It’s been a long time since I’ve put a pasta salad together.  It’s so hard to fit a bowl of pasta in when I don’t have a lot of room in my diet for it (calorie wise).  But, when I add an equal amount of vegetables to pasta it helps a lot!  I didn’t think  this Winter Vegetable Pasta Salad was going to turn out like I wanted.

But, it ended up being fabulous! I used rice pasta because I thought it looked pretty! And I used the coconut because of the lime (because of the song).  Yep, sometimes my food ideas are completely dependent on what’s going on in my head when I’m at the store.  I bought the pasta because it was pretty, the acorn squash because I didn’t have to peel it, the Brussels sprouts cause they were in tree form and I had never purchased them that way before.
When I got home I looked everything over and said to myself, “This is never going to work and the combination is bordering on being disgusting!’ I’m glad I didn’t listen to me!

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Winter Vegetable Pasta Salad

Prep Time 20 minutes

Cook Time 45 minutes

Ingredients

• 1 large acorn squash ~19 oz. or 540 g gutted and cubed
• ~19 oz. or 540 g Brussels sprouts (outer leaves removed and halved)
• cooking spray
• 12 oz. rice vegetable twists cooked according to package directions and drained Mrs. Leeper's
• reserve 1/4 cup pasta water
• juice of one lime
• 2 23 g Tbsp. olive oil
• 1 tsp. onion powder
• 1 tsp. garlic powder
• 1 tsp. Italian seasoning
• 5 oz. coconut chips
• S & P to taste

Instructions

1. Preheat your oven to 400 degrees F.
2. Line a large cookie sheet with parchment paper.
3. Place your cubed acorn squash and halved Brussels sprouts on the parchment paper.
4. Coat squash and Brussels sprouts lightly with a layer of cooking spray.
5. Season liberally with salt and pepper.
6. Roast for 25 to 35 minutes (until browned and fork tender).
7. Meanwhile cook your noodles (don’t forget to salt your water).
8. In a blender combine your pasta water, lime juice, olive oil, onion powder, garlic powder, and Italian seasoning.
9. Pulse your blender for a few seconds until mixture is emulsified.
10. In a large mixing bowl combine your squash, Brussels sprouts, pasta, coconut. Toss to combine.
11. Add the dressing from your blender. Toss all ingredients to combine.
12. Add more salt and pepper, to taste.
13. Serve and Eat!!!
14. This salad is perfect warm or at room temperature.