Vegetable Orzo Pasta Salad

Orzo makes a perfect cold pasta salad for a hot summer's night dinner. Although orzo looks like rice, it is actually a pasta. It was my first time making orzo and since I knew it was a pasta and not rice I was pleasantly surprised to find out that Orzo has quite a nice texture as it is pretty fluffy and it makes for a nice light and refreshing dinner.

I browsed several orzo recipes and decided to do the following.

In a medium size pot, I put 1 and 1/2 cup orzo and let it cook for about 8-9 minutes. (you can follow the cooking instructions for time the package - the orzo should be al dente) Pour orzo into a strainer and let it cool.


While the orzo cools, in a large bowl, I put in two TBSP olive oil, one TBSP basalmic vinegar, a tsp of oregano, a tsp of basil, salt and pepper. I then cut up grape tomatoes, (about half a pint), cucumbers (two small ones), broccoli, and some red and orange peppers. After the orzo has cooled, mix the orzo in with the vegetables.





I squeezed about half a lemon into the orzo.

Then I add feta cheese (about half a container) and mix it all up. If you can, let it chill in the fridge for at least a hour.




It's nice to have as leftovers and tastes even better the next day!

Roasted Banana Pudding

My go to source for recipes had this Roasted Banana Pudding in the August CL issue. I love bananas and I love banana pudding so this recipe sounded delicious. This pudding does take some time but it is worth it.

Ingredients
5 ripe unpeeled medium bananas (about 2 pounds)
2 cups 2% reduced-fat milk
2/3 cup sugar, divided
2 tablespoons cornstarch
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 large eggs
1 tablespoon butter
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 (12-ounce) container frozen fat-free whipped topping, thawed and divided
45 vanilla wafers, divided

Preheat oven to 350°.
Place bananas on a jelly-roll pan covered with parchment paper. Bake at 350° for 20 minutes.Remove 3 bananas; cool completely.
Peel and cut into 1/2-inch-thick slices. Bake the remaining 2 bananas at 350° for an additional 20 minutes. Carefully peel and place the 2 bananas in a small bowl, and mash with a fork until smooth.(yes it does look a little gross...but don't worry, roasting these bananas make all of the difference!)
Combine milk and 1/3 cup sugar in a saucepan over medium-high heat. Bring to a simmer (do not boil).Combine remaining 1/3 cup sugar, cornstarch, salt, and eggs in a medium bowl; stir well with a whisk. Gradually add hot milk mixture to sugar mixture, stirring constantly with a whisk. Return milk mixture to pan. Cook over medium heat until thick and bubbly (about 3 minutes), stirring constantly. Remove from heat. Add mashed bananas, butter, and vanilla, stirring until butter melts.
Place pan in a large ice-filled bowl for 15 minutes or until mixture comes to room temperature, stirring occasionally. Fold half of whipped topping into pudding.
Spread 1 cup custard evenly over the bottom of an 11 x 7-inch baking dish. Top with 20 vanilla wafers and half of the banana slices. Spoon half of remaining custard over banana. Repeat procedure with 20 wafers, banana slices, and custard. Spread remaining half of whipped topping evenly over top. Crush remaining 5 wafers; sprinkle over top. Refrigerate for 1 hour or until chilled.

Curry Chicken Salad

It has been so hot lately that when it comes to making dinner, the thought of sitting down to a hot dinner, well makes my temperature start to rise. So I tried making some curry chicken salad. I read several different recipes and just decided to do the following.

I took two chicken breasts and seasoned them with cumin, chili pepper and garlic salt. I cooked these in a pan until they were done. I then cut the chicken into chunks.


I chopped up half an appple and a couple stalks of celery. (Next time I would use a full apple and a little more celery) Then in a large bowl, I added the following:

1/2 cup greek yogurt
1/4 cup of light mayo
2 TBSP curry powder
1 tsp black pepper
chopped apple
chopped celery
1 box of raisins (the travel pack kind, I would also double this amount next time)
chicken

Surgical Boots and Pulled Pork

I have been lazy in posting lately, don't worry that doesn't mean I haven't been cooking, I have just been lazy. And with summer life is always pretty crazy!

Unfortunately the same can't be said for running as I have been in surgical boots for most of the spring and have just been cleared for running. Now I just have to be patient and slowly build up my mileage. Here is a picture of my sweet surgical boots. I was quite the fashionista in these boots as you can imagine. I looked like I was wearing snowboots..which would have been great if I lived in Jackson Hole or Colorado but I live in Chicago where the biggest uphill climbs are our speedbumps.




So I am back and I want to share with you my experience with making pulled pork. I loved pulled pork and I was shocked and happy to find out how easy it is to make! If you have a slow cooker you can just let this cook all day and it is so moist and tender when you are ready to eat.

I found this recipe on CL but I only used the recipe for the rub on the pork. I found the recipe for the BBQ that was included well..not that great, so we just used store bought BBQ sauce.

Ingredients for the rub:
2 tablespoons dark brown sugar
1 tablespoon smoked paprika
1 tablespoon chili powder
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons ground cumin
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/2 teaspoon dry mustard
1/2 teaspoon ground chipotle chile pepper

You will need a boneless pork shoulder that is about 5 lbs.

To prepare pork, combine first 8 ingredients in a small bowl.

Rub sugar mixture evenly over pork. Let pork stand at room temperature 1 hour.
We then seared the pork in the pan, just enough that all sides of the pork are brown. We then placed the pork in the crock pot with about 2 cups water and 1 cup vinegar and cooked it on low for 8 hours. Depending how much time you have, if you want to cook it in less time, you can cook it on high for the first hour or two, and then turn it back down to low. It should be ready in about 4-6 hours then.


After the pork has been cooked for at least six hours, take the pork out and shred pork. Serve with your favorite BBQ sauce.