Greek Pasta Salad

So, this is one of my go-to lunch dishes, and something that I seriously will have all year long (no matter how expensive it gets to buy out of season produce!). So, in the summertime I take advantage of the fantastic availability of local, fresh produce... perfect time of year to find bell peppers, cucumber and sweet cherry tomatoes... and lots of them!

I love this dish because it's so easy and so healthy. Actually, I've had a bit of free time on my hands over the last 10 months, and "for kicks" one day I decided to count my daily calories, and so I figure this dish to be around the 400 calorie mark. Pretty reasonable in my mind. The calorie counting only lasted about 2 days because it's just way to much work, and really, who wants to keep that up? I know, you don't care too much about calories either - you care about delicious food. And this is. Try it! You'll love it. And it's easy.

Greek Pasta Salad

Serves 2

1 cup Whole wheat rotini pasta

1/2 Bell pepper, chopped (I use any combination of red, orange or yellow peppers)

10-12 Cherry tomatoes, chopped

1/2 cup Long english cucumber, chopped (I usually cut off about 4 inches worth)

3 Tbsp Zesty Italian salad dressing

3 Tbsp Feta cheese, cubed

10 Black olives, sliced (not shown, but definitely improves the salad!)

1) Bring a pot of water to a boil, and cook pasta according to directions. Drain and rinse in cold water in order to cool down (I prefer the pasta to be cold in my salad).

2) Meanwhile, cut up bell peppers, cherry tomatoes and cucumber into bite-sized pieces. Slice the black olives if using them.

3) Add pasta and vegetables (well technically fruit) into a bowl, and mix in feta cheese and salad dressing. Mix and serve! See? Easy.

I always make this with store bought salad dressing, but have seen some interesting recipes for homemade italian dressing including this one at Our best bites that I want to try soon. Do you have any good recipes? Share them with me if you do!