Orzo Pasta Salad

Last night we went to our friend Lisa and Andrew’s house so I brought my favorite pasta salad.  This is the first time I’ve made this salad this year and I love the way the kitchen smells while I’m putting it together.

I started making this loosely based on an orzo pasta salad my friend Celeste told me she makes.

Ingredients:

• cooked orzo
• chopped up asparagus (I throw it in the pasta water a few minutes before the orzo is done to cook it)
• halved grape tomatoes
• feta (I used reduced fat)
• one lemon zest and juice
• shredded or ribbons of basil
• olive oil

I just mix all the ingredients together after the orzo has cooled and refrigerate until it’s served.

If it’s not lemony enough, you can add the juice of another lemon. This salad tastes like spring and summer. It’s refreshing, flagrant and wonderful. It can be a side or it’s own meal.

The Pioneer Woman’s Asian Noodle Salad

Last week my friend Molly made the Pioneer Woman’s Asian Noodle Salad.  Then another friend mentioned that she was going to make it. We haven’t had it in a while so I was inspired to make it.

It seemed like a great dish for my parents since they were visiting this weekend and it turned out great.

This recipe is huge.  We made the whole recipe omitting one pepper, the napa cabbage and some of the cucumber and we still have a ton. This is just the cut up vegetables and that’s the largest mixing bowl of that set.

We put half the vegetables, half the pasta, half the cashews and half the dressing in separate containers to save for leftovers for this week. And then we mixed the rest up for dinner on Saturday night.

It came together great and my parents loved it. The spinach got a little damaged in all the tossing because there was so much to mix together but it didn’t affect the flavor. It’s very refreshing and crunchy with a bit of sweetness and heat.

We served it on the side of a simple poached salmon and it was the perfect meal.