Super Simple Sundried Tomato Pasta Salad

This is a pasta salad that everyone who has ever eaten it has loved! Even those people who never eat vegetables.  I guarantee you won’t be disappointed!

Ingredients
– 1 cup dry elbow or shell pasta (preferably whole wheat so it holds a little firmness with the salad dressing.
– Kraft Sun-dried Tomato Salad Dressing
– Feta cheese (if you buy the brick, crumble it with a fork)
– Grape or Cherry tomatoes (halved)
– Broccoli (chopped)
– Red onions (diced – you can saute them with some olive oil add some flavor while reducing the potent onion taste)
– Seedless cucumbers (sliced into 4 long pieces by cutting lengthwise and then diced)
– Red pepper (diced)
– Green pepper (diced)

*You’ll notice there are no measurements for vegetables. You can use however much your heart desires! I usually use about 1 pint of tomatoes, 1 small onion, 1 crown of broccoli, 1 large cucumber, and 1 of each type of pepper. Feel free to add any other vegetables that you enjoy.

Directions

1. Prepare the pasta. A quick and energy-efficient way to do this is to place a pot of water on the stove with a lid and turn on high heat. Once the water is boiling, remove the lid, add the pasta, stir once, replace the lid, and turn off the heat. Let sit for 7-10 minutes.
2. In a large bowl combine the vegetables and pasta and mix well. Add about 1/4 to 1/3 of the salad dressing bottle and mix well. Add about 1/2 to 3/4 cup of feta cheese and stir well.
3. Refrigerate for at least 4 hours before serving for the best flavor.

 

Berry Trifle

This is a super easy recipe I made for the 4th of July. I didn’t take a picture, but it looks a lot like the picture below from this website.

Ingredients:
-1 tub of low-fat cool whip
-2 boxes of fat-free vanilla pudding
-4 cups of skim milk (for the pudding)
-2 pints of blueberries
-2 pints of strawberries 
-1 ring of angel food cake (purchased or prepared on  your own).

Directions

1. Prepare the vanilla pudding and let set in the refrigerator.
2. Cut up the angel food cake into 1/2″ to 1″ cubes
3. In a large bowl, mix the angel food cake and berries.
4. Begin layering by placing a layer of fruit-cake mixture on the bottom of the dish. Top with dollops of pudding and cool whip. Repeat this layering until you reach the top of the dish.

*If you don’t have a tall dish, you can use a long cake pan and just have fewer layers.