Create your Everyday Escape…and Creamy Greek Pasta Salad with Chickpeas

Let’s have a little fun why don’t we…

Let’s daydream about our favorite way to “escape” from our daily routine…

Is it a spontaneous trip to the beach or pool with a book to get some much needed Vitamin D? Is it a night out with friends at a great restaurant for dinner so you don’t have to cook? Or maybe it’s a day at the spa….

Yea, I’ll take all three please. I’m sorry but it’s just needed for my mental sanity at times.

Sounds nice right? Well, I’d love to be able to give you all that, but will you settle for a chance to “Create an Everyday Escape” with a $75 SpaFinder gift certificate along with a nice sample pack of New Marzetti Greek Yogurt Veggie dips and snack container. Not too shabby huh?

But before we talk about the giveaway…

I recently tried Marzetti’s New Greek Yogurt Veggie Dips and absolutely loved them. They were sent to me to sample and I immediately knew I had to create something delicious with them. I tried two flavors, Salsa Cilantro and Cucumber Dill Feta. These are not your ordinary dips people, they are light and creamy, light on the calories and can really jazz up your ordinary afternoon snack or everyday recipe.

I opened the Salsa Cilantro first, and it did not last long enough for me to create any recipe with it. My daughter and I dipped our carrots and celery sticks in it for days, alongside our usual hummus, all the while she was exclaiming “mmmm…spicy!”. It’s really not spicy, more like zesty I would say. This dip would be a great spread on a wrap or as a dipping sauce for some quesadillas.

When I opened the Cucumber Dill Feta dip I knew I wanted to make a pasta salad with it. I am a big pasta salad fan but normally use homemade vinaigrette to dress it up. It was nice to enjoy a creamy pasta salad without too much guilt knowing it was made from a base of Greek yogurt instead of mayo. I made it a “meal in one” kind of pasta salad by using whole wheat pasta shells, chickpeas (aka garbanzo beans) and veggies. I used what I had on hand but feel free to add in additional veggies such as chopped artichoke hearts or red bell pepper. If you need to please someone that likes to have meat in their meals, shredded rotisserie chicken would be a great addition to this as well. The salad was incredibly filling in a good way with lots of stuff that makes your body happy like protein and fiber. And healthy stuff aside, it tasted great and would be a nice addition to your lunch or dinner routine or an easy dish to bring to any get together.

Print Recipe

Creamy Greek Pasta Salad with Chickpeas

Ingredients:

• 1/2 box whole wheat pasta shells, cooked and cooled
• 1 container Otria Cucumber Dill Feta Greek Yogurt Dip
• 1 15 oz can garbanzo beans, rinsed, drained and dried
• 1/2 pint grape tomatoes, halved
• 1/2 red onion, sliced thin
• handful black or kalamata olives, sliced
• small bunch flat leaf parsley, roughly chopped
• 1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese (or a little less crumbled feta)
• good pinch kosher salt and freshly ground pepper

Directions:

1. Add all ingredients into large bowl and gently combine. Taste for salt and pepper. Serve immediately or can be refrigerated overnight.

For more recipes and additional product information visit Marzetti’s Otria page.

(Disclosure: Marzetti provided me with my own “Create an Everyday Escape” prize pack. My opinions, however, are always my own.)

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Giveaway:

Two Aggie’s Kitchen Readers will win a “Create an Everyday Escape” prize pack which includes:

Free Otria Greek Yogurt Veggie Dip coupons (5 per prize pack)
$75 SpaFinder Gift Card
Snack storage container

Starts Tuesday March 1 and ends Friday March 4 at midnight (EST). Two winners will be chosen using Random.org

Sorry, but giveaway open to U.S. readers only.

To enter:

Leave a comment on this post telling me why you need an “Everyday Escape” pack and how it will refresh your daily routine. Your comment is your entry for the prize.

Additional entries can be earned by:

1. Share this giveaway and link back to this post on Facebook, Twitter or your own blog and leave a separate comment telling me you did so. (you can earn 1 entry for each place you share, leave separate comments for each please.)

2. Become a fan of Aggie’s Kitchen on Facebook.  “Like” Aggie’s Kitchen then come back to this page and leave a separate comment telling me you did so. (if you already “like”, let me know, that counts as an entry!)

3. Follow @AggiesKitchen on Twitter, then come back to this page and leave a separate comment telling me you did so. (if you already follow, let me know, that counts as an entry!)

Good Luck!!