Sunday, June 28, 2009

Tex-Mex Pasta Salad


Have I mentioned how glorious it is to have the entire summer off? I have spent my days thus far waking up around eight, followed by some intensive puppy petting and coffee drinking. After that Terry and I head to the gym, I always eat a banana in the car on the way. Working out is followed by lunch, chores, and then a little lounge time beside the pool. Tough life, isn't it? I have to keep pinching myself to make sure it is real. What have I been doing teaching summer school for all these years while I could have been living this lifestyle!? With all of this amazing down time I have decided to revisit some of my old Cooking Light publications, in no particular order. I happened upon the September 2005 issue and while pursuing through I found several recipes that looked very appealing. The first one I decided to try was the Tex-Mex Pasta Salad. I am always looking for a great dish to bring to BBQ's and this one delivered.

Tex-Mex Pasta Salad
Cooking Light

Ingredients
1 pound uncooked radiatore pasta -- (short coiled pasta)
2 teaspoons olive oil
3 garlic cloves -- minced
1 1/2 pounds ground turkey
2/3 cup water
1 (1.25-ounce) package 40%-less-sodium taco seasoning -- (such as Old El Paso)
2 cups preshredded reduced-fat Mexican blend cheese -- (8 ounces)
2 cups chopped seeded tomato
1 cup chopped bell pepper
1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro
1/2 cup chopped green onions
1/2 cup sliced ripe olives
1 (15.5-ounce) can black beans -- rinsed and drained
2 tablespoons fresh lime juice
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground cumin
1 (8-ounce) container reduced-fat sour cream
salsa (optional)

Directions
Cook pasta according to package directions, omitting salt and fat. Drain and rinse with cold water. Drain; set aside.

Heat oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add garlic; sauté 1 minute. Add turkey; cook until browned, stirring to crumble. Stir in water and taco seasoning; bring to a boil. Reduce heat, and simmer 4 minutes or until liquid almost evaporates and the turkey is done, stirring frequently. Remove from heat; cool slightly.

Combine pasta, turkey mixture, reduced-fat cheese, and next 6 ingredients (through beans) in a large bowl.

Combine lime juice, salt, cumin, and sour cream, stirring until well blended. Pour over pasta mixture; toss gently to coat. Serve with salsa, if desired.

Serves 12 Serving size: about 1 1/3 cups

CALORIES 344 (30% from fat); FAT 11.4g (sat 5.3g, mono 4.1g, poly 1.4g); PROTEIN 23.4g; CHOLESTEROL 51mg; CALCIUM 193mg; SODIUM 632mg; FIBER 3.6g; IRON 2.9mg; CARBOHYDRATE 38.5g


Ingredients for the Tex-Mex Pasta Salad.

Cook pasta according to package directions.

Rinse pasta with cold water.


Heat oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add garlic; sauté 1 minute.

Add turkey; cook until browned, stirring to crumble.

Stir in water and taco seasoning.

Reduce heat, and simmer 4 minutes or until liquid almost evaporates and the turkey is done, stirring frequently. Remove from heat; cool slightly.

Combine pasta, turkey mixture, reduced-fat cheese, and next 6 ingredients (through beans) in a large bowl.

Combine lime juice, salt, cumin, and sour cream, stirring until well blended.

Pour over pasta mixture.

Toss gently to coat.


Cooking Light's Tex-Mex Pasta Salad was awesome, definitely bring-to-a-BBQ worthy. It seems like it would be thrown together very quickly but it took a bit of time due to all of the chopping involved, it was nothing too tedious however. Instead of using a prepackaged taco seasoning I used the Taco Seasoning from Allrecipes.com that I reviewed in my last blog post. I used whole wheat medium shell pasta and a green bell pepper. The sauce is a sour cream mixture flavored by cumin and lime juice and really adds a great creaminess to the dish. Because the pasta is rinsed with cold water and the meat is allowed a brief cooling period I was a bit confused as to what temperature it should be served at. It turned out to be a little warmer than room temperature and tasted great. Today we ate the leftovers for lunch so I microwaved the refrigerated Tex-Mex Pasta Salad for one minute and enjoyed the results. I would recommend this kid friendly recipe to everyone, it is a delightful summer dish.

-Heather

3 comments:

Rawley said...

Hi Heather! My husband and I are both teachers and this is our first summer off as well. We're still not quite sure what to do with ourselves. Waking up late, savoring coffee, and playing with the puppy is definitely a luxury in my book, too! I enjoy reading your blog--your enthusiasm for cooking makes me want to cook--and look forward to making the Tex-Mex pasta salad this week. My husband won't eat his vegetables, but I could chop them up really small and tell him they're bits of pork :)
Have a great day!
Rawley

Heather Williams said...

Rawley,

Thank you for your kind comments! It's nice to see another couple in our situation, the summer is absolutely the best. My husband is picky about his vegetables too (as in he never wants to eat any) and he didn't pick anything out of this recipe! Enjoy, drop back in and let me know if you guys liked it.

Enjoy the rest of your summer!

-Heather

ericka said...

Hey Heather!
I really loved this dish. I made it last night, took one bite and said "Oh my gosh, this is sooo good". I think this will be made at least, at least once a month. You are right, it would be great for a BBQ, I might take out the turkey for that. I really loved the crunchiness of the veggies, the melted cheese and that sour cream dressing!