Simple Greek Pasta Salad

Warmer weather is here, so that means pasta salads will soon be showing up at picnics, barbecues, potlucks, pool parties, and summer get togethers.

They're perfect for many occasions, and this side dish in particular is a real crowd pleaser. This simple Greek pasta salad has a homemade red wine vinaigrette dressing that makes it something special.

Simple Greek Pasta Salad

12 oz. bow tie pasta, cooked al dente
2/3 cup sliced red onion
15 cherry tomatoes, halved
1 cup cucumber, diced
1/2 cup black olives, halved
1/3 cup red wine vinegar
1/2 cup olive oil
2 tsp lemon juice
2 tsp minced garlic
1 tsp granulated sugar
1 tsp oregano
1 tsp Italian seasoning
3/4 cup crumbled feta cheese
salt and pepper, to taste

1. Cook pasta according to package directions until al dente. Drain and set aside. While pasta cools, make the dressing.
2. In a small bowl, whisk together the vinegar, olive oil, lemon juice, garlic, sugar, oregano, and Italian seasoning.
3. Add chopped vegetables to the bowl with the pasta and toss. 
4. Pour the dressing over the pasta and vegetables and stir to combine. Refrigerate 3 hours or overnight.
5. When ready to serve, add the feta cheese and salt and pepper to taste. Toss the pasta salad again, and drizzle lightly with olive oil and vinegar if the pasta salad seems to have soaked up too much of the dressing.
6. Serve cold or at room temperature.

This one won't stick around for long!

If you're interested in some new side dish recipes to try for your next get together, give one of these a try:

• Southwest Pasta Salad
• Southern Potato Salad
• Miss Daisy's Frozen Cherry Salad
• Greek Chickpea Salad

Toasted Coconut Sour Cream Cake

If you're a fan of coconut, you're going to love this recipe. Instead of a traditional layer cake, this one is a sheet cake, which makes it perfect for bringing along to potlucks, BBQs, and even Easter dinner (which is right around the corner)!

This cake is also a little special because the coconut on top of the frosting is lightly toasted, which makes it super yummy!

Toasted Coconut Sour Cream Cake

Cake

1 packaged yellow cake mix
8 oz sour cream
6.83 oz cream of coconut, mixed* (this is 1/2 of a 13.66 oz can)
1/4 cup vegetable oil
3 eggs

Frosting

8 oz cream cheese
3 3/4 cups confectioners' sugar
2 Tbsp milk
1 tsp vanilla

Topping

2 cups sweetened coconut

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray a 13 x 9 baking dish with cooking spray and set aside.
2. Place the cake mix, sour cream, cream of coconut, oil, and eggs in a large mixing bowl. Blend with an electric mixer on low speed for 1 minute until all ingredients are incorporated. Increase mixer speed to medium and beat 2 more minutes, scraping down the sides of the bowl if needed.
3. Pour the batter into the prepared pan and smooth the top. Place the pan in the oven on the center rack.
4. Bake the cake 40-42 minutes, until it is light brown and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Remove the pan from the oven and place it on a wire rack to cool for 20 minutes. Leave the oven on to toast the coconut.
5. Place the coconut in a pie plate. Turn the coconut so it toasts evenly with a spatula/turner. Bake 8-10 minutes or until coconut is golden. Make sure you keep an eye on the coconut so that it doesn't burn.
6. Once the coconut is toasted, prepare the frosting. Place the cream cheese in a large mixing bowl and beat with an electric mixer set on low speed until softened, about 30 seconds. Then, add confectioners' sugar, milk, and vanilla. Beat on low speed until all ingredients are incorporated. Increase the mixer speed to medium and beat until well combined, about 2 more minutes.
7. When the cake has completely cooled, spread the frosting on top of the cake. Sprinkle the toasted coconut on top of the frosting.

Notes

When you buy a can of coconut cream it will be separated into a thick creamy part and a liquid part. The easiest way to mix these together for the recipe is to dump the entire contents of the can into a small bowl and then mix it all together. Then, measure out about 1/2 of the blended mixture into the recipe. (If you happen to measure a little more or a little less than half of the can, the recipe will be fine.)

If you've never seen canned coconut cream in the grocery store before, I found it in the Asian foods section. 

Since you're only using 1/2 a can in this recipe, you're probably wondering what in the world do you do with the leftover coconut cream. You can add your remaining 1/2 a can of coconut cream to smoothies, shakes, or even your coffee for a treat!

If you're looking for more traditional coconut cake recipes that are layer cakes, give these tried and true Harris Sisters' recipe a go:

• Coconut Cake
• Pineapple Strawberry Coconut Cake

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OK to Wake Alarm Clock for Kids

I've been meaning to share this nifty little life-changing clock with you for a while now.  If you, or someone you know, have little ones (as in too young to tell time or understand that 5 am is too early to wake up for the day), then read on for how this little clock has changed my life!

Let's face it.  Sleep is important.  I am a sleeper, and thankfully, our daughter inherited that trait from me too.  She has been a good sleeper her whole life.  She was sleeping through the night at 6 weeks old.  She has always been an A+ napper- still is, and she's almost 5 years old now.  She never ever once tried to get out of her crib when she was a baby and when we switched her to a "big girl bed", she would stay there even after she woke up in the morning until I went in to get her.   

But inevitably, kids grow up and start to test to the limits.  So I decided quite a while back to install this OK to Wake Alarm Clock for her in her room.  It works like this.  You set the time on it that you decide it's ok for your child to get up and start moving about each day.  In our case, that's 7 am.  So when 7 am rolls around each day, the clock starts glowing green.  It doesn't alarm at all; it just lights up.  So if your child is still asleep, it doesn't wake them up.  But if they are awake, once it starts glowing, they know it's time to get up- or at least that it's ok to get up.  It remains lit up for 30 minutes so if they are still asleep, but they wake up within that 30 minute window, then they will see it's glowing green and it's ok to go ahead and get up.  

For our family, this clock has worked like a charm!  Lexi usually wakes up on her own around 7 am each morning anyway.  But if she wakes up a little before that, then she knows to stay in bed until the clock starts glowing at 7 am and then she gets up.  If she is still sleeping at 7 am, it turns green anyway and when she does awake, she sees that it's already lit up and comes running.  Honestly, I'm pretty sure that this clock has "reset" Lexi's internal clock to go off at 7 am, because she is like clockwork with waking up right at 7 am everyday, which is wonderful!  We have had zero issues with her getting up and moving around at weird hours of the night or early morning.  This clock is worth every penny!!

Oh, there is a nap mode on this clock too, so you can do the same thing when it's ok to wake from nap.  We don't really use that, but it's a nice feature that is available.  There is also a snooze button feature that will dim the light and cause it to light up again when the snooze period is over.  You can also press the little buttons on the clock's "feet" and it will make silly little faces. There is a night light feature on the clock if you want to use it.  And apparently, this clock can convert to a regular alarm clock once your child is ready for that.  It's cute and does have a lot of extra features on it. 

You can find these clocks on Amazon.  Check out all the information and the reviews!  It's highly rated and I'm not the only mom who swears by it.  Just passing along the good stuff to you.  This one is a winner.  Whoever invented this deserves my complete gratitude.

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