Green Spring Chili and French Fry Pie

This week is spring break in our town and even though we still have work, a lot of people are gone.  Town is quiet and many of my regular after work activities are not happening this week so I’m taking the opportunity to cook dinner a little more than we have been lately.

Last night I made an old favorite that I can’t believe I’ve never posted about before.  My friend Jenna was the first person to tell me about Rachael Ray’s Green Spring Chili and French Fry Pie and I was skeptical. Mostly I doubted the french fries but she made it for us, it was delicious and now it’s something we make a couple times a year.

We bake the fries and keep them separate from the chili to make sure they don’t get too soggy since there are tons of leftovers. The chili is very fresh and springy and also works on it’s own or over rice.  But I promise, it’s really good with the fries.

The Pioneer Woman’s Asian Noodle Salad

Last week my friend Molly made the Pioneer Woman’s Asian Noodle Salad.  Then another friend mentioned that she was going to make it. We haven’t had it in a while so I was inspired to make it.

It seemed like a great dish for my parents since they were visiting this weekend and it turned out great.

This recipe is huge.  We made the whole recipe omitting one pepper, the napa cabbage and some of the cucumber and we still have a ton. This is just the cut up vegetables and that’s the largest mixing bowl of that set.

We put half the vegetables, half the pasta, half the cashews and half the dressing in separate containers to save for leftovers for this week. And then we mixed the rest up for dinner on Saturday night.

It came together great and my parents loved it. The spinach got a little damaged in all the tossing because there was so much to mix together but it didn’t affect the flavor. It’s very refreshing and crunchy with a bit of sweetness and heat.

We served it on the side of a simple poached salmon and it was the perfect meal.