Cold Veggie Pasta Salad

Cold Veggie Pasta Salad

I made this for Valentine's Day Lunch. And just again tonight!

What you need:

Any sauté -able vegetables in the house 

(I used mushrooms, onion, orange & yellow bell pepper)

Celery

Tomato

Spices (I used basil, paprika, garlic, 21 season salute, salt and pepper) to taste

Olive oil

Balsamic or Red Wine Vinegar

Pasta (any kind)

First you sauté the vegetables (and mushroom) in olive oil until fully cooked.

Also, get the water going for the pasta!

While this is cooking, mix the oil and vinegar at a 1:3 ratio. Add spices, chopped up celery and cut tomatoes to the bowl, then mix.

Once the sautéed veggies are done, let them cool a bit, then mix them in while still warm. Set the mix aside to cool, eventually transferring the bowl to the fridge.

While the mixed veggies and dressing are cooling, cook your pasta!

I had two bags of different pastas I used because I needed to finish them. I was lazy and cooked them together. This may be difficult because different pastas need different cook time.

Once fully cooked, drain as much water as possible. I also like to give them a cold rinse before draining to help stop the cooking process. Once the pasta is cool, put it in a large mixing bowl.

You can use any pasta and any vegetables you have lying around for this recipe, but you want to make sure the amounts of each are about the same. I will sometimes use more veggies than pasta, but the other way around is not recommended (by me).

Mix the two in the larger bowl. Make sure you get all the veggies and dressing in with the pasta. At this point you want to taste test and then add more spices or vinegar or oil to your taste. I usually wind up adding more vinegar.

Set the salad to cool in the fridge. You should probably put a lid on it and let the pasta absorb the flavor. I didn't because I was serving some soon. 

(The boyfriend was hungry.)

Serve it cold! It tastes best that way. I usually like it a day later, once the pasta has absorbed all the flavors from the veggies and the dressing. It's good for up to 3 days (as far as I know because it's usually gone before the fourth day) if stored in the fridge with a lid on. Happy eating!

Enjoy!

PS- you can also add beans or chickpeas for protein. And if you're a meat eater, I suggest grilled chicken cut into small chunks.