Saturday, January 15, 2011

Muffaletta Pasta Salad + More Awards + Bayou Blues

After gaining 5 lbs. over the holidays, I've been on a veggie diet for the past two weeks and I'm happy to say that I'm now back down to my pre-holiday weight. Lots of salads and wraps and vegetarian fare, with a Cajun/Creole flair, of course. A cleansing of the body and mind is always on my list of New Year's resolutions and I like to Feng Shui my home, too and clear away clutter that has built up during the previous year. Here's is a fabulous dish that one of my dear friends brought to share for my New Year's buffet and it is out of this world, cher! Bon appetit!

Muffaletta Pasta Salad

 12 ounces rigatoni or penne pasta, cooked according to package directions, and drained
1 red onion, finely chopped
1 bell pepper, finely chopped
1 lb. mozzarella cheese, cubed
1/2 lb. cooked ham, cubed
1/2 lb. genoa salami, cubed
1 1/2 cups Boscoli Italian Olive Salad Mix (available at Wal Mart and most grocery stores) or online @ cajungrocer.com
2 tbs.'s red wine vinegar
1/2 cup light mayo
2 tbs.'s Creole mustard
1 tbs.or more Cajun seasoning
Salt and Tabasco to taste
  Combine the first 7 ingredients in large bowl and mix well. Combine the wine vinegar, mayo, mustard, and seasonings in small bowl,  and toss with the pasta mixture. Chill for 2 hours, prior to serving. Cest bon, cher! Enjoy!

*******
Awards

Now on to the awards! My dear friend, Eddie @ Clouds and Silvery Linings recently presented me with two prestigious awards . Merci beaucoup, cher, for the great awards! I am honored and will display them proudly on my sidebar. If you do not already know Eddie, he is a talented writer, comedian, and poet, and has two fabulous blogs, one for each of his personalities. He is as "canaille" as they come and if I didn't know better, I would swear that he is a Cajun! Cheers, cher!


There are three conditions to accepting this highly prestigious award.

1. You answer five simple questions - these appear at the end of this post. 
(concocted by Eddie)

2. You pass the awards to at least five or to as many fellow bloggers you wish, asking them the same questions or five of your own.

3. You accept the other award as a sort of Get One, Get TWO Free promotion LOL


So now on to the questions: (concocted by Eddie)

Please note: one word answers not acceptable. Expound your ideas/answers in a formally considered written response of at least two sentences. LOL

1. What came first - the chicken or the egg?

Well now, Eddie,  everyone knows that a chicken comes from an egg, right? So the egg would have to come first, right? But it came from the chicken! LOL

2. Which facet of blogging do you enjoy most?
a) Writing
b) Visiting
c) Commenting
d) Reading people's comments to your posts

I enjoy all of these facets of blogging. But if I had to choose one, I would have to say that I enjoy writing,  the most.

3. Runner beans - do they really grow clockwise round canes in the southern hemisphere and counter clockwise in the northern hemisphere - or is this a load of tosh, they grow either way wherever they are?

Hate to sound dim,  but what are runner beans? You Brits sure have a language all of your own! LOL

4. What attracts you most to the opposite gender?
a) A good sense of humour, lashings of personality, charm and lots of wit
b) He/She is loaded with dosh
c) He/She is romantic
d) He/She has a fast sports car like a Corvette
e) Good looks
f) A cheeky smile across a crowded room
g) Neither - please specify
h) Other - I cannot imagine an answer to this one!!

(Please note you cannot choose ALL because he/she does not exist! but if you choose a) I will gladly email you my telephone number LOL)

Oh he does exist, so I would have to say, ALL of the above, plus
h) Other- he MUST be an excellent dancer and cook!!!

5. What New Year's resolution did you make?

I made several, but the main one is to become an award free blog, after this post! LOL

And finally, I would like to pass both of these awards to ALL of my 246 wonderful followers! (links on the Followers gadget, on my sidebar) Please visit them when you find time.. Help yourself, mon cher amis! Ya'll are the best of the rest and I appreciate each and every one of you!!

*******
Bayou Blues
And for your entertainment, here's a little clip of some bayou blues that a good friend of mine took at last night's Birthday Bash for Lil' Buck Sinegal, at the Blue Moon Saloon, in Lafayette. Lil' Buck is an awesome, legendary guitar player, and was celebrating his 67th birthday, playing a gig with the one and only, Buckwheat Zydeco, on the keyboard. The filled-to-capacity, Boomer crowd was loving this hot combo! Crank it up and let the good times roll, cher!


Merci beaucoup for stopping by! Hope ya'll have a fabulous, fun filled, weekend!

30 comments:

John said...

I would have thought that dancing to the Cajun music would have been a good weight loser; have a good 2011.

Velva said...

I think your pasta salad looks great! Yes, after the food coma of the holidays its great to say that you are back to routine and the jeans fit again.

Happy New Year to you!

Velva

Eddie Bluelights said...

Thanks, Marguerite LOL
You are a very good sport and I fully deserved that answer to question 5. LOL That will teach me! Well done on the weight loss exercise - very impressive. I MUST eat only salads until next Christmas I think so I can regain a more respectable shape LOL.
Glad you like the awards and I see them shining and spanking new on your side bar. Nice of you to give them to all your followers.

btw I'll do a post on runner beans one day to explain myself LOL

Karen Jones Gowen said...

You and Eddie both deserve every award out there! I gained weight too, and was just thinking today what I should do to fix that. All veggie diet hmm? If I had your recipe book *wishing, wishing* then I could turn to the section on Cajun veggies and have some good stuff!

ellen abbott said...

the pasta salad looks really good. and I always love me some bayou blues. thanks!

California Girl said...

Another delicious looking recipe.

How are you Marguerite? Sassy as ever, I'm thinking. Me too. Glad it's a new year. Did LA catch any of the snow last week? My husband was stuck in FLA panhandle because of the snow in GA on up. He's on his way back now. (he's driving, obviously).

judi/Gmj said...

Perfect food!

Cloudia said...

Congrats!!




Aloha from Waikiki

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Nancy said...

We're doing the veggie thing too, but then someone from my husband's work gave us a HoneyBaked Ham - ghhaaaa.

Drick said...

like the answer to the last question... and I like this salad, have made a few similar but this one rocks with the seasoning... thanks for the awards but you know how I procrastinate those, it may be a year before I get around to them...LOL

Joanne said...

Congrats on your Awards, Marguerite ... Much deserved here. I could easily celebrate them with a helping of that amazing pasta salad! Have a great week :)

Kathryn Magendie said...

Hey! I have some of that olive salad in my pantry! :0D GMR must have picked it up in Louisiana or someone gave it to me .... I need to use it!

Love the awards thingee! ...

Marguerite said...

John- Dancing normally takes care of it, but I ate so much more than usual, between Thanksgiving and New Years, that a diet was necessary!

Velva- Thanks, so glad you like it! A food coma is a good way to describe it! lol Happy New Year to you, too!

Eddie- Thanks again for the awards, cher! Sorry, but I couldn't resist! lol I call it portion control and it all goes "out the window" over the holidays! lol I'll look forward to that post!

Karen- Thanks so much for your sweet comment and for coming by! Working on it, cher! Meanwhile, check out my Creole Veggie Wraps. I eat those, almost every day and they're quick and easy, too.

ellen- Merci, it's divine and I hope you try it! I love the blues, too, especially after a glass of wine or two! lol Thanks for stopping by, cher!

Cal. Girl- Thanks, glad you like it! I am fine and sassy as ever! lol We didn't get any snow, thankfully, and are back in the 60's today. Hope your hubby made it home!

Lisa said...

Congrats on your award. That salad looks like a meal in itself and sounds like it's filled with a lot of things to make your mouth sing.

Mandy said...

Yummy! I'm actually making a muffuletta pizza tomorrow Marguerite! We must be on the same wavelength! :-)

Thanks for sharing another great recipe! I adapted your banana fosters cake a few weeks ago and my family really enjoyed it -- http://learn-laugh-cook.blogspot.com/2011/01/bananas-foster-crumble-cake.html

Have a great upcoming week!

Mandy

Martha said...

Sounds scrumptious! Thanks for linking up at Tailgating Time. Have a great week :-)

Keri said...

fantastic! i just got on the scale for the fist time since before the holiday. i was sure I'd blown my whole program after losing 23 lbs. only gained 2.

you are so right. keri

Vagabonde said...

I like the music in this video clip – I think the beats sound like Fats Domino, don’t you think? I’ll also try your Muffaletta Pasta Salad – the ingredients sound good but the name of the salad is great too!

Anonymous said...

I always lug two or three giant jars of olive salad back to California from my trips home to LA to see my family. I cannot live without the stuff!

That salad looks awesome.

Lisa said...

The pasta salad sounds amazing! I've never had anything like this, but I know I'd love it!

Kat said...

What a good way to start the new year. Looking forward to more great Cajun posts in eleven.

Pooch Purple Reign said...

FAB tunes marguerite!
~laura xx

Magic of Spice said...

My darling and gorgeous lady, this read is the best time I've had all weekend (well today too)... Congratulations on these wonderful awards, loved the question/answer part. Will definitely stop by and say Hi to your friend Eddie.
Great pasta dish and music too :)

Marguerite said...

judi- Thanks! So glad to hear from you, cher! I went over to your last post but could not comment? Hope your weather is better, now. Cheers!

Cloudia- Merci, Gal pal! Have some fun at the beach for me! Aloha, and thanks for coming by!

Nancy- lol You could just put it in the freezer and save it for later. Thanks for stopping by!

Joanne- Merci beaucoup and you're welcome cher! Glad you like the pasta salad. It's very versatile and you can add whatever you like to it. Hope you're having a great week, too!

Drick- Thanks, I was only kidding! lol Glad you like the salad. I ended up adding some basil pesto to it and some Tabasco! You're welcome, no rush. lol

Kathryn- The Boscoli is fab and you definitely need to make something with it! You could easily make this salad, a vegetarian recipe, by omitting the ham and salami! Merci, cher, glad you enjoyed it!

Mary Bergfeld said...

Congratulations on your well-deserved awards. That gorgeous pasta salad will bring more your way. I hope you have a fabulous day. Blessings...Mary

shamanaccount said...

Congratulations on your awards! You truly deserve that, really. Your answers are really remarkable, i've had a great time laughing.

Anonymous said...

Yum and more yum.

Kittie Howard said...

Congrats, Marguerite! Well-deserved! Hub's a Major muffaletta devotee...once the snow takes a hike and I can get to the grocery, this salad's gonna make his eyes pop! Thanks!

Jane said...

That's an amazing salad, a muffaletta pasta just sounds to die for, I really love it, it's a real keeper. Thanks for sharing the recipe.

Susanna Powers said...

Have a wonderful Christmas season! I want to try the muffaletta pasta salad. thanks, sp