Bowtie Pasta Salad

I hope you had a lovely 4th of July weekend!  Isn't it a great holiday?!  It's especially nice when it falls on a Friday too.  We do our parading on the evening of the 3rd so we don't have to wake up early and rush our kids out the door on the morning of the 4th.  Grr... they are cranky monkeys when they don't get their beauty rest.  I mean really though.... parades on the morning of the 4th sound fun right?  But when you really think about it..... let's get up early, rush out the door to fight a crowd of people for a spot to sit in the blazing sun for hours so we can watch businesses and politicians try to buy our love with coupons, stickers and candy.  Don't all jump at once!

No really - it's mostly about the tradition - which I'm a HUGE fan of.  So we do it... just the night before instead of the morning of the big day.  Then I get to stay home ALL day on the 4th.  We rent a bounce house, fill up a little pool in the backyard and invite family and friends over for a bbq and lame front yard fireworks.  It's the bomb.

This year I made one of my all-time favorite salads... the recipe came from my awesome sister-in-law and I thought I'd pass it along!!

Bowtie Pasta Salad

Ingredients

• 16 oz bowtie pasta, cooked
• 1 cup mayo
• 12-16 oz cole slaw dressing
• 1/2 bunch green onions, chopped fine
• 1 cup red grapes, sliced in half
• 1 can mandarin oranges
• 1 can pineapple tidbits
• 1 cup cashews or slivered almonds

Cook pasta then rinse well with cold water.  Whisk together mayo and dressing until the consistency is smooth.  Pour over pasta and stir.  Fold in remaining ingredients and mix well.  Simple as that.  You can also add chicken to this salad.  I usually leave it out because it makes such a great side to grilled chicken breasts!  

Grape Salad

I promise from the bottom of my heart that you won't regret making this salad.  I got the recipe from my amazing sister-in-law after a picnic one Saturday.  It was honestly one of those things where I couldn't believe I had lived my life to that point without tasting it!  I'm not even kidding when I say that.  Now wherever I take this salad I get requests for the recipe so I know it's not just me who loves it!

Grape Salad

Ingredients:

• 2 lbs grapes (I do half red and half green)
• 8 oz cream cheese
• 8 oz sour cream
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1/4 cup brown sugar
• 1/2 - 3/4 cup chopped pecans (optional)

Cut grapes in half and place in large bowl.  Beat cream cheese until smooth then mix in sour cream, sugar, vanilla and brown sugar.  Fold in pecans.  (You probably noticed that pecans are optional.  While they aren't essential to the tastiness of this salad, I HIGHLY recommend using them - unless you are terribly allergic or can't stand them of course!  They add this perfect little edge though and are my favorite part of the dish!) Pour sauce over grapes and stir until all are coated evenly.  Voila!

Want to change it up?  Cut up apples are also yummy in this sauce.

Raspberry Yogurt Salad

Recently I came to the conclusion that we would be making a wise investment to install a yogurt pump into our refrigerator.  I'm not even sure if that's a thing but I'm picturing it to be like the soft serve ice cream pumps.  You know what I'm talking about.  We could just go to the Dannon plant that's a couple miles away and stock up on yogurt by the gallons.  Pure brilliance.  This genius dawned on me as I was checking out at the grocery store with my typical 172 ounces of yogurt on board.  That's 14 pounds!  We eat the equivalent of our two dogs put together (one weighs 6 lbs and the other 9 lbs) at least weekly.  I think my 3 kids and I could sustain ourselves on vanilla yogurt and raspberries.  So, needless to say, this delightful salad is a favorite around here!  

Ingredients:

32 oz vanilla yogurt

5.1 oz box instant vanilla pudding

8 oz cool whip

12 oz bag frozen raspberries

Combine and voila!  It's literally that easy.  Give it a try... you'll love it!

60-Second Craisin Salad

This is one of my all-time favorite salads - for a number of reasons.  It's a great combination of salty and sweet, chewy and crunchy.  One of my favorite things about it it how quickly it comes together.  You can purchase everything ready to go so it requires zero prep.  So, in a matter of 60 seconds, you can turn this:

Into this:

Yes, please!  This recipe makes quite a bit of salad so if you aren't feeding a fleet, you may want to cut it in half.  I like to make lots so I can eat it for lunch for the next few days.

Ingredients:
2 bags Italian blend salad mix
10 oz bag of craisins
4 oz bag of bacon pieces
2 cup bag of shredded mozzarella cheese
4 oz bag of slivered almonds

Dump everything in a bowl and mix.  Serve with poppy seed or your favorite vinegarette dressing.