Monday, June 26, 2017

BLT Pasta Salad~the perfect summertime salad

Hello everyone!  I pray each of you had a wonderful weekend.  The sun is FINALLY out here, and this girl could not be happier.

Today I thought I would share a quick and easy summer time salad with you.  This can be served as the main course or as a side dish.

BLT Pasta Salad


Ingredients:

2 1/2 cups uncooked bow tie pasta (we used Jovial Brown Rice)
6 cups torn romaine lettuce
1 medium tomato, diced (love using fresh from our garden)
4 bacon strips, cooked and crumbled (we used pre-cooked to save time)
1/2 cup ranch dressing (recipe to follow)
1 TBS barbecue sauce
1/4 tsp pepper

Instructions:

1. Cook pasta according to package directions.  Drain.  Then rinse pasta under cold water.
2. In a large bowl, combine romaine lettuce, tomato, back and pasta.
3. Drizzle the ranch dressing and barbecue sauce over the top.  Gently toss to coat evenly. Season with pepper.  Serve immediately and enjoy!

Homemade Ranch Dressing (gluten free, vegan, dairy free)

1 tsp dried parsley
1/2 tsp ground black pepper
1 tsp seasoned salt
1/2 tsp dill
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1/4 tsp onion powder
1/8 tsp dried thyme

Mix the spices with 1 cup vegan mayonaise, 1 cup dairy free milk and 1 tsp vinegar (this takes the place of buttermilk).  I combined all in a mason jar and gave it a good shake.

The dressing was a bit thin, but worked fine on the salad.  Next time I will probably cut the milk/vinegar in half to thicken it up.

I'll have another cold pasta recipe to share with you later in the week.

Enjoy!!

5 comments:

Andrea Nine said...

This looks and sounds sooooooo good!!

Vicki @ lifeinmyemptynest said...

This looks good! I'm going to try it this week or a recipe I pinned for Caprese pasta salad. But the bacon in your recipe sounds yummy!

Melissa said...

Looks delicious!! Such a beautiful weekend! Glad you were able to enjoy it! Hope you have a terrific week, too!

Preppy Empty Nester said...

This looks so yummy and refreshing for the hot Summer months! Enjoy your week, Lauren.

Blondie's Journal said...

Sounds heavenly! What sort of BBQ sauce do you use?

Jane