Salmon-Pasta Salad with Creamy Lemon Dressing Recipe

Pureeing roasted yellow peppers with some yogurt, mayonnaise, and lemon juice makes a creamy lemon-colored dressing for canned salmon, kidney beans, and pasta.

Ingredients

1/2 cup jarred roasted yellow peppers, rinsed and drained

1/2 cup plain fat-free yogurt

2 tablespoons light mayonnaise

2 tablespoons lemon juice

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 can (14 3/4 ounces) sockeye salmon

1 cup canned kidney beans, rinsed and drained

8 ounces penne pasta

Directions

1. In a food processor, combine the peppers, yogurt, mayonnaise, lemon juice, and salt, and puree. Transfer the dressing to a large bowl. Add the salmon and beans, and toss to combine.

2. Meanwhile, in a large pot of boiling water, cook the penne according to package directions. Drain.

3. Add the drained pasta to the bowl and toss to combine. Serve at room temperature or chilled. Makes 4 servings

Tuna-Pasta Salad with Pepper Pesto In the dressing, step 1, substitute roasted red peppers for the yellow and decrease the amount of mayonnaise to 1 tablespoon. Add 1 tablespoon storebought pesto to the dressing before pureeing. Use 2 cans (6 ounces each) of water-packed tuna instead of salmon, and cannellini beans instead of the kidney beans. Add ⅓ cup chopped onion.

Nutrition Facts

Good source of: folate, niacin, omega-3 fatty acids, riboflavin, selenium, thiamin, vitamin B₁₂, vitamin D

F.Y.I.

Although all bell peppers provide fiber and vitamin B₆, there are some nutritional differences that depend on the color of the pepper. For example, yellow and red bell peppers have more than twice the amount of vitamin C in green peppers. And red peppers contain eleven times more beta carotene than green peppers.

Many of the recipes in this book contain off-the-shelf foods to help keep recipe prep effort to a minimum – a benefit for your arthritic hands. However, some foods – like canned beans – can hike up sodium levels. If you are carefully watching your sodium, be sure to read this before preparing this recipe: Sodium Intake and Salt in Recipes