Roasted squash salad with warm bacon vinaegrette

I needed a side salad for my pork tenderloin and wanted to use up bacon and butternut squash I had at home. what I ended up with was so delicious it could have been an entree salad!

What I had:

• 1 medium butternut squash, sliced 1/4' around and then quartered
• 1 red onion thinly sliced
• 3 stalks of baby bok choy, cut into bite sized pieces
• 1 cup thinly sliced red cabbage
• 8 strips of bacon, cut into 1/4 inch pieces
• 1 cup red wine (I had a Malbec)
• 1 cup sparkling white wine (I used a Moscato d'asti)
• 1/2 cup walnuts chopped

What I did:

• Spread the squash on a pan, drizzle with olive oil, salt & pepper, and roast at 350 degrees for 25 minutes
• While it cools, add the bok choy and cabbage to a salad bowl
• Add the walnuts to the salad
• In a large pan, cook the bacon till almost crisp. Add it to the salad bowl.
• Add the squash to the bowl
• Drain the bacon fat, reserving 1 tbsp in the pan and 2 tbsp aside for later
• Saute the red onions till soft in the bacon fat
• Add the wines (now I used these 2 wines because I didn't red wine vinegar and compromised, but it turned out so good!) Stir, scraping the bacon bits off the pan. Sprinkle some salt, pepper and garlic to taste.
• Cook on medium heat till you can't taste the alcohol, about 5-7 minutes
• Pour the vinaigrette over the salad and toss to combine

It was so good, the child declared the salad to be better than the bacon covered tenderloin!

Spicy orzo crab salad

What I had:

• 16 oz Pappardelle's spicy red hot Thai curry orzo pasta
• 16 oz lump crab
• 8 oz heavy cream
• 6 red bell peppers diced
• 2 red onions diced
• 1 tbsp butter
• 2 tbsp lemon juice
• Old Bay seasoning to taste
• Key lime sea salt to taste
• Cumin powder to taste

What I did:

• Brought a pot of salted water to boil. Added orzo and cook until al dente, stirring occasionally.
• Meanwhile, melted a pat of butter in a saute pan over medium-low heat; added red peppers and onions and cooked until soft and fragrant. 
• Added crab and cook until heated through. 
• Added orzo, lemon juice, heavy cream, and stirred to combine.
• Added the cumin powder, Old Bay and sea salt to taste and mixed well.
• Served warm as a side to a fisherman's stew. 

It was DELICIOUS!!!

Pasta salad

What you need:

• a box of any colorful pasta. I've used Wacky Mac, tri-colored rotini, plain shells (though the colorful pasta looks prettier)
• a pint of grape tomatoes, cut in halves
• a pint of olives, any pitted ones you like, cut in halves
• 8 oz feta cheese or goat cheese
• a bag of mini pepperoni
• some hard salami slices, chopped smaller
• some Genoa salami slices, chopped smaller
• a red or orange bell pepper, cut into 1/2 inch thin slices
• a red onion, cut into 1/2 inch thin slices
• 2 tsp oregano
• salt & pepper to taste
• garlic powder to your taste
• olive oil
• balsamic vinegar or red wine vinegar

Boil pasta according to directions. Rinse with cold water pretty well so it's not hot. Throw it into a big glass bowl. Add all the dry ingredients. Mix well. Add about 2 tbsp of olive oil and 2 tbsp of vinegar to start with. Mix it well. You want all the ingredients coated, not swimming in the sauce. Add more if needed. Put it in the fridge for a couple hours, it lets the sauce actually infuse the ingredients and it tastes so much better cold.

Variations I've done: used fat free Italian dressing or any vinaigrette dressing instead of oil & vinegar