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Apple Salad With Pasta

Name: Apple Salad With Pasta
Prep time: 10 min
Cook time: 12 min
Total time: 22 min
Cuisine: American
Ingredients: 2 cups of pasta (penne, fusilli, farfalle—any kind will do!); 1 tablespoon Dijon mustard; 1 tablespoon olive oil; 1 16oz pack of extra firm tofu; 1-1/2 cups of plain yogurt (cashew yogurt for a dairy-free option); 1 teaspoon honey (warmed if needed for mixing); 1 teaspoon Spike Seasoning; 1 15oz can of mandarin oranges (unsweetened); 4 cups of fresh spinach, washed; 2 granny smith apples, cut into slices; Fresh broccoli sprouts

I have spring fever, even if spring has not yet arrived here in Maine. As I’m writing this on April 11, the tulips have sprouted, but we are bracing ourselves for snowy rainy weather again this weekend. Nonetheless I can feel my body shifting away from the warm soups and stews of winter and craving fresh crisp salads of summer. Apple salad with pasta is just what I need this time of year to bridge the gap between the seasons.

Dinner Salad Perfect For Families

This apple salad with pasta is a family recipe my mom used to make when I was a kid. I loved it then and my kids love it just as much. It is quick to toss together and makes a great family meal. My kids especially like the yogurt dressing and I love all the fruits and veggies in this dinner salad. I am a huge fan of assembly line meals for kids, where they toss on their own toppings. Kids are more prone to eat what they put on their plate and when we give them options, it helps them to feel in control of their own bodies. The catch, all the options are healthy. I don’t care if my kids eat an apple or a bell pepper that is entirely their choice. Plus when we provide a rainbow of healthy options at multiple meals it all balances out. Our favorite toppings for this salad are granny smith apples, mandarin oranges, tofu, and broccoli sprouts, try this combo and then you can experiment with your own favorites. Or like what happens often at our house, whatever is left in the refrigerator! Feta cheese and sliced almonds are a delicious additions. Also, you can easily make this apple salad with pasta gluten free by using gluten free noodles. I love the Banza chickpea penne pasta.

Yogurt Pasta Sauce

The secret to this recipe is definitely this simple pasta yogurt sauce. I like to make this with dairy-free Forager’s unsweetened cashewmilk yogurt but you can certainly use regular yogurt or even greek yogurt as well. All versions are delicious. To make the yogurt pasta sauce, first add the yogurt to a bowl. Then add in the juice from the can of mandarin oranges. I try to buy the no sugar added or in their own juice kind. Next add honey and Spike Seasoning and whisk all the ingredients together. Thats it! This sauce is served cold on top of the salad, so easy! If you have sweetened mandarin oranges that is fine, you can just eliminate the honey so the sauce isn’t too sweet. Spike Seasoning is one of my favorite go-to spices. I use it all the time in salad dressings. If you don’t have Spike, you should get it, it is a cooking essential in my book! I really love the salt free Spike, it is so flavorful but doesn’t contain the sodium—why I love to use it so often in salad dressings. If you don’t have Spike you could substitute with salt and pepper and it would still be tasty.

Air Fried Tofu

I am a huge fan of my air fryer and we make more air fried tofu with it than anything else. I’ve never been great at cooking tofu on a frying pan, 98% of the time it would stick to the pan. I just couldn’t seem to get the pan hot enough. Air fried tofu on the other hand is so easy. Just pop it in the air fryer and 12 minutes later, voila! I also love that I can set this and walk away to prep other things, it really speeds up how quickly this salad can be whipped up. To make this air fried tofu simply press the tofu between a towel gently with your hands to remove excess liquid. No need to use a tofu press, or press it overnight. We are keeping life simple! Cut the tofu into approximately 1-inch size cubes. Mix together the dijon mustard and olive oil in a bowl. Add the tofu cubes to the mustard sauce and stir to coat the tofu. Add the sauced tofu to the air fryer and cook for about 12 minutes at 400 degrees until golden brown. Super easy! If you have a picky eater, try skipping the mustard sauce, just cook the plain tofu in the air fryer. It is still good and may be better received.

Are you hungry yet? Time to get cooking!