Dilly Bacon Pasta Salad

Happy Hump Day!!!!  Well here we are on the brink of summer fun with the Memorial Day Weekend coming upon us in just a few days.  To me, nothing says summer weekends like a good pasta salad.  I don't think there has ever been a pasta salad that I haven't liked.....ever!  So last week I had a hankering for some of that wonderful summer spread and was running little light on ingredients and really didn't feel like running back to the store....well let's just say.....for the third time.  I thought, well, why can't I just make up my own recipe, so I did!  I hope you enjoy as much as we did, we had an empty bowl by the end of dinner, what more can a mom ask for to show that a recipe was a home success!

Dilly Bacon Pasta Salad

1/2 lb cooked macaroni, drained
6 slices of of chopped fried bacon
1/2 chopped vidalia onion
5 celery stalks chopped
1 cup cherry tomatoes cut in half
3-4 cups mayo
1 tbsp dried dill
salt and pepper to taste

Throw it all in a bowl and gently mix together.  Start with 3 cups of mayo and add to however "wet" you like your salad.  Refrigerate for at least an hour before serving to let flavors mix. 

Now how is this for fast and easy!  My husband is not a nut fan, but I would say this would be great with some chopped walnuts or pecans mixed in for some extra crunch and texture.

ENJOY!!!

A Big Thank You!

Wow!  That just made my day!  Thank you to everyone who has visited my Blog through the Gooseberry Patch Shortcut Recipe Round-Up!  It's been a lot of fun coming up with original recipes that I can share with everyone.  Please continue the feedback and let me know if there are any creations you would like to see.  Or better yet, feel free to share!  I am always happy to share my space and have a guest blogger any day!

Kelli

Fake It Until You Make It Taco Dip

So have you ever been in that quandary of taking something to work for a potluck?  Not to mention, forgetting until you have to leave for work in the next 20 minutes???  Well that happened to me today! 
Many of associate potluck lunches with work or school. However, according to Wikipedia, the potluck has been around for quite some time.

The word pot-luck appears in 16th century England, in the work of Thomas Nashe, and was there used to mean "food provided for an unexpected or uninvited guest, the luck of the pot". The sense "communal meal, where guests bring their own food", appears to have originated in the late 19th century or early 20th century US, particularly in the Western United States, either by influence from potlatch or possibly by extension of traditional sense of "luck of the pot".

To the Irish, a potluck was a meal with no particular menu. Everyone participating brought a dish for all to share. The term comes from a time when groups of Irish women would gather together and cook dinner. They only had one pot so they cooked the meal together with whatever ingredients they happened to have that day.

So today was my day to scour the pantry and the refrigerator and come up with something appetizing in 20 minutes or less!  And I did it!!!  You can never fail with anything that has Mexican flavor and it happens to be one of my favorite flavors.  A little bit of this and a little bit of that and you can come up with a quick and tasty dip that everyone will enjoy.

Fake Until You Make It Taco Dip

16oz can refried beans
15oz can Hormel Turkey Chili, No Beans
11oz can Del Monte Summer Corn drained
14oz can diced tomatoes drained
1/2 of a 15oz jar of Tostito's Queso Cheese Dip
1/2 cup crushed tortilla chips or left over taco shells
1/2 cup shredded taco cheese
1/2 cup sliced black olives
1/4 cup chopped green onion

Layer in a deep pie plate.  Start in order from the top down, mix the diced tomatoes and queso together as one layer then continue down the list. Refrigerate until ready to serve.  You can serve this with crackers, cut up flour tortillas or tortilla/corn chips.  Fast and easy!  Tastes awesome!!!

ENJOY!