Tuna Pasta Salad with Balsamic Vinaigrette | Renee's Kitchen Adventures

Monday, September 1, 2014

Tuna Pasta Salad with Balsamic Vinaigrette

Tuna Pasta Salad with Balsamic Vinaigrette is a delicious blend of healthy ingredients.  Tri-colored pasta, tuna, sun dried tomatoes, fresh veggies, feta cheese, and olives come together in a light balsamic dressing.  Not your ordinary tuna salad! 

Tuna Pasta Salad with Balsamic Vinaigrette: healthful and delicious! #salad #pasta #tuna


It's Secret Recipe Club time again!  I took a couple of months off because this summer has been so crazy busy for me...but now that it's September...I'm back in!  This month I was assigned to A Fit and Spicy Life.  I was really excited for this blog because it is chock full of easy healthy recipes ...and to be honest, after participating in that blogger sponsored Ice Cream Week event a few weeks ago, I was really ready to get back to some lower calorie and healthful recipes!

Mellissa, A Fit and Spicy Life's owner,  is a "Wisconsinite turned Minnesotan."  Now a year ago, I would say I knew nothing about Wisconsin, but after spending a good chunk of my summer helping my daughter relocate to Wisconsin for her job, I have grown to not only know Wisconsin, but I am beginning to love it for all it has to offer.  Extraordinarily good cheese!

What can I say?  I am a foodie, afterall.  Mellissa is a Fit Fluential Ambassador and loves food, wine, cheese, yoga, weightlifting, travel and magazines. So yeah, she had me at cheese!

I browsed through her recipe index and found several things that I wanted to try.  I finally settled on her Tuna Pasta Salad because it sounded so good to me with the sun-dried tomatoes, Greek seasoning and...yes...CHEESE!  I was not disappointed.  This recipe is delicious.  I added some zucchini, red onion and black olives to the original recipe, swapped the mozzarella cheese for feta and opted to use white balsamic vinegar to keep the color of the dressing pleasing.

Tuna Pasta Salad with Balsamic Vinaigrette Close Up: healthful and delicious! #salad #pasta #tuna

I do love that this salad is packed with flavor and lots of great fresh ingredients.  This time of year the produce is just so good! It's a shame to not take advantage of it!

Fresh Ingredients for Tuna Pasta Salad with Balsamic Vinaigrette: #salad #pasta #tuna

This recipe made a great lunch for me.  I also packed it for my husband for his lunch. It makes a lot of salad, so it would also be a great salad to take to a party or a pot-luck!

Tuna Pasta Salad with Balsamic Vinaigrette: #salad #pasta #tuna

I am so glad I was introduced to Mellissa's blog.  I know I won't be a stranger! I hope you take a few minutes to check it out too! 


Tuna Pasta Salad, Tuna Salad
Side Dish, Salad
American
Yield: 8 servings

Tuna Pasta Salad with Balsamic Vinaigrette

prep time: 15 minscook time: total time: 15 mins
A delicious blend of Tri-colored pasta, tuna, sun dried tomatoes, fresh veggies, feta cheese, and olives bathed in a flavorful vinaigrette.

ingredients:

For Salad
  • One 12 oz. box Tri-Color Rotini pasta, cooked to al dente, rinsed in cold water, and drained
  • One 4 oz. or 5 oz. can water packed tuna, drained and flaked
  • 1 cup grape tomatoes, halved
  • 2 cups fresh, organic baby spinach leaves
  • 1/2 cup fresh basil leaves, torn
  • 1/4 cup sliced black olives
  • 1/2 cup diced fresh zucchini
  • 3 TBSP chopped sun-dried tomatoes (dry packed)
  • 1/4 cup chopped red onion
  • 1/4 cup crumbled feta cheese
  • 1 TBSP Greek Seasoning (or more to taste) - Make it yourself with this recipe!
For Dressing
  • 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
  • 1/4 cup white balsamic dressing
  • 1 TBSP Dijon mustard
  • 1 clove garlic, minced

instructions:

  1. In large bowl, combine all the salad ingredients.
  2. In small bowl, combine all the dressing ingredients. Whisk well. (you can put this dressing in the microwave for about 30 seconds to help lessen the bite of the raw garlic, if desired. )
  3. Pour dressing over the salad and mix to combine. Store in refrigerator for 30 minutes before serving to allow flavors to blend.

NOTES:

Nutritional Information is an estimate
Calories
200.55
Fat (grams)
10.57
Sat. Fat (grams)
2.06
Carbs (grams)
19.13
Fiber (grams)
2.83
Net carbs
16.31
Sugar (grams)
2.98
Protein (grams)
8.40
Sodium (milligrams)
810.18
Cholesterol (grams)
9.17
Created using The Recipes Generator



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25 comments:

  1. Oh my yum! This looks so good!
    Being a Wisconsin girl myself, I'm all in favor of adding more cheese ;)

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    Replies
    1. haha! yes! Cheese is always a good addition! thanks!

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  2. I love that you used white balsalmic, I honestly did not know that existed before your post. Now you can bet I'll be on the lookout for it!

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  3. I love tuna pasta salads, but adding a balsamic vinaigrette sounds out of this world! Great recipe!

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  4. I'm going to try this soon. I must find the while balsamic dressing. It makes for a beautiful salad!

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  5. Oh wow! This pasta salad would be perfect for a cookout or picnic today! :) Love the flavors in this!

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  6. I've never been to Wisconsin, but I know I'd love it because of all the glorious cheese! I really love the balsamic in this salad. So many wonderful flavors! Thanks for sharing, Renee!

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  7. I would love every bite of this salad! Great SRC selection. Visiting from Group B.

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    Replies
    1. Hi Kate! Thanks so much for hopping around Group A!

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  8. I have to agree with your lovely comments regarding Wisconsin. We moved to Kenosha about a year and a half ago and we love it. Yes, the cheese! We just had a cheese-fest on Saturday here. :) This pasta salad looks so good and would be just the absolute perfect lunch for me. Great choice!

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    Replies
    1. Cheese fest?? OMG. Sounds like heaven! lol You aren't far from the cheese castle. A must stop every time we go though. We LOVE their cheese bread. Toasted with butter. OMG. So good!!

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  9. I like such salads for lunch :) filling but not heavy! :)

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  10. This looks perfect for a lunch or light dinner. Love feta cheese, yum. Looks like a winner! Pinning!

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  11. I love the color in this salad Renee. It looks and sounds delicious.

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  12. this pasta salad looks great- i love the tri-color noodles!

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  13. I love all the wonderful colours in this dish!

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  14. I could eat salads like this all week long and never tire of it! Looks delicious!! :)

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  15. What a great looking pasta salad. Reminds me I'm almost out of balsamic vinegar and I AM our of the white kind. Must replenish.

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  16. Pretty! This has been an incredibly wonderful article. Thank you for
    providing these details.

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