Italian Pasta Salad

This salad is great for a potluck, simple, and tasty.

24 oz Rotini pasta, cooked al dente (8-10 cups)
16 oz Kraft Zesty Italian dressing (fat-free is fine)
2 (3.8 oz) cans sliced olives
1 package mini pepperoni or 1/2 package turkey pepperoni, cut into 4 parts
4 Roma Tomatoes, diced
1/2-1 lb cheddar cheese cubed.

Cook pasta, drain, and rinse to cool.
Chop all ingredients and toss with pasta in a large bowl.
Toss with dressing.
Refrigerate until served.

Rumor has it you can add chopped broccoli or other veggies to this if you would like.

Avenger's Shwarma

Remember that after the credits scene at the end of Avengers where they are all finally trying some Shawarma? 

Anyway for dinner before seeing Avengers: Age of Ultron I decided to make up some of Tony Starks favorite shawarma as well as some quick other character inspired stuff.

-Thor's Hummus.
-Black Widow Brownie Bites:  Buy premade brownie round bites or make brownies and cut into small squares.  Pipe with vanilla frosting and top with a maraschino cherry.
-Hulk Punch:  I just bought some strawberry kiwi Hawaiian punch and printed up a label, 3 inches tall and centered in the middle of a word document.  Cut out to be the perfect length to wrap.

-Hawkeye Fruit Arrows:  Use the strawberry for the arrow tip and cut out some feathery end to complete the arrow.  Served with 8oz of cream cheese, softened and mixed with 1 cup brown sugar.
-Nick Fury Fries:  Just cooked up some frozen Ore-Ida garlic and parmesan fries and added cheese in the last few minutes.
-Captain America Cookies:  Some store bought red-velvet cookies

I got this particular shawarma recipe from KSLs Studio5.   This is my slight variation:

Shawarma:

2 lbs boneless, skinless chicken thighs
1/3 cup olive oil

2 tsp cumin

2 tsp paprika

1 tsp allspice

1 tsp turmeric

1/4 tsp garlic powder

1/4 tsp cinnamon

1/8 tsp cayenne (optional)

3 Tbsp lemon juice

1 tsp salt, to taste

1/2 tsp black pepper, to taste

 

Place chicken thighs in gallon-sized Ziploc bag and seal, pound with a rolling pin to flatten chicken a bit.

In a bowl stir together the rest of the ingredients.

Pour over chicken in the bag, reseal, and squish around to make sure chicken is coated. 

Marinate in refrigerator for at least 30 minutes, the longer the better.

Broil on a broiling pan (you can grill on an actual grill as well, and probably cook on a regular pan, but I haven't tried it) for 10 minutes on each side, until juices run clear and temperature is at least 165. 

Allow to rest and cool a bit.  Rough chop it into thin strips.  Serve.

 

 

 

To Serve:

 

Pita pocket bread

Jerusalem Salad

Tzatziki sauce

 

Jerusalem Salad:

the original recipe also found on the KSL studio5 link above.

 

1 large cucumber, chopped into small pieces

4 Roma tomatoes, chopped into small pieces

1/2 green bell pepper, chopped into small pieces

rough chop handful of mint leaves

rough chop handful of fresh parsley

1/2-1 cup tahini sauce

 

Stir all ingredients together.  You can eat this on the side or stuff in the Pita with the Shawarma.