Food,  Healthy,  Pasta,  Side Dish,  Vegetables

Garden Pasta Salad

May 11, 2011 /

Congrats Tino!! He just bought himself a brand new 2011 Hyundai Sonata, fully loaded SE 2.0T,  and traded in his Ford Explorer. His exploder as we called it! He is a hard core Ford guy so I have to say I was very shocked when he decided on the Sonata, but the car is really beautiful and certainly is going to get him better gas mileage than the exploder. Although, I know he will miss his big car…but I am SO proud of him for buying his first *new* car (you know how that goes, owning lots of cars in your lifetime but never a *new* car)!

In spirit of Tino’s success I wanted to share with you a bright and vibrant recipe that I was shocked that I actually liked. I am not a pasta salad fan. Especially pasta salad that is loaded with creamy dressings or mayo, gross! You tend to always see pasta salads at picnics and the salads sit out for hours and tend not to look very appetizing. Well, I decided to Rave-ify pasta salad. You know what that means right!? TONS OF VEGGIES! I see some pasta salads that have meat in them as well and I just don’t tend to like that very much so I left that out as well.

Ingredients for Pasta Salad:

  • 1 (16oz) package of uncooked rotini
  • 1/2 cup sliced carrots
  • 2 stalks of celery, chopped
  • 1/2 chopped green bell peppers
  • 1/2 cup cucumber, peeled and quartered
  • 20 cherry tomatoes
  • 1/4 cup chopped onion
  • 1 bottle of your favorite Italian Dressing (I used Northern States Italian Lite)
  • 1 (60z) package of feta cheese

Cook your pasta in large pot until al dente. Rinse with cold water and drain.

Mix chopped carrots, celery, cucumber, green pepper, tomatoes, and onion together in a large bowl.

Combined cooled pasta and vegetables together in large bowl. Pour italian dressing over mixture, add feta and mix well.

Chill for one hour before serving.

How pretty is that?! I just love the colors of all the different vegetables. They really make this pasta for me. Not to mention they are still crunchy. You have the creaminess of the cheese, the soft texture of the pasta, and then that bite of the raw vegetables. So good! Not to mention this is pretty darn good for ya!

Happy Wednesday! 🙂

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