Pasta Salad for Lunch This Week!
"This recipe came from Real Simple. It's one that you clearly can modify to use whatever you have handy in the pantry and fridge. Bringing a lunch from home is a great way to save money - even the employee cafeteria is getting pricey! You can use pretty much any short variety of pasta. I would add julienned sundried tomatoes to several of these, or some chopped red bell pepper, for color and flavor. I threw in a little Recipe #269360 with the Asian version. Please note: I seem to get only 4 servings from a pound of pasta, so you might want to check that."
photo by Lalaloula
- Ready In:
- 25mins
- Ingredients:
- 24
- Serves:
-
5
ingredients
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Pasta
- 1 1 lb fusilli or 1 lb farfalle pasta
- olive oil
-
Day 1 - Mediterranean Pasta
- 1⁄2 cup canned chick-peas or 1/2 cup cooked chickpeas
- 1⁄2 cup arugula
- 1⁄4 cup crumbled feta
- 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
- 2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice
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Day 2 - Artichoke Almond and Parmesan Pasta
- 6 jarred artichoke hearts, chopped
- 2 tablespoons chopped roasted almonds
- 2 tablespoons grated parmesan cheese
- 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
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Day 3 - Tuna Red Onion and Olive Pasta
- 1 (3 ounce) can tuna, drained
- 1⁄4 cup pitted kalamata olive
- 2 tablespoons chopped red onions
- 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
- 2 teaspoons red wine vinegar
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Day 4 - Asian Pasta Salad
- 1 carrot, thinly sliced
- 1⁄4 English cucumber, diced
- 1 tablespoon canola oil
- 2 tablespoons chopped roasted peanuts
- 2 teaspoons low sodium soy sauce
- 1 teaspoon rice vinegar
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Day 5 - Chicken and Pesto Pasta
- 1⁄2 cup shredded chicken
- 1⁄4 cup prepared pesto sauce
directions
- Cook the pasta as per package instructions. Rinse in cold water and toss with a little olive oil. Refrigerate.
- For each day, whisk together the liquid ingredients, if there is more than one.
- Mix the remaining ingredients with 1 1/2 cup of the cooked pasta, then toss with the liquid ingredients.
- For the Chicken and Pesto version, I found that warming the pasta in the microwave just a bit helped it toss more evenly with the pesto. You do need to let it cool a bit before packing it up for your lunch.
Questions & Replies
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Reviews
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I really enjoyed the Artichoke Almond and Parmesan version for dinner tonight. I doubt that I would have thought of pairing these ingredients but I'm glad that someone else did. I made just a single serving for myself this evening and ate it hot. Very yummy! -
What the heck! I made this recipe pretty much as given, to & including spreading it out over 5 days (well, 4 really, but I've got the making for the 5th one tomorrow & since the first 4 have gone so deliciously well, I'm sure that one will, too)! Definitely a great way to work a recipe, & it IS a keeper for me! Thanks for sharing it! [Made & reviewed in 1-2-3 Hits recipe tag]! -
This is wonderful! It is so easy to prepare and tastes wonderful! I made the day 3 version using marinated tofu in place of tuna and a yellow onion instead of the red as thats all I had. Also I added in some garlic and pepper. It was so good, Ill certainly make it again. <br/>I had some leftovers and so the next day I added some tomato sauce to juicen them up a bit more and that was even better I thought.<br/>THANK YOU SO MUCH for sharing this keeper with us, Duonyte!<br/>Made and reviewed for 1-2-3-Hit Wonders June 2011. -
I do something very similar to this as well -- about once every two weeks I cook a big box of penne noodles and some sort of veggie (usually peas or broccoli) that I throw in during the last few minutes of boiling -- then we have it available in the fridge throughtout the weeks for quick lunches, sometimes we throw together alfredo, or just butter and parm cheese. So this group is a great way for me to get new ideas. Which I love. For today's lunch I had the mediterranean option, and this weeks pasta has peas in it so I left the arugula out, added a wee bit of mayo, red wine vinegar and some oregano! Mmmm! This was sooo good! Thanks for posting all these yummy options! :) [Made for 123 Hits] -
I made the Day 2 version and with a few changes, really enjoyed it for lunch. I halved the recipe, liked it the way it was, but did add some salt and pepper and a little mayo. Thanks! Made for Newest Zaar tag.
Tweaks
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This is wonderful! It is so easy to prepare and tastes wonderful! I made the day 3 version using marinated tofu in place of tuna and a yellow onion instead of the red as thats all I had. Also I added in some garlic and pepper. It was so good, Ill certainly make it again. <br/>I had some leftovers and so the next day I added some tomato sauce to juicen them up a bit more and that was even better I thought.<br/>THANK YOU SO MUCH for sharing this keeper with us, Duonyte!<br/>Made and reviewed for 1-2-3-Hit Wonders June 2011.
RECIPE SUBMITTED BY
duonyte
United States
My screen name is a diminutive in Lithuanian for bread, so you won't be suprised to learn that I love to bake bread. In recent years I have been baking a lot of sourdough breads and have several starters sitting in my refrigerator. But I like to cook a lot of other things, as well, especially from various cultures. The cat wishes I would concentrate on meat and fish... I joined a few years ago but started posting recipes and participating in forums just recently - I wish I had done so earlier. Recipezaar is a great community! Right now I am a co-host for the Breads and Baking and the Eastern Europe forums - I hope to see you there!
