Grilled Vegetable Pasta Salad! Full of zucchini, red and yellow bell peppers, asparagus and red onions. The dressing is super simple but really good! This one is not so much a recipe but more about the idea of it… you can substitute whatever veggies you like. No worries if it isn’t grilling weather, do it inside on a grill pan!

 So on our last full day in the desert I figured I’d take advantage of the warmth in AZ and get on the grill and cook dinner for everyone. So we headed to the store and headed back to our “vacation home”, well thats what Uncle Sam called it. I wanted to write this post that night but that obviously didn’t happen, so here it is now.

So heres what I grilled up… the simple burger, hot dogs and then a VERY delicious grilled chicken thanks to something called “Monkey Spice”. I don’t know exactly what was in there but it had brown sugar, chili powder, and a bunch of other spices that I can’t remember…. and it is made by some guy in AZ and it was delicious!!!  I also made a basic tomato and cucumber salad as well.

serves 8

1 1/2 lbs mini penne

1 bunch asparagus, stem ends trimmed off

1 yellow bell pepper, cut in half and seeds removed

1 red bell pepper, cut in half and seeds removed

2 zucchini, cut into thick slices

1 red onion, cut into thick rounds

olive oil

balsamic vinegar

salt & pepper

big hand full of fresh parsley, chopped

Cook the pasta to al dente (according to box instructions), drain then toss with just enough olive oil to coat the pasta. Allow to cool.

Add the cut veggies,  into a bowl and toss with a few good drizzles of olive oil, salt and pepper.

Grill over high heat to get some lovely grill marks on each side. You are looking for the veggies to just be cooked through but still firm enough to keep their form. The asparagus will only take about 5 minutes. The peppers about 8 minutes, the zucchini a couple minutes longer depending on how thick your slices are. Please just keep in mind that there may be time variations depending on
your BBQ/ grill pan.Once the veggies are cool enough to handle cut the grilled veggies into a large dice, the asparagus into halves or thirds.Toss the pasta with the veggies. Drizzle in some balsamic vinegar and olive oil, Just enough to coat all of it. Stir in some chopped parsley and taste for salt and pepper.