Basil and Veggie Pasta Salad

It was soooo HOT today.  Even scorching.  There was no way I was going to bake something in the oven for dinner.

My mind turned to a cool pasta salad.  We all love basil, so I wanted to incorporate it into a somewhat traditional pasta salad.  I decided to go with just veggies tonight, but you can throw in provolone cheese, salami, pepperoni...whatever sounds good.

I chopped up my ingredients pretty small for the salad, as I LOVE chopped salads, and wanted that effect with this salad.  I love the small of basil.  The smell of chopped fresh basil filled the air with deliciousness as I chopped.

So I chopped and chopped the veggies and threw them in with big Farfalle noodles, and it was a winning combination.

My 11 year old daughter ate a few bites and asked, "will there be enough left over for my lunch tomorrow?".  I think she liked it. 🙂  Yippee.

I opted for a combination of olive oil and vinegar for the dressing.  I favor this type of dressing over a spicy or sweet one for this salad.  With oil and vinegar, the amazing fresh taste of the veggies shine.  I recommend either mixing olive oil and vinegar together or buying an already made oil and vinegar dressing.  We tried the Paul Newman's oil and vinegar and found it to be perfect.

I love orange spoons.  Don't you? 🙂

Enjoy!!

Recipe

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Basil and Veggie Pasta Salad

Course Salad

Author Five Silver Spoons

Ingredients

• 1 16 oz box of Farfalle pasta
• 1 red pepper
• 1 10 oz container of mini heirloom tomatoes
• ½ cup chopped fresh basil
• 1 large cucumber
• 1 8 oz can sliced black olives
• 1 stalk chives chopped will yield about ½ cup
• Oil and vinegar dressing

Instructions

1. Cook Pasta. Once done, rinse with cold water and set aside.
2. Chop red pepper, tomatoes, basil, cucumber, black olives, chives.
3. Toss veggies with cooked pasta.
4. Mix in oil and vinegar dressing sparingly.