavy flavors that diet food rarely delivers.

I know my problem is that I want it all from diet food. I want it to be easy, cheap and tasty. Which is why I’m usually not on a diet. Heck, I can barely find non-diet food that is easy, cheap and tasty. (Think Ramen noodles – easy and cheap, but yeah not so tasty.)

Unfortunately – and I know it isn’t the best way to live – due to my fast paced and low budgeted lifestyle most of my food comes out of a can, a box or a jar. Let me tell you eating such food is an easy way to gain weight – not lose it.

In my search for the elusive ”easy, cheap and tasty” food I haven’t found much. But I have developed a killer tuna salad recipe. Now, I don’t know how many calories, or carbs, or grams of fat are in it – but tuna is one of those foods that is good for you. And most Americans don’t eat enough fish. So if you manage to eat a small amount of this tuna salad it is a truly satisfying, easy, cheap and tasty food that might qualify as diet food.

Crystal’s Tuna Salad
2 pouches/cans of tuna (even though I’m cheap I’m picky and I spring for the white albacore Bumblebee tuna)
2 tablespoons of yellow mustard
1/2 cup of Light Miracle Whip
1/4 cup pickle relish
1/4 cup dill pickle relish
1/4 cup yellow pepper rings (chopped)
1/4 cup roasted red peppers or pimentos (from a jar/chopped)

Make sure to drain all the yummy pickled stuff really well or the mixture will be a little runny. Don’t worry if it’s runny, it will still taste great. Then just throw it all in a big bowl and stir. That’s it.

 Depending on who you are you’ll probably want to add or subtract some items. This is just where I start personally. Sometimes I add in some chopped green onions too. But this tuna salad is nice and colorful with lots of flavor and it does keep in the fridge for almost a week.

This recipe makes a lot so it usually lasts me almost a week. Personally, I eat it on white bread, but I suppose you should eat it on lettuce or whole wheat bread if you’re serious about dieting.

Anyone else got a recipe that’s easy, cheap and tasty that could qualify as diet or health food?

Deb has a lot of nerve tempting us with those decadent Oreo Balls (see previous post). So how about a salad?

This one is a combination of three recipes, so posting it gives me a chance to write it down. It’s easy to toss together in a bowl, adding the dressing right before serving. Tastes great with grilled chicken in the summer and looks pretty enough to serve for a special meal. I’ve also used strawberries instead of the dried cranberries; that’s good, too. Toasting the almonds is kind of a pain, but it really adds to the flavor. 

Spinach Salad

1 tablespoon butter

3/4 cup slivered almonds

1 pound spinach, rinsed and torn into bite-size pieces (or one bag of baby spinach)

1 cup dried cranberries

1 can mandarin oranges, drained

For dressing:

2 tablespoons sesame seeds

1 tablespoon poppy seeds

1/2 cup sugar

2 teaspoons minced onion

1/4 cup white wine vinegar

1/4 cup cider vinegar

1/2 cup vegetable oil 

Melt butter in small sauce pan; add almonds, stirring until lightly toasted. Remove from heat and let cool. In large bowl, combine spinach, almonds, dried cranberries and mandarin oranges.

For dressing, mix sesame seeds, poppy seeds, sugar, onion, white wine vinegar, cider vinegar and vegetable oil. Toss with spinach when ready to serve. (Note: I don’t think I’ve ever used all of the dressing!)