Salad Stuffed Shells

Photo by Madison Myers

allrecipes.com Salad Stuffed Shells

At a recent gathering where I served all Italian appetizers, these salad stuffed shells made for a healthy vege choice among all of the unhealthy cheese laden food. I was a little hesitant to make this recipe, but I am so glad I did! It is a fun and delicious way to serve salad. It is so versatile too! You can put anything in there you like. The hubs already suggested other ideas - he especially wants a tuna salad stuffed shell. I served these on deviled egg trays for a nice presentation and to keep them from rolling around ;o)

I changed up the recipe just a bit to suit our tastes:

Ingredients

• 1 box jumbo pasta shells
• 1/2 pound sliced genoa salami
• 1 bag chopped romaine lettuce
• 1 cup chopped roma (plum) tomatoes
• 3/4 cup chopped cucumber
• 1/3 cup Roasted Garlic Vinaigrette Dressing

Directions

• I made the shells the day before. Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil. Add about 1 tablespoon of olive oil to the water. Cook pasta shells according to package directions. Drain and rinse with cold water until chilled. Separate shells and refrigerate until ready to use. 
• Combine salami, romaine lettuce, roma tomatoes, and cucumber in a large bowl; pour vinaigrette dressing over salad and toss to coat. Stuff pasta shells with lettuce mixture and serve.  You can also make these up and refrigerate up to 2 hours. I wouldn't refrigerate much longer than that as the lettuce will wilt. If you put on some gloves and use your hands to stuff these, it is much quicker and easier than trying to spoon the salad into the shell.

TIP: These fit perfectly in a deviled egg tray and it makes a beautiful presentation too!