Mexican Street Corn Pasta Salad

 At work we have a tradition of holding a potluck lunch on an employee's last day. We had an opportunity for one last week. Another co-worker offered to bring gorditas. Having never tried them before, I was looking forward to it! Knowing what she was bringing, helped me pick what to bring. I scoured my saved recipes on Pinterest and saw this one for Mexican Street Corn Pasta Salad. 

The recipe was super easy to put together and turned out really good! I even received compliments from my two Mexican-American co-workers. Yes! 

Because this dish is served cold, it is a perfect one for a potluck. Bring some extra cotija cheese for everyone to sprinkle on top of their portion and your serving bowl will be empty before you head home. Or if you're lucky like me you'll have just enough to have a portion later. 

*Because I'm not a fan of onions or cilantro, I left those out and it still tasted really good.

Cheesy Beef and Pasta

Do you ever try new recipes, save them and then completely forget about them? That is the case with this recipe. I was looking through recipe files on my computer and saw this one. I honestly cannot remember even making it, but because I took the effort to create a recipe card for it, it must have been tasty. Make it and let me know what you think!

Time for Dinner

I wanted to share the past two meals I’ve made because they were really delicious and pretty easy to make.

Quick & Easy Chicken and Dumplings (for 2-3 people)

1 cup biscuit mix (I used Bisquick Heart Healthy)

1/3 cup milk

1 T flour

3 cups chicken stock (try to get the reduced sodium kind so it’s a little healthier)

1/8 cup water

1 bay leaf

¼ t each of salt and pepper

1 cup frozen veggies

1 cup cooked, shredded chicken (like a rotisserie chicken)

In a small bowl, stir biscuit mix and milk until just combined. Set aside. In a medium pot, combine stock, bay leaf, salt and pepper; bring to a boil. In a small dish, whisk flour and water and stir into chicken stock. Add chicken and veggies. Drop dumpling batter into boiling stock. Reduce heat to a simmer and cook uncovered for 10 minutes. Cover and cook an additional 10 minutes.

Parmesan Pasta with Chicken (for 4-6 people)

12 oz pasta (it called for orchietta, but I used mini ziti because the store didn’t have that kind and I already had the ziti)

1 3-4 lb rotisserie chicken

¾ cup grated Parmesan cheese

½ t each of salt and pepper

Cook the pasta according to the package directions. Shred the chicken (this step was already completed since I used 1 cup of the chicken in the chicken and dumplings). Discard the skin and bones. Drain the pasta, reserving 1 ¼ cups of the water. Return the pasta to the pot. Add reserved water, chicken, Parmesan, salt and pepper. Stir over medium low heat until the sauce has thickened slightly, about 2 minutes.

Creamy Parmesan mashed potatoes

1 lb red potatoes (about 4) cut into ½ inch chunks

1 cup chicken broth

¼ cup sour cream

2 oz cream cheese

1 ½ T grated Parmesan cheese

Place potatoes in a large saucepan. Add broth. Cover. Bring to a boil on high heat. Simmer on medium heat for 15 minutes, stirring after 8 minutes. Uncover, stir potatoes. Simmer, uncovered, 5-6 minutes, or until potatoes are tender and most of the broth is absorbed.

Add cream cheese. Reduce heat to low. Mash potatoes slightly until cream cheese is melted. Add sour cream and Parmesan. Mash until potatoes are smooth (we left it a little chunky) and heated through.

Enjoy!