Veggie Pasta Salad

I came across this recipe on a wonderful food website that I'm constantly perusing called Tasty Kitchen and just knew that a variation of it would be wonderful alongside some beautiful salmon fillets that we bought.  I know it's the middle of winter and believe me we will be having the rib-sticking, like-momma-used-to-make, warm, winter casseroles and stews also this week, but when you've got deep red pacific salmon on your plate you want something light and simple beside it.  This is perfect - and believe me, it will also be coming back out in the middle of summer next to those barbecue ribs and steaks that my hubby (the BBQ master :o) rustles up outside.

Veggie Pasta Salad
6-8 servings
(adapted from this 'Summer Pasta Salad')

dressing
3/4 cup red wine vinegar
3/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
1/2 cup sugar
1 Tbs dried parsley
1 Tbs garlic powder
1 Tbs black pepper
3/4 Tbs salt

salad
2 cups dried elbow or penne pasta (to give you approx 4 cups)
1 large tomato
1 green bell pepper
1/2 cup baby carrots
4-5 green onions

• place all the dressing ingredients into a lidded jar and.....shake, shake, shake :o) - store in the refrigerator until you're ready to use.
• cook the pasta in boiling, salted water as per package instructions.
• meanwhile, chop the tomato, pepper, carrots and green onions to uniform size (I wanted mine fairly small) - these were just the veggies that I had on hand, but use your own favourites.
• when the pasta is cooked, drain and run under cold water to cool and stop it cooking any further.
• in a large bowl, mix together the cooled cooked pasta and veggies until well blended.
• pour about half of the dressing over the pasta and toss well - add more dressing if you want.
• keep covered in the refrigerator.

Veggie Pasta Salad ingredients.

dressing ingredients.

place all the dressing ingredients into a lidded jar.

pop on the lid and give it a good shake; put in the refrigerator until you want to use it.

cook the dried pasta in boiling water.

run the cooked pasta under cold water to stop it cooking further and cool it down.

chop all the veggies.

mix all the veggies and cold pasta together.

pour some dressing over the pasta and mix well - I couldn't resist spooning out a small bowl of it to eat straight away - I promise the rest went into the refrigerator ready for dinner and left-overs :o)