Host a Backyard Luncheon with Pasta Salad
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
- Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil.
- Cook pasta in the boiling water, stirring occasionally until cooked through but firm to the bite, 10 to 12 minutes.
- Drain and rinse under cold water.
- Whisk Italian-style dressing and mayonnaise together in a large bowl.
- 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