This recipe is gluten free, dairy free, sugar free, and vegan.
I spent Fourth of July with my best friend since Kindergarten, her husband, her new baby, and some friends. After making a superfood breakfast quinoa that wasn't necessarily at the top of the list for eggs-for-breakfast lovers, I decided I needed to create something a bit more classic for our Fourth of July celebration dinner. (Don't worry - that Superfood Breakfast Quinoa recipe will be coming soon for you quinoa lovers.)
So classic I did - with a gluten free twist. Who doesn't love a good pasta salad at a summer barbecue?
This pasta salad includes roasted broccoli, which is my favorite way to make broccoli. It makes it so tender, a little charred on the ends, and brings out the most amazing flavor. This is all condensed into step 2 below, as you shall see.
Easy Summer Pasta Salad (serves 4-6)
Ingredients:
- One pound of your favorite gluten free pasta (I love brown rice pasta, or Trader Joe's brown rice and quinoa pasta)
- One cucumber
- Two tomatoes
- One red pepper
- 1/2 small red onion
- One package or bunch of watercress
- One head of broccoli
- 2 tbsp avocado oil (for roasting broccoli)
- 1/2 to 1 bottle of Bragg's Organic Vinaigrette (or dressing of choice)
- Salt & pepper
How to:
- Cook pasta according to package, drain, and set aside to cool.
- For broccoli: Preheat oven to 400-415 degrees. Chop broccoli (both stems and florets) into bite sized pieces. Coat in avocado oil or other cooking oil. Roast for 20 minutes or until tender and florets are slightly charred. Set aside to cool.
- Chop the rest of the veggies (tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers, onion, and watercress) into bite sized pieces (1/4 inch to 1/2 inch).
- Mix cooled pasta, broccoli, tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers, onion, watercress together in a large bowl.
- Add at least half the bottle of Bragg's Organic Vinaigrette to the bowl of pasta salad and mix well (I used 3/4 of a bottle).
- Add salt and pepper to taste.
And that's a wrap! This one requires some tasting, as some of you may like more salt, more pepper, more or less vinaigrette, etc. This is where you learn to wander free in your cooking, and experiment with what YOU like. You don't need me to tell you exactly how to cook.
If you make this dish, snap a pic and post on instagram with #wanderfreerecipes so that I can see what you've done! Happy summer free wanderers!