Posted April 22, 2018

In Cooking, Food, Nutrition, Recipe, Recipe Redux

Do you have a dish from childhood that gives you instant fond memories when thinking about it? Whenever my mom had a long day at work and wanted to make a quick meal without heating up the kitchen, she would make a shrimp and pasta salad. I loved this salad so much with its entire bottle of Girard’s Italian dressing and heaping cupfuls of mayo. So much creamy goodness in this dressing! The coolest part for this kid though was the tri-color spiral shaped rotini pasta!

For this month’s Recipe Redux challenge, Reduxers were asked to create a dish perfect for a picnic. For some reason, when I think of picnics, I think of being a kid. Except of course, now I get to drink wine! For me, my mom’s shrimp salad would make a great addition to any picnic, whether that means on the lawn of a park or even for the Hollywood Bowl.

I was in the grocery store last week on a mission to make a healthier version of this nostalgic recipe. Not quite sure what I was going to about the dressing, I picked up a bottle of Italian dressing, turned it over to the ingredients list and was pretty shocked at what I read. I never buy bottled dressings so I haven’t looked at one of those labels in a while. The ingredients lists were miles long and contained something many of my clients are sensitive to, MSG. Also, I saw many bottles with unnecessary amounts of sugar. I looked at bottle after bottle and it was the same story. A couple of products had smaller ingredients list and MSG, such as Annie’s, but by that point, I said “screw it, I’ll just make my own dressing.”

After I came to my dressing conclusion, I looked for a packet of Italian dressing seasoning mix. The only one I saw was an organic brand and the first ingredient was SUGAR. Really? So again, I said “screw it, I’ll just add dried Italian seasoning, garlic and onion powder.” This was literally the conversation I had with myself in my own head!

I swapped a few key ingredients to make this salad healthier:

Increased the amount of veggies.
Increased the ratio of veggies to pasta.
Got rid of the bottled Italian dressing and used olive oil, Italian seasoning, garlic powder, onion powder and lots of lemon.
Replaced almost all of the mayo with plain Greek yogurt. It just wasn’t the same without a little mayo, so I had to keep in a little bit.
Switched the tri color rotini pasta for whole wheat pasta.

Don’t ignore picnic food safety!

I want to switch gears for a moment and talk a little about food safety. Food, especially food at picnics and outdoor BBQs sitting in the sun, is not meant to sit out for hours and hours. That’s how you give people food poisoning! Since my pasta salad contains a creamy dairy based dressing, along with the shrimp, it’s especially important to take the proper food safety precautions.

Keep the salad in the fridge before packing up to go.
Make sure the fridge and salad temperature it is at 40 degrees F or below. When it’s time to go, keep the salad in a cooler with ice.
Once you get to the picnic site, do not leave food out in the temperature danger zone, between 40-140 degrees F, for more than 2 hours. That time drops to 1 hour if it’s a blazing hot 90 degree F weather day. Find out more about picnic food safety HERE.

Lemon-Dill Shrimp and Pasta Salad

healthy shrimp and dill pasta salad with cucumber

Print Recipe

This lemony dill shrimp and pasta salad is a healthified version of a childhood favorite. Perfect for those warm nights when you don’t feel like turning on the oven, or a fantastic option for a picnic!
If you want to make this salad ahead of time, you can add the veggies and pasta a day ahead. Be sure to add the shrimp and the dressing at the last minute for the best results.

Author: TastyBalance Nutrition
Yield: About 7 cups 1x

Ingredients

Scale

2 cups chopped European cucumber, skin on
1 cup chopped celery
1/3 cup sliced green onions
1/3 cup chopped fresh dill
12 ounces cooked bay salad shrimp, thawed if frozen
1–1/2 cups dry whole wheat rotini pasta, cooked according to package instructions and cooled
1/3 cup lemon juice
1/2 cup plain greek yogurt (I used Fage 2%)
1–1/2 teaspoons dry Italian Dressing seasoning mix ( I used Simply Organic Italian Dressing Seasoning)
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon onion powder
1/4 cup olive oil, avocado oil or culinary algae oil)
2 Tablespoons mayonnaise
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

Instructions

In a large bowl, add the chopped cucumber, celery, green onions, dill, shrimp and cooled pasta.
In a small mixing bowl, combine the lemon juice, yogurt, Italian seasoning, garlic and onion powders, oil, mayo and salt. Whisk until smooth and thoroughly combined.
When ready to serve, pour dressing over salad and mix until ingredients are coated with dressing.
Serve and enjoy!