Quinoa Pasta Salad

I have a long-time friend, who sadly I don't see much anymore outside of Facebook, who is a professional chef and cullinary instructor at the University of Utah. He posts some of the most incredible-looking food on Facebook. It's the kind that you just want to stare at instead of eat, but you're dying to eat it because it looks so incredible. He recently started some type of health challenge on Facebook. One of the most recent challenges was, "Start by committing to cook at least one meal, at home, from scratch, every week."

This literally made my head spin in so many directions. It made me realize that there are so many people who don't cook from scratch. There are so many people who don't cook at home on a regular basis. You've seen the documentary Supersize Me!, right? Tell me you have. If you haven't, either because you don't own a television or have been living under a rock, go get it. Now. I'll wait.

One of the lines in that film that stuck out to me was the one where Morgan Spurlock said that most of his memories of his mother were in the kitchen. She cooked and they ate dinner at home almost every night. They would only go out to eat on a special occasion. These days, people are so busy (myself included!) that sometimes it's just easier to stop and grab something from a drive-thru on the way home from work.

I get it. I totally do. Back in the day, this was me. Of course, I weighed in at almost 200 pounds and my doctor was threatening me with blood pressure medication. Losing the weight (with a desire to keep it off) and learning about food allergies forced my hand. Now I have to cook from scratch, at home, every night of the week. Okay, that's not entirely true - we still celebrate Sushi Thursdays. This is our made up holiday where we go out for sushi one night per week. We'll still hit Chick-Fil-A occasionally or grab some tacos, but largely, my tush is in the kitchen cooking.

If you were to look in my pantry or refrigerator, you're going to find Captain Crunch, macaroni and cheese, and Top Ramen. I have a teenager, what can I say? But the rest of it is food to cook something. My step-dad once said, and my son often echoes, "There's no food in the house, just ingredients." While they say it in jest - and I think it's absolutely hilarious - I think it does a good job of illustrating what I'm talking about. The closest thing you're going to find to processed food in my kitchen is cans of beans or vegetables (for when I need something quick), seasonings, and frozen fruit. Other than that, there are packages of raw meat, fresh fruits and vegetables, eggs, rice, quinoa, oats, etc. You know, ingredients. :)

All this being said, my boyfriend had a birthday a couple of weeks ago. His adorable sister got him some gluten free goodies, one of which was Quinoa Pasta Shells. Since he doesn't cook, like at all, handed them to me and said, "Where do you want them?" I knew these would be a rare treat, because a box of quinoa pasta costs upwards of $4. I'm not crazy about pasta, but I do like pasta salad, so that's what I did.

I'll be honest, I feel like the flavor of the olive oil was a little overpowering, so I would recommend using a light tasting olive oil (it will say that on the label). That's what "light" means in olive oil - light tasting, not light calories or light fat. I think this would have been really good with some salad shrimp or chopped chicken, sort of making it a meal. I left out the protein, though, because I was aiming for a side dish.

So grab your INGREDIENTS and let's get to it!

Ingredients
For the salad:
1 package (12 oz) mini quinoa pasta shells (feel free to substitute wheat pasta shells)
1/2 red bell pepper, diced
1/2 sweet onion, diced
1/2 zucchini, chopped
Drizzle olive oil

For the dressing:
2 egg yolks
1 tsp lemon juice
1 tsp Dijon mustard
1/2 tsp sea salt
1/4 tsp ground black pepper
1/4 tsp paprika
1/4 tsp onion powder
3-4 T. olive oil
Few dashes Worcestershire sauce

Directions:
Cook pasta according to package directions. Drain and rinse with cold water.

While the pasta is cooking, drizzle a small amount of olive oil in a skillet over medium heat. Add onion and bell pepper. Saute until tender but not caramelized. Add zucchini and cook until soft. Set aside and let cool.

Combine all dressing ingredients except olive oil and Worcestershire sauce in the beaker for an immersion blender. Blend until egg mix becomes foamy. Drizzle olive oil in the beaker while blending, very slowly, a few drops at a time at first. Continue until consistency is similar to mayonnaise. Stir in Worcestershire sauce to taste.

Combine pasta shells and vegetables in a large mixing bowl. Pour sauce over top and stir to combine. Refrigerate until ready to serve.