Friday, July 8, 2011

Summertime Pasta Salad


Mark Twain once wrote, "The coldest winter I ever spent was a summer in San Francisco." He’s right: after living in San Francisco for five years, I'm not so accustomed to warm weather. But it hasn't always been this way. I grew up in a small town northeast of San Diego, where in the summer, anything below 100 degrees was considered cool. 


As much as I love San Francisco (and I do love San Francisco), summers in the city always make me miss my hometown. Whatever happened to pool parties and swimsuits and lemonade?

Well, miss it no more. In fifteen days, I’m packing up and leaving town. Destination: Napa. Right now, Napa is a beautiful 78 degrees with an anticipated high of 88 degrees. Ahh, warmth is in my near future, which makes me one happy girl!

So, in preparation for the heat, I decided to make a cool summertime pasta salad. I adapted it from a recipe created by my friend Jen, but as you’ll see you can easily swap ingredients to fit your pasta salad preference!

Summertime Pasta Salad



Serves 1

1 cup (cooked) whole wheat rotini pasta, cold
½ cup broccoli slaw
½ cup artichoke hearts
½ cup sliced cucumber
3 oz. grilled chicken, cold
Italian dressing
Splash (or two, if you like the citrus kick!) of orange juice

No real instructions necessary – just toss together and enjoy!

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