Make Ahead Pasta Salad with Dill Yogurt Dressing

and an important annoucement!

Hi! Welcome to “good mood food” from Kale Me Maybe’s Carina Wolff. If you’ve made it here and aren’t yet a subscriber, come join! You can expect recipes in your inbox every Tuesday, and paid subscribers receive even more every Thursday! You can also try a week for free!

SOME IMPORTANT HOUSEKEEPING!

Okay, before we begin, I have an important announcement! As you all (probably) know, I am getting married next week! That means I will not be working/putting out a newsletter for a couple of weeks as we celebrate our marriage and jet off to our honeymoon in Portugal!

Good Mood Food will be on pause from May 16th to June 9th while I enjoy my wedding/honeymoon! If you are a paid subscriber, you will NOT be charged for that time. I repeat, you will NOT be charged for that time! Your subscription/billing will be paused until I return, and it will resume again once I am back in action!

If you have any questions, please do let me know. Again, thank you for the support and for sticking around during my brief hiatus. I am proud to say I’ve been doing this newsletter for over a year now and have never skipped a week! I’ve loved doing this, but of course, during this special time in my life, I want to enjoy it fully.

CATCH UP!

I’m definitely turning into that annoying person who can only talk and think about her wedding, but we are 9 days away and I am just so antsy and excited I can’t even handle it! We’ve sort of locked ourselves away in our house as we approach the big day in an attempt to avoid the still ever-persistent coronavirus, which in a way has been kind of enjoyable. I’ve been making nice meals for us each night, and over the weekend, Grant and I potted about 60 succulents for our DIY centerpieces for one of our wedding celebrations.

So pretty much, I’m just twiddling my thumbs and counting down the days, although I still need to write my vows, so that should give me something to do!

RECIPE!

Last week, I surveyed my followers on Instagram and asked what recipes they’d like me to make, and I got an overwhelming amount of requests for pasta salads as well as make-ahead lunches. You don’t have to ask me twice to make a pasta (or salad) dish. Those are pretty much my two go-to meals.

Pasta salads also make the BEST meal prep meal, because the longer they sit, the better they taste! The flavors all marinate together, and it’s just a meal that keeps well in the fridge/is easy to transfer and eat.

This pasta salad is vegetarian, and I like to keep it convenient and easy by having the protein come from the pasta itself. I used chickpea pasta here, but you could also use lentil pasta or any other protein pasta! If you don’t have protein pasta, you can of course still make this dish with regular pasta, and you could always add some chickpeas or lentils for an extra boost.

These flavors are inspired by Taboulleh, a Levantine salad eaten in many countries in the Middle East and the Mediterranean. Of course, the addition of sun-dried tomatoes switches things up a bit, but the inspiration for the flavor of the dressing comes from that region as well.

Pasta Salad

Ingredients (makes 2-4 servings)

Pasta Salad

• 8 oz pasta (I used Banza chickpea)

• 1 cup finely chopped Persian cucumber (about 2)

• 1 cup finely chopped tomatoes

• 1/2 cup sundried tomatoes (from a jar)

• 1/2 cup finely chopped red onion

• 1/4 cup chopped parsley

• 1/4 cup chopped mint

• 3 oz feta, cut into small cubes

Dill Yogurt Dressing

• 1/2 cup Greek yogurt

• 1/2 tsp garlic powder

• 1 1/2 tsp onion powder

• 2 tbsp fresh dill

• 2 tbsp apple cider vinegar

• 1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

• 2 tbsp water

• Pinch of salt and pepper

1. Cook pasta according to package (rinse if using chickpea pasta). Let cool. When pasta is ready, add to a large bowl along with the remaining pasta salad ingredients.

2. In a small bowl, mix together dressing ingredients until smooth. Toss the pasta salad in the dressing. Season with salt and pepper, if desired.

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT!

Last week, paid subscribers received a recipe for a Fennel White Bean Bake with Rosemary Breadcrumbs and Pecorino Romano. This recipe is sooo soothing. It feels sophisticated, but it’s quite easy to make. If you haven’t forayed into fennel much, I would definitely start here!

Fennel White Bean Bake with Rosemary Breadcrumbs and Pecorino Romano

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