Fancy Pasta Salad

I've made this pasta salad forever... before I became vegan.  The only item I had to change?  Mayo became Vegenaise.  You probably have a lot of old family recipes that can be easily converted.  

Fancy Pasta Salad is a great side-dish or entree.  This is a flexible recipe.  If you don't have some of the ingredients in your cupboard, try adding something else.  Fabulous recipes come from necessary substitutions.

I like to use the artichoke hearts bottled in oil but canned in water is fine too.  Use any vegan vinaigrette that you like.  I also change up the pasta shapes.  In this picture, I used rotini and orecchiette.  Farfalle, medium shells, etc. would all be excellent choices.

Fancy Pasta Salad

1 lb. pasta (rotini is good)

1/3 cup red onion, chopped

½ cup fresh parsley, chopped

½ cup black olives, sliced

2 cups artichoke hearts, sliced lengthwise

3 T. capers

½ cup Kraft Balsamic Vinaigrette

½ cup Vegenaise

½ t. salt

Fresh ground pepper to taste

2 cups grape tomatoes, sliced in half

Boil the pasta according to package directions and drain.  In a large bowl, combine all ingredients and chill.  I add the tomatoes last, after stirring other ingredients, so that they won’t break down too much.