Angel Hair Pasta Salad

This salad is delicious. It's not particularly masculine, but really, when is a salad masculine? Once again, this recipe comes from Mels Kitchen Cafe.

Angel Hair Pasta Salad:

*1 pound angel hair pasta
*1/2 cup olive oil
*5 cloves garlic, minced
*1 1/2 cups parmesan cheese (sometimes I sub mozz when that's all I've got - works great)
*2-3 fresh tomatoes, seeded and diced
*handful of fresh basil leaves, torn into small pieces
*coarse salt
optional: toasted pine nuts

Cook pasta according to package directions. Drain pasta and put in serving bowl. While pasta is boiling, saute garlic in olive oil until lightly browned. Pour garlic and olive oil over pasta and toss together. Sprinkle 1 tsp. salt and 1 cup of cheese over the pasta. Toss again. Let pasta cool slightly. Right before serving top pasta with the rest of the cheese, tomatoes, basil and pine nuts. Enjoy.

Southwest Rice and Bean Salad

This is one of those recipes that I would NEVER choose to make if it hadn't been recommended to me by someone I trust (aka my sis). But it is awesome. We probably eat it too much.

This recipe comes from Mel's Kitchen Cafe. It serves 8-10.

Salad:
*5 cups cooked rice, warm or at room temp (that's about 2 cups uncooked. ish. sort of.)
*2 teaspoons salt
*1 (15 oz.) can black beans, drained and rinsed
*1 (15 oz.) can pinto beans, drained and rinsed
*2 cups cooked, cubed chicken
*1 (12 oz.) can corn, drained
*4 green onions, chopped

Dressing:
*1/4 cup fresh lime juice (I've used fresh lemon juice and it tastes just as good)
*2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
*2 tablespoons packed brown sugar
*2/3 cup canola oil
*2 teaspoons chili powder
*1 teaspoon cumin

Combine all salad ingredients in large bowl. Combine dressing ingredients together and pour over salad. Mix well to combine. Serve warm or room temp ( I prefer warm, Sky prefers cold).