If you’re looking to add one more dish to your Fourth of July spread then search no more! Pasta salad is the perfect addition to a summer gathering because it can easily be made in advance and will stay fresh for days. It is also fairly easy to find 100% whole-wheat pasta, which means this dish is “real food” approved. Rather than coming up with completely new recipes for pasta salad though I actually want to showcase two “older” 100 Days of Real Food recipes that can be reinvented by simply adding noodles.
Cucumber-Dill Pasta Salad
Ingredients
- 8 oz whole-wheat pasta, dry (like macaroni, penne, or rigatoni)
- 1 ½ cups plain yogurt, (preferably the whole-milk variety, but any type will work)
- ½ large cucumber, grated with a cheese grater
- 1 clove garlic, minced
- 1 tablespoon dill, finely chopped (or 1 teaspoon of dried dill)
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
- 1/8 teaspoon salt
- 3 carrots, peeled
Instructions
- Cook noodles according to package directions. Let them cool in fridge.
- Meanwhile prepare one recipe tzatziki sauce by simply mixing together all ingredients (yogurt through vinegar above). Add 1/8 teaspoon of salt to recipe.
- Chop, slice, or grate carrots.
- Mix together the pasta, sauce, and carrots. Garnish with carrot or dill.
Recipe Notes
Nutrition Facts
The Caprese Pasta Salad Recipe has been moved to its own blog post. Give it a try, too!
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Hi, I am just trying to clarify what this recipe is asking for. You list “1 recipe tzatziki sauce” with a hyperlink so I clicked and made the recipe that was linked. Then it looks like all the rest of the ingredients are the same that went into the tzatziki sauce recipe. I assumed these were not supposed to be added into the pasta again, right? It just seems a little redundant to list the “sauce” as an ingredient itself and then list all the ingredients that make up the sauce right below it. Maybe you can remove the ingredient “1 recipe tzatziki sauce” or if you want the link to be there then leave that and remove all the other ingredients. Do you see what I mean? Otherwise I am second guessing myself on whether the ingredients are actually doubled in this recipe.
You know what I think the ingredients for the tzatziki were originally indented underneath to show as being part of the tzatziki sauce bullet, but the formatting must have been lost when we transitioned to this printable recipe plugin. Thanks so much for pointing that out! It has been fixed :)
Hi Angela. Look for pastas/noodles that are 100% whole grain. ~Amy
What kind of store bought noodles fall under eating whole foods?
The caprese salad is on the table…I have been picking at it until everyone is at the table and assembled and it is DELICIOUS! So good! Great summer recipe!
Love the Caprese salad! yum yum yum & my insides are smiling. A friend just recommended your site, so I’m trying out Meal Plan 4 this week. It’s so great! I love how kid-friendly & easy it is. I do agree with the comment about posting nutritional info. I get your point about why you don’t. My 6 yr old has type 1 diabetes, so I have to count his carbs to dose insulin with all food. Of course I can figure it out myself, but if there’s a bunch of us out here doing that on our own, it sure would be more efficient (for everyone but you guys, I know, lol) to have the info available on the site. But I certainly respect your rationale too. Thanks for the great site!
The WW pasta in the picture does not look like the pasta I have. The WW pasta I have is brown, and I haven’t tried it yet because I haven’t had success with brown WW spaghetti in the past. Have you tried it with the darker pasta? or do you think it would have too earthy of a taste?
Hi Linda. The pasta looks lighter because of how it was prepared. We assure you that it is 100% whole wheat pasta. ~Amy
Thought I would share what we did for dinner tonight. I tossed whole wheat pasta with pesto and added a can of organic garbanzo beans. Then, topped it off with a little shredded Parmesan. Simple, inexpensive and yummy!
I made the Caprese version of this, added a little extra garlic to the pesto since i’m a garlic nut…..OMG! I’m certain I can hear the angels singing with every bite! So excited to find your blog and then find out that you are close by! So happy. Just moved to North Carolina from Wisconsin and this blog is transforming my kitchen!
Hello,
Today is day 7th of my new life with Real Food. Me and my husband have been trying quite many recipes from your lovely blog and I just wanted to say THANK YOU for the lovely Caprese pasta salad! We’re amazed! :)
I love your recipes–especially this one! I would love them more if you could post the approximate nutritional information for easy viewing. Once I make the recipe, I can figure it out, but until I buy the ingredients, I’m not sure what I’m looking at in the calorie, fat, and protein department
I’m on Day 8 of the 10 Day Pledge and I’m loving the challenge! I’m sincerely considering pledging the 100 Days :)
I actually don’t post the nutritional information on purpose. We don’t count calories, fat grams, carbs, or any of that kind of stuff because we find that if we just eat a variety of whole foods (that’s heavy on plants and in reasonable moderation) the rest just falls into place effortlessly! It is definitely a lot easier than having to add up any numbers. :)
Nutrition information would be super helpful for those of us who must watch fat content (GERD) and carbohydrates (diabetes), though. I understand what you’re saying, but some families do have restrictions, and nutrition information would go a long way in helping them determine which recipes will work for their family. Thanks so much for all that you do already!