Sunday, October 24, 2010

Let's Eat Blog Hop

Welcome to Let's Eat Blog Hop! If you arrived here from Random Reflections, home of the very talented Karen, welcome! It was a fairly short hop from upstate New York to southeastern Pennsylvania, so you should be read to dive right in!  If you are starting here, no worries, you can follow the entire hop by clicking on the link at the end of this post.

Quick & Easy Chicken Pasta Salad - approx. 8 servings

Feeding finicky youngsters is a tricky proposition. Feeding finicky teens is impossible. If I serve a meal they don't like, they simply won't eat it. But this is one meal they actually enjoy! It's a cold one-dish meal, great for summertime. Only six ingredients! Easy to whip up for potlucks and backyard barbeques! This recipe is also very forgiving in that there are no exact measurements and you can add more or less of any of the ingredients to change the amount of servings you create!

Ingredients to serve 8:
  • 1 pkg Farfalle (bowtie) Pasta - 12 oz.
  • 1 pkg Perdue Short Cuts Original Roasted Chicken (or 2 chicken breasts baked)
  • 1 large tomato
  • 1 large or 2 small cucumbers
  • 1 pkg Cracker Barrel extra-sharp white reduced fat Cheddar Cheese - use approx 6 oz. (feel free to substitute here - the salad would be great with feta, gorgonzola, or blue cheese crumbles if you like something with a little more zing)
  • 1 bottle Hidden Valley Original Ranch Dressing - 8 oz.
  • Optional - sliced black olives, any other veggies you want to add
Instructions:
  1. Cook pasta according to package directions. Drain and set aside.
  2. Cube chicken, tomatoes, cucumbers, and cheese into small pieces.
  3. Combine all ingredients into serving dish. Add any optional ingredients to suit.
  4. Slowly add ranch dressing, stirring until all ingredients are lightly coated.
  5. You can season to taste if desired, but we find the ranch dressing to be more than sufficient seasoning!
  6. Refrigerate and serve cold.
I input this recipe into My Fitness Pal and came up with this nutrition info per serving:  Calories - 411; Carbs - 36 g.;  Fat - 20 g.;  Protein - 19 g.;  Fiber - 2 g.   You can make it lower cal by using a low-fat ranch dressing if you prefer.

Now off you go to the UK to visit Jacky and see what she has cooked up for us! It's a longer hop, so you might want to grab some Chicken Pasta Salad for the trip!

24 comments:

scrappyjacky said...

This sounds great,Cheri...easy to make,tasty to eat.

debs14 said...

This ticks a lot of boxes! Tasty, pretty to look at, healthy and easy to make.
Thanks for putting the link the the website for working out the nutrition, I've often wondered how many of the meals that I think are healthy really are, now I can check!

Amy said...

Cheri, you are cooking my style today - one pot and no recipe!
By the way, what is a potluck?

This is going to be great for us here as the weather warms up!

Diane said...

Ah...my kids would eat this...prefect!!!

Anne said...

This will be on my list of thiongs to make for barbecues next summer here in England. It would also be nice now as a lunchtime meal at work instead of my usual sandwiches.

Miriam said...

This sounds like the perfect lunch recipe for me, thanks! :)

Deb @ PaperTurtle said...

Hi Cheri ~ This recipe looks really yummy! My family loves pasta salad, and I've never seen one with Ranch dressing on it. This is going to be a big hit around here... Thanks for sharing it!

Ruth said...

Yummy! I love anything with a pasta salad base!

Sian said...

I love the way you included the nutritional info here Cheri - that's a very nice touch. And you are right - if it includes pasta my kids will eat it!

Anonymous said...

This looks fabulous and my kids are going to love it :)

alexa said...

Looks very pretty and as a vegetarian, I can easily omit the chicken as there is still plenty of protein in the cheese - perfect!

Tracy said...

I love pasta salad, looks good!

Anonymous said...

For sure, I'm adding this one to my book. I'm always looking for a great salad recipe to take to a barbeque. This one looks really yummy! And easy!

humel said...

I love recipes with 'Quick' and 'Easy' in the title :-) This looks very much my kind of recipe, in fact! Thanks for sharing xx

Abi said...

That looks so delicious! xxx

Jennifer Grace said...

I'm not a big fan of ranch dressing, but everything else about this looks tasty! Don't think I'll be eating it until next summer though, I'm into my hearty warm and comforting winter foods now! xx

furrypig said...

I love pasta salad type recipes though not sure we have that salad dressing but I'm sure we can substitute it for something!

Faith Hope and Cherrytea said...

what a GREAT recipe! i luv pasta salads - look fwd to trying yours :)

Beverly said...

this will be perfect for our next tailgating!

emhowl said...

This sounds very tasty.

Maria Ontiveros said...

Looks yummy

Liberty :) said...

oh yum!!!! going yo have this for lunch one day!

Unknown said...

Looks quick, easy and yummy. A perfect recipe in my book. Unfortunately, in my house of picky eaters, only 2 out of the 4 of us would eat this! :) Hmmm... that's okay, the other half can fend for themselves!

Anonymous said...

Sounds good! What a fun blog hop topic!