Italian Chopped Salad with Tortellini

This Italian Chopped Salad is more than a side salad; this is a meal!

Three kinds of meats, cheeses, veggies, and pasta make this delicious, filling and rather unforgettable!

I did pilates for the first time in years. I started the class grinning; it felt so good to be there working muscles that have been tired and flabby. My abs haven’t worked that hard since they pushed out my last baby.

About 10 minutes into the class, however, I started to get fatigued. And that was just my mind. My body was getting tired too! I was trying so hard to follow the instructor’s directions. I was tilting my pelvis, pressing my spine into the mat, lengthening my neck, pressing down my shoulders and reaching with my fingertips; it was exhausting! All the while I was focusing on my breath, or trying to anyway.

After a minute I became increasingly aware of the women’s breath behind me. I just kept thinking to myself how loudly she was breathing. Then I got worried; was my breathing that loud or was it just that the room was so quiet?

If the room was so quiet, what would happen if someone passed gas? How embarrassing would that be? I’ve been to several pilates classes where someone let out a few squeakers. Everyone tries to ignore it, but we all know who did it. What if I was the one who passed gas? I didn’t feel gassy, but you never know; sometimes these things sneak up on you. It was after that thought that I realized I had completely lost focus. I was done with pilates, I was getting hungry anyway.

I used to love pilates because I could tune out the world and focus on my body. Now I cannot tune anything out and apparently I can’t focus either. The one thing I can focus on is food. Take this salad for example, I can focus on eating this Italian chopped salad slowly; taking care to savor each bite.

I used some of my favorite meats in the salad, like salami, soppressata, and mortadella. You could use your favorites or leave out the meat altogether. I love adding the tortellini to the salad. It makes it filling and gives it another dimension. This is more than a salad, this is a meal!

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Yield: 6

Italian Chopped Salad with Tortellini

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An impressive Italian chopped salad that is as filling as it is delicous!

Prep Time 15 minutes

Total Time 15 minutes

Ingredients

• 1 17 oz container artisan lettuce (or your favorite)
• 1 cup cooked cheese tortellini
• 4 oz sliced hard salami
• 4 oz soppressata
• 4 oz. mortadella
• 3/4 cup kalamata olives
• 3/4 cup blue cheese stuffed green olives
• 3/4 cup sliced roasted red pepper
• 4 oz marinated artichoke hearts (marinade reserved)
• 2 oz crumbled feta cheese
• 2 tablespoon olive oil
• 3 cloves garlic
• pinch of salt
• 2 tablespoons mayo
• reserved marinade

Instructions

1. Arrange lettuce on a large serving platter or bowl. Arrange pasta, meats, cheeses and veggies over lettuce.
2. In a cup or a jar with a lid; combine the olive oil, garlic, salt, mayo and reserved artichoke marinade. Pour over salad; serve.

Nutrition Information

Yield

6

Serving Size

1
Amount Per Serving Calories 585Total Fat 46gSaturated Fat 14gTrans Fat 0gUnsaturated Fat 30gCholesterol 78mgSodium 2438mgCarbohydrates 22gFiber 4gSugar 5gProtein 22g

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