Vegan High Protein Pasta Salad

Sometimes, the simplest recipes are the best.

This easy week night meal makes for great leftovers at lunch. It’s high in protein and fibre thanks to chickpea lentil pasta. Our gut and hormones require both of these macronutrients so this is a new staple meal in our household. Adding lots of different vegetables makes it easier to get 30 different plants a week - a recommendation by the American Gut Project. I loved this combo, but to reduce food waste, use whatever veggies you have in your fridge. As a nutritionist, I encourage my clients to buy as many organic ingredients as possible as glyphosate is an endocrine disrupter (impacts your hormone levels) and may cause leaky gut.

Ingredients

• chickpea/lentil based pasta

• cucumber, sliced

• black olives, sliced

• yellow bell pepper

• sundried tomatoes, chopped

• cherry or grape tomatoes, sliced

• broccoli, chopped

• fresh basil, chopped

• spices of choice, we used black pepper

Directions

• cook pasta according to instructions

• while it’s cooking, start chopping all the vegetables

• mix everything together

• best enjoyed the next day cold

note:

• The olives, sundried tomatoes and basil bring a lot of flavour and some oils so we didn’t even need a sauce. You can definitely add lemon and extra virgin olive oil

• By cooking and cooling the bean pasta, you’re turning it into a prebiotic filled with resistant starch. This is great for our commensal bacteria (the good guys)

• option to add tofu to increase protein and minerals further

Comment below if you make it!