Summer Vegetable 'Pasta' Salad

A bounty of fresh summer vegetables!

Even though the weather is less than summery today, we should get at least a few more weeks of summer sometime soon (at least I hope so). When we do, here's a tasty salad that you can whip up in a flash and keeps for days. I like to make it on Sunday and have it for lunch all week long.

Like Clean Out Your Fridge Risotto, the ingredients for this recipe are largely up to you. Feel free to experiment with just about any fresh vegetable you can find at the local farmers markets.

Summer Vegetable 'Pasta' Salad

Serves 6

•  8 oz pasta (spiral or elbow) or 2 cups Emmer
• Carrots
• Onions
• Peas
• Radishes
• Broccoli
• Cauliflower
• Bell peppers
• Hot peppers
• Olive oil
• Red wine vinegar
• Salt and pepper
• Fresh mozzarella cheese

1. Cook the pasta or the Emmer. To cook the Emmer, place two cups of emmer in four cups of water and boil for 40 minutes.
2. Chop the vegetables. I personally prefer all of the vegetables raw, but you can cook any of them for just a few minutes if you 'prefer.
3. Mix the veggies, the olive oil, vinegar, salt and pepper.
4. Before serving, crumble in some fresh mozzarella to the individual serving bowl.

Patricia's Notes: I love this recipe because you don't need to measure anything. Make as much or as little as you'd like. For the Emmer, simply add twice as much water as Emmer and cook for 40 minutes. Balsamic vinegar works just as well as red wine vinegar, although it is not local. I recommend adding the fresh mozzarella to the individual serving bowls rather than the large bowl of salad because the mozzarella does not hold up well when refrigerated with the olive oil and vinegar dressing.

What are your favorite veggies to add to a salad like this? Leave them in the comments!