Honey Lime Fruit Salad

Blah blah. I have no witty nonsense today. Just this yummy fruit salad. Joe and I made it for our failed picnic. There is this other "perfect" fruit salad that calls for vanilla pudding mix. What the heck is that? This is perfect with honey and lime juice. Way better for you than pudding mix on fruit. Plus I'm pretty sure this dressing would be perfect on any fruit. Not sure how pudding would be on everything. So yeah, this is the best. Light and sweet and tart. Om nom nom get in my belly!

Recipe from Oh! You Cook!

Cheesy Garlic Bread

Remember that episode of Friends where Amy pierces Emma's ears and Rachel gets really mad? They bond over how fat their third sister, Jill, has gotten because of her weakness: garlic bread. Yeah, that's me. I could eat garlic bread with every meal. Joe and I made this little snack and I can not get it out of my mind. It's so easy, I don't even have measurements or numbered steps for this. We dipped our bread in some spaghetti sauce with Parmesan cheese mixed in. It is just so dang good.

Get yourself some french bread, butter, garlic powder, and mozzarella cheese. Butter one side of each slice of bread, sprinkle on some garlic powder and put under the broiler until they look toasty. Top with some cheese and put them back under the broiler until the cheese is bubbly. Devour.

  

Pesto Pasta Salad

Do you like regular pasta salad? You know, macaroni drowning in mayo and mustard? I don't. Pasta and mayo tastes like mayo which makes me feel so gross. But pasta salad emerged during the great depression as a way to use a lot of cheap food with a little expensive food so the whole family could have some expensive ham while filling up on the cheap stuff. I've never had pasta salad with ham in it so maybe I would enjoy that.

But anyways, when you are working at the mall on Black Friday, you know the crowds are way too big to ever get in and out of the food court in 30 minutes. So Bath and Body Works had a potluck so it's poor associates don't starve to death. My contribution was this pasta salad. Because pasta is cheap. I found a recipe on the internet for a pasta salad that used pesto sauce instead of mayo. I took that inspiration and made my own pasta salad recipe. I doubled this recipe and got 16-20 servings of pasta salad. That's less than a dollar a serving! See? Cheap! You could add some cubed, cooked chicken to make it a meal. The girls at work really loved it. I divided the leftovers up into smaller containers to make great meals that can go to work.

Pesto Pasta Salad (Inspired by this recipe)

• 1 lb pasta (I used penne but you could use cavatappi, farfalle, fusilli, or macaroni if you would like.)
• 2 cups peas, cooked and drained
• 8 oz. pesto sauce (I used bottled sauce but you could make your own.)
• 1 pint grape tomatoes, quartered
• 1-2 tablespoons olive oil

1. Cook pasta according to package directions until al dente. Drain and rinse with cold water until pasta is cool. Drain thoroughly.
2. Toss pasta with peas, tomatoes, and sauce until well coated. Serve immediately or refrigerate for up to 4 hours. If you make it ahead of time like I did, the pasta will soak up all of you pesto so either wait to to add the pesto or add a couple of extra tablespoons of olive oil to keep it moist.

Parmesan Roasted Green Beans

Last year, for Thanksgiving, I was requested to bring green bean casserole. I don't even like green bean casserole. It's slimy and it features my two least favorite flavors: mushrooms and onions. Yuck. And the worst part is my green bean casserole was criticized harshly. And all I wanted to scream at people was, "If you like this outdated dish so much, you should have made it yourself!" It's like asking the vegetarian to bring the turkey. Who does that? This year, I told everyone I would make green beans but they would not be in casserole form. Because, really it's already a calorie-loaded day. Is there really something so wrong with fresh veggies? I don't think so. So I made Parmesan roasted green beans. Is there anything easier than roasting veggies and tossing with cheese? If there is, it's probably disgusting like green beans smothered in soup and "onions". Just saying. The green beans were perfectly cooked and had a lot of flavor! I love blanched green beans but I'll be roasting them a lot. They were quick and there was no guessing if they were done. This recipe is courtesy of skinnytaste.com!