BYOBowl: Pasta Salad

Happy Friday foodies! I don’t know about you all, but I am so ready for the weekend. For our last Bring Your Own Bowl recipe of the week I decided to make pasta salad. For this recipe you will need:

• 1 box bowtie pasta
• 1 red pepper
• 1 green pepper
• ½ of a sweet onion
• ¼ cup olive oil
• 1 small can sliced black olives
• ½ can sweet yellow corn
• ⅛ cup white wine vinegar
• ⅛ cup apple cider vinegar
• Salt and pepper to taste

First you will need to start boiling water and then cook the pasta according to the directions on the box. While the pasta is cooking, chop the peppers and onions into small pieces. Once the pasta is cooked, drain and rinse in cold water. Dry the pasta a little and then put it into a large bowl. Add the peppers and onions to the bowl and then drain the corn and olives and add them also. Pour the oil and vinegar over the pasta salad and add a little salt and pepper for seasoning. Then toss it all together and serve. After I made this, I thought a little crumbled feta cheese might be a nice addition, so if you are looking to be adventurous, give that a try. You could also add any other vegetables that you want. This is a cheap and easy recipe that is great for a potluck or barbecue, especially in this nice weather. Enjoy your pasta salad foodies and have a great weekend!

-Kelsey-

BYOBowl: Cheesy ANYday

A classic D-hall favorite that attracts tons of JMU students each week is “cheesy Thursday.”  This weekly menu option attracts long lines of students eager to get one grilled cheese and a small bowl of soup.  You may be thinking that this is a very simple recipe… you’re right, it is. To make this recipe more interesting I have a couple of different ideas to improve the meal.  Adding croutons to the soup is the first option.  This idea came from Panera which serves its tomato soup with a handful of croutons.  The second option is to put multiple types of cheese as well as slices of tomato on your grilled cheese.

Another great reason to make this meal off campus or at home is because you will save a meal plan punch or around $9.50.  Every JMU student will admit that they wait in the grilled cheese line and beg the chef to give them two at a time. This begging almost always fails to convince him or her and they end up in the back of the line to wait again for a second grilled cheese.  At home you can cook as much as you want while also saving money. Cheesy Thursday can now be on any day of the week!

Ingredients:

• can of tomato soup
• pepper
• milk & water
• croutons
• two slices of bread
• cheese
• butter

Empty the can of tomato soup into a pot.  Then fill the empty soup can half and half with milk and water.  If you prefer your tomato soup extra creamy fill the entire can with milk, no water.  Stir occasionally on medium heat for about 7 minutes.  At the same time, butter both sides of each piece of bread and allow the bread and butter to heat up on a skillet (medium).  Once the first two sides of bread are headed put the cheese in the center of the heated sides and then allow the cool sides to cook until golden brown. This will take a minute or so on each side.  Once the soup is heated up add a touch of pepper and some croutons!

-Katie