An Easy Summer Salad,

Many of you know that I'm in the midst of compiling recipes that offer non-gluten alternatives to our everyday meals and desserts that we all enjoy.  I've decided to send this one out for you to try as my husband said, "Include this one in your recipe book," after trying it, last night.  This can serve 6-8, easily.

Pasta Salad

1, 8 oz. box of quinoa elbow pasta, cooked for 8 minutes in salted water and drained
2 cups of frozen or fresh baby peas
3 medium stalks of celery, finely chopped
3 medium carrots, finely chopped
1-2 small cucumbers, seeded and finely chopped
1/4 cup red onion or shallots, finely chopped
salt and pepper to taste
1/4 tsp. chipotle pepper, optional
4 Tbsp. fresh herbs: cillantro, chives Or tarragon, fennel tops Or sage, oregano or any combination you like
1/3- 1/2 cup mayonnaise*
1/4- 1/3 cup avocado oil, grape seed oil or sunflower oil
organic lettuce and tomatoes, served on the side

*Mayonnaise
I make my own because mayonnaise without soy is just about impossible to find and I like how mine tastes, anyway.  I use a food processor and make a cup of it at a time, using various fresh herbs to taste.  The proportion is: one egg yolk, 1 tsp. dried mustard, 1 Tbsp. vinegar or lemon juice, 1/4 tsp. salt, 1 Tbsp. fresh herbs (optional) and 1 cup of oil--I use grape seed or rice bran or a combination.  Place all ingredients into the food processor except for the oil.  With the processor running, pour a thin stream of oil into the container, very slowly.  It should look fairly thick when all is incorporated.  Place the unused amount in an air tight container and store in the refrigerator.  I think you'll like the taste as you can make many different kinds of mayonnaise this way.

After the pasta and peas are cooked,  you'll want to cool these.  Add the remaining ingredients in a large bowl, mix in the mayonnaise and oil, according to how moist you like the mixture and add the pasta and peas, taste to make sure you have enough salt and pepper, chill for 3-4 hours and enjoy.

Since it's summer, if you have other garden vegetables in abundance, please experiment with whatever veggies you have on hand.  I don't normally put tomatoes directly into the salad as they can cause it to get mushy.  Let me know how your family likes this.  Since we are only 2 people, I halved this recipe as day old quinoa pasta noodles become chewy and that affects the salad.  My husband had 3 servings of this, so we didn't run into that problem!
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