Week One - First Recipe

The first recipe we tried from the ATKHFC book was Pasta Salad with Summer Vegetables. The recipe was easy to follow. There are no times suggested for prep/cook etc. I think it took us about 40 minutes to make, start to finish. We had one ingredient glitch. Our Coborn’s order had not come yet, so we did not have good parmesan cheese. We left it out of the recipe and sprinkled “the stuff in the green can” on our individual portions. When the good cheese shows up we’ll add it in.

Tasters' Comments:

Kate – “It was very summery and fresh – very vinegary, but that was balanced when we added cheese. It is still filling because of the pasta. I most would definitely eat it again.”
Kirsten - “It was fresh and delicious. I really liked the mustard in it - it added a lot for me. I also really like the carrots, but I don’t know why. I would definitely eat it again.”
Sheila – “I liked this salad. It had a nice zing from the pepper, mustard, garlic and vinegar. It took a while to make, but I think once we get more kitchen time in we’ll get more efficient. I would eat it again, in fact I’m going to refill my bowl now.”

The recipe serves six. That amount would be appropriate if it is the main dish, otherwise that’s a pretty hefty portion. The Weight Watchers Points Plus value for one serving (1 cup, or 1/6 of recipe) is 5. We talked a bit about how easy this recipe would be to adjust or change. As long as we blanched any vegetables that would need to be slightly softened, we could change it up a lot of different ways and use the recipe often.

One more note about the book: There are product reviews (titled "Tasting:. . .") that are fun to read and could come in handy. There are also "Test Kitchen Tip" sections and how to notes sprinkled throughout the book. Two on the same page that we found interesting and helpful were "macerate vegetables" and "mincing garlic to a paste." I had no idea I had "macerated" the vegetables until I read this. I would have balked if someone had accused me of this before I knew what it meant. It was also nice to have the review of how to mince garlic to a paste as well. I had seen this technique on Rachel Ray's show and was trying to do it from memory when Kate noticed the directions were right on the next page. So far I really like this book.

The salmon came to day so I'm recommending we do the salmon recipe next. . .