Hey ladies! Sunday after church is our quarterly salad lunch. Usually we're asked to bring a traditional lettuce salad (they do it based on what letter your last name begins with). Well, I guess they decided to start rotating and we've been asked to make a pasta salad. I've never made one before!!

Anyone have a great recipe? I'd like something non-traditional, you know, something that will make people think, "Yum! Who made this?" And, of course, I'll only use WW pasta so that I can taste a bit myself. Any help would be greatly appreciated!

Oh, and if you found the recipe online, just post links and I'll check them out...no need to type the recipe if you don't have to!

~Kim

I do a smoked mackerel pasta salad which is yummy. Just pre-cook your pasta of choice (I like the spiral tri-coloured one as it visually the best). Add the cooled pasta to chopped smoked mackerel fillets, a bunch of salad/spring onions, a chopped cored apple or two, and a bunch of radish (I cut in half if they're small or slice if bigger). I stir in a low-fat thousand island dressing.

Kitty

I make a pasta salad with penne WW pasta, italian dressing, cherry tomatoes, salt/pepper, broccoli, low-fat cheese cubes, and diced cold meat. It's simple and good but I am not sure if it will have the wow factor you are looking for.

I make one with caesar dressing, roasted red peppers diced in, black olives, cherry tomatoes and peas. Just season to taste and chill overnight for best flavor.

Have you tried using Ronzoni's Smart Taste Pasta??? It's high in fiber and lower in calories than most whole wheat pastas out there...and for me, taste is much better!

I use Italian dressing, chopped bell peppers, tomato, diced onion, black and green olives, cheese cubes, salt, pepper, and a little garlic powder. Chill overnight.

rotini pasta
veggies cut small:
broccoli
grape tomatoes
red cabbage
olives diced or sliced
scallions and/or red onions
green pepper
cucumber
shredded carrots

cook pasta
cut up veggies (this is the most time consuming part)

dressing:
italian dressing (NOT creamy)
mayo
parmesean cheese

mix all the dressing ingredients together)

pour over pasta and veggies

make at least 24 hours in advance


my problem with this is I can only make it in huge party size servings but it keeps really really well.

also to be honest i use so many veggies that a cup serving has only about half a cup of pasta so it's BEACHY! 100%

I do one with ww pasta, then add cucumbers, tomatoes, olives.

I make a dressing for it out of greek yogurt, a bit of mayo and dill weed, salt and pepper. yum.

Mmmmmm....these all look delicious! I'll be mulling it over for a while. I'll let you know what I make! BTW, keep 'em coming if you've got 'em!

here are photos of my pasta salad


and a close up

California Chicken cafe makes a chicken pasta salad that is soooo good.
The ingredients are:
chicken, mostaccioli pasta, and green onions mixed in a creamy 1000 Island dressing

I have no idea of the proportions. They use rotisserie style chicken. It's worth experimenting with, but this is definitely NOT a SBD friendly snack. You might be able to make it less painful, though, with that new mayo that's part olive oil, and ww pasta. Trader Joe's whole wheat pasta is tastes the best in my opinion.

Mmmmmm....Nessa. That looks yummy! I have to ask, though. Did you already have a pic of that on your computer or did you just happen to make some last night?

i already had a pic.... it was my mother's recipe... i make it for all family events...

Mmmm all of those pasta salads sound delicious, but I can't have any right now (on Phase 1). The pic posted above made me drool... Yummmm...!

I also agree with using Ronzoni harvest pasta, the whole grain pasta is delicious and I've used that brand before in making lasagna. Delish!

Here's an idea, although the other pastas sound much better. A healhier version of Suddenly Salad Bacon Ranch pasta... Ronzoni whole grain rotini, chopped up and cooked turkey bacon, chopped carrot, chopped tomato, broccoli, green peppers, red peppers, parsley, garlic... and a packaged of powdered low sugar ranch, to mix with half mayo, half plain yogurt (or however..) Mix and top with the chopped cooked turkey bacon.

Honestly though, I read some mouthwatering pasta salads above, so I'm gonna bookmark this thread for phase 2.

Nessa - Do you blanch any of your veggies, particularly broccoli? Or is everything raw and fresh?