Veggie Packed Pasta Salad

Gluten Free Veggie Packed Pasta Salad

I absolutely HATE welted lettuce. And as a flight attendant I have to travel all over the country with my food in a lunchbox that gets jostled in transit for several days at a time. And lettuce gets welted, wet, and gross way faster with all the travel. So I began making salads that didn't require lettuce, travel well, but are still full of veggies. 
Here's my take on an Italian style pasta salad made with gluten free, protein packed pasta. Plus you get tons of veggies included vitamin packed kale and broccoli. Check out the recipe below. ​

Ingredients 

• 1 box of gluten free penne or fusilli style pasta (Banza makes a chickpea one full of protein)
• 1 red bell pepper
• 1 orange bell pepper
• 1 head of broccoli
• 4 kale "leafs"
• 1 cucumber
• 1 can of sliced black olives

Sauce

• 1/2 cup of extra virgin olive oil
• 1/2 balsamic vinegar
• 1 heaping tablespoon of minced garlic
• 1 tablespoon of Unami powder
• 1 tablespoon of Italian seasoning
• 1 teaspoon of oregano
• 1/2 teaspoon of paprika
• Salt and pepper to taste ​

Method

1. Cook pasta per instructions, set aside
2. Dice and chop all veggies and put in a large bowl
3. Put cooked and cooled pasta in bowl with veggies
4. Combine all sauce ingredients, pour into bowl and mix ingredients with large spoon or by hand
5. Serve!