Summer salads make for quick, easy, and healthy meal options, for a lazy day by the pool, a casual dinner party or a bring-along meal for a picnic or barbecue. This healthy summer pasta salad is made with homegrown cherry tomatoes and cucumbers, fresh basil, tangy black olives, and creamy mozzarella cheese.
Summer days in Sardinia also call for the beach! And the stunning beaches are plentiful here. Now that the kids are older visits to the beach are much easier – they carry their own toys, change themselves, and put on their own sunscreen. Even better, they can feed themselves! Long gone are the days when I had to prop them up against a beach bag, feed them with a spoon and ensure they didn’t fall over into the sand, or even eat the sand! Now they plop themselves down on their towels, grab their snacks out of the cooler, and we’re good to go.
This healthy summer pasta salad is one of their favourites. They’re not big fans of cooked vegetables, but fresh veggies are a winner, especially when they are homegrown ones that they’ve helped grow in our garden. The combination of tomatoes, cucumbers, and basil is already delicious, but the addition of black olives adds some tanginess, and the fresh mozzarella gives a creamy flavour. All you need as a condiment is some extra virgin olive oil and a touch of salt. This fresh healthy salad can be served at room temperature or cooled, and makes for a great pack n’go meal. It tastes even more delicious the day after prepared as the flavours have time to sit and combine.
If you try this recipe (and love it!) be sure to snap a pic and tag me on Instagram with #bitesforfoodies so I can see your creation!
I would love to try out this summer salad. My daughter and I both love the pasta salad. It’s just so yummy.
This pasta salad looks refreshing and absolutely amazing. Sounds awesome. I will have to try this probably sometime when I have my daughter in a couple weeks. We both love pasta salad.
I have such a hard time letting go and dealing with change when it comes to my daughter. She is 11 and already taking college classes, it is hard to see her getting bigger but at the same time I am excited for the future and everything she will accomplish in this life!
I am a stickler for good pasta salad. Especially a good cold one. This look good and it isnt a pasta salad without the cucumber!
Cold pasta salad is a must in the hot summer months. I love that you made it healthy pasta salad because I could eat a lot of unhealthy pasta salad! ha! We enjoy it for dinner when it is too hot to cook. Thanks for the recipe!
I always enjoyed the days my kiddos started showing independence. Hubby and I seemed to have more free time on our hands. Plus, we enjoyed family trips a little more.
I love salads and this one looks so delicious! I think I will make this for our summer picnic next week. Such a cool dish to serve and it’s healthy.
I just love the look of this dish. So light, refreshing and summery. It’s interesting how kids tastes change as they get older. Often foods they didn’t like soon become new favorites. Thank goodness!
Sardinia looks amazing!
Summer pasta salads have historically been my favorite dish. I love bowtie pasta and I love anything with both cheese and black olives. Sometimes I add pepperoni, but it’s not a necessity. It’s always still so good!
This salad looks so colorful, refreshing and delicious. I love using fresh mozzarella in my salads and will have to look for this brand when I’m at the grocery store. This salad recipe is on my must-try list for the week! 🙂
I love salads like this with mozzarella cheese and tomatoes. The pasta part is a good twist. I think I’ll try this for dinner. We’re trying to go a little bit healthier so I think this would really help.
I love this refreshing dish, reminds me so much of Tuscany, Florence in particular…it was summer when I visited and I could smell olive oil from time to time walking in the streets….I also had a dish with farfalle and salmon there….such happy memories. Thanks for the recipe, I hope I get the time to do this soon (and time to go to the beach as well). 🙂