Pasta Salad with White Beans

Recipe By : adapted from Menu Mailer
Serving Size : 7

Amount Measure Ingredient -- Preparation Method
-------- ------------ --------------------------------
16 ounces whole wheat fusilli pasta
1 cup canned white beans -- rinsed and drained
5 ounces turkey ham -- chopped
4 plum tomatoes -- chopped
1 small red bell pepper -- seeded, de-ribbed and cut into long, thin slices
10 kalamata olives -- pitted and halved
2 tablespoons fresh parsley -- chopped
Easy Balsamic Vinaigrette
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 clove garlic -- pressed
1/2 cup olive oil
salt and pepper -- to taste

Cook pasta according to package directions. While pasta is cooking, make vinaigrette dressing (see below). Drain cooked pasta, rinse under cold water and set aside. In a large bowl, combine remaining salad ingredients (beans through parsley); add the pasta and vinaigrette and toss lightly to mix.

Dressing: Mix all ingredients together, whisking the olive oil in gradually at the end, till dressing is slightly thickened. Season with salt and pepper.

Yumm, this sounds DELISH !!!

Is everything CORE in this menu? I was afraid of salt and Im wondering about olives too. and is turkey ham bought in the meat section or deli? (we cant have deli meats, right?)

Thanks so much !

Well, I think the 1/2 cup of olive oil might have to be counted. There are 7 servings in this recipe, so divide 1/2 a cup by 7. If it's more than your allowed 2 t. of healthy oil, then you'd have to count points for it. Either that or halve the dressing amounts, and just eat it with less dressing.

The olives I wouldn't worry too much about. There are only 10 in the recipe, and again, at 7 servings per recipe, that's only a little over one olive per serving. I'm not an olive-lover, so I'm not sure how big kalamata olives are, or exactly what they are. Black olives are Core, right?

Turkey ham is very lean, and is not a deli meat. I find mine right next to the regular ham. Jennie-O makes a great turkey ham. It comes in big ham-shaped chunks, and looks and tastes pretty much like regular ham, except it's a lot leaner.

Let me know how it turns out if you try it,
Angela

Anna, if you are going to do WW from home you might want to go on Ebay and buy the materials. I'd suggest the week one book and the Daily Food Companion. These materials are essential. Olives are core as is ham. Turkey ham would be Core too as long as it wasn't processed lunch meat. Only Boars head lunchmeat (some of it) is Core from the deli. Without the materials, you'll make a lot of mistakes before you learn the whole program.