This veggie pasta toss has Christmas written all over it

I’m surprised I remembered it. After all, a full year had passed. I’d slept a lot since I made the notation to myself.

But on a page of my Christmas binder in which I keep the recipes I love to cook at Christmastime, I found a notation—“Make this for next year’s holiday gathering.” I further noted that the green and red colors of the salad contents would look festive on a party buffet.

So when my cousin called to announce the date she was having folks in for a pre-Christmas lunch, I was ready to sign up for my food item: the Italian Vegetable Toss.

One luncheon guest, as she dined on my salad, asked me what all was in the melange. Another question might be, “What’s not in it?” Lots of fresh veggies—broccoli, cauliflower, mushrooms, tomatoes, avocado, green onion, and artichoke hearts—along with cooked bow-tie pasta (which I subbed for the called-for shell macaroni) and the simple addition of bottled Italian salad dressing are mixed up to make this winner of a food item.

Unfortunately the recipe in my Christmas binder was clipped in the long ago and doesn’t contain the source. I’m going to guess it’s from a holiday Southern Living issue at some point in the distant past. The demo dish was photographed with pine cones and Christmas greenery around it, so I’m not the only person who once deemed this perfect for a holiday occasion.

The salad tasted great, but the best part for me was serving it in my mother’s cut-glass salad bowl, which has contained countless other salads in past years as we made the trek to my cousin’s house for holiday get-togethers. Although the elegant bowl didn’t house her usual gelatin, I think she would have enjoyed this dish that just looks like Christmas.

Italian Vegetable Toss

1 1/2 cups shell macaroni (I subbed with bow-tie pasta)

2 cups broccoli flowerets

1 cup cauliflower flowerets

1 cup sliced fresh mushrooms

1 (6-ounce) can artichoke hearts, drained, rinsed, and chopped

1 cup sliced pitted ripe olives

1/2 cup chopped green onion

2/3 cup Italian salad dressing

1 medium avocado, seeded, peeled, and sliced

1 medium tomato, seeded and chopped

Cook macaroni according to package directions; drain. Rinse with cold water; drain well. In a large bowl combine macaroni, broccoli flowerets, cauliflower flowerets, sliced mushrooms, artichoke hearts, ripe olives, and chopped green onion. Toss with Italian dressing. Cover and chill for several hours. At serving time toss vegetable mixture with avocado and tomato. Makes 12 to 16 servings.

Earthy Cauliflower Salad helps get us through completing our quilt projects

Well, we did it—had the party to finish our quilts. In a previous blog I mentioned baking Cranberry-Chocolate Chip Cookies for the occasion this past weekend in which my quilting class from December was to meet at my house to finish our projects and have a “ladies’ lunch” as we stitched and gabbed.

The cookies were a big success. So was the Earthy Cauliflower Salad that I prepared for the luncheon and served alongside Spicy Ham and Collard Greens Quiche (see tomorrow’s blog for that recipe.) Earthy Cauliflower Salad is an interesting blend of fresh cauliflower, fresh mushrooms, pimiento, and onion. It was marinated overnight in an interesting mustard-based dressing. Very unusual; very good.

We dined on pink and green luncheon plates and used pink napkins to match the pink-and-green decor of my sewing room, which is amply spacious and has room for a little bistro table and chairs and a small kitchenette area with a microwave. These were my first guests in my “garret” (so named for Jo’s “garret”, or creative area, in the book, Little Women) since Hubby refurbished it for me out of a former dank warehouse area in our back yard.

After we dined, we got the sewing machines cranking and finished our current projects. Mine was a blue-and-white table runner in the "Bear Paw" pattern—now complete except for sewing the border around it.

Then I'll have two wonderful souvenirs of our time together—my Bear Paw table-topper and the recipe for Earthy Cauliflower Salad.

Earthy Cauliflower Salad

1/4 pound button mushrooms, thinly sliced

1 lemon

1 small cauliflower head, broken into florets

2 onions, finely chopped

salt and pepper

paprika (optional)

Dressing:

3 tablespoons olive oil

3 tablespoons vinegar

1 teaspoon prepared mustard

1/4 teaspoon garlic powder

1 teaspoon honey

Put the oil, vinegar, mustard, garlic powder, and honey into a screw-top jar. In a large bowl sprinkle the mushrooms with the lemon juice; toss. Add cauliflower and onion, toss. Add salt and pepper to taste. Shake dressing well to blend before you pour it over the vegetables. Marinate for at least 30 minutes, stirring every 10 minutes. (Also can marinate several hours or overnight.) Sprinkle with paprika and serve. Makes 6 servings.

Christmas in July arrives with cauliflower/avocado medley

Some people do their Christmas shopping early. I do my Christmas-recipe planning well in advance.

Already I've been making notations in the margins of recipes, "Prepare for this year's Christmas buffet." I've scoped out recipes that in one way or another seem to lend themselves to potlucks that pop up at holiday time. Such invitations, though received joyfully, usually are accompanied by a frantic, frustrated sigh: "What in the world can I fix to take?"

I try to anticipate the holiday crunch and help myself out a little. Naturally now would be too early to prepare and freeze a dish, but at least during crunch-time maybe I can find my anticipatory notes to myself and already have a plan in place.

Nothing about Cauliflower Avocado Bake immediately conjures up "Jingle Bells", but the Christmas colors of this vegetable medley (not to mention the absolutely delightful flavor combination of this surprising mixture) would make it a true joy for a holiday take-a-dish event.

I had some leftover cauliflower from when I prepared "Broccoli and Cauliflower Salad" from Truett Welborn's cookbook that honored his mother, Neta (mentioned in my last week's blog.) Hubby looked in the vegetable compartment of the fridge and remarked, "Don't forget the rest of the cauliflower. We need to use it before it goes bad." True, cauliflower rapidly shows its age by getting brown spots or darkened areas. What could I throw together quickly to use up the leftover cauliflower bunch? I didn't have any occasions in which I needed to prepare a veggie tray to cut it up for munchies.

Under my "cauliflower" section of "Celebrating a Healthy Harvest" I found instructions for Cauliflower Avocado Bake. Cauliflower and avocado? Whoever heard of pairing those two? But avocado can make anything better. I decided to try it. Then the colors starting arraying themselves: the green for the avocado, green pepper, green onions, and parsley; the red from the red pepper; white from the cauliflower. Plus grated cheddar cheese on top (every casserole--at Christmas or otherwise--needs a little cheese topping, right?)

Like every other recipe that I prepare from my "Healthy Harvest" booklet, the results were highly unusual and extremely good. The melted cheddar cheese linked the cauliflower and avocado in a seamless flavor combo. As I mentioned earlier, the holiday colors represented the crowning touch. "Hark the Herald Angels Sing"--Christmas is just five months away! Recipe-wise, I'm ready!

Cauliflower Avocado Bake

1 large cauliflower (about 1 1/2 pounds), broken into florets

1 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon black pepper

1 large avocado, cut into 1/2-inch chunks

1 tablespoons cooking oil

1 red pepper, cut into thin strips

1 small green pepper, cut into thin strips

4 green onions, chopped

3 tablespoons fresh parsley, diced

2 cloves garlic, finely minced

1/4 pound sharp cheddar cheese, grated

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Steam or boil cauliflower 5 minutes until tender; drain. Grease a 13-inch-by-9-inch baking dish. Spread cauliflower evenly in pan. Sprinkle with salt and pepper; top with avocado chunks. In a skillet over medium heat saute peppers 3 minutes or until softened. Stir in green onions, parsley, and garlic; cook 2 minutes more. Spread mixture over cauliflower; top with grated cheese. Bake 20 minutes until cheese is bubbly. Makes 6 servings.

Great country-fresh recipes get perpetuated with two guys' cookbook exchange

Two males, no less, recently engaged in a highly significant cookbook swap at a meeting of a Garland city governing body.

My hubby--my biggest fan--and his fellow City of Garland Plan Commissioner, Truett Welborn, toted and traded brand-new cookbooks that were near and dear to their hearts. While Truett got to take home to his wife, Linda, a hot-off-the-press copy of Way Back in the Country Garden, Hubby brought me a copy of Neta's Favorites. As a result I acquired a wonderful new country-fresh recipe . . . and confirmed what I've maintained in my own books--that when special recipes are shared, memories of a person go on forever.

Truett's book is one he compiled to honor his mom, Neta Welborn, who died in 2009. Not only was Neta a reputed great cook for her family, she also prepared food for kids at Greenville Senior High School and Lamar School and in her time also was a church hostess. Some of her recipes, such as Neta's Hot Dogs, were original to her and were highly regarded by students in her cafeteria line.

Along with each recipe Truett included one of his mother's favorite maxims, such as "You never know what you can do until you try" (my mother pontificated this one to me as well) and "What the eye doesn't see, the heart doesn't grieve over" (a good warning for those of us who sometimes suffer from "Too Much Information" when we pore over our loved ones' escapades on Facebook.)

The recipe I was happiest to see among those in Neta's collection was one for Broccoli and Cauliflower Salad, which I adore when it's offered at a cafeteria such as Luby's or Furr's but which I never have prepared in my own kitchen. I've always wanted to know just exactly what those cafeteria cooks use in that terrific salad dish, which is just brimming with healthy vegetables.

Now, thanks to Neta (and Truett's work in preserving his mother's masterpieces), all is revealed. Just this past weekend, when we had family members as houseguests, I got to serve Broccoli and Cauliflower Salad (featured below) for the first time. I felt as though I really had accomplished something.

I love what Truett says about his mom: "The reason this recipe book was started was because if your recipes are not shared with your family and friends, they will soon be forgotten, but when they are shared, your memory will go on forever." (Preach on, Brother! Exactly my reason for producing first Way Back in the Country in 2002 and then Way Back in the Country Garden in 2010.)

Best of all he concludes by saying of his mom the same statement I draw about my relatives whom my cookbooks honor: "Most of all I know you loved the Lord and you are now in heaven."

What greater words could ever be spoken--even in a cookbook--of a loved one who's gone before?

Broccoli and Cauliflower Salad

Salad:

6 to 8 slices of bacon, fried and crumbled (we used turkey bacon)

1 head broccoli

1 to 2 cups grated mild cheddar cheese

1 cup mushrooms

1 head cauliflower

1 small onion

Dressing:

1 cup light sour cream (we used fat-free)

1 cup light salad dressing or mayonnaise (we used fat-free)

1/2 to 1 cup sugar (or sugar substitute)

Cut broccoli and cauliflower into bite-sized bits. Chop mushrooms. Toss together all salad ingredients. Mix dressing ingredients and pour over salad. When vegetables are evenly coated, refrigerate at least one hour or overnight before you serve.