Autumn Pasta Salad

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Autumn Pasta Salad with Cranberry Vinaigrette is a high-protein Fall inspired cold pasta made from Barilla ProteinPLUS Penne with fresh broccoli, red onion, pumpkin seeds,  dried cranberry, feta cheese, roasted sweet potatoes and chicken with a delicious cranberry vinaigrette.

A recent visit to the doctor revealed that my son is underweight. I am a small person so I don’t expect my child to be built like a linebacker but we are working extra hard to ensure that the whole family is eating more nutrient dense foods and consuming lot’s of protein.

As a family full of pasta lovers, a protein packed pasta is as good as gold! Barilla ProteinPLUS has 17g of protein to fuel your body. Today, I am sharing a protein packed Autumn Pasta Salad that is perfect for lunchtime this Fall season.

On  my weekly grocery trip to Kroger, I browsed the pasta aisle and picked up Barilla ProteinPLUS Penne for todays recipe and Barilla ProteinPLUS Spaghetti for later in the week. I was also able to grab some fresh broccoli, sweet potatoes, red onion, chicken and the other ingredients needed for my recipe.

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Autumn Pasta Salad

Pasta Salads are one of my families favorite lunches. I like to make a big batch on Sunday and portion it out into containers so everyone can grab one for school or work during the week.

I have made this Autumn Pasta Salad two different ways. One way is to roast the chicken and potatoes for 20 minutes and then add onion and broccoli to the oven for another 25 minutes. Today, the instructions are to just roast the chicken and potatoes and add the onion and broccoli raw in the pasta salad. Both ways turn out great!

Let’s get cooking!

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees and boil a large pot of water. Wash the vegetables well and dice the onion, sweet potatoes and cut the florets from a bunch of broccoli. On a baking sheet, add chicken and diced potatoes, then drizzle with olive oil, salt and pepper. Bake 45 minutes. I like to use organic, thinly sliced chicken for this recipe.

Cook the Barilla ProteinPLUS Penne according to box instructions and drain. Grab a large bowl and add all the pasta salad ingredients and mix up the cranberry vinaigrette. Add about 3/4 of the cranberry vinaigrette to start and you can add the remainder if you wish depending on how much you like.

You may want to add the pumpkin seeds when serving to keep crisp so keep that in mind when mixing all the ingredients together!

Autumn Pasta Salad

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Autumn Pasta Salad with Cranberry Vinaigrette is a high-protein Fall inspired cold pasta made from Barilla ProteinPLUS Penne with fresh broccoli, red onion, pumpkin seeds,  dried cranberry, feta cheese, roasted sweet potatoes and chicken with a delicious cranberry vinaigrette.

Yields: 7 servings

• Autumn Pasta Salad
• 1 pound Barilla ProteinPLUS Penne
• 1 large sweet potato
• 1 pound chicken breast, thin sliced
• .5 cup pumpkin seeds
• 1 bunch of broccoli, florets
• .5 red onion
• .5 cup dried cranberries
• 3/4 cup feta cheese
• Olive Oil
• Salt
• Pepper
• Cranberry Vinaigrette
• 1/4 cup red wine vinegar
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 1 cup cranberry juice
• 3 teaspoons Dijon
• 2 tablespoons honey
• Salt
• Pepper

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
2. In a large pot, boil water and cook the Barilla ProteinPLUS Penne according to box instructions.
3. Wash all the vegetables well and dice the sweet potato, red onion and cut the florets from the broccoli bunch.
4. Add chicken and diced sweet potatoes to a baking sheet, drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Cook for 45 minutes, turning half way through. Keep and eye on it in the last 10 minutes of roasting to ensure the potatoes aren't getting too crispy.
5. Make the cranberry vinaigrette. Whisk 1/4 cup red wine vinegar, 1/4 cup olive oil, 1 cup cranberry juice, 3 teaspoons Dijon, 2 tablespoons honey and a pinch of salt and pepper.
6. Dice the cooked chicken.
7. In a large bowl, add the cooked Barilla ProteinPLUS Penne, diced chicken, roasted potatoes, 1/2 cup dried cranberries, diced red onion, broccoli florets, 3/4 cup feta cheese and 3/4 of your cranberry vinaigrette. Stir all ingredients together.
8. You will have extra cranberry vinaigrette to add now or later depending on your personal taste.
9. Add the pumpkin seeds before serving.

• Preparation time: 10 minutes
• Cook time: 45 minutes

Comment below with what some of your favorite Autumn inspired recipes are!

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