Lunch For A Busy Schedule

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HAPPY NEW YEAR! The holidays are over. It's bittersweet, really. I absolutely love Christmas, but it's a relief to get back into the swing of my regular routine.

One thing I definitely don't miss about the festive times is how busy I was! I had hardly any time to myself, which is why it's been a while since my last post. It was also difficult to find time to prepare lunches for myself for work. This lead to me spending more money than I should have on quick and easy lunches that weren't particularly good for me.

So I decided to whip up a batch of pasta salad. It's quick, it's easy, it's delicious, and it's healthy! I didn't really go by a recipe, I just kind of made it up as I went along. It was pretty fun, actually.

I took a look in the fridge to see what I had. I'd recently bought a bag of diced carrot and parsnips that was on sale, and decided to pop those in the oven to roast along with two tomatoes.

It's a rainbow of deliciousness.

For seasoning, I sprinkled on some marjoram (one of my favourite herbs!), rosemary, sage, garlic granules, salt, and pepper. I use my nose to decide which herbs/spices to use when I'm winging it.

The nose knows, man.

I roasted my carrots, parsnips, and tomatoes in the oven for the time recommended on the package. You could use anything in your pasta salad, really. With party season over, I'm sure there are a lot of people out there struggling to get through a lot of leftovers. Why not add in some turkey or stuffing? Shops are also reducing a lot of their holiday packs of produce - take a look in your local grocery store to find something that strikes your fancy.

While you bake, cook your pasta. You can use any pasta you want. I have a fondness for tri-colour fusilli.

I don't think the colours actually taste any different, but I don't even care. 

While my veggies roasted (I know, tomatoes are technically a fruit) and my pasta boiled, I thought about what else I could throw into my experiment. I love bell peppers, so I decided to chop one up. I quite like the crunch of them raw, but you could roast them if you want. Or exclude them, that's what is so fun about pasta salad! 

They also add a gorgeous pop of red. 

When your pasta is done cooking, dump it in with your bell pepper.

Steamy goodness!

Let that cool while your veggies finish roasting, then dump those on in too! 

You could add more seasoning if you want.

I also happened to have a bag of spinach that needed using. So I figured, why not? I grabbed a nice handful of spinach and chucked that in as well. 

I can't get enough of that robust, nutty flavor. 

Many pasta salads use heavy dressings or mayonnaise, but I decided to go with something a little lighter. I splashed on a little olive oil and a slightly more generous measure of balsamic vinegar. 

No, that vinegar bottle wasn't full before. I didn't use quite that much.

Let the salad cool for a little while before covering (to avoid condensation making it go all soggy) and popping in the fridge. Voila, you're done! Well, mostly. I decided to sprinkle on some feta cheese on each individual serving instead of keeping it all in the main bowl. 

FETA CHEESE FOR LIFE! 

That bowl gave me three very generous servings of pasta salad. I could have added more spinach to bulk it up and stretch it a little farther. I thought it was absolutely amazing, score one for randomly tossing stuff together! 

What's your favorite lunch?