Favorite Ingredient Friday

My friend Melody had these pretzels at a work party and thought they were a great snack. I made a batch around the holidays and they were really good!

Spicy Pretzels

1 lb. Bag of pretzels
¾ cup vegetable oil
1 pkg. Hidden Valley Ranch Dressing
1 tsp. garlic powder
1 tsp. lemon pepper
1 or 1 ½ tsp. ground cayenne pepper

Pour pretzels into a 1 gallon Ziploc bag. Mix all other ingredients together and pour over bagged pretzels. Seal the bag and turn over every 15 minutes for 1 hour. Empty bag into a bowl and let set for a few hours.


Southwestern Pasta Salad
This serves 8 but I doubled the recipe.
1 16oz. box of Penne or Wagon wheel Pasta
1 15 oz. can of black beans, drained
1 8 oz. can of whole kernel corn, drained
1 red bell pepper, chopped
6 green onions, chopped
Fresh cilantro
Parmesan, Romano, or mozzarella cheese (or all three)
Southwestern dressing

Southwestern dressing
1 tsp ground cumin (toasted for 3 to 5 min. in small frying pan)
8 oz. sour cream
16 oz. jar of chunky salsa (as spicy or unspicy as you like it)
2 cloves garlic
Cook pasta by pkg directions. Drain, rinse with cold water, and drain again. Add 1 ½ cups of the southwestern dressing. Refrigerate for at least 1 ½ hours. Spoon pasta onto serving dish. Add black beans, corn, red bell pepper, green onions, and cilantro. Spread over the top of the pasta. Spread the remainder of the southwestern dressing over the top and sprinkle with cheese.

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