School is coming to end soon. One week from Friday is the last day of school. For me it cannot come soon enough!

I am one of those parents who LOVE having my kids home. Hopefully this summer will be filled with beach days, cook outs and lots of fun adventures. We are already planning trips to Milwaukee, Wisconsin; Lansing, Michigan; Detroit, Michigan and Chicago, Illinois. It is going to be F-U-N!

One thing that starts us feeling like it is summer in our house is more fruits and vegetables served at our meals. Grilled, raw or roasted we start loading up on them for breakfast, lunch and dinner.

This salad is great because you can customize it by adding vegetables that your family loves.

Verdict:

This was a perfect warm night dinner. The tortellini only takes a few minutes to cook so the kitchen doesn’t heat up too much and the kids loved picking at the vegetables as I was getting them ready to add to the salad. Should I say, “No, don’t eat those raw carrots or broccoli. Let me drench them in dressing first?”

Everyone had two bowls for dinner and there was enough leftover for one lunch serving the next day.

Best of all this was easy to fix for my gluten-free son as he had his with gluten-free ravioli instead of tortellini. I have yet to find a gluten-free tortellini. If someone knows of one please let me know by leaving a note at the bottom of the page.

Ingredients:

• 1 (20 oz) bag of frozen 3 cheese tortellini, cook according to package directions for al dente
• 16 oz. grape tomatoes, cut in half
• 8 oz. baby carrots cut into 3rds
• 1 medium cucumber, large dice
• 1 red pepper, large dice
• 1 yellow pepper, large dice
• 8 oz. Parmesan cheese, cubed into 1/2″ cubes
• may also wish to add: broccoli, cauliflower, green pepper, olives, pea pods or onion
• 1 jar Marzetti Light Balsamic Creamy Dressing or a homemade creamy balsamic dressing (about 1 1/4 cups)

 Directions:

1. Cook tortellini according to package directions to slightly al dente. Rinse under cold water to stop the cooking process and cool slightly.
2. Place all vegetables and cheese into a large bowl.
3. Toss the tortellini and vegetables with the salad dressing in the large bowl. Use as much salad dressing as you like, you may not want to use the whole jar.  Serve.