In a saucepan, on medium heat, cook ground beef, bacon, onion, and garlic until hamburger is thoroughly cooked.
Add all other ingredients and stir well. Civer. Reduce heat and simmer on stovetop for up to on hour, stirring occasionally.
You can also bake in the oven at 350 degrees for 45 min.

Prepare rice and set aside.
Sautee chopped onion and garlic in olive oil 5 min or until softened medium heat.
Add Rice, beans and can tomato stirring gently to incorporate.
Add Soy Sauce and mix well
Simmer on low 10 minutes

Remove the fronds from the fennel and reserve them. Slice the bulb in half, remove the core and thinly slice. Peel and quarter the onion and slice thinly. Place both in a bowl and toss with the salt, pepper and olive oil. Squeeze the lemon juice in and add the feta, toss everything gently together. Roughly chop the herbs (including the fennel frond) and toss them in too. Refrigerate the salad for 30 minutes before serving.

Slice squash in round 1/4″ thick slices.
Heat about 1.5 tablespoons olive oil in 12 inch skillet over medium heat.
Cook slices for about 5 min per side till browned. (Or to your liking)
While slices are cooking, chop tomatoes and slice basil.
Plate cooked squash and top with tomato and basil.
Sprinkle goat cheese over top and serve.

Wash cucumbers thoroughly and trim the ends off. Cut in half lengthwise and scoop out the seeds (they make you burp). Cut into 1-inch pieces. Peel and roughly chop the shallot. Add cucumbers, shallot, and all other ingredients to a blender and blend until smooth. Store in the refrigerator and serve chilled.

Carrots and Chickpeas: Preheat oven to 425F. Place carrots and chickpeas onto a baking sheet and toss with the olive oil and salt. Bake for about 30-35 minutes, flipping midway through, until the carrots are golden brown and chickpeas are dry and crispy.

Dressing: Prepare the dressing in a medium bowl by combining all the dressing ingredients, including the finely chopped fresh herbs. Mix well. The dressing will be quite thick.

Serving: Plate the warm carrots and chickpeas on a large dish and drizzle dressing all over. Gently toss with loosely chopped fresh herbs.

*If you would like to prepare this dish in advance dress the carrots and chickpeas then store in a sealed container in the fridge. Toss with loosely chopped herbs right before serving.

Cook noodles according to package directions. While the noodles are cooking, cut the ham and cheese into bite sized pieces and set aside.

When noodles are cooked, drain and rinse noodles in cold water. Place the noodles into a large bowl and stir in the frozen vegetables. Allow vegetables to thaw for five minutes in the pasta.

Stir the ham and cheese into the pasta salad mix. Mix until combined. Add the salad dressing (start with ½ cup caesar italian and ½ cup ranch), stir. Add more salad dressing if needed to taste.

Serve salad immediately or cover and store in refrigerator. Salad will keep for up to two days. If stored, you may need to add additional salad dressing prior to serving as the noodles will absorb some of the dressing.

NOTES

Serving This Salad

This pasta salad has been a crowd pleasing favorite for many years in our home. Boasting only five simple ingredients (noodles, meat, veggies, cheese and salad dressing) it’s ready in under 20 minutes! This salad can be: Made ahead of time and saved for dinner! Have the pasta changed out—use this pretty spring time pasta we used for spring, or other colored noodles for different times of the year. This is a fun and colorful pasta salad! Made easy for different food allergies. I’ll make gluten free noodles for me and regular noodles for the husband and kids. It’s simple to adapt and adjust this salad. Serve it at events, parties or potlucks!Eat it as a main dish or side dish. It’s the perfect easy spring or summer meal!

What Type of Noodles Do I Use?

Wheat Noodles. There are several types of fun noodles you can use for this recipe. All of these are naturally dyed pastas. Some of our favorites are:* Barilla Tri Color Rotini pasta* Wacky Mac* Shaped Pasta–dinosaurs, farm animals, cartoon characters, etc.* Torino Farfalline Pasta (pictured in recipe)

Gluten Free Noodles. One thing I was a little saddened to see was that these fun noodles are REALLY hard to find in gluten free and had to order them most of the time.* Orgran Gluten Free Animal Shaped Pasta* Tolerant Kids Gluten Free Plant Based Pasta Shapes* Gluten Free Tri Color Pasta

What Salad Dressings to Use?

There are several salad dressings we use but we mix a Caesar Italian and Ranch dressing. You can choose whatever dressing you like but these have always been our favorite flavors.

Ranch Dressing:
Hidden Valley RanchPrimal Kitchen Ranch Dressing (Dairy Free, Vegan)

Caesar Italian:
Fody Foods Caesar Italian Dressing (Dairy Free, FODMAP friendly, Vegan)Bernstein Light Fantastic Cheese Fantastico
Food Allergy Substitutions:

Gluten Free: All you need to do to adapt this recipe to be gluten free is to change out the noodles with one of the suggestions above.

Vegan: This meal can be made with dairy free cheese and a vegan deli meat alternative. We also gave some suggestions above for vegan salad dressings that can be used in this recipe.

Dairy Free: Simply substitute the salad dressing for dairy free dressing and the cheese for dairy free or lactose free cheese.

FODMAP: Use a garlic and onion free salad dressing along with gluten free pasta.

Heat oil to 425°

Mix egg and milk, season with salt and pepper.

Mix dry ingredients in bowl with lid and toss frozen cauliflower until coated.

Toss in dredge mixture and back into the flour. Put top on container and SHAKE IT!!!

Fry until golden brown and place on draining rack.

Mix ingredients for sauce

Plate in pile with southwest ranch drizzle and chopped spring onion.

1. Peel potatoes and cut them into thin layers. Slice onions and cabbage thinly. Rinse baby spinach to remove all dirt and roughly dice it.
2. Add chickpea flour to a bowl, add all vegetables, chili flakes, turmeric, coriander seeds, cumin seeds and salt.
3. Mix them with a spatula/spoon/hand and start adding water slowly until consistency reaches a semi-thick batter.
4. Now add fresh coriander, skip this step if you don’t like coriander.
5. Heat oil in a non-stick pan, wok, or fryer at medium flame. We will not cook pakora on high flame.
6. Now take the batter in a tbsp or by hand and start dropping small portions in the oil one by one. Don’t put many portions at a time and avoid crowding the pan.
7. Fry them while flipping from side to side until they get golden brown.
8. Place the finished product on a paper towel/kitchen towel to drain excess oil.
9. Serve with yogurt and mint dip.