Strawberry Summer Salad | What's Cooking Wednesday

I know a lot of people's method to grocery shopping is to make a couple trips to the store each week, getting what they need for that night's dinner after settling on a recipe earlier that morning. While the idea of it sounds alluring (the freshest ingredients!), the thought of doing that literally gives me anxiety. I think I have told you all before that I love making lists, and when it comes to grocery shopping, that is definitely no different. 

Each Sunday,  I sit down on my computer, open up my "Thing to Cook" board on Pinterest and start making a list of meals for the following week. No, not that week, the next week! Yep, I'm a little extreme. Then on the following Thursday/Friday, I go to the store and pick up all the ingredients so I am prepared. It takes a lot of planning, but I sort of love it because then I don't even need to think about it during the week; I simply check my list in the morning to know what to defrost for that day. 

One of our 'house rules' is that we always cook at home Monday - Thursday. This not only keeps us on a budget (since eating out is expensive), but also allows us to have some healthier meals during the week since we tend to indulge a bit more on the weekend. For us, part of that means including one salad a week. Salad can get a bit boring, so thanks to my BFF, Pinterest, we've been able to find some really unique variations. This is one of my absolute favorites for summer that comes together in minutes! Try serving it at your next picnic, I guarantee it will be a hit!




Strawberry Caprese Pasta Salad

Adapted from Gimme Some Oven

Ingredients:
1 pound dry pasta 

1.5 teaspoons basil

1 teaspoon olive oil

1 bag romaine lettuce
1 pint fresh strawberries, hulled and halved
1 ball fresh mozzarella, diced

3 tablespoons balsamic glaze

Instructions: Cook pasta in a large pot of salted boiling water al dente, according to package instructions. Drain and immediately rinse with cold water to stop the pasta from cooking. Mix in olive oil and basil.

Toss the pasta in a large bowl with the lettuce, strawberries, and mozzarella.  Drizzle with the balsamic glaze -- a little bit goes a long way. Serve immediately! 

Boil your pasta. Adding olive oil after cooking prevents the pasta from drying out and sticking together. 

Toss all the ingredients together in a large salad bowl for serving. Drizzle the balsamic glaze on top for a beautiful presentation.