Quick and Fresh Pasta Salad – Any recipe, pasta salad in a box, etc. will work. Cook the pasta, chill cooked pasta by placing in a strainer with ice, store till ice melts and disolves, and you will have chilled pasta ready for your salad ingredients in minutes.

Authentic tasting pasta sauce – Using a 10 oz. jar of sauce, poor into sauce pan, add 2 rounded tbsp of brown sugar to take the bitterness away, 1/4 cup of red wine and a few bay leaves. Bring to boil and let simmer as you cook the pasta noodles. This will give you a pretty good homemade taste. To keep the noodles from sticking together, add about 1/4 of a cup of cooking oil in the noodle water as it boils. The oil will keep your pasta from sticking together. In order to keep the pasta from sticking to the bottom of the pan you need to lightly stir the noodles until they float freely in the boiling water. The noodles should be slightly chewy.

Homemade ice cream sandwiches – Buy or make your favorite cookies. They need to be thin and around 4-6” round. Buy or make your favorite ice cream. The ice cream should be slightly softened so that it will not break your cookies as you squeeze a full scoop of ice cream on one cookie. Once you have the ice cream on the cookie, place another cookie on top and press till the ice cream is evenly distributed between the cookies. This is the most important part of this treat: When you have assembled as many ice cream sandwiches as you would like to serve, place them in a glass casserole pan, cover and freeze till the ice cream is firm between the cookies, then serve. They will love these ice cold treats. Vary the taste and color of the treats with different kinds of cookies and flavors and colors of ice cream.

Ingredients

Small Box of white cheddar macaroni and cheese (any brand)
1 ½ Cups of diced Chicken
¾ Cup of Frozen Peas (thawed)
1 cup Shredded Cheddar Cheese


Directions

Cook macaroni and cheese as directed (double the amount of milk and butter).
When macaroni is cooked stir in chicken and peas.
Serve with a layer with shredded cheddar.
Salt and pepper to taste

MIX (in large bowl)

2 Large Cans of Chicken (10 oz)
2 Cans of Cream of Chicken Soup
1 Large container of Sour Cream (16 oz)
1/2 Roll of crushed Ritz crackers
2 tbsp of Poppy Seeds


Topping (mix in separate bowl)
1 stick of melted butter/margarine
1 1/2 Rolls of crushed Ritz crackers

Pour mixture into a 9 X 13 casserole Pan
Cover with Ritz cracker topping
Bake uncovered at 350 degrees for 30 minutes or until it is bubbling
Remove from oven, let sit for a few minutes
Serve with your favorite green vegetable and a dry white wine

For variety try adding a cup of celery and 1/2 cup of water chestnuts to the mixture