The Art of Food: Simple Pasta Salad

I’m busy.  Always busy.  So therefore, it seems I never have time to make any fancy meals or dishes unless I’m preparing for a party.  To my women readers, don’t get jealous please, my husband also does most of the cooking for dinner.  (He likes it!)

That being said, I do like to make some things, and I especially love fresh food.  Good food, doesn’t always have to be complicated to make, nor does it always have to take a ton of time. So today I share with you how to make a simple pasta salad that is extremely healthy and very tasty.

The key is FRESH HERBS and lots of vegetables!

You can experiment with adding a variety of herbs. For my salad I went out to my herb garden and picked fresh sprigs of globe basil ( a little spicier than traditional basil), oregano, a bit of thyme and some big leaves of thai basil (strong licorice flavor).  There are so many possibilities to add though: cilantro, dill, parsley and a variety of others will all slightly change the flavor of the dish.

To keep things healthy I use Barilla Plus pasta ( it’s the stuff that comes in a yellow box) as an alternative to regular pasta.  It tastes so good and has a bunch of healthy ingredients like flaxseed, semolina, and legumes and packs a lot more protein than your average pasta (and it doesn’t have the “gritty” texture like other healthy pastas have) then I dice up a bunch of veggies and toss them in with olive oil, a little lemon juice, garlic and pepper!

Ingredients and simple instructions:

*Cook half a box of Barilla Plus Pasta, any variety, per instructions on box (usually 7-10 minutes), rinse then put in a bowl

*Herbs:
Add fresh cut Globe Basil, Thai Basil, Thyme, Oregano (or add your own favorites)

*Vegetables:
Add
1/4 green pepper, diced
1/4 red pepper diced
1 carrot diced
1 stalk of celery, diced
(I also recommend broccoli)

*Toss together with olive oil to coat.
*Add 1-2 t. of lemon juice
*Add fresh grated garlic or 1 t. of garlic powder
*Salt and pepper to taste.

Add a sprig of herbs on top for presentation.

It’s simple, fresh, quick, and low calorie while still tasty!