food - pasta salad

i believe i have written about this before, but oh well...

for this week's meals i made pasta salad. it's good cold and on the go. perfect for days that i am working in multiple libraries. like yesterday.

somewhere i found this great idea that if you get artichoke hearts jarred in oil and spices then you should use that as the dressing. boil some pasta (about 1 cup for 3-4 servings of salad) and make sure to cook it al dente. then rinse it with cold water. drain then add to any collection of chopped vegetables. this one has chopped artichoke hearts, sliced black olives, sliced carrots, pasta, cannellini beans, diced zucchini, and quartered grape tomatoes. you can use whatever you like and/or whatever you have on hand. i don't normally add carrots (i don't really like them raw) but i had some leftover from the lasagna so in they went.

recipe:
basic pasta salad (3-4 servings)

1 cup dried pasta (any shape, add more if using a larger shape)
1        zucchini, small, diced
1        carrot, small, peeled and diced
1 can olives, your choice, sliced
1 jar  artichoke hearts, packed in oil, quartered
         any additional ingredients, add 1/2 to 1 cup ea.

boil a pot of water for the pasta. when water is at a roiling boil, add pasta and cook according to package instructions for al dente. while pasta is cooking, chop and drain all ingredients, except the artichoke oil if using as dressing. as ingredients are prepped, add to a bowl or storage container. if using canned beans like i did this time, make sure to rinse them thoroughly, especially if they were packed in a salt solution. when the pasta is done, drain and rinse thoroughly with cold water. for dressing, you can use any vinigrette that you prefer or as mentioned above, you can use the oil/spice mix that the artichoke hearts were packed in. mix and enjoy. i like to let the salad sit for 12-24 hours before eating to let the pasta and veggies soak up the dressing.