Salad-a-Day #9

Broccoli Bow-Tie Pasta Salad

A Little Lighter

 

I am trying to loose a little weight...So, I thought I would take a salad that I have made in the past and try to lighten it up!  Well, it turned out great!  Makes me wonder why I ever made it so fattening in the first place :)

 

Toasted pecans, broccoli, bacon, pasta, onions and grapes

 

 Salad - ready to eat!

 I think my favorite parts of this salad are the grapes and toasted pecans.

This cute plate!  Isn't it fabulous?  I got it at Anthropologie last week.  I have read that if you eat off smaller plates, that you can trick yourself into feeling full more quickly.  So, I got a couple of cute salad plates for us to give it a try.  If nothing else, I got a few really cute

plates out of the deal :)

 

Broccoli Bow-Tie Pasta Salad

3 cups cooked bow-tie pasta

2 cups broccoli - cut into bite-size pieces

1 1/2 cups grapes, cut in half

1 cup toasted pecans

1/2 cup green onions sliced thinly (or red onion)

3 slices of bacon cut in tiny dice-size pieces

1/2 cup mayonaise (can use the light version - but I did not)

2 Tablespoons apple cider vinegar

2 teaspoons sugar

1/4 teaspoon celery seed

Place first 6 ingredients in large bowl.  Mix mayo, vinegar, sugar, and celery seed together with whisk - mixing until smooth.  Pour dressing over salad and toss to coat all pieces with dressing.  Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate until cool (tastes better).

 

I hope you enjoy the salad recipe.  It is pretty standard, but has about 1/4 the salad dressing from several recipes that I found on pinterest.  I did not miss the heaviness of the other recipes (I really liked it better a little lighter - makes me wonder what else has hidden calories

that I can eliminate).

Until tomorrow,

~Joeby