Yummy ways to use summer veggies

LAFAYETTE, Ind. (WLFI) - If you are tired of your old recipes and looking for a new way to use summer vegetables, you are in luck. In this week's HELEN Magazine segments, we'll introduce you to a Pampered Chef with some tasty recipes.

School is back in session and the end of summer is quickly approaching. But warm temperatures and sunshine means there are still plenty of summer vegetables to enjoy. The Pampered Chef Independent Senior Director, Rhonda Feuer said recipes like Summer Tortellini Salad will leave you wishing summer would never end.

"You have the color combinations of the different vegetables so it has a vibrancy," Feuer said.

In this quick and easy recipe you start by cooking up your tortellini.

"When you are working with pasta, and you are going to cook it and serve it like this, make sure you rinse it off so that it doesn't stick together and the starches will come away a bit and you won't have as much sticky pasta," she said.

To the pasta, add your chopped zucchini, carrots, cherry tomatoes, onions and parsley;  mix it together with some light ranch dressing.

"Top it off with some Parmesan cheese, if you like, lots of cheese. But it just adds a nice touch of flavor," she said.

Add some salt and pepper if you'd like and enjoy!

Feuer has a few other tips including how to keep fresh herbs like basil and parsley at your fingertips year-round.

"You can chop it up at the end of the season, put them in ice cube trays, add a little water in there and freeze them. Then put them in your Ziplock freezer bags and pull them out as you need," she said.

She also suggests using extra veggies in a quick stir fry or a salsa.

You can get more of these recipes from www.pamperedchef.com and help the Feeding America organization at the same time by downloading a celebrity cookbook.

"The Pampered Chef donates a meal up to a 140,000 meals for every download of that cookbook," she said.

Food Finders Food Bank in Lafayette is just one of the many food banks that will benefit from the proceeds.

For more information on this recipe go to www.pamperedchef.com