It was hot here yesterday. Really hot! I wanted to get some yard work done, so I went out in the morning, knowing that it was going to be a hot day, but an hour into it, I was already dripping with sweat. I lasted about 2 hours before I called it quit and decided to go inside for the day. You would think that with the heat (reaching 100 degrees F) I would park myself in front of the television with a cold beverage, but no, I get ambitious and want to cook all day. So, with the air conditioner on and all of the ceiling fans running, I set to work.
The main part of my baking day went to making a tart that I will post about tomorrow. I knew that I didn’t want something really hot for dinner, so I went looking through some salad recipes. I found this Herb Chicken Tortellini Salad that was not only a cold salad, but looked really fast and easy, since I already knew what I wanted to make for dinner. It is a pasta salad that would work well as a side, but I decided to serve it as our main dish, but I knew we needed something else. Knowing I was stuck in the house the rest of the day, I got ambitious and made some breadsticks. Making any sort of bread is ambitious because I don’t have a stand mixer. But I went for it anyway….
The salad was great. The only thing I did differently is that I didn’t add in the whole 10 oz bag of spinach. I had put about 2/3 in, and it looked like enough, so I stopped there. It worked really well as a main dish, and the best part was that I was able to finish it a little before hand and put it in the fridge until it was time to eat.
I wanted some nice, soft, tender breadsticks to go along with the salad. I found this recipe on allrecipes.com and decided to try it out. It was very easy, even without a mixer, but I did have to add at least an extra cup of flour. I don’t know what I was thinking when I cut them, though. The recipe says that it makes 36 breadsticks, but I only ended up with 20-something. They were very LARGE breadsticks!! It would have been better if I would have cut them smaller, though, because the bottoms on some of them were still a bit underdone. But I would have to say, not a bad job for my first time! They were just what I was looking for – very light and tender. The only problem with this recipe is that it is not easy to cut down because it only requires one egg for the whole recipe. This is a lot of breadsticks for 2 people!!
An easy and hearty salad with tortellini.
Ingredients
- 1 (9-oz) package Buitoni Refrigerated Herb Chicken Tortellini – prepared according to package directions and chilled
- 1 (10 oz) bag ready to use spinach torn into bite size pieces
- 1 cup diced mozzarella cheese (4 oz)
- 1 (6 oz) jar marinated artichoke hearts, drained and sliced
- 1 cup sliced ripe olives
- 1/3 cup roasted red peppers, drained and chopped
- 1 c Caesar salad dressing
- 1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
Instructions
- Combine pasta, spinach, mozzarella cheese, artichokes, olives and roasted peppers in a medium bowl. Add dressing; toss to coat. Sprinkle with Parmesan Cheese.
Notes
from meals.com
Photo Updated April 2013
Light and tender breadsticks are coated with a Parmesan butter.
Ingredients
- 2 (.25 ounce) packages active dry yeast
- 1/2 cup sugar, divided
- 2 cups warm water (110 degrees to 115 degrees), divided
- 3 tablespoons vegetable oil
- 1 egg
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 5 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1/2 cup butter, softened
- 2 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese
- 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
Instructions
- In a large bowl, or the bowl of a stand mixer, dissolve the yeast and 1 tablespoon of the sugar in 1 cup of the warm water. Add in the oil, egg, salt and 2 cups of the flour, the remaining sugar and remaining water. Beat the mixture until smooth. Continue adding flour until it is soft and tacky but not sticky. If using a mixer, change to the dough hook and knead until it is smooth and elastic. If not using a mixer, turn out onto a floured surface and knead until smooth and elastic.
- Place the dough in a greased bowl, turn over to coat, cover, and let sit until doubled, about 40 minutes (depending on the temperature of the room).
- Punch the dough down. On a floured surface, cut the dough in half. Working with one piece at a time, roll the dough out, then use a pizza cutter to cut the dough into 18 pieces. Twist each breadstick and place on a greased baking sheet, 2 inches apart. Continue with the remaining dough. Cover the dough and let rise until doubled, about 25 minutes.
- Preheat the oven to 400F. Bake for 10-12 minutes, or until golden brown.
- Meanwhile, in a small bowl, cream the butter. Add in the Parmesan cheese and garlic powder. Brush the Parmesan butter over the breadsticks as soon as they come out of the oven.
Notes
adapted from allrecipes.com
If you wanted to halve the recipe, you could certainly lightly beat the egg in a small dish, measure out half and use that – I do that often as there is just two of us here as well.
Your salad looks lovely and those breadsticks, wow!
That salad looks and sounds delectable. Those breadsticks… my mouth is watering!
I wish I had that salad in front of me this afternoon! The breadsticks too! (of course hehe).. this is the kind of pasta salad I like.. with a lil green in it too. =)
xoxo
Those breadsticks look delicious, Deb! The salad does, too.
What a great meal! And your bread does look so good!
At last! A sophisticated pasta salad! Delicious!
What a delightful looking salad – man, I can see that being a wonderfully refreshing dinner salad for hot summer nights!
This looks lovely!
sounds delicious
greetz Liz
sounds delicious
greetz Liz
[...] and Tell leaves me pining for Herb Chicken Tortellini Salad, Chili Potato Burritos, and Pumpkin [...]