Edamame Dip, Festive Pasta Salad, and Open Face Pulled Chicken Sandwich

This is a late post from Friday night, but a very special post none the less. 

Mom, Susie, and Aunt Patti came to visit this weekend. We had a lovely time. They spent the morning at a museum in Nashville, the afternoon in Franklin and then we met that evening for some wine and tapas at Arrington Vineyards. Arrington is a vineyard right outside of Nashville owned by Kicks Brooks from Brooks and Dunn. They have wine tastings and a lovely jazz band on Friday nights. So we just sat under a little heater on the deck and drank wine, ate tapas and enjoyed some music and good company. It was a wonderful evening. 

We started with a true tapas: Edamame dip

I loved it! It's light and lemony, a wonderful, healthy snack. It was hard not to compare it to hummus though, it sort of looks like hummus, but light green. 

Here's the edamame dip:

I had a request for closer pics, but this one was hard to get in the dark. I added some Joe's Seasoning, which is a low sodium cajun seasoning, and feta cheese for garnish. We used pita chips for scooping. 

The critics say:

Bradley gave it a sideways thumb. 

Next up was Festive Pasta. 

This was the hit of the evening. It's a unique, light pasta with a little crunch. Very unusual, but delicious. The recipe called for two ingredients that I didn't add because the serving bowl was already overflowing, but I think it was perfect without them.

Again, I apologize for these pictures, it was dark outside and the flash wasn't cooperating.

For the Festive Pasta Salad the critics say:

Not pictured, Bradley and Aunt Patti gave this a unanimous two thumbs up!

Served with the pasta pictured above is the Open Face Pulled Chicken Sandwich. 

I think I would have liked this one better if someone else had made it and I didn't know all the work that had gone into preparing it. It was tasty, but not memorable. It may have been better served with baked beans. The pasta salad was so fantastic that I think anything that was served with it would have not seemed worthy. 

The critics say: 

Bradley and Aunt Patti gave this one two sideways thumbs as well. 

It was a wonderful weekend full of yummy food. 

Check back tomorrow night for a new post!