Pasta Salad

This may be vegetarian, but it is not exactly low fat or low calorie.  Not high calorie, but not diet food.

I put this together as a side/vegetarian option for a family dinner.  I know - vegetarians hate salads as their dinner option - nothing says we really don't care about you like making great food for the meat eaters and foisting off some dreck to the non meat eaters.

Well, sometimes life makes you salad.  This one is pretty good, and satisfied our vegie.

Salad Fixings
1 Red pepper - sliced
1 Yellow pepper - sliced
1 can black olives, drained and sliced
1 can artichoke hearts, drained and rinsed
1 can garbanzo beans, drained and rinsed
2 cups fresh green beans, cooked and cut in half
12 oz cherry tomatoes, halved

Pasta
16 oz cooked pasta - my preference is whole grain/high fiber - be sure to not overcook - whole grain pasta overcooked is very unpleasant

Dressing
1/3 cup olive oil
1/3 cup balsamic vinegar
1 tsp mixed seasoning - basil/thyme/marjoram
3 garlic cloves minced
1 tsp dijon mustard
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 ground pepper
1/4 cup fresh lemon juice (1 large or 2 small lemons, juiced)
2 tbs honey

Recipe
Mix all dressing ingredients, whisk.  Let sit at least 1/2 hour
Pour over all salad fixings except pasta
Let marinate for at least an hour, mixing vegies and dressing several times
Mix in Pasta, toss repeatedly
Serve

Kisir - Turkish Wheat Berry Salad with Roasted Vegetables

From AZ Cookbook

Pretty cool website that has food from "Azerbaijan and Beyond".  When daughter #3 came back from Turkey with tales of food, off I went to internet and I found AZ.  Since I had also purchased wheat berries, this recipe of Turkish Wheat Berry Salad with Roasted Veg sounded great.

And it was.

Basic concept is pretty simple - Cook Wheat Berries, Roast Veg of your choice.  Roast chicken if you like.  Add dressing, serve.

Go to the above link for the recipe, but I made a few changes.

For veg I used zucchini, mushrooms, red peppers, sweet potato and butternut squash

I had some cooked chicken

My dressing was equal parts olive oil, fresh lemon juice and balsamic vinegar.

I did not have the mint nor the parsley, but I did have dried basil.  So I used that.  Tasted great, but I will try it with the fresh mint and parsley this summer when I can grow or buy fresh.  Pomegranate syrup I replaced with the balsamic, but I am sure the Pom syrup would be great.   This would be an absolutely great summer off the grill meal