5. The Lazy Vegan {Or: A Successful Pasta Salad Recipe}

I'm a vegan. I'm also lazy. Therefore, I like simple recipes that adhere to clean eating principles: nutritious, filling, no crap/fake food. {Well, you know, when I'm not convincing myself that cheese should be included in the vegan food pyramid.}

So imagine my delight when I discovered this recipe: Wagon Wheel Taco Pasta Salad. Was I skeptical? Absolutely. But the result: utter deliciousness. I, for vegan-related purposes, did not add any cheese to the recipe, and also, just because I didn't have any on hand, omitted the cilantro. I also added about 1/4 cup of finely chopped red onion. I also try to avoid gluten, so I subbed in brown rice penne for the noodles.

This is the exact type of recipe I love: easy to make gluten-free and vegan, able to throw it together in less than 20 minutes, oodles of leftovers for lunches, and above all, super tasty. Even my carnivore husband liked it. I will say, however, that my version was not attractive at all, hence the absence of pictures in this post. We have renamed it "Ugly Taco Pasta Salad."