PASTA SALADS!

ORZO WITH GRILLED SHRIMP AND FETA
INGREDIENTS
Grilled shrimp (marinate the shrimp in lemon peel, lemon juice, olive oil, crushed garlic, then grill)
Cooked orzo pasta
Diced and seeded English cucumber
Diced red onion
Crumbled feta
Fresh lemon and lemon peel
Mint, parsley, a little oregano
Make a vinaigrette by whisking olive oil, fresh squeezed lemon juice, a little crumbled feta, salt and pepper,and white wine vinegar, and a crushed garlic clove. Taste it to your liking either adding more or less.
Place all ingredients in a bowl, adding all the herbs, more feta, (make sure it’s in small crumbles)pour your vinaigrette over all the ingredients, taste it and make sure you have enough of everything! Adjust it to your liking.
BOWTIE CAPRESE
INGREDIENTS
Cooked bowtie pasta
Grape tomatoes sliced in half
Fresh mozzarella cut in chunks ( I used a dry pack)
Fresh basil
Place everything in your bowl and coat with good olive oil, salt and pepper
The juices will come out of the tomatoes and flavor the oil and give a great taste to the salad.

These salads are great for any party, lunch with the girls (or guys), BBQ’s, and picnic’s.
Hope you give them a try!
Buon Appetito!!

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CHEESECAKE POPS! ( Daring Bakers)

This happened to be a very timely challenge for me, because yesterday my daughter and I hosted a personal shower for my neice. I thought “what a great idea, I’ll make these for the shower!” Considering I had a bunch of other things to cook and bake for the shower, this might not have been such a good idea! Doing something new and unfamiliar, then dipping and decorating them, and of course taking pictures! Well you know what I mean!!
Thursday night I baked the cheesecake which by the way, took me 65 min. to bake. My oven is only 2 years old and very accurate, so I set the timer for the 35 to 45 min. that the recipe called for, but it just didn’t set. Other than that, I had no problems at all!

Here is the perfectly set and cooled cheesecake!

This months challenge of these DECADENT Cheesecake Pops, was hosted by two ladies, Elle, of Feeding my Enthusiasms and Deborah, at Taste and Tell. Go over to their blogs to check out the whole recipe. I have to admit these little pops were quite a hit at the shower, I got alot of “Ooooh’s” and “Ahhhh’s” A big thanks to them both!

As far as the melting of the chocolate, I did mine in the microwave, stirring every 30 seconds, it turned out nice and glossy and stuck to the frozen cheesecake balls perfectly.

I decided to decorate the lolipop stick with pipe cleaners, they were super easy to bend around, and I liked the color it added. Great for a Girlie shower!!

I got a little carried away with what I decorated them with. Here is what I used:

Mini chocolate chips

Sprinkles

Coconut

Chopped pecans

Crushed Oreo cookies

Plain chocolate

Crushed Skors toffee bar

Crushed Biscotti ( of course I had to get something Italian in there!)

These one bite wonders are perfect for any party, trust me, they’re worth it!!

Please check out some of the other Daring Bakers amazing Cheesecake Pops here.

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GRILLED CHICKEN OREGANATO

This past weekend the weather was beautiful, which prompted me to fire up my grill for dinner.
Since I was going to be grilling chicken I knew exactly how I was going to make it. I got my inspiration for this from eyeing Amy’s huge jar of Marinata Diavola, over at Familia Bencomo.
What a great idea to have this on hand in your frig during grilling season. Go over and check out her recipe here, I had to change mine up a bit because I didn’t have any fresh rosemary, so instead I used dried greek oregano, hence the title…Chicken Oreganato.

What ever herbs you use trust me it will be delicious! Its simply a mixture of fresh lemon juice, extra virgin olive oil, crushed garlic cloves, sea salt, and pepper, and cayenne pepper. ( I only had red pepper flakes). Put it all in a jar, shake it up and use it as a marinade or just brush it on grilled meats, all kinds of fish, and your favorite veggies.

I didn’t make enough, so I’ll be making lots more. I love having it readily available in my frig, and the longer it sits, the better it tastes. 🙂

I even brushed it over my lemons that I grilled. If you have never grilled a lemon, you have to try it, it’s sweeter and super juicy! I squeezed it all over my chicken, mmmm was it good!!

If you haven’t had a chance to visit Amy’s blog, or gotten to know her yet, please stop by for a visit, one conversation with her and you’ll think you’ve known her for years! Really!!!
Thanks Amy!

Happy Grilling!!

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