Zucchini Pasta Salad (Low-Carb, Gluten-Free)

I made this pasta for my birthday lunch and received rave reviews. The idea for a pasta salad came to mind when I suddenly started craving my mothers macaroni salad. It's a summer staple, so I thought I'd make my own version of a cool and creamy side dish. As with most of my other recipes, the ingredients for this dish can be easily substituted, either with different cheeses, different cuts of meats, or even different salad dressings. The salad was paired with roasted chicken inasal and baked eggplant slices rolled with ricotta. My sister took a few quick shots of the tablescape. The pictures are down below the recipe. 

One serving of zucchini pasta salad is 6 grams of carbs.

The longer this dish sits, the better it tastes. Make a huge batch and pack it for work during the week for a quick and easy lunch. This would also be great to pack for trips to the beach and picnics just as long as it's kept chilled inside a cooler.

Ingredients (serves 5)

• 2 large zucchinis, sliced like fettucine pasta noodles
• 1 c chopped bell pepper
• 3/4 c chopped black olive
• 1 c shredded cheddar cheese
• 1 c diced ham or grilled chicken
• Ranch dressing (enough to coat everything)
• Salt and pepper, to taste

1. Place the zucchini in a large mixing bowl along with the rest of the ingredients. Toss the pasta salad around until the ingredients are evenly incorporated. 
2. Refrigerate the salad for an hour, or until it is chilled.  

EDIT: It's not really necessary to cook the zucchini pasta before incorporating it with the rest of the ingredients, so I edited that portion out of the recipe. If you do want the zucchini to have less of a bite, feel free to microwave it for a few minutes.

Nutritional Info (for the entire recipe)

Calories: 1163 calories

Total fat: 84 grams

Total carbs: 41 grams

Dietary fiber: 11 grams

Net carbs (entire recipe): 30 grams 

Protein: 64 grams

The weather was perfect for dining on the porch. By the way, that's not even half of the zucchini pasta salad I ended up making. The rest of it I saved in the fridge for the rest of the week.

Left: Grilled eggplant rolled with riccota, topped with diced tomatoes, then baked.

Right: Roasted chicken inasal

Low-carb cheesecake.