Recipe: Pasta Fruit Salad

A few weeks ago I was asked to make a Pasta Fruit Salad for a wedding that took place today. I'll be honest in saying that I have never heard of a Pasta Fruit Salad..at least I don't think I have. I said yes, and set off on a search of the internet to find the perfect recipe. I didn't have time to do a trial run so I was just hoping that it would turn out. I decided that if it did turn out, I'd claim it as mine, and if it didn't, well, I didn't make it.

I found a few recipes that actually were very similar, but chose this one, from Baby Loving Mama blog. If you're a mama of little ones especially, go check out her blog, but either way, head over and show her some love....she also has another blog called Oh My! Sugar High! What an awesome name...I just noticed she had this so I'm definitely going to check it out. 

So back to the recipe. I read through the entire thing and decided to make a few changes that she said she would try next time she made it. I didn't measure out the fruit. I just cut it up in quantities that I thought looked good. Go to the link above for her exact measurements of fruit. I also tripled it for a large bowlful. Below is the recipe for it tripled. I have a cake plate that doubles as a bowl with stand and this recipe filled it perfectly

Ingredients: 

Fruit of your choice, equal to about 6 cups. 
I chose:
quartered strawberries
grapes (purple and green), cut in half
pineapple, fresh or canned
kiwi, cut in bite size pieces
blueberries

1 1/2 boxes of rotini pasta (or other pasta of choice)

Dressing:

3 c. Vanilla-Honey flavored Greek Yogurt
3/4 c. honey
1-2 tbs. poppyseeds
2 tsp. lemon zest
6 tbs. lemon juice
1 tsp. pure vanilla extract

1. Cut up fruit and place in a large bowl and set aside.

2. In another container, combine all ingredients for dressing. Taste just to make sure it's yummy. Be sure to dip some grapes in the Vanilla Honey yogurt container to get all the leftovers...YUM!

2. Cook pasta according to directions on box..do NOT overcook...I checked mine frequently until it was tender enough to eat but still had a great shape to it. 

3. Drain pasta and then run it under cold water till cooled off. Place in large serving bowl.

4. Pour dressing over pasta and gently fold till coated.

5. Add fruit a little at a time, gently folding as you go. 

6. Chill till ready to serve. 

This was a HUGE hit and I'm so very glad. A new recipe found to serve at events or parties. The funny thing is, is that there were no utensils at the reception area because whoever was in charge of food thought it was all finger foods (though the bride had asked me to bring this specific dish). Good thing there were toothpicks and also Shave Ice because the leftover spoons and toothpicks worked great with the salad...haha!

With Joy UNquenchable,