MONDAY MORNING RECIPE POST - SUMMER SAUSAGE AND PASTA SALAD

Another old one made first in July 2011. Once again, I haven't put together any new recipes this week but as I wouldn't mind making this again, I thought I could add it here for you to take a look. 

The weather returned to the low 90s again. It's not letting go of us just yet. I am looking forward to Fall now, always am at this time of the year. I hope by now the weather has been kinder in your part of the world. I have been hearing horrendous stories and am keeping fingers crossed for all of you out there. 

I had been browsing through food blogs online. Unfortunately, the links are no longer available, so there is nothing for you to look up today. At the time I wrote that "this was one of the most flavorful and delicious pasta dishes I have ever had, and you've just about got everything you need in one pot." 

Now to what I wrote in 2011.

You will need a very large pot or mixing bowl to mix all the ingredients. I ended up using the largest stockpot I had and when Gregg came home and saw how much I had made, he asked me which army was coming for dinner! I probably should have made half the recipe, there being only the two of us, but I don't do anything by halves apparently. It was nice to be able to take various friends an evening meal the next day, and they seemed to enjoy it too.  We still had enough for several meals and in the end, I decided to freeze some as an experiment. It thawed out quite nicely and we enjoyed it again a couple of weeks later. You can make it the day before so that the flavors have time to work their magic.

1 16 oz. jar of Zesty Italian Dressing

1 lb. box of Rotelle pasta, cooked, drained and rinsed (I used elbow macaroni because I had a box already in the pantry)

1 medium yellow onion

8 medium celery stalks, thinly sliced

16 oz. package CoJack cheese, cubed (see note below)

16 oz. tube summer sausage, cubed

3 13.75 ozs. quartered artichokes, drained

2 6.5 ozs. cans pitted black olives, drained

2 8.5 ozs. jars julienned sun-dried tomatoes, drained and chopped

1/2 teaspoon Kosher salt

1/2 teaspoon ground pepper

2 teaspoons red pepper flakes

1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese (I forgot to buy fresh Parmesan cheese and used the kind that you keep in your fridge in the green container)

Mix all ingredients well and allow to marinate overnight. You can play around with the ingredients to suit your own taste. Fortunately, we liked everything used.

I would definitely make this again. It would be a great dish to take along to a potluck. Gregg actually had three helpings. He has seconds sometimes but rarely thirds. 

Because I take note of such things, I calculated all the calorie item by item. One cup was approximately 300 calories.

I am not sure if this particular cheese is made overseas, but it looks like this. 

Co-jack is short for Colby-Jack, an American semi-hard marble cheese made by blending orange Colby curd and white Monterey Jack curd together. I know there are other wonderful and delicious cheeses around the world that you can substitute this for. 

That's about all but if there is anything I didn't make clear, let me know in the comment section and I will do my best to answer.

Thanks for looking, have a great week 

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