Coming home from the beach, I was fishing through our fridge for something to whip up for dinner and decided I had enough to do something Greek. Since I recently bought some whole wheat pasta... Pasta salad it was! By the time it was cold and ready to eat, I snapped one picture before my husband snapped the bowl out of my hands and into his mouth. Smiling, he sauntered off with it...
Ingredients:
1 cucumber diced
1 tomato diced
1/4 cup sun dried tomatoes
1/2 cup crumbled feta cheese
3 cups cooked and cooled whole wheat penne pasta
Dressing:
2 Tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
3 Tablespoons red wine vinegar
1 Tablespoon lemon juice
1 garlic clove, minced
1 teaspoon dried basil
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
dash of nutmeg
Directions:
Cook and cool penne pasta to package directions.
Combine cucumber, tomato, and sun dried tomatoes with the cooled pasta. Add all of the dressing ingredients in a small bowl and whisk them until smooth. Toss it over the pasta, adding the feta in. Place in fridge for about an hour before serving.
Oh how my husband loves this salad. He has established it his favorite dinner and now I must have all the ingredients in the kitchen at all times, just in case... Well, it is delicious.
With a perfect combination of flavors, trust me, you will have happy taste buds.
Ingredients:
*Note: I always cook my quinoa in veg. broth & remember to rinse.
2 cups cooked quinoa
1 mango, peeled and diced
1 (15 oz) can black beans rinsed and drained
1 cup diced cucumber
1/4 cup chopped cilantro
2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
1 1/2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1 tablespoon fresh lime juice
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
Directions:
In a large bowl, combine quinoa, mango, black beans, cucumber, cilantro.
In a separate dish, whisk together red wine vinegar, olive oil, lime juice, and pepper until combined and toss into salad. Refrigerate for at least an hour.
Adapted from Mel's Kitchen Cafe
Ingredients:
12" pizza dough (I used this pizza dough recipe)
1/4 cup pesto
1/2 cucumber, slices
1/2 diced green bell pepper
1/2 roasted red pepper from jar, diced
1/2 cup baby arugula
1 tomato, slices
3/4 cup mozzarella
1/2 cup parmesan
Directions:
Preheat oven to 450.
Roll out your pizza dough, 12 inches across. Move dough over to your pizza pan. Spread out the pesto evenly, leave 1 inch space from the edge. Lay out cucumber slices across, then diced bell pepper, and roasted red pepper. Cover the veggies with the cheeses. Sprinkle the arugula out. Lay tomato slices on top. Roll your dough in to where the pesto starts to form the crust around the edges. Bake in oven for 10-12 minutes or until the crust and cheese is nicely browned.
Vegetables and chickpeas? How can this not be good?? Nick found this recipe on Peas and Crayons, pointed to it, smiled, and said, "Thursday". So I guessed he wanted it for dinner and I clearly wasn't going to say no. It looked delicious! So I've created it tonight, although slightly altered, but we were both very very happy with how it turned out!
Ingredients:
1 can chickpeas
1/2 red bell pepper
1/2 yellow bell pepper
1/2 a cucumber
1/4 onion
2 Tablespoons white wine vinegar
1 Tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
3 tsp lemon juice
1-2 garlic cloves
1/2 tsp oregano
1/2 tsp parsley
1/4 tsp dill
salt and pepper
Directions:
Dice the bell peppers, cucumber, and onion. Toss them in a bowl.
Combine the rest of the ingredients in a small bowl, whisk the dressing until smooth and toss into the bowl with the vegetables. Refrigerate for 1-2 hours before serving.
