Lemon Spinach Pasta Salad. {She cooks}

Pasta Salad. One of my favorite foods in the world... but I rarely make it anymore. However, for Easter dinner, Mom whipped up an orzo pasta salad and it was delicious! And orzo is delicious, why have I never had it before??? I can't wait to get a bag and make some. Sometimes my cooking nerdiness really needs to take a chill pill. ;)

Anyways, this orzo salad had awakened my pasta salad craving and I decided I'd make some of my own. I used to just mix a balsamic dressing with some Italian dressing. But, I didn't have either of those. Nor did I have an balsamic vinegar... so, I just threw something together and it turned out so good.

Lemon Spinach Pasta Salad.

What you need:
Box {or bag} of pasta of your choice
bag of frozen peas {I only used half}
1 cucumber
{any other veggies you may want}

Dressing:
Juice of 1 lemon
large handful of spinach
1 tbsp honey
1/4 c. extra virgin olive oil
1 minced clove of garlic
salt
pepper
chili powder

The best part of this pasta salad was how easy it was to make... cook your pasta according to the directions on the package. Chop the cucumber into bite size pieces. I used a bag of steam fresh peas so I popped that into the microwave while the pasta was cooking, then poured them into a strainer when they were finished and ran cold water on them to chill them a bit. Rinse the pasta with cold water then combine the veggies and pasta in a bowl.

For the dressing, I put all the ingredients into a blender and let it go until the spinach was blended well with the liquids. Season it to your taste... then pour the dressing over the pasta and veggies - give it a good stir, season more if needed. Serve immediately for a room temp salad or pop in fridge. Mine made about 4-6 servings since I used gluten free pasta and it tends to have less pasta in the boxes than regular. {Why is that?}

This is perfect for an easy, healthy, veggie packed lunch.

What's your favorite pasta salad recipe???

Have a fab Thursday, kids!