Healthy Rainbow Pasta Salad
I’ve missed you guys! I’ve got some ‘splaining to do. Where have I been since my last post?! It’s been a whirlwind of a week for me y’all.
First off, how gorgeous and bright is this Healthy Rainbow Pasta Salad?! I thought it was the P E R F E C T way to celebrate that it’s officially SUMMER for me over here. That’s right, I managed to finish my thesis, defend it AND finish my final five exams of my Master’s this semester. I did my LAST EXAM EVER yesterday and I honestly can’t believe it’s all done!!!! There was lots of celebrating last night!
You see friends, I had big plans to share another recipe with you last week between my birthday and my final two exams but I had a VERY unexpected and surprise visitor on my birthday. Remember how I was planning on a relaxing night out with J at a local vegan restaurant?!
Well guess who showed up at my doorstep in Belgium with J when he came home from work?
MY BROTHER!!
He was honestly the last person I expected to see. I have never ever ever experienced such shock in my entire life. I was pinching him and me (literally, lol!) because I honestly could not believe he was in front of me! After about 30 seconds of shock and screaming I broke down and cried such tears of joy. I have never cried tears of joy before but now I can honestly say what it feels like to feel SO much emotion all at once. (That’s me hugging J’s mom in the top middle picture, you can see my brother sneaking behind me to surprise me in the back!).
It was honestly the BEST birthday present ever spending it with my brother, J and J’s awesome family. I hadn’t seen my brother since my trip home to Toronto over Christmas and I can’t remember the last birthday I spent with family. Sooo, as you can imagine, we dropped everything that weekend and showed my brother Belgium! We had so much fun drinking beer, touring the sites here, bbqing and just enjoying each other’s company.
BUT, I still had TWO exams last week (and a paper, ha!) to finish so kept myself off social media and my blog as much as I could and crammed to get everything done. And now I can say that after two years of writing, stress, learning and more I have closed another chapter in my life! I’m very excited to see what the next will hold 🙂
So let’s celebrate with a bright, healthy and veggie-packed RAINBOW Pasta Salad, shall we? This Vegan Rainbow Pasta Salad is a healthy and oil free take on one of my favorite Summer salads growing up.
I used to l o v e getting a similar pasta salad to this Healthy Rainbow Pasta Salad at the grocery store but always found it was made with wayyyyy to much oil and well, not very salad like to say the least, lol. This Healthy Rainbow Pasta Salad uses my trusty starchy pasta water in the dressing to give it a similar, creamy mouth-feel that oil gives to pasta without needing to use all that oil! 😉 This light and filling Rainbow Pasta Salad is sure to be a family favorite all Summer long.
Healthy Rainbow Pasta Salad
- Total Time: 30 mins
- Yield: 10 servings (side) 1x
Description
A vibrant, light and veggie-packed Rainbow Pasta Salad with a tangy homemade dressing. A healthy take on the classic pasta salad we all know and love – the perfect Summer side!
Ingredients
- 500 grams/17.6 oz multicolored rotini (or pasta of choice)
- 1 1/2 cups red onion
- 1 cup celery
- 2 cups tomatoes
- 3 bell peppers (1 red, 1 yellow, 1 green)
- 3/4 cup radishes
- 1/2 cup black olives
Dressing
- 1/4 cup sunflower seeds
- 1 clove garlic
- 2 tsp herbes de provence
- 1/2 cup red wine vinegar or regular white vinegar
- 1/3 cup starchy pasta water
- 1/4 cup coconut sugar or cane sugar
- 3/4 tsp sea salt
- black pepper to taste
Garnish
- Fresh Basil
Instructions
- Cook the pasta according to the directions on the box. While the pasta is cooking, chop and prepare all your vegetables (see photo for size).
- Drain the pasta and reserve 1/3 cup of the starchy pasta water for the dressing. Rinse the pasta under cold water to cool it down.
- Dressing: Add all the ingredients (sunflower seeds through to black black pepper) to a blender and blend until creamy. Taste test and add additional sea salt or black pepper to taste. Note: I don’t pre-soak my sunflower seeds and use an immersion blender to blend the dressing (a high speed blender will work fine as well). Feel free to pre-soak your sunflower seeds if you don’t have a strong blender.
- Add the cool pasta and chopped vegetables to a large bowl and pour the dressing on top. Toss until everything is evenly coated with the dressing. Garnish with fresh basil. Pasta salad tastes even better the next day once the flavors have marinated. Serve cold.
Notes
1) Use gluten-free pasta if necessary. Make sure your multi-colored pasta is vegan. Some multicolored pastas are died using animal ingredients.
- Prep Time: 20 mins
- Cook Time: 10 mins
- Category: Main
- Cuisine: American
And and I LOVE hearing your feedback and seeing your delicious #CearasKitchen creations 😀 Share your photos with me on Instagram @CearasKitchen (and remember to tag #CearasKitchen so I don’t miss it!) or share it on my Ceara’s Kitchen Facebook page. Have a beautiful weekend everyone!
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Congratulations Ceara!
Your story and photos about your brother made me tear up – very touching, and such a wonderful surprise.
I just finished my master’s last year, and it was just as you described – a huge weight/stress/pressure, etc – so exciting to have that behind you – In what subject is your degree? You mentioned in your 30 before 30 applying for your dream job – what is your dream?
Thanks as always!
Thank you so much, Maggie!! 🙂
Congratulations on finishing your Master’s!! I would love to continue/seek out a dream job where I could focus on my writing!! 🙂 I’ve always been very passionate about that!! Thank you so much for all the support! <3
Congratulations to both awesome life events. I react that way whenever I get to see my baby brother and his family. 🙂 This recipe looks divine and I must try it. Thank you!
This is so vibrant and beautiful! It’s wonderful that you got to spend some time with your brother too!
Thank you Amanda!! 🙂 <3
Happy Birthday, Congratulations, and Whoo-hoo!!!!! You did it Ceara!!!
Your story and pictures made me tear up a little. I could feel the joy just by looking at your face. So sweet. 🙂
This salad is gorgeou. I’m pinning it to make later..
Thank you, Linda!!!! <3
Thanks for the recipe! I ❤️ it very simple to make. Please continue to bless us with this lovely recipies !
Thanks for the recipe! I ❤️ it! Very simple to make! Please continue to bless us with this great Veagan recipies
SO happy you enjoyed it, Karol!! 🙂 <3
Look at all the colours in there! I love that you used radishes I don’t think they are used enough.
<3 LOVE radishes!!! They are such a bright and delicious Spring veggie! Thanks, Dannii!
Congrats Ceara! You must feel like such a weight has been lifted off your shoulders now all your exams are done.
The story about your brother made me well up. I live on the other side of the world to all my family and most of my friends and don’t get to see them often at all so I can only imagine what a surprise it was for you to see your brother. I wish someone would organize a surprise like that for me!
Your salad looks great! So colourful and I bet it tastes great. We are in the midst of a heatwave and will be BBQing this weekend. I think a big bowl of this salad might just go down well with it!
Thank you so much, Mel!! It honestly feels like the biggest weight is off my shoulders now that it’s done! It’s so incredibly surreal 🙂
<3 And sending love your way! I'm so thankful for Skype and all the modern technology that makes family seem closer even when they are far away, xo!
Ceara, I am soooo proud of you and beyond happy for you! I can feel your excitement reading your post and I loved all the pictures! And this salad is so beautiful, I love all the vibrant colors and I cannot wait to try this dressing, it sounds heavenly!!!
<3 Thank you SO much my friend!!! The dressing is absolutely heavenly and soo tangy!!