Pasta Salad for Lunch This Week!

Prep Time: 10 Minutes

Cook Time: 15 Minutes

Ready In: 25 Minutes

Servings: 5

This recipe came from Real Simple. It's one that you clearly can modify to use whatever you have handy in the pantry and fridge. Bringing a lunch from home is a great way to save money - even the employee cafeteria is getting pricey! You can use pretty much any short variety of pasta. I would add julienned sundried tomatoes to several of these, or some chopped red bell pepper, for color and flavor. I threw in a little Chinese Roast Pork with the Asian version. Please note: I seem to get only 4 servings from a pound of pasta, so you might want to check that.

Ingredients:

1 lb penne or 1 lb fusilli or 1 lb farfalle pasta

olive oil

1/2 cup canned chick-peas or 1/2 cup cooked chickpeas

1/2 cup arugula

1/4 cup crumbled feta

2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice

6 jarred artichoke hearts, chopped

2 tablespoons chopped roasted almonds

2 tablespoons grated parmesan cheese

2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

1 (3 ounce) can tuna, drained

1/4 cup pitted kalamata olive

2 tablespoons chopped red onions

2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

2 teaspoons red wine vinegar

1 carrot, thinly sliced

1/4 english cucumber, diced

1 tablespoon canola oil

2 tablespoons chopped roasted peanuts

2 teaspoons low sodium soy sauce

1 teaspoon rice vinegar

1/2 cup shredded chicken

1/4 cup prepared pesto sauce

Directions:

1. Cook the pasta as per package instructions. Rinse in cold water and toss with a little olive oil. Refrigerate.
2. For each day, whisk together the liquid ingredients, if there is more than one.
3. Mix the remaining ingredients with 1 1/2 cup of the cooked pasta, then toss with the liquid ingredients.
4. For the Chicken and Pesto version, I found that warming the pasta in the microwave just a bit helped it toss more evenly with the pesto. You do need to let it cool a bit before packing it up for your lunch.

By RecipeOfHealth.com