Easiest Summer Dinner Salad

I am always so excited about summer food. My shopping list is 'whatever looks good' and because of our CSA (all veg all the time), mainly what I buy from the farmers market and grocery is just the 'confetti'. By confetti I mean proteins, cheese and pasta. Basically what this creates is an easy, healthy meal plan for the whole week...but loosely constructed. My formula if we're not doing our Instagram-popular 'dinner platter al fresco' (seriously, it cracks me up that people love these images so much), is protein + 3 or 4 veggies + sprinkle of starch. 

Examples:

• Ratatouille: onion, zucchini, tomatoes, peppers, eggplant with breadcrumbs and herbs with parmesan and chickpeas
• 'Succotash'-ish: broad beans, yellow squash, tomatoes, basil, bacon, goat cheese with  sourdough or olive oil bread if we're hungry
• Salmon Soba: buckwheat soba, sugar snap peas, carrots, kale, green onions, cucumber, salmon with sesame glaze
• Tilapia: green beans with almonds, quinoa, cherry tomatoes

See what I mean? And this quick dinner is no different. Put it together in a snap with this recipe:

Summer Ravioli Vegetable Salad

Serves 2

/// Ingredients ///

• 1.5 C ravioli: we use cheese filled
• 1.5 C yellow squash, cubed
• 1.5 C pattypan squash, cubed  
• 1/4 C white onion, chopped
• 1 large tomato
• oregano
• basil
• lemon thyme
• salt 
• pepper
• 1/2 T butter
• 2 T chicken stock (or veggie)
• parmesan cheese

/// Directions /// Slice all ingredients to save yourself a crazy rush mid-cooking! Add butter to a pot with onions. Cook until translucent and you smell a sweet aroma. Add squashes and chicken stock and cover for five minutes on medium heat. While the squash is steaming, cook ravioli per package directions and drain. Add in with the steamed squash and toss in tomato, salt and pepper. Plate and top with herbs and a little sprinkle of freshly grated parmesan cheese. 

Here's what I love about this quick and easy healthy recipe. There's still pasta. There's still cheese. But it's only the confetti to more than three cups of veggies! To me, that's the big secret to healthy cooking: you need a little bit of party food in the mix. And today it's pasta. And it was delicious.