Here we are. Week 1 of Whip It Up.  I know it’s going to be a busy week with the holiday and daycare being closed a couple days, so I wanted to get my new recipe out of the way. Plus I now have salad to take for lunch the next couple days!

The theme of the week is “Holiday” Favorites for the 4th of July holiday.  I decided to go with a pasta salad since I have never found a pasta salad that I want to make over and over. Plus I like a good broccoli/bacon salad! So I did some research and found this recipe.

Was the recipe easy to follow?

Yes, it’s basically cooking pasta and cutting up veggies! and a little mixing. I barely even measured!  Apparently the hard part for me was buying the groceries, because I bought ravioli* instead of tortellini! Oops.. oh well. I added an extra cup of corkscrew pasta to make up for it.  I did halve the recipe, so that I wasn’t eating it all week. I also cut way back on the sugar, because I thought the raisins would be sweet enough.  I also cut back on the onion once I had it diced up. I just didn’t want it to overpower and I think that was the right decision.

Did the dish taste good?

It was very good. Chad thought raisins sounded strange but he said that was probably the part he liked best.  Both of us ate it for dinner tonight, with nothing else.

Would you make it again?

Definitely. It’ll be a good salad to take to a picnic or serve at a barbecue. I will definitely try it with tortellini next time!

Broccoli and Tortellini Salad

4 slices bacon
10 ounces fresh cheese-filled tortellini*
1 cup corkscrew pasta (or other shape)
1/2 cup mayonnaise
2-3 tbsp white sugar
2 teaspoon cider vinegar
4 cups fresh broccoli, cut into florets
1/2 cup raisins
1/2 cup sunflower seeds
1/3 cup red onion, finely chopped

DIRECTIONS

1. Place bacon in a large, deep skillet. Cook over medium high heat until evenly brown. Drain, crumble and set aside.
2. Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil. Cook tortellini in boiling water for 8 to 10 minutes or until al dente. Add the broccoli with about 30 seconds left to blanch. Drain, and rinse under cold water.
3. In a small bowl, mix together mayonnaise, sugar and vinegar to make the dressing.
4. In a large bowl, combine broccoli, tortellini, bacon, raisins, sunflower seeds and red onion. Pour dressing over salad, and toss. (I didn’t add all the dressing, but saved some in case it “soaks” it up overnight.)