Sweet Pasta Salad

             
         Pastas and noodles are in good terms with my son and he likes to have them plain. He hates cooked vegetables in them and find excuses to avoid them. When I make vegetable noodles, he tend to fish out the noodles from among the vegetables and blame it on his tool. To my questions, he answers with a cheeky grin. "Oh mom, only the noodles tangle on the fork and the vegetables tend to fall away" (!) And I find myself at a loss for words...

           But he likes raw vegetables, unless they are not 'plants' ( that's what he calls the green leaves like lettuce and parsley). So when he started fishing out the 'plants' from his salad, I had to think of a better plan to make him eat them. He love the salads we used to get from Pizza hut and Sweet Pasta Salad was his favourite. I have wondered, why he never noticed lettuce in it. More often he ate more salad than Pizza. So I thought it was high time I tried the pasta salad at home. I googled for the recipe and what I found tasted no where near to the salad on our tongue. So I made my own experiments and somehow the salad turned out to be a Pizza hut sibling (if not a clone). Actually it was so simple and I was glad that my son loved it. Surprise! Surprise! he didn't notice 'plants' in it.

Sweet Pasta Salad

Things you need:

300g spiral pasta/ Rotini pasta
2 carrots, cut into small cubes
1 small head of romaine lettuce, torn
1 green /red bell pepper (capsicum). cut into small pieces
1 cup steam cooked sweet corn
1/2 tsp black pepper pdr
3 tbsp honey
2 tbsp lemon juice
1 cup mayonnaise
1/4 tsp oregano (optional)
Salt to taste


Method:

• Cook pasta in lightly salted boiling water for 8 to 10 minutes.
• Drain and transfer to a salad bowl. Add the carrots, lettuce, bell pepper and sweet corn and combine.
• In another bowl combine the mayonnaise, honey, pepper, lemon juice,salt and oregano.
• Toss the salad with dressing.
• Chill for 1 to 2 hrs in refrigerator and serve.