This Week's Dump Salad... Herbed Spring Vegetable Pasta Salad!

Okay, so this week's dump salad requires a little more effort, simply because you have to boil water and then dump, but that is about it ;)  I wanted a fun pasta salad recipe for this Spring/Summer that I could take to picnics and decided on something with lots of seasonal veggies and fresh flavors in it.  Best paired with mint, lime, cucumber infused water!

What you will need:

1/2 a 16 oz. bag of farfalle or your choice of pasta (tortellini would also be tasty)

1 zucchini (quartered)

1 yellow squash (quartered)

1 bag or bunch of asparagus

1 container of small cherry or pearl tomatoes (halved)

1/4 of a red onion minced

1 clove of garlic minced

1/2 block of parmesan cheese (grated)

juice of one large lemon

a bunch of our choice of herbs ( I chose basil, mint, parsley and dill)

olive oil, salt and pepper, seasoned to taste

pour 1/2 teaspoon of salt and a teaspoon of olive oil in a large pot of boiling water.

bring to a boil and dump in your pasta.

meanwhile, cut your veggies.  

when cutting you always want the ingredients to be the same size, so the veggies match the pasta size ;)

during the last 3-5 minutes of cooking the pasta, add your veggies and then lightly drain.

(this is the tricky part, you don't want to over cook the veggies or pasta!  If you don't think you can time the pasta and veggies to be done at the same time, then just take the pasta out with a slotted spoon when it is al dente and put in your usual dump bowl and then add the veggies into the pasta water and cook 3-5 minutes, still crisp but not raw)

meanwhile cut your tomatoes, garlic, onion and herbs

then dump those into your drained pasta and veggies

add a lot of yummy parmesan cheese and olive oil, sea salt and cracked black pepper, to taste.

don't be shy, the cheese and seasonings add flavor, just make sure to keep tasting as you add.

I also threw in some red pepper flakes to spice it up a bit.

toss together and dump into your usual dump bowl, cover and refrigerate.

best when eaten cold.

serve with an iced glass of infused water! simply add torn mint, thin sliced cucumber and lime wedges to iced purified water. stir it together and then after a couple minutes all the flavors will come out.

SUPER refreshing :)