Ice cream may have been on the menu for dinner last night, but tonight I will be serving this yummy pasta salad with green beans, tomatoes and roasted red peppers. And you want to know the best part? My cooking duties are done for the day. I don’t know about you, but the last thing I want to do is hang out in the kitchen on a hot say like today. So whenever I can make dinner at 8 am and have it sitting in the refrigerator until dinner time rolls around, is just plain awesome.
Ingredients
1 {16oz} box Bow Tie Pasta {or whatever you like to use}
1/2 pound green beans, trimmed and blanched
6 oz cherry tomatoes
2 oz Parmesan Cheese
1 red pepper, roasted, {I used a canned variety}
1 sweet onion, chopped {I used a Walla Walla sweet onion}
1 carrot, chopped
2 tablespoons pine nuts, dry roasted
1 teaspoon red pepper flakes
3 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
salt and pepper to taste
Directions
Cook the pasta, drain and set aside to cool. Blanch green beans and set aside to cool. Chop your veggies, add the pasta, the vegetables, the Parmesan cheese and toss. Add olive oil, balsamic vinegar, red pepper flakes and salt and pepper to taste.
Serve immediately or pop it in the refrigerator for latter. If you chose the later, I highly recommend you spend the rest of the day watching movies on Netflix and eating popsicles.
I suppose if I was really cool, I’d learn how to make my own pasta with one of these CucinaPro Imperia Pasta Machine
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Elizabeth F says
This does look good. I too like my dinners prepared ahead but usually do the night before or on the weekend. I find it relaxing to chop and saute and stir and read recipes, check my pantry etc after a full day at work. My mother worked full time too all my childhood. She did cooking on the weekend for the week ahead. This was the 60’s and 70’s so I think she was ahead of the times on that.
I have a problem with roasted red peppers. As far as I know I don’t know why. Just the mention of them makes me cringe. I don’t think I have ever had them…I just have very odd food aversions. I may add Greek olives and feta cheese instead.
Dawn A says
I just love the pictures and recipes you post Mavis. I just had one question. I notice that they never contain meat. If you don’t mind me asking our you vegetarian and is that how you are able to stay within your $100.00 a month budget?
Mavis says
We are not vegetarian. 🙂 If you look back through the recipes we do tend to eat a lot of chicken. I guess I never really thought about it but maybe we don’t eat as much meat during the summer because we are stuffing our faces with veggies from the garden. 🙂
amy says
I own the pasta maker listed on this post and I love it! And my family loves fresh pasta. But I warn you once you start making fresh pasta your family might not want to go back to that boxed stuff. And if you buy flour in bulk it’s cheap to make.
Mavis says
I’m tempted to get it. I think it would be totally fun to make homemade pasta. 🙂
Jeanne says
I own that pasta maker as well. Haven’t made it in a while but will again soon. Used to make it quite a bit. Very easy, you can cook it fresh or dry it for later use.
I use the old collapsing/foldable wooden drying rack to air dry clothes – one dedicated for pasta making only! Put a clean sheet underneath it in case some break during the drying process. Will dry over night and is good for a long, long time! Easy!! And so worth it!