Soybean Summer Salad

Edit:
Radiatore pasta is simple pasta but in the shape of a radiator. If you click on this link and scroll down, you can see what it looks like. It holds the dressing really well. http://www.foodsubs.com/PastaShapes.html

Edamame is simply soybeans. Pronounced (ěd'ə-mä'mā) or like this: "ed-uh-ma-may" . My good friend Marcia let me know that you can also find the shelled variety in the organic section of the grocery store. My store did not carry this though.

Lastly, for the poster who requested the Hot Peach Jam recipe. I tried to shoot you an email but it came back. That is my one and only secret recipe that I do not share. I enter it in competitions so I like to keep it under cover. Sorry about that girls!

As you all know, I DO LOVE to find new recipes. My mom and dad went to a Memorial Day potluck and she brought home a little sample of this pasta salad. It was SO good, I had to have the recipe. My mom's friend scribbled it on a piece of paper she had in her purse.....and right away I made it into a new recipe card. I named the recipe Soybean Summer Salad. I've never tried soybeans (edamame) in a recipe so this was a new one for me. You purchase the edamame in the frozen foods section of your grocery store. I bought a Steamers brand bag...they come with the pods still on. You just steam them in the bag, in the microwave, rinse them under cold water and then shell the beans out. The beans are kind of firm and have a little *bite* to them....and they're full of good fiber! I hope you try this recipe. If you want good recipes, all you have to do is go to pot luck!! There are so many good cooks out there!

For my recipe card, I used Karen Lockhart's stamp called Pasta with Peas. Now I know that soybeans aren't peas....but I don't think there's a real market for soybean stamps so we'll have to improvise! LOL! I thought the pea pods looked close enough to the soybeans in the shell and there is pasta too! The script font I use on my recipe cards is called Creating Keepsakes Becky (Becky Higgins' hand writing) and the type font is called Autumn Leaves Nonmetric. Patterned paper is Basic Grey and brads are from Star Lit Studio. Cardstock is Garden Green from SU!. Recipe card measures 4" x 6".

Here's the typed recipe that you can print off:

Soybean Summer Salad

8 oz radiatore pasta, cooked
3/4 cup Kraft Cucumber Ranch dressing
12 oz edamame (soy beans) frozen
4 green onions, finely chopped
1 green pepper, finely chopped
cherry tomatoes, quartered

Cook edamame (I get the Steamers brand that you do in the microwave) and shell the beans. Combine all ingredients. Chill, stir and serve. Yummy!! Michelle Wooderson May 2008

Hope you enjoy the recipe! My dad is a farmer and soybeans have been a plentiful crop for him for as long as I can remember. So I just love that this is a *Made in America* product. Let me know if you try it!

A little funny: Jordan kept getting the big bowl of this salad out and just dug in. She LOVES it....and she kept saying, *Mom, this tastes just like pasta salad!* She just kept saying it and when Eric came home to snap up what was left after Jordan's trough feeding, she said it again...*Dad, this tastes just like pasta salad!*. I said, *You little dork, it IS pasta salad!*. LOL!