Now that we are settled in our house we are getting back into our routine of making family dinner each night. I can’t tell you just how nice it is to be in the kitchen together as a family & creating wonderful dishes that we all enjoy. Family time is so precious & I am enjoying each & every moment I can. Looking for Easy Family Dinner Ideas? One thing we do often is make enough one night so that we have enough leftovers to last us another night or two. This makes it easy when coming home late from the gym to still have a delicious meal when we aren’t here to prepare it. Our latest creation is this Caprese Pasta Salad. It’s perfect for those evenings when we don’t have a lot of time – which seems to be more often than not these days.
I love that it has everything in there that we need. Veggies, beans for protein, olives, homemade croutons for grains & mozzarella for dairy.
It’s practically a meal in itself. An 6 ounce serving left me quite satisfied.
If you plan to make this full quantity & have some leftover for the next day, I recommend holding out the croutons & adding them when serving so that they stay crunchy when refrigerated. When ready to serve – give a drizzle of Kraft House Italian Lite Dressing for that perfect zest every time. I like it because it adds just the right amount of flavor & still keeps it light.
I’m adding the recipe here which is great for a large family with a second night of leftovers. There are 5 of us & this was enough for a second night AND lunch on the 3rd day. This portion is also great for parties & potlucks. If you are making this for a small family, or a single night – you can easily half the recipe. For personal size, 1/8 recipe is perfect.
Caprese Pasta Salad
Ingredients
- 16 ounce box Garden Rotini pasta - cooked al dente & cooled
- 2 cups grape tomatoes
- 6 cups baby spinach leaves - rinsed & dried
- 12 marinated artichoke hearts
- 1-1/2 cups homemade Garlic & Herb Croutons
- 16 ounces mozzarella cheese - cut into bite size pieces
- 1 can pitted olives
- 1 can black beans - drained & rinsed
- 1/3 cup Kraft House Italian Lite Dressing
Instructions
- Cook pasta a according to box directions - drain, rinse under cold water & add to large bowl
- add in all other ingredients
- Toss to disburse dressing & mix ingredients
- Serve immediately
- If you plan on saving some for leftovers - add croutons after serving individual plates
- Keep refrigerated
- Will keep for up to 24-48 hours
Nutritional information for the recipe is provided as a courtesy and is approximate. Please double-check with your own dietary calculator for the best accuracy. We at Yummi Haus cannot guarantee the accuracy of the nutritional information given for any recipe on this site.
For more recipes using Kraft House Italian Lite Dressing connect with Kraft!
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Want another great side dish? How about this…
Black Bean & Corn Salad
Need a beverage to pair with this?
Coconut Lime Tea
To see where I am linking today- visit HERE
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Change up your dinner routine with Kraft. Visit KraftRecipes.com for great recipes and meal ideas, featuring Kraft. Because food deserves delicious.
This is a sponsored conversation written by me on behalf of Kraft. The opinions and text are all mine.
