Pesto Pasta Salad

E is doing the columbia triathlon tomorrow so he needed some carbs tonight. because it was such a beautiful warm day today that i didn't want to turn the oven on or eat something hot, so i decided on pasta salad loaded with veggies. i made the pecan crusted chilean sea bass again to go with it. if you haven't tried that recipe yet i suggest you do. it turns out tasty every time!

i filled up the pasta salad with some veggies i had on hand. the great thing about pasta salad is you can really add whatever you have on hand to it. tonight it was some chopped zucchini, squash, cherry tomatoes, sugar snap peas, and minced red onion. i added some pesto i made at the end of last summer and froze. it tasted so fresh and summery plus it was pretty easy to make. i sauteed the zucchini and squash for a couple of minutes while the whole wheat pasta cooked and i added the chopped sugar snap peas into the pasta for the last minute of cooking. a quick rinse with cold water stopped the cooking. you can find my pesto recipe here.

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Pesto Pasta Salad
serves 4

1 cup whole wheat pasta (i used elbow macaroni)
1 small zucchini, chopped
1 small yellow squash, chopped
1 tbs olive oil
1/4 red onion, minced
1 cup cherry tomatoes, halved
1 cup sugar snap peas, chopped
3 tbs pesto
1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese

bring water to boil in a medium pot. add pasta and cook according to package directions. add chopped sugar snap peas to pot when there is just 1 minute left to cook. drain pasta and peas and rinse well with cold water to stop cooking.

saute chopped zucchini and squash over medium heat in 1 tbs olive oil until just tender, about 2 minutes. remove from heat and let cool while you chop remaining veggies.

add pasta, peas, chopped tomatoes, minced red onion, cooled zucchini and squash, pesto, and parmesan cheese into a large bowl. stir well to evenly distribute pesto. serve immediately or store in fridge until ready to serve.