Greek Pasta Salad

I'm always trying to think of new ideas for lunches I can take to work.  If I can make it on Sunday and then portion out into 4-5 lunch serving, even better.   Lately, I've really been trying harder to get more vegetables and whole grains into my diet, which is how I came up with this recipe.  The salad dressing is modified from one I found in an old Food Network magazine.  This lunch gets in quite a few servings of vegetables, as well as whole grains from the pasta and healthy oils from the dressing.  It is also very filling and stays with me throughout my work day. 

Greek Pasta Salad
Serves: 5-6

Salad:
6 ounces whole wheat pasta
1 red pepper, diced
1 (15 ounce) can garbanzo beans, drained and rinsed
1 (4 ounce) can sliced black olives, drained
2 garlic cloves, minced
1/4 cup yellow pepper rings, diced
1 pint grape tomatoes
1/4 cup feta cheese
1 bunch spinach, chopped
1/4 cup dressing, recipe below

Dressing:
2 Tbs balsamic vinegar
2 tsp Dijon mustard
1/2 tsp kosher salt
1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil

Make dressing: Combine all dressing ingredients in a jar with a lid and shake until combined. 
Store left over dressing in the refrigerator for about a week.

Cook pasta according to package instructions.  Once finished cooking, drain and rinse under cold water

Dice the pepper and add to drained garbanzo beans, olives, garlic, yellow pepper, tomatoes and feta cheese in a large bowl.  Pour dressing over mixture and stir to combine.   Add in cooled pasta and stir to combine.  Chop spinach and add to pasta salad.  

*Note: If not eating the pasta salad right away, wait to add the spinach.  Otherwise the spinach will wilt.  For take-to-work lunches, I put some pasta salad at the bottom of a Tupperware container and then put some chopped spinach on top. At lunchtime I can toss the mixture together and spinach doesn't get wilted beforehand by only sitting on top of the pasta.

xoxo Melissa

Baked Macaroni & Cheese

Sometimes you just need a little comfort food, even if it is 90 degrees in June.  Macaroni cheese was the perfect thing to fit the craving when my sister and her husband came up for dinner last week.  This recipe comes from The Picky Palate Cookbook. While the cookbook is sort-of geared towards meals you can make for children, I found it to be pretty delicious, without being too decadent as some mac & cheese recipes are.  I made it with unsweetened almond milk, which dramatically reduced the calories and fat.  Using almond milk still created a cheesy and creamy macaroni and cheese and the panko coated top added a nice crunch.  I will definitely keep this recipe in my go-to recipe files.  It's quick, easy, tasty and man approved - what else could you want from a recipe?  

Baked Macaroni & Cheese
Serves 4 (main course servings)

1/2 lb. elbow macaroni
6 Tbs butter, divided
3 Tbs. flour
3/4 tsp kosher salt
1/2 tsp paprika
1/4 tsp ground pepper
1 1/2 cups milk
2 cups shredded cheddar cheese
1/2 cup panko bread crumbs

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Spray a 2 qt. baking dish with cooking spray

Cook the pasta according to package directions, drain and rinse under cold water.

Melt 3 Tbs. of butter in a large saucepan over medium heat. Add the flour, salt, paprika and pepper.  Stir to combine all ingredients, until it's almost like a paste.

 

 Slowly whisk in the milk and stir until mixture is smooth and thickened, about 5 minutes.

 

 

Stir in the cheese.

 

 

Once smooth, add in the cooled macaroni. 

 

 

Pour macaroni mixture into the prepared pan. To prepare the topping, melt remaining 3 Tbs. butter in a small dish in the microwave. Once melted, add the bread crumbs and toss to combine. Sprinkle panko over macaroni and bake for 25 minutes. Remove from the oven and allow to cool for about 10 minutes, if you can wait! Enjoy!

xoxo Melissa

Product Review: Magnum Mini Gold

Continuing with my ice cream and frozen treat reviews, this week brings a review of the Magnum Mini Gold bars.  I've seen commercial after commercial about these bars and I thought it was about time I try them out!  I'm not one to eat an almost 400 calorie ice cream bar, so I was quite pleased to see they come in "mini" form.  At 170 calories and 12g fat per bar, it's a much more reasonable splurge in my mind.   However, they don't lie when they say "mini." As you can see from the picture below, they're pretty small, although it's "real" ice cream so a little goes a long way for me.  I'm not sure my husband would be satisfied after one, but I was.

The box describes the bars as "vanilla bean ice cream with a sea salt caramel swirl dipped in a golden chocolaty coating." I definitely liked the thick chocolate coating, which had a nice crunch.  The coating had a bit of butterscotch flavor, which I'm not sure was intended or not, but I enjoyed this either way.  There was a slight caramel swirl through the vanilla ice cream, although I don't know if I'd really consider it a "sea salt caramel" flavor as they stated.  It didn't have that typical salty caramel taste that so many other salted caramel treats have.  I still enjoyed it though and would be willing to try out some of their other "mini" flavors.