Gluten-Free Virtual BBQ 2008 - P is for Pasta Salad!

This was so much fun. It is my first time participating in a blogger event and it's also my first time coming up with my own gluten-free recipe. I chose pasta salad for a few reasons, I had a lot of Tinkyada on hand, plus a bunch of veggies to use up, and it's the beginning of summer and I wanted to have a good recipe to bring to BBQ's this year. I got home from work and put on my favorite comfy pants and set to work. I started by gathering the ingredients:



Next, put the pasta on to boil:



Then got to chopping the veggies:


Note the garbage bowl in the upper right. One thing I like about Rachel Ray!

I did a bunch of other things... and then finally I came up with THIS!


YUM!

Ok here's the recipe:

GF Tuna and Avocado Pasta Salad
Serves 4

12 oz. of GF Pasta, I use Tinkyada
1 Medium Avocado
1/2 Medium Yellow Onion (next time I'll use red for more flavor)
1 Green Pepper
1 Vine Ripe Tomato
1 Lemon
6 slices of bacon, I used the microwaveable kind
1/2 C of Mayonnaise
1 can of Solid White Albacore Tuna packed in water

1. Cook the pasta just enough so that it's al dente. For me it was about 7 minutes. Rinse, drain and chill.
2. While the pasta is cooking, chop up the onion, pepper, tomato
3. Cut up the avocado and then cut the lemon in half and squeeze the juice of one half over the avocado to prevent browning.
4. Cook the bacon, dry it on paper towels and then crumble it.
5. When the pasta is chilled enough, combine it with the vegetables, avocado and bacon.
6. Open and drain the tuna, chop it into small pieces and add to the salad.
7. Add the mayonnaise and then squeeze the juice from the other half of the lemon. Stir to combine all of the ingredients.
8. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

For my first recipe I think it's pretty good! As noted, I might change the yellow onion to a red onion for more flavor, and I might also add some fresh herbs like basil. I might also adjust the amount of each ingredient used, like I could've used more tomato. It was definitely a learning experience and I loved it! I can't wait to come up with my next recipe!

Thank You Kate for setting this up for us!!!