Chicken-Penne Salad with Green Beans

To quickly prepare the beans in this recipe, trim just the stem ends, leaving the tapered blossom ends intact. Line up 5 or 6 beans at a time and cut them roughly the same length as the pasta. You can have an entire meal ready in about 35 minutes.

Yield: 4 servings (serving size: 2 cups)

Ingredients

• 2  cups  uncooked penne (tube-shaped) pasta
• 2  cups  (1-inch) cut green beans (about 1/2 pound)
• 2  cups  shredded cooked chicken breast
• 1/2  cup  vertically sliced red onion
• 1/4  cup  chopped fresh basil
• 1 1/2  teaspoons  chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
• 1  (7-ounce) bottle roasted red bell pepper, drained and cut into thin strips
• 2  tablespoons  extra-virgin olive oil
• 2  tablespoons  red wine vinegar
• 1  tablespoon  cold water
• 1/2  teaspoon  salt
• 1/2  teaspoon  bottled minced garlic
• 1/4  teaspoon  black pepper

Preparation

Cook pasta in boiling water 7 minutes. Add green beans; cook 4 minutes. Drain and rinse with cold water; drain.

Combine pasta mixture, chicken, onion, basil, parsley, and bell pepper in a large bowl, tossing gently to combine.

Combine oil and remaining ingredients in a small bowl, stirring with a whisk. Drizzle over pasta mixture; toss gently to coat.

Nutritional Information

Calories:

384 (23% from fat)

Fat:

9.7g (sat 1.8g,mono 5.7g,poly 1.5g)

Protein:

26.9g

Carbohydrate:

47.8g

Fiber:

2.6g

Cholesterol:

49mg

Iron:

3.2mg

Sodium:

866mg

Calcium:

59mg