Tortellini salad

20 oz Cooked cheese tortellini
1 cup cubed motzarella
1 cup chopped pepperoni
1 cup cherry tomatoes cut in half
1/3 cup fresh basil chopped
2/3 cup Cesar Dressing

Cook tortellini according to package directions rinse and drain.  Add all other ingredients and refrigerate until ready to serve.

Commentary:

I tried to use the mushroom tortellini from Aldi with this and while it was good it wasn't great like the cheese tortellini was!  USE THE CHEESE!  Also I refrigerated this and then added a bit more dressing right before serving as the pasta sucks the dressing in.  My family loved this and so did our friends!

Thai Chicken and Noodle Salad

I got this recipe out of my Our Best Bites cookbook and changed a few things to accommodate my liking (of course).

Prepare some spaghetti noodles.  I do about 8oz of noodles for my large family
You will need about 3 cups or so of prepared chicken.  I grill mine on the cast iron with some sesame oil and garlic YUMMO!
I also use bagged salad like romaine mix instead of their mix they suggest, easier and tasty!

Here's the recipe for the dressing:

1/2 cup creamy peanut butter
1 tbl Lime juice (I use the concentrate)
2 1/2 tsp sesame oil
1 tbl spn rice wine vinegar
2 tbl spn soy sauce
3 tbl spn honey (tonight I used 2 tbl of corn syrup because I was out of hone and it worked fine)
1 clove garlic
1 tsp ground ginger
1/2 cup cilantro
1/4 tsp salt
2 teaspoons Sriracha chili sauce
1/2 cup vegetable oil
2-4 tbl spns water

put all those ingredients except for the vegetable oil and water in a food processor or blender and process until smooth.  Add vegetable oil and process until combined.   Add water a little at a time if it is too thick.

Assemble salad, noodles, chicken and top with dressing.  Best thing ever!!

Potato Salad

I'm not one for exact measurements on most things so here goes my attempt to write down this recipe.

6-8 potato's boiled until tender

mayonnaise

chopped onion

chopped dill pickles

pickle juice

chicken bullion

Boil potato's until tender.  Add mayo until moist about 1/2 cup I guess.  Add chopped onion and pickles to taste.  I use about 1/2 cup of pickle juice, pour into salad.  Chicken bullion granules works the best add about 1 tspn more or less, it does make things salty.  You can use bullion cubes just dissolve in the pickle juice before putting in the salad.