I stole this recipe for fresh vegetable pasta salad from a cookbook called The Complete Cooking Light Cookbook. I wanted a light pasta salad without heavy salad dressing. But I must admit I cheated and bought pesto at the store, sorry. I did include the pesto instructions in the printable recipe. This is a great “diet” meal without being bland or boring, if you don’t tell anyone, they won’t know its “diet” food.
Add 16 oz can cannellini beans beans and a 16 oz can of garbanzo beans, rinsed and drained to a bowl.
Add 1 ½ cups diced zucchini & 1 ½ cups chopped tomatoes to bowl.
Add 3 cups cooked rotini (about 2 cups uncooked – I use the spinach pasta to sneak in more vegetables and for a pretty color)
and a few tablespoons (to your taste) pesto mixture
tossing gently to coat.
Rotini Vegetable Salad with Pesto Dressing
A light, colorful and healthy pasta salad. Great as a main dish or side.
Ingredients
- 1 large garlic clove peeled
- 1 cup basil leaves
- 2 tbsp grated fresh Parmesan cheese
- ¼ tsp salt
- ¼ tsp black pepper
- 2 tbsp water
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 3 cups cooked rotini about 2 cups uncooked corkscrew pasta
- 1 ½ cups diced zucchini
- 1 ½ cups halved cherry tomatoes
- 16 can cannellini beans or other white beans rinsed and drained
Instructions
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Drop garlic through food chute with food processor on; process until minced. Add basil, cheese, salt and pepper; process until finely minced. With food processor on, slowly pour water and oil through food chute; process until well blended.
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Combine rotini, zucchini, tomatoes and beans in a large bowl. Add pesto mixture, tossing gently to coat.
Recipe Notes
I cheat! I use store bought pesto, if I can steal a recipe, I can also steal steps in the recipe. If using store bought pesto, add pesto amount to preference, noodles should have a slight coating on them. I use different tomatoes, depending on freshness/sale in store. Just cut the tomatoes to fork size, if using larger tomatoes, I seed them first. I use vegetable rotini, there is good one that is green because it has zucchini and spinach in the pasta dough. Also adds color to salad. You can alter the vegetables to your preference, like grilled or sautéed eggplant instead or zucchini. Also adding fresh cubed mozzarella cheese is a yummy addition.