Summer Salad Sunday – Italian Pasta Salad, Greek Salad, Quinoa Chickpea Salad…

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After my Soup Sunday Series back in the Fall I have now started a new one cause I had so much fun. It is called Summer Salad Sunday and I will hopefully be able to keep it going until September.

I love any kind of salads. They are the most versatile side dishes you could wish for cause a salad isn´t just lettuce and oil and vinegar. You can make a salad out of a million things and many salads won´t be a healthy treat in the end.

So let´s start and recap the last three of salads I have posted on Instagram including the making of:

 

Italian Pasta Salad

For our first round of Summer Salad Sunday I am sharing the Italian Pasta Salad. My mom has been making this one for over ten years and it is always a favorite with lots of ingredients Italy has to offer.

Italian Pasta Salad:

-macaroni (love these for convenience but every other small noodle does the trick)
– black olives
– sun dried tomatoes (almost forgot to add 😬)
– red pesto
– little mozzarella balls
– pickled artichokes

Cook the macaroni until they are al dente.
Meanwhile you can prepare all the other ingredients (wash, chop,…)
When your noodles are cooled off you can mix all of the ingredients together and stir, stir, stir
That’s it. Mangiare !!!

As far as meassuring goes I mostly eyeball it cause there isn’t a thing you can do wrong. If you love one ingredient more than the other just add a little more 😋

If stored in the fridge you can eat it for 3 days so this would also be a great option for Summer meal prep.

Greek Salad

The ingredients are all fresh and tasty so this doesn’t need much of a dressing, olive oil is enough.

Greek Salad Ingredients:

– feta cheese
– cucumber
– black olives
– onion
– tomatoes
– olive oil
– dried garden herbs

In terms of amounts we don’t take it that seriously over here. Just add more or less of what you like the most.

Cut up everything and mix it together. Add the olive oil and some dried herbs and stir, stir, stir.

Quinoa Chickpea Salad

This one is far away from a low calorie, lots of vegetables salad but it is easy to make, keeps you full and is great for meal prep too.

Ingredients:

– quinoa
– chickpeas
– feta cheese
– avocado

I cook the quinoa for about 20 minutes and let it cool off after but you can also look at the packaging for proper handling.
Meanwhile I cut and rinse all the other ingredients.
When the quinoa is cooled of I add some olive oil, vinegar, salt and pepper. Like always I do not have proper quantities to share. Add as much or less as you like and it tastes right for you.

I keep mine in the fridge and have a delicious lunch for about 4 days. 

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Simple Last Minute Easter Pretzel Treats…

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Are you invited to an Easter brunch and looking for a cute and Easter themed little hostess gift you could bring ? I have made these chocolate covered pretzels last week and they have been a total hit within my family so I am sure that they would be a nice treat to gift as well.

In fact they are a great treat year round cause they are easy to adjust to the season and holiday. I went with different glass jars to put them in and added little Easter ornaments like eggs and carrots. 

Now on to the recipe which is fairly easy. All you need are pretzels, white chocolate and sprinkles (in this case Easter themed) and you are good to go.

Just melt the chocolate and dip your pretzels half side into it. Sprinkles on top and then let it cool off and harden for about half a day. Now they are ready to pack up and gift or just to eat by yourself.

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Easy Weeknight Meals…

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Life is busy with two small children, lots of spare time activites and a full household to throw so I am all about quick and easy meals. I don´t want to sacrifice the taste 

One Pan Meals

These are the days we have lots of leftovers of several food groups so we just throw everything in a pan, sear everything and let it sit in there with some cheese on top to melt. Definitely some of our favorite meals came out through this. You don´t have to waste food. It can be 3 or 10 different things like sausage, bread crumbs, vegetable and so on… 

 

Instant Pot Meals

This is probably the fastest way to get a fresh homecooked meal on the dinner table. I do have an Instant and a Crock Pot and I would say I prefer my slow cooker but this definitely comes in handy when there is no time left.

Chicken Alfredo / Mac and Cheese / Spaghetti Bolognese / Chicken Tikka Masala 

 

Sheet Pan Meals

Great way to get a variety of different food groups ready to eat in the same amount of time. We love to do salmon, potatoe slices and asparagus or sausage, green beans and sliced potatoes. These two are our favorite sheet pan meals plus Emilia really likes them too.

If you need some more inspo you can have a look at this recipe collection as well. I am sure there is one for everybody.

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Delicious Homemade Cinnamon French Toast for your Easter Breakfast…

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How amazing would it be if you are coming down the stairs on Easter morning and the amazing smell of a batch of french toast comes your way. I assume this would put a smile on any face. 

Since this is an easy and very well preparable meal I would suggest to incorporate this into your Easter brunch. 

I used pre-sliced french brioche but you could also buy a whole loaf of brioche and slice it yourself. So the secret is to put a dash of cinnamon into the milk before you put your slice in to let is soak the milk. After that you seal it with the egg mixture and put it into the pan.

Always use a spoonful of butter or fat or cooking spray cause it will definitely stick and won´t look pretty anymore. I am cooking on middle heat cause if it heats up the fast the egg on the outside will burn. 

After flipping it twice I pile it up on a plate, pour syrup over it and garnish it with butter flakes and berries.

 

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