I feel like my meal planning and recipe creating juices have returned to me. Does it take a change of location and different kitchen for this to happen? Well,whatever it is I will gladly embrace it.
Nothing has changed in our home since moving. Since I am still working from home, managing a certain schedule to maintain sanity is dire! I am trying to plan more the night before for lunches and dinners. Ryan will soon start his new job and we have talked about the importance of saving money, so planning lunches is really important. It is not only important for him but also for me. I do not have a lot of time to just prepare meals. I need something that I can put in a bowl and eat quickly so I can prepare Julianne’s meals as well.
I am not feeding Julianne the same foods that I am because we are not feeding dairy at all so I have only been focusing on whole fruits and veggies with occasional eggs here and there.
After receiving my 2 boxes of spelt rotini pasta I decided to make a pasta salad. My mother would make these salads frequently as we were growing up. Pasta is not only delicious warm or hot but it is really delicious cold especially with the right ingredients.
I had a nice bunch of asparagus to use so that went well with some fresh red peppers and cucumbers. I added crumbled feta cheese but pickled tofu or sliced green olives could substitute for the feta to give the salad the desired sharp and tangy flavors. These were all items I had on hand so you can always substitute your favorite veggies too.
The salad makes 2 big large lunch portions which Ryan and I quickly devoured yesterday. SO how about that spelt pasta? YUM! I definitely prefer it to whole wheat pasta even though I will still eat it. Their certainly was no graininess in this pasta and it was very flavorful. It takes 4 minutes to cook and it cools quickly too. What a plus!
Enjoy the recipe!
Pasta Salad
- 3 cups cooked spelt pasta
- 1/2 cup chopped English cucumber
- 1/2 red bell pepper, diced
- 1 cup blanched asparagus, blanched
- 1/2 cup to 3/4 cup light crumbled feta cheese
- Vegan option: sub in pickled tofu or 1/2 cup chopped pitted green olives
Dressing
- 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
- 1 Tablespoon Dijon mustard
- 1 garlic clove, crushed
- 1 Tablespoon fresh parsley, chopped
- 2 Tablespoons red wine vinegar
- 2 Tablespoons lemon juice
- 1/4-1/2 teaspoon sea salt
- crushed pepper
Pasta Salad
For dressing