Light and Healthy Pasta Salad

I'll tell you about the pulled pork later, oh my GOD.

So I couldn't decide what to do as a side for this scrumptious swine. Fortunately, I had enough time to decide during the 12-hour period I slow-cooked the pork roast. The day started with me positive I was going to have potato salad, then I got lazy because it was a holiday. So I picked up a few fresh ingredients, spent around $5, and ventured to try my first pasta salad!

You will need:

• red wine vinegar
• olive oil
• red wine vinegarette
• salt
• black pepper
• 1 small garlic clove
• 1 shallot
• 1 cucumber
• 1 tomato
• 1 12 oz. boxes of tri-color rigatoni
• 3 green onions

First, boil the pasta, dur.

Dice up them cucumbers, green onions, the tomato, and shallot. Smush the garlic clove with your palm or the side of your chopping knife, then dice it into small bits.

Once the pasta is fully cooked, drain it and set it aside to cool for about 2 minutes. Run the pasta in the colander under a light stream of cool water. Let the pasta dry, then transfer it to a serving bowl. Mix in the cucumbers, green onions, tomato, shallot, and garlic. Season with fresh cracked sea salt and black pepper, then splash some red wine vinegar, olive oil, and red wine vinegarette on to suite your pallet. If you want, you could substitute the red wine vinegar for your favorite salad dressing or just add a little olive oil.

It's just as good as a light snack as it is a side dish for a hearty sandwich (par examplar: pulled pork sandwich), the likes of which (sandwich) I'll reveal in the coming weeks.

I apologize profusely to the slothful performance of this blog in previous weeks, but you see I've been in the Big Apple! YES, I'm due for a change of scenery and culture. The bonus is that my new roommate is a chef and a butcher. Get this, the fridge has 3 lambs heads in it! Dude, I want to try that.

Love,

Liz