Take Some Vermicelli Salad to Your Next Picnic

In the summertime, we live on salads. The trouble is, having to make everything ultra-low carb means a lot of salads are out. However, if I plan well, I can sometimes slip a pasta or potato salad in here and there. This was my experiment to see if I could figure out a way to combat the thing where pasta salad soaks up the dressing and gets dry, and it actually worked! I never had to add more mayonnaise, even three days later as we were eating the last bit of it.

Vermicelli Salad

Serves 12

Ingredients:

6 cups water

1/2 teaspoon salt

12 ounces whole wheat vermicelli (or spaghetti)

1 1/2 tablespoons seasoning salt

1 tablespoon no-salt seasoning (I use Olde Thompson's)

1/2 teaspoon Italian seasoning (I use Olde Thompson's Rustic Tuscan)

4 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

3 tablespoons lemon juice

3/4 cup onion (diced)

1 cup celery (sliced, 3-4 stalks)

1 green bell pepper (diced, about a cup)

6 ounces black olives (drained and sliced)

6 ounces green olives (drained and sliced)

2 ounces pimiento (drained)

1 cup olive oil mayonnaise

Bring salted water to a boil over high heat; break vermicelli in half and cook, stirring occasionally, 10 minutes or until al dente. Drain and rinse with cold water; drain well.

In a large bowl, whisk together seasoning salt, no-salt seasoning blend, Italian seasoning, olive oil, and lemon juice. Add pasta to bowl, toss well to coat, cover and refrigerate 8 hours or overnight.

Add onion, celery, bell pepper, olives, and pimiento to pasta and toss to combine.

Add mayonnaise and stir until completely coated. Serve immediately.

Serving Size: 1 (242 g)

Calories 331.7

Total Fat - 21.4 g

Saturated Fat - 2.5 g

Cholesterol - 14.9 mg

Sodium - 1983.6 mg

Total Carbohydrate - 28.3 g

Dietary Fiber - 4.6 g

Sugars - 2.7 g

Protein - 10.2 g

As always, if you make some of this for yourself, please let me know what you thought!