#SecretRecipeClub ~ Veggie Lover's Pasta Salad

Welcome to the July, Group D, reveal day for Secret Recipe Club! I hope you will take a moment to visit the Secret Recipe Club if you've never heard of it before - it is a wonderful group of food bloggers who are given a secret assignment of another member's blog each month and our goal is to pick ANYTHING from their blog to make and post about on our designated reveal day!

For the month of August, I was assigned to "Without Adornment" and immediately fell in love with the beautiful flowered background and the gorgeous soft colors of her photos for this recipe. Her blog header says "My Quest to Be Myself"... at this point in my life that phrase means a LOT to me... I am making some very big changes in my life for that purpose; to be myself, true to myself, honest with myself, trusting in and caring for myself. It's hard. It can be really, really painful to just be yourself sometimes. It doesn't seem like it should be that big of a deal, but it really can be and so I connected with this blog right away. Learn more about Bean here. You will find some very cool photos of her, and a particularly cute one of her and her hubby. She confesses her love of cooking and baking, and due to allergies / intolerances her recipes are typically gluten, egg, dairy, and refined sugar free. If you haven't read her about me page go check it out. I was very moved and may have wiped a tear or two away by the end.

I visited the Recipe Index, and immediately was drawn to the Fish Tacos with Mango Salsa - I have been wanting to make these at home for.ev.er!! I kept browsing and came across Homemade Applesauce, Strawberry Daiquiris (I've been wanting an excuse to buy some coconut rum), Pork Chop Stroganoff, Slow Cooker Lamb Stew, Swedish Meatball Stew, and this Veggie Lover's Pasta Salad... I want to try them all.

I opted for the veggie lover's pasta salad. I love, love pasta salad and it's such a great summer side dish. I tweaked to fit what I had on hand, and preferences (omitted artichokes and raw bell pepper and replaced with carrots and mushrooms, and subbed some mozzarella for the feta cheese). The dressing is light and fresh with lemon juice and simple spices, and this makes a perfect side dish or a great base to add meat to (like grilled chicken) for a one dish summery dinner! Delicious!

Vegetable Lover’s Pasta Salad adapted from Without Adornment

Ingredients
12-oz garden rotini noodles, uncooked
1 cup grape tomatoes, cut into halves
2-3 stalks of celery, chopped
1 large carrot, julienned or diced into thin rounds
5 - 6 large mushrooms, rinsed and diced
3 cheese sticks, diced into small chunks
Optional: 1/2 cup diced salami chunks

Dressing ingredients
1/2 c. olive oil
3 TBS lemon juice
2 tsp minced garlic
2 - 3 TBS parsley
salt, pepper, other spices to taste

Directions

1. Cook noodles until very al dente. Drain and rinse with lots of cold water.
2. Add prepped vegetables and cheese to a large bowl, and add the noodles.
3. In a glass measuring cup, prepare the dressing and whisk to combine until creamy.
4. Pour dressing over salad and toss until coated, taste and adjust seasonings if necessary.
5. Put salad in fridge until ready to use; serve chilled.

An InLinkz Link-up