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Host a Backyard Luncheon with Pasta Salad

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August 7, 2015

Recently my niece had us over for a backyard luncheon. The temperature was just right and the company was even better! The kids ran around and played on the swing set. I gravitated towards her garden. I saw something growing that I had never seen before and asked her what it was. She told me it was called a lemon cucumber. Of course, I had to try one, so I picked it, washed it and tried it. I ate it with the skin on, at her suggestion, and it tasted just like a cucumber but with a very, very slight lemon taste.

She had prepared a simple, light lunch that was just perfect with the sun shining down. Not too heavy for the warm summer day. The first dish was a simple leaf lettuce salad. She had bought a bag of leaf lettuce and then added some cucumber and tomatoes from her own garden.

The next dish was a fruit salad with cut up cantaloupe and watermelon. Grapes and strawberries were added for just the right mixture of fruit.

The main dish was a delicious chicken pasta salad. She couldn’t remember where she got the recipe from, but I managed to find this chicken club pasta salad recipe at allrecipes.com that was very similar to hers. I remember some Kalamata olives were added to her dish.

Chicken Club Pasta Salad

Ingredients

  • 8 ounces corkscrew pasta
  • ¾ cup Italian style salad dressing
  • ¼ cup mayonnaise
  • 2 cups chopped, cooked rotisserie chicken
  • 12 slices crispy cooked bacon, crumbled
  • 1 cup cubed Muenster cheese
  • 1 cup celery
  • 1 cup chopped green bell pepper
  • 8 ounces cherry tomatoes, halved
  • 1 avocado – peeled, pitted and chopped

Directions

  1. Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil.
  2. Cook pasta in the boiling water, stirring occasionally until cooked through but firm to the bite, 10 to 12 minutes.
  3. Drain and rinse under cold water.
  4. Whisk Italian-style dressing and mayonnaise together in a large bowl.
  5. Stir pasta, chicken, bacon, Muenster cheese, celery, green bell pepper, cherry tomatoes, and avocado into dressing until evenly coated.

Add a pitcher of water and/or ice tea and you have prepared a nice meal for that last get backyard get together.

Image Source: Wikipedia

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