Pasta Salad - made with Brown Rice Fusilli

We wanted to cook healthier yesterday, so I said I'd bring a whole-grain pasta salad. (I admit, I've never made a pasta salad that I thought was worth repeating, but this turned out tasty.)

And, with the veggies, it was a pretty salad. Today (next day), the fusilli has a pink tint to it.

Windmill Farm's didn't seem to have any whole grain pasta, but they did have Brown Rice Fusilli. The package said it cooks in 7-9 minutes; I boiled the pound about 11 minutes, then gave us and decided it was to be VERY al dente. I decided to pretend it was supposed to be firm.

For the veggies, I cut up the following and put into a colander:
1 yellow, 1 red, 1 orange bell pepper
1/4 of a purple onion, chopped very finely
1 small head of broccoli flowerets, again, cut very small pieces.

Not in the colander, but in a separate bowl, some nice roasted beets that were already cooked and in a vinegary sauce, which I'd bought at the salad bar at Windmill Farms. The salad bar charges $4.99 a pound, and to save me the trouble of cleaning, roasting, peeling, saucing beets, I thought this was a good thing. (Regards, Martha)

When the pasta was "done", I poured the boiling water (and fusilli) over the veggies,just to get them a little tiny bit cooked. Shook the colander to get rid of excess water.

Dressed with this dressing:
3-4 tablespoons of good mustard (I used Maui Sweet Onion mustard), 3-4 tablespoons of mayonnaise, some rice wine vinegar, some honey. Mix, taste,add some more ingredients. Salt.

Tim tasted and said "Mom, the pasta's not done." I replied "It's supposed to be nutty." He bought it.