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Herbed Turkey Pasta Salad
By Elizabeth | July 5, 2007
When my husband reminded me that our friends and their two kids were coming over for a cookout on Sunday, my first thought was, what the heck am I going to eat? A typical cookout menu for our family is grilled cheeseburgers, corn on the cob, baked beans, and some kind of dessert. None of which are really on my Good Carb diet. Fortunately for me, I had just received from Amazon.com a cookbook called “The Good Carb Cookbook” by Sandra Woodruff. I picked Herbed Turkey Pasta Salad because it sounded delicious and it is low on the Glycemic Index. Remember, you can have pasta, because semolina flour is more coarsely ground than white flour.
Herbed Turkey Pasta Salad
Yield: 5 servings
Salad:
8 ounces tricolor rotini pasta (about 3 cups)
1 1/3 cups 1 inch pieces fresh asparagus or small broccoli florets (I used both)
2/3 cup diagonally sliced carrots
1 cup diced cooked turkey breast (I used thin-sliced turkey lunchmeat stacked and cut into cubes)
1 cup reduced-fat mozzarella or Swiss cheese (I used mozzarella)
1/3 cup sliced black olives
1/4 cup sliced scallions
Dressing:
1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons nonfat or light mayonnaise (I used light mayo)
1/4 cup nonfat or light sour cream (I used light)
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
2 tablespoons orange juice (next time I’ll use milk, I didn’t care for the flavor of the juice in the dressing)
1/2 teaspoon each dried parsley, thyme, and rosemary (what, no sage? lol)
1/8 teaspoon ground white pepper (I used regular pepper, and this amount was NOT enough)
1. Cook the pasta until almost al dente according to package directions. Add the asparagus or broccoli and the carrots to the pot, and cook for another 30 to 60 seconds or until the asparagus or broccoli turns bright green and is crisp-tender and the pasta is al dente. Drain, rinse with cold water, and drain again. Transfer the mixture to a large bowl, and toss in the turkey, cheese olives and scallions.
2. In a small bowl, combine all the dressing ingredients, and stir to mix well. Pour the dressing over the salad, and toss gently to mix well.
3. Cover the salad and chill for at least 2 hours before serving. Toss in a little more mayonnaise just before serving if the salad seems too dry. Serve over a bed of fresh salad greens if desired.
Nutritional facts per 1 2/3 cup serving:
Calories 297, Carbohydrate 44 grams, Cholesterol 25 mg, Fat 2.3 grams, Fiber 2.7 grams, Protein 23 grams, Sodium 484 mg, Calcium 239 mg. GI rating: Low
Here’s a photo of the salad ingredients layered in the bowl before I poured on the dressing.
For the turkey, I took those rectangular slices of lean turkey lunchmeat, stacked four slices on top of each other, cut them into strips, then cut the strips into squares. I did that because fresh turkey breast tenderloin was $6.00 a pound! The dressing was good, but I didn’t care for the orange juice flavor like I mentioned above, so next time I’ll just use milk. And the whole salad was really bland, it needed a sprinkle of salt and more pepper. Otherwise, it was delicious, and everyone gobbled it up, even the kids! And the best part is, whatever meat, cheese, and veggies you have on hand can be substituted in this salad, so it’s a great way to use up bits of things as well.
Oh, and did I mention that I had NEVER had asparagus before? I know! Well, I’ll be having it now, because the very quickly cooked asparagus was crunchy and DELICIOUS. I love everything about this salad, I hope you like it too!
Topics: Pasta |
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7 Responses to “Herbed Turkey Pasta Salad”
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July 5th, 2007 at 11:36 am
Man, that sounds really good, especially because I am watching what I eat right now too!
July 6th, 2007 at 1:51 pm
[...] Herbed Turkey Pasta SaladI picked Herbed Turkey Pasta Salad because it sounded delicious and it is low on the Glycemic Index. Remember, you can have pasta, because semolina flour is more coarsely ground than white flour. Herbed Turkey Pasta Salad … [...]
July 8th, 2007 at 3:25 pm
This looks and sounds absolutely delicious! I’m always in search of low-fat, low-calorie salads which still contain meat. Since I’m on my way to the grocery store now, anyway, I’ve added the ingredients to my shopping list.
Sure hope mine comes out as pretty as yours. :)
July 8th, 2007 at 11:47 pm
[...] out my new friend Elizabeth’s weightloss blog and she just posted the most DELICIOUS looking pasta salad! First a little background: when I was a kid, I was a VERY picky eater. So, something like this [...]
July 8th, 2007 at 11:48 pm
Steve- It really IS good! And the best part is, you can really use any kind of veggies you have, if you don’t like asparagus, just use more broccoli, or some lightly steamed green beans or whatever. You could use lean ham or chicken breast instead of the turkey-it’s really flexible. And delicious!
July 9th, 2007 at 12:05 am
This recipe looks easy and YUMMY! Thank you for posting all the ingredients! And thanks for the tip on Taco Bell, I will definitely do that next time I go!
July 10th, 2007 at 12:44 am
Mandi- You’re welcome! Isn’t it great to know you can still eat Taco Bell? It’s one of our favorite “I don’t feel like cooking tonight” dinners!