Rotini Pasta with Creamy Vinagarette Dressing

Roniti Pasta with Creamy Vinagarette Dressing

Start off with boiling water and making pasta. My favorite pasta is Rotini. It's quick, easy and really grabs onto dressing. Once you have the water boiling, add in the pasta and cook for 10 minutes. Drain and place in a bowl for dressing. (Check your brand's directions for the correct timing.)

This dressing is made in less than five minutes!

Here is where I got the original recipe:

www.thenakedkitchen.com

The ingredients are: 

• 1 can (15 ounces) chickpeas (garbanzo beans), drained and rinsed
• 5-6 cloves garlic, minced
• 4 tbsp Dijon mustard
• 3 tbsp balsamic vinger
• 1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil

These ingredients go into a food processor. Blend well.

This recipe will yield about 2 cups of dressing. Mix according to taste with the salad.

Make sure to use an airtight container to save the rest. Or, take some to work to share with your friends!

For the Pasta salad-I also added chopped walnuts, tomatoes, and parsley.

Voila! The entire process took me longer to blog than to make! 

:)

Enjoy!

Variation #2

Add chopped Zucchini, Kalamata Olives and Cilantro to the above salad. AMAZING!

Salad of the Day-Chopped Salad!

Last week I got a hankering for a chopped salad.  Tiny, cubes of bite sized freshness. Easy to eat, easy to love. So, I did what I always do-Googled!  I went to Google Images looked for photos of Chopped Salads to inspire me. I found not only a salad recipe but it also had the recipe for a Creamy Vinagarette Dressing. I immediately IMed my husband, "Do we have Vinagarette?"  

"About four bottles…." was his reply. YES!  I knew what I was making the next day!  It was so good (and made so much dressing) that I made it again two days later. Here is my second attempt.

Here's the original link/website: Chopped Salad and Creamy Vinagarette Dressing

I made Veggie Calzones (check next post) and these are the veggies I used for that recipe. While I was cleaning and chopping veggies for that- I chopped a few extra (Zucchini from my garden, carrots and Purple Cabbage) for a salad.

I LOVE Red Leaf Lettuce. I've heard the darker the lettuce-the better it is for you. I chopped some up fine for my yummy salad.

Here it is veggies only.

Creamy Vinagarette Dressing. Here is the recipe link again. I love cooking things that I already have the ingredients on hand! Nothing worse than picking out a recipe and you have to run to the store for that one obscure item!!  I will tell you this dressing gets better with time. When you first dress the salad, it may seem strong. But I packed this for my lunch and by the time I ate it-WOW it was yummy!!

Creamy Vinagarette Dressing

Gotta love the bright and cheery colors!!  The original recipe calls for adding pasta. I did the first time I made it and I think it really adds to the dish. I will make sure to add pasta the next time I make it…. tomorrow….. (that's not too soon is it?) naw!!!!