Recipe: Ranch Chipotle Pasta Salad

This weekend I made one of our favorite pasta salads, Ranch Chipotle Pasta Salad.  It's super simple to put together, makes a whole bunch, is delicious as a leftover, and never survives any picnic I take it to!  In short, it's fabulous!



Ranch Chipotle Pasta Salad

Ingredients:

1 box rotini pasta (cooked and rinsed in cold water)

3/4 cup sour cream (I use the light kind.)

3/4 cup mayonnaise (I use light kind here too.)

3/4 cup milk (any type works fine, usually I just use 1%)

1 package ranch dressing mix (not the dip mix)

1 1/2 tsp. chipotle chili powder

1 cup frozen corn

1 can black beans, rinsed and drained

1 bunch cilantro, chopped

1 small can sliced olives

Tomato and Avocado if desired



Mix sour cream, milk, mayonnaise, ranch dressing mix and chili powder in a large bowl to make the sauce.



Add the corn, black beans, cilantro and olives.  Mix thoroughly.  Add in cooked pasta and top with tomato and avocado!  Enjoy!

Favorite Summer Salad

I have been eating this salad a lot this summer and it is oh, so delicious! I thought I'd share in case it looks good to you too.

Ingredients:

Strawberries

Avocado

Red Onion

Candied Pecans

Craisins

Lettuce (I prefer Spinach or Spring Mix)

Brianna's Home Dressing- Blush Wine Vinaigrette

Optional: Chicken

In my opinion, the key ingredients to this salad are the pecans and dressing. The candied pecans are probably not very healthy, but I only put about 5-7 whole pecans on my salad. I figure everything else is pretty healthy so I can splurge on this one little thing.