One of the best things about spring and summer is that it is the perfect time for picnics! And one of the perks of living in Boston is being able to picnic right along the Charles River. Sunshine, friends, ducks & delicious food. I packed a 4 tier bento with some of my favorite portable snacks that are super easy to make. Not pictured are veggies, pretzels, & hummus as well as some wraps with kale, bell peppers, plum tomatoes, avocado & veg. chicken. The winner of the picnic was this pasta salad with cucumber flowers! I love bento boxes because you can make whatever you want as CUTE as you want. You can use small cookie cutters to make adorable shapes out of fruit and veggies. There is also a lot of great websites to find bento accessories if you can't find them at stores.
Cute Summer Pasta Salad
Pasta (of your choice) cooked according to the package
Green Peas or Edamame
Plum Tomatoes diced
Cucumbers sliced
Garlic (minced)
Truffle Salt (or regular salt)
Basil
Black Pepper
Apple Cider Vinegar
I apologize for not having a better recipe but I am a fly by the seat of my pants kind of gal so everything is sort of eyeballing and taste testing. Fortunately the beauty of pasta salad is that it can be pretty versatile based on personal preference (for instance I do not really like "mayo" based pasta salads) so give it a whirl and put your own spin of it. I will be better in the future with recipes after enlisting my friend Jess who went to culinary school.
