Italian Chopped Salad

Chopped salads are delicious and so versitle!  If you see ingredients below that aren't your favorite, just swap something else in.  Traditional chopped salads have tons of veggies, a small pasta, some type of meat (salami, proscuitto or pepperoni) and are tossed in some sort of vinagriette.  I served this for friends a few weeks ago when I made pasta with homemad red sauce and these delicious stuffed mozzarella meatballs!

Servings: 8
Serving Size: 1/8 of the recipe
Points Plus: 7pp
Level of Difficulty: Easy
Prep Time: 25 minutes
Cook Time: 10 minutes (for the pasta)

Ingredients:
Salad:
1/4 cup red onion, diced
3/4 cup artichoke hearts, chopped
3/4 cup tomatoes, diced
3/4 cup cucumber, diced
1/2 cup salami, diced
1/2 cup black olives, sliced
1 can chickpeas, rinsed and drained
1 cup small pasta (I used elbows)
Salt & pepper to taste

Dressing:
1/3 cup olive oil
2 Tbsp. honey
2 Tbsp. red wine vinegar
1 tps. minced garlic
1/2 tsp. Italian seasoning
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
Salt & pepper to taste.

Directions:
Cook the pasta according to the pasta directions.  Drain and rinse well to cool off the pasta before adding to the rest of the salad.  Wash and prep your veggies - onion, tomatoes, cucumber etc.  Dice the salami.  In a large bowl, combine all salad ingredients.  Stir to make sure all ingredients are well combined.  In a small glass measuring cup, combine all dressing ingreidents and whisk throughly with a mini whisk.  Add the dressing to the salad and mix well. Cover with plastic wrap and place in the fridge until you are ready to serve.

Tip:
This salad is so easy to throw together ahead of time.  If you are serving this for a cookout or Italian night  - doing all the prep ahead of time for this piece of your meal will make you a less stressed party host! :)

XOXO Megan