Whole Grain Vegetable Pasta Salad

Pasta salad is a summer side dish go-to! In an effort to up my intake of whole grains and veggies but not cut back on flavor I made this Whole Grain Vegetable Pasta Salad. The summer veggies were just what I had on hand from the farmer's market so no worries if you don't have this exact ingredient list...the idea is to use what you have and in the amounts you like...I promise you can't go wrong!


Ingredients for pasta
½ box whole grain penne pasta
1 medium summer squash, thinly sliced
1 medium hothouse cucumber, thinly sliced
½ cup red onion, thinly sliced
½ pint cherry tomatoes, halved
1 green pepper, thinly sliced

Ingredients for vinaigrette
2 small garlic cloves, minced
¼ cup extra virgin olive oil
2 tbsp red wine vinegar
Juice from half a lemon
1 tbsp Dijon mustard
1 tsp each dried oregano & parsley
½ tsp each salt & pepper
Dash of red pepper flakes


Step One
Cook pasta according to package. Rinse, drain and set aside.

Step Two
While pasta is cooling, mix vinaigrette ingredients in a mason jar and shake up (you can also mix in bowl and stir but I enjoy the shake method).

Step Three
Mix pasta, veggies & vinaigrette together in a large mixing bowl. Let set in refrigerator for at least an hour before eating (the longer the better it tastes), stir once more and pour into a serving bowl.

Enjoy, y'all!



Vinaigrette recipe adapted from Budget Bytes.