Working Late Pasta Salad GF/Vegetarian

Recipe created by Sarah Holtz

One of the easy changes that I made that I’ve really “bean” able to stick was moving from regular pasta to bean pasta. I have the whole family on board, and it was an easy transition. The flour for the pasta is made from beans. I usually use Barilla or Banza brands. Both of these are made with garbanzo beans. A 2 oz serving of bean pasta has about the same calories as wheat pasta with 10 grams of fewer carbohydrates and 5 additional grams of protein. Bean pasta also has more fiber than wheat pasta with 5 grams per serving and a bonus of 510 mg of potassium. This recipe is quick and lends well to the addition of more vegetables. I added olives to my finished pasta salad.

Ingredients

500gms package bean pasta (I used the spaghetti shape, but any shape will work.)

100gms package sun dried tomatoes julienned

225gms cherry size mozzarella in water-drained

225gms package sliced mushrooms -sautéed and cooled to room temperature

2 teaspoons hummus

1/3 cup preserved lemon diced

2 tsp parsley

½ cup Ken’s Simply Vinaigrette garlic basil dressing (or any dressing of your choice)

2 stalks of diced celery

1/3 cup diced onion

1 large pepperoncini pepper, chopped

Preparation

Cook the spaghetti according to package directions. While the pasta is cooking, in a large bowl combine the hummus and the dressing and whisk with a fork. Into the dressing add the celery, onion, tomatoes, parsley, lemon, and chopped pepper. Drain the pasta and rinse in cold water. Add the drained pasta to the bowl with the dressing mixture. Gently fold in the mushrooms and drained mozzarella, distributing the sauce throughout the pasta. This can be served warm, room temperature, or chilled.

Nutritional Information

Calories 416

Fat 21 g

Cholesterol 24 mg

Carbs 38 g

Sodium 1731 mg

Potassium 661 mg

Fiber 6 g

Sugars 12 g

Protein 18 g