Pasta Salad with Crab

Ingredients

• pound uncooked tri-color rotini pasta
• tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
• green bell pepper, seeded and diced
• cup sbroccoli florets
• cup diced carrots
• ounce sfresh crabmeat, well picked over
• ounce sslice d black olives, drained
• tablespoon sminced sweet onion
• cup mayonnaise
• tablespoon sbalsamic vinaigrette salad dressing
• teaspoon dried Italian herb seasoning
• 1/8 teaspoon ground black pepper, or to taste
• 1/4 cup cherry tomatoes for garnish

Instructions

1. Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil; cook rotini at a boil until tender yet firm to the bite, about 8 minutes. Drain pasta and add to a large bowl with extra virgin olive oil. Stir well, and refrigerate, about 30 minutes, while preparing the other ingredients.
2. Combine bell pepper, broccoli, carrots, crabmeat, olives, and onion in a bowl. Add to pasta.
3. Stir together mayonnaise, balsamic vinaigrette, Italian seasoning, and black pepper for the dressing in a small bowl and pour over the pasta salad. Mix to combine. Garnish with cherry tomatoes and serve at room temperature or chilled.

Tips

I added no salt to this recipe, due to the salt contained in the mayonnaise, vinaigrette, and olives. Add salt, if desired. You can use imitation crab instead of crab meat. Use a high-quality balsamic vinaigrette. The cherry tomatoes for garnish are optional.