Beginning this year, Husband and I have been making more of an effort to take Sunday afternoons to meal prep breakfasts and lunches for the upcoming week. Usually this means crockpot steel cut oatmeal with berries for breakfast plus some type of salad for lunch.
All due respect to those of you out there who can eat the same protein, grain and vegetable five days in a row, but that ain’t me. I need a little more variety. So we usually make two different kind of salads (4 per person; 8 total) each week so that we can alternate between two kinds of salads throughout the week while leaving one day to eat out. It’s also tricky to find a recipe that holds up well in the fridge for five days, but if I code it as meal prep here on the blog, it fits the bill.
This pasta salad actually gets better with time. The longer the dressing soaks into the pasta and the flavors have time to merry, the more delicious it tastes!
MEDITERRANEAN PASTA SALAD
- Recipe adapted from The Pioneer Woman
- Yields: 4 lunch-size servings
Ingredients:
- 12 oz. small shaped pasta (like macaroni/elbows, ditalini, orzo, etc.)
- 1 pint cherry or grape tomatoes, halved
- 1 small (or half large) red onion, diced
- 1 can (14.5 oz) chickpeas, rinsed & drained
- 1 cup sliced Kalamata olives
- 1 container (3.5 to 4 oz.) feta cheese
- handful of fresh parsley, minced
- 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
- 1 large lemon, juiced
- 1 clove of garlic, minced or grated
- sea salt & freshly ground pepper
Directions:
- Cook your pasta to al-dente according to package directions. Drain, rinse with cold water and set aside.
- In a large mixing bowl, combine your prepped tomatoes, onion, chickpeas, olives, cheese and parsley. Stir in your cooled & drained pasta.
- In a cup or jar, mix together the dressing: olive oil, lemon juice, and garlic. Whisk or shake well. Pour over the pasta salad and stir to combine. Salt & pepper to taste.
- Divide evenly into four Tupperware or sealed containers. Refrigerate for up to one week.
