Sunday, August 30, 2009

Super Summer Yummer Salad

This is one of my favorite times of year! Not only is it nice and warm and flip flops are a must but summer gardens are in full production! And we have to find creative things to do with all the garden gives us.
Super Summer Yummer Salad is a cold salad perfect for a warm day, its easy prep and refrigerates well so make it in the morning and enjoy it in the afternoon, and don't worry if you have leftovers they are good the next day for lunch. Word of warning, I love garlic so my Pesto mixture is full of garlic if you want to cut the garlic down you may do so by a clove or so remember garlic becomes more potent as it sits so what might taste a bit to spicy today might turn into super garlic tomorrow!
Ingredients:
• aproximently 8 ounces of fresh basil, about the amount you would buy in the store
• 3 cloves of garlic
• 4 tbsp olive oil (2 used in pesto the others in the salad mixture)
• salt and pepper to taste
• 1 box pasta (your choice, bow ties are pretty fun for this salad)
• 3 to 5 fresh tomatoes depending on size
• 12 to 16 oz vegan mozzarella or cows milk mozzerella (if you are using vegan I suggest Vegan Gourmet by Follow Your Heart)
Directions:
Start by boiling the water for the pasta, you want the cooked pasta to be cool when you put the toppings on it so feel free to do this first or prep the topping and place in the fridge. On to the Pesto: clean and de-leaf the basil and place in to your blender or food processor along with 2 tbsp olive oil and blend until the leaves are in small pieces. Then chop your garlic and add along with the salt and pepper to taste. If the pesto seems a little dry feel free to add a bit more olive oil. Remove from your blending tool and set aside.
Pesto ready!
Next dice tomatoes and cheese separately. Put pesto cheese and tomatoes in large mixing bowl, and mix well with a spoon.
mixed and ready for pasta
After your pasta is cooked and cooled mix into the mixing bowl a small amount at a time for even distribution over pasta, add the other 2 tbsp olive oil for ease of mixing.

in the middle of mixing.

Serve with garlic bread and enjoy!

Super Summer Yummer Salad



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