Italian Vegetable Salad
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Have a nice loooong weekend?
I sure did! I was hanging with all my besties in Kansas City celebrating one of girlfriend’s (Brooke!) bachelorette party. Isn’t she just darling? I think so. 🙂
We.had.a.blast. If you haven’t been to Kansas City, please do go. It’s a wonderful place to visit and has awesome BBQ. Enough said.
Now let me tell you about this vegetable salad. I know it’s healthy, but it’s also fabulous.
We had family over last week for a barbecue and I didn’t want the meal to be overly fattening with the corn casserole made with a stick of butter and sour cream, or the fruit fluff made with pudding and cool whip, or the cheeseburgers and steaks oh and the peach cobbler I made with REAL (by real I mean whole milk and heavy cream) vanilla ice cream. Sooooo I decided to add a vegetable salad in there…you know…to mix it up a bit.
I had to add cheese to it though. I just had to. I chose provolone, but cheddar, colby jack or mozzarella would be great too.
I also added a ton of fresh parsley. I mean a ton. Fresh herbs are the way to go, man. I recently started to use them a lot more and it’s amazing how diverse they are so don’t be afraid to experiment a little. Tonight I’m thinking thyme with sweet potatoes – think it will be good?
Oh the colors. They make me happy.
- Dressing/Marinade
- 1/2 cup olive oil
- 1/4 cup white wine or red wine vinegar
- 1 tablespoon Italian seasoning
- 1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
- 1 tablespoon minced garlic
- 3/4 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
- Vegetables
- 3 cups cauliflower florets
- 2 cups cherry tomatoes, sliced in half
- 2 green peppers, diced
- 3 medium zucchini, cut into bite-size pieces
- 3 carrots, peeled and cut into bite-size pieces
- 1 small red onion, diced
- 1 block provolone cheese, finely diced
- bunch of parsley, chopped
- In a small bowl, whisk together the olive oil, vinegar, Italian seasoning, Dijon mustard, garlic, salt, sugar, and pepper. In a large bowl, combine the cauliflower, cherry tomatoes, green peppers, zucchini, carrots, onion and cheese.
- Pour the dressing mixture over the vegetables, tossing gently to coat. Cover and refrigerate for at least 2 hours or up to 24 hours, stirring occasionally. Before serving add fresh parsley.
Adapted from Paula Dean Marinated Vegetable Salad
Love this recipe! A nice change from the carb focused potato or pasta salad. I changed a bit, blanched the veggies,(carrot green beans cauliflower broccoli) added boiled red potato ( when almost done I threw all the chop veggies in for 2-3 min). And added cucumber, diced red pepper, frozen peas and provolone cheese. So delicious!
delicious! Love your additions!
Can this be made the day before?
Yes! I would wait to put the dressing on to prevent it from getting soggy.
Are all the veggies raw in this recipe?
Yes they are!
About how many ounces of Provolone cheese?
Hi Shanna – just get a block of it – it’s really up to your liking!
I think this looks DELICIOUS!
Thanks Kelli!