Cheese Tortellini Salad with Fresh Spinach

When your Spinach is growing this prolifically in your garden, you start hunting up recipes to cook with this rich, green, vitamin filled goodness.

I found this delicious salad recipe in the May issue of The CO-OP Advantage.

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 lbs. cheese filled tortellini
• 3 oz. fresh baby spinach
• 1 pint cherry or grape tomatoes halved
• 1 cup scallions
• 2-3 Tbsp. fresh chopped basil

1.) In a medium sized pot, bring 5 quarts of salted water to a boil. Add the tortellini and cook until al dente, about 7 - 9 minutes. Drain, rinse with cold water, and cool. Set aside.

Dressing:

• 1/2 cup lemon juice
• 1/2 cup olive oil
• 2 tsp. fresh garlic, minced
• 1/4 tsp. salt
  1/4 tsp. cracked pepper

2.) In a large mixing bowl, whisk together ingredients for dressing.

3.) Add the sliced tomatoes, cooled tortellini, basil and scallions, and marinate 15 minutes, mixing often. Tear the spinach into bite sized pieces and add it to the tortellini. Mix well and serve.
This is a delicious (inexpensive too!) salad to put together for your Memorial Day Barbecue! I bet it would be wonderful for lunchboxes during the week as well.

The adults at the barbecue gave this salad a 5 spoon rating. The kids were funny! Is it cooked? The pasta's cold. No thank you. Oh well. I have all summer to keep introducing our boys to the fine points cold pasta salads. :)