BLT Pasta Salad

Sometimes its the little things in life that mean the most, like picnics in the park with your best friends. Today was such a beautiful day. It was warm and sunny, and besides my zebra-like sunburn that I came home with, things were just as perfect as these pictures.

My friends and I relaxed, talked, went for a beautiful walk in the park, and enjoyed this yummy (and healthy!!) pasta salad. We set up our picnic right next to the water, and had the most beautiful view.

The park also has great walking paths, and the scenery is just GORGEOUS. I'm so blessed to live five minutes away from this place. It's a great place to just come by yourself and clear your mind, or enjoy it with friends like I did today.

Now back to what you probably came here for...THE FOOD. For lunch, I made us ham and cheese sandwiches, fruit salad, and this pasta salad. I didn't want to make anything heavy so this pasta salad was just PERFECT. Hope you enjoy!

Ingredients:

• 1 pound of pasta, cooked
• 3 large tomatoes, diced
• 8 slices bacon, cooked and crumbled
• 4 cup lettuce, thinly sliced
• 1 cup scallion onions
• 2 tsp sugar
• 4 tsp cider vinegar
• 1 cup low fat mayonnaise
• 2/3 cup light sour cream
• 2 tbsp dijon mustard
• salt and pepper

Recipe:

1. In a small bowl, mix sugar, vinegar, mayonnaise, sour cream, mustard, and salt and pepper to taste.
2. Mix the mayonnaise mixture with the pasta and tomatoes. 
3. When ready to serve, mix in the lettuce, and place a scoop of the pasta salad on the plate. Sprinkle with bacon and scallion onions. 

Bacon Wrapped Tater Tots

Today I was looking through my pictures and came across the one below.

 I made this appetizer months ago and it was a huge hit. I can't believe that I forgot to post it.

It's nothing fancy....

(the original recipe doesn't call it "tasty trashy taters" for nothing..)

It's not healthy...

(it's fried, oozing with cheese, AND wrapped with bacon and sugar...)

But it sure does taste good thanks to the salty bacon and sweet brown sugar! 

In my opinion salty and sweet is the best combo.

This would be PERFECT for the next time the man in your life invites all his buddies over.

Not to be sexist, but this just screams man food for me.

It's probably because my boyfriend loves anything that is wrapped in bacon haha. 

I'll certainly be saving this recipe for football season.

Football, beer, and trashy taters...

Sounds good to me!

Recipe Source: The Chew

Ingredients:

• 1/2 bag tater tots (thaw to room temperature)
• 8 ounces sharp cheddar cheese (cut into tiny blocks-about 1/4 inch)
• frank's hot sauce
• 16 ounces of bacon strips (cut strips in half)
• 1/2 cup brown sugar

Recipe:

• Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
• Line a cookie sheet with foil.
• Create an assembly line to make the tater tots:
• First, cut a small whole in the tater and place a cube of cheese in the opening.
• Dash tater with hot sauce. 
• Wrap the tater with bacon and secure with a toothpick.
•  Roll the bacon bundle in brown sugar. 
• Place on baking sheet. 
• Repeat with each tater.
• Bake for 10 minutes. 
• Flip tater tots over and bake for a remaining 5-10 minutes.

On another note, this is my first week co-hosting Tasty Tuesdays over at Anyonita Nibbles.

Link up below!
 

Loaded Baked Potato Salad

Potato salad is most definitely my favorite dish at a summer get together. I am always excited to try a new recipe! I found this one on pinterest and I just could not pass it up! At your next cookout or BBQ I would most definitely recommend making this potato salad! It tastes exactly like a loaded baked potato...bacon, cheese, potato, sour cream...you just can't go wrong with that!! Its yummy yummy! I served it chilled though the originally recipe served it warm so you can do whatever you prefer!

Recipe Source: Dining with Leslie
Serving: 8 to 12 people
Ingredients:

• 8 large Russet potatoes
• 1/2 cup mayo
• 1 cup sour cream (plus a dab extra)
• 1 cup shredded cheddar cheese (Leave some aside for the topping)
• 1/2 cup fresh chopped chives (Leave some aside for the topping)
• 16 strips of bacon cooked and crumbled (Leave some aside for the topping)
• 2 tsp black pepper
• Salt to the taste

Recipe:

• In a small bow, mix together mayonnaise and sour cream.
• Add the chives, cheese, and pepper to the bowl.
• Add salt if needed
• Let chill in the fridge
• Peel and cube potatoes into bite size pieces.
• Put potatoes in a large pot and cover with water.
• Boil until fork tender (about 18-20 minutes). You'll want to make sure that you don't cook them for too long because you don't want mashed potatoes!!
•  Drain potatoes and let cool. 
• Put potatoes in a large bowl and combine mayo/sour cream mixture. 
• Fold in crumbles of bacon.
• Chill until ready to serve.
• Top with the remaining chives, cheese, and bacon.

Cherry Corona Rita

I am seriously hanging by the threads this week. I've been through a lot of stress at work and trying to finish up two finals. I could use one of these drinks right now!! Thankfully the summer semester is over this Thursday! I'll be having one of these drinks to celebrate.

My most popular drink on my blog so far has been the corona rita. You can see my original corona rita post here. Because I know my readers love their liquor I couldn't pass this drink up. I got the drink recipe from here and here. This drink has the same ingredients and taste as the original corona rita but has some cherry in there too! It's also extremely easy! You basically use the concentrate can as your measuring cup so there is no way to mess it up, and it eliminates dishes!! That's a win win!

I think this has a more sophisticated look than the glass with the corona bottle turned upside down into it. If you want that look though, you can just omit pouring the corona in the pitcher, and instead dump a corona right into the glass with the margarita. If you don't know what I'm talking about check out my original corona rita post!

Ingredients:
12 oz can limeade concentrate
12 oz cherry flavored 7up
12 oz tequila
12 oz corona bottle
lime, cherries, sugar/salt for garnish

Recipe: 
Pour out the corona bottle and limeade concentrate into a pitcher. Using the empty concentrate can measure out the 7up and tequila. Pour both into the pitcher as well. Garnish your glasses with lime, cherries, salt or sugar!

Gin Mojito

Two drink posts after a row? Don't judge! Its 4th of July week! Even though I have to work, I can at least pretend I'm on vacation like the rest of the country. This summer I have been obsessed with gin and tonics. I decided to put a spin on it by making a gin mojito instead! Mojitos are delicious in every form...I fell in love with them when Dan and I went to cancun a couple years ago. Since then, they have become a summer staple.

Serving Size: 1 drink

Ingredients:

• 2 ounces Gin
• Mint leaves
• 1 tbsp lime juice
• 1 tbsp sugar
• club soda or sprite

Recipe:

• On the bottom of a glass, place sugar and mint leaves. Crush together.
• Place ice, gin, and lime juice in glass.
• Top glass with sprite or club soda.
  

Raspberry Lemonade Sangria

SANGRIA SUNDAY!!! I just totally made that up but how ingenious is that?  Note to self: start have regular sangria sundays...

This drink is so perfect for girls night in...or a summer cookout...or really any time! Its sweet, light, colorful, and delicious. I'm a little bias because pink is my favorite color and raspberries may be my favorite fruit. Either way, trying this sangria is a must!

Ingredients:

• 1.75L moscato wine (cheap wine is fine for sangria!)
• 2 cups sprite
• 1 can pink lemonade concentrate
• 1/2 cup vodka
• 1/2 triple sec
• raspberries

Recipe:

• Its easy! Just mix all ingredients together in a pitcher. If possible, let stand for a couple hours before serving. 

Oreo Cookie Stuffed Brownies

What?! Am I actually planning ahead for a holiday? I know its shocking...I may even have a couple patriotic drink recipes and post them this weekend too. No promises though!

I found these "brownies" on pinterest and couldn't pass them up. They are unique because they are not entirely brownies (hence the quotation marks). They are actually oreo stuffed brownies with a cookie bottom. These brownies are unique, delicious, super easy to make, and perfect for a cookout! They are pretty heavy so I would consider cutting them in to small pieces! I sprinkled red white and blue sprinkles on top of the brownie mix to make them patriotic.

Ok...and I suppose I should tell you that I slightly cheated with this recipe. All of the ingredients were made from a box hehe. All you need is a box of brownie mix, a box of oreos, and premade cookie batter. They would probably taste even more delicious if you made brownie and cookie batter from scratch but I was lazy!!

Recipe:

Line a 9 x 13 pan with parchment paper, then spray with pam. Take the chocolate chip cookie dough and press it into the bottom of the pan. I believe I used a little over half of the cookie dough from the package. Take about 30 oreos and place on top of cookie dough layer.

At this point it, the pan should look like this:

Then, make brownie batter according to package. Pour brownie batter on top of Oreos. At this point, you can cover batter with your favorite sprinkles. Bake at 350 degrees for 50 minutes.

They should come out of the oven looking like this:

Cut into squares and enjoy!!

Loaded Baked Potato Dip

 I am so behind in all my posts! I cook things, take pictures of them, and then never post them! I am embarrassed to say I made this dip on memorial day....which was almost a month ago....oops! Summer is really flying by! I feel like it has something to do with summer classes. As I wish my semester away, I'm also wishing away my summer. :(  Thankfully, there is only 3 weeks left to go (YAY!). 

So basically I made this dip because I really wanted to make something different and unique. This dip turned out to be delicious. It tastes exactly like a loaded potato! What else could be better than bacon, sour cream, cheese, and chives. Serve with ruffle potato chips and you have the perfect dip. :)

Today I found a blog post with a collection of all different types of dips (loaded baked potato included!). You can check it out here. As the summer goes on I'm going to try to make as many of these as I can. Don't they look delicious?!

Recipe Source: My Recipes

Ingredients:

• 1 (2.1-oz.) package bacon 
• 1 (16-oz.) container sour cream
• 2 cups (8 oz.) freshly shredded sharp Cheddar cheese
• 1/3 cup sliced fresh chives
• 2 teaspoons hot sauce
• Garnishes: cooked, crumbled bacon; sliced fresh chives; freshly cracked pepper
• Ruffle potato chips

Recipe:

• Cook bacon until crispy.  Drain excess oil on paper towels. Crumble into small pieces.
• Mix bacon, sour cream, cheese, chives, and hot sauce together.
• Garnish with bacon, chives, and cheese
• Serve with ruffle potato chips and dig in!!