Hearty Italian Salad
My husband: “What are we having for dinner?”
Me: “Salad.”
“Salad?” he responds with an eye roll and begins to scour the refrigerator and pantry for something else. “What else do we have?”
As a vegetarian, I eat A LOT of salad. My husband, on the other hand, is training for an Ironman. He needs more than a bowl of lettuce to replenish all the calories he burns with training twice a day.
I convinced him to leave the kitchen after explaining that the salad would have pasta and meat—enough to satisfy his protein and calorie intake and not leave him hungry.
I filled a pot with water to cook the pasta. As I waited for the water to come to a boil, I mixed up a very simple dressing using, olive oil, balsamic vinegar, parmesan cheese, salt, pepper, garlic powder and sugar.
Since I do eat a lot of salads, I like to add whatever I can to make them exciting! Most of the time, that means I just find things in the fridge or pantry that might be good. The thing I love about salads, is it’s really hard to mess them up.
This time I used a mix of chopped romaine lettuce and spinach & spring salad mix. I rinsed and drained a can of garbanzo beans. Other toppings added for a punch of flavor in this salad are olives, tomatoes, pepperoncinis, sunflower seeds and some pepperoni for my husband.
After the pasta is cooked and rinsed with cold water, you can assemble the salad however you want.
Make it gluten free and vegetarian by eliminating the pasta and pepperoni like I did, or add everything to make it even more substantial. Either way, you’ll love this packed salad and won’t be left unsatisfied.
Hearty Italian Salad: 2 servings (Dinner-sized salads)
4 oz. of cooked pasta (I used macaroni, but any smaller noodle will do)
Chopped Romain Lettuce
Spring Mix Lettuce
1 cup garbanzo beans (rinsed and drained)
1 small can black olives
1 Roma tomato
Handful of small pepperoni or quartered sliced pepperoni
4 Tablespoons sunflower seeds
Dressing:
1/3 cup olive oil
3 Tablespoons balsamic vinegar
2 Tablespoons parmesan cheese
3/4 teaspoon sugar
1 teaspoon black pepper
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
Whisk all ingredients for dressing or put ingredients in a jar and shake until well incorporated.