Vegetable Pasta Salad

I’m once again taking liberties with this recipe from Simply in Season. The similarities are that it contains pasta and vegetables. But from there we diverge.

Ingredients:

• 1 package of pasta
• 1 bunch of kale (or other greens; remove the stems and coarsely chop)
• 1/2 C pesto (I used the chive pesto that was leftover from the Summer Pesto Pizza)
• 4 C mixed vegetables
• cheese, olives if desired

Directions:

1. Cook pasta according to package directions. When there are about 5-8 minutes left, add the kale to the boiling water. Don’t be alarmed, it will cook down quite a bit.
2. Drain the pasta and kale and return to pot.
3. Add the pesto and mix well. Then add whatever vegetables you have lying around. Cherry tomatoes are a must. (In my humble opinion). I used carrot, summer squash, cherry tomatoes.
4. To make it a bit more filling, add feta cheese and olives.

The Verdict: This is my favorite go-to Saturday lunch recipe. It uses a whole bunch of kale and cleans out those random veggies you might have laying around. Plus it tastes good!