Summer Vegetable Orzo Salad

Summer Vegetable Orzo Salad is full of summer’s best produce! Tomatoes, corn, peaches, basil and orzo all tossed together in a honey lime dressing. A light and healthy pasta salad you’ll love!

It’s been a while since I talked about how my running is going and there’s reason for that, it’s been pretty awful. If you’re not interested in the details, just scroll on down this post until you get to the kick ass recipe for this Summer Vegetable Orzo Salad, I’m obsessed!

I’ve been quiet talking about my running because for the past few months I’ve been dealing with injuries. It started with pain in the ball of my right foot, which progressed to not being able to curl my toes much. Along with that came plantar fasciitis in the same foot, more than likely caused by not pushing off and landing correctly because of the pain in the ball of my foot.

To top it all off, I ended up with severe hip pain in that same leg. I suspect it was the beginning of a stress fracture, which if you run, know is one of the last things you want to happen. If I had to guess, the hip problem was triggered by my messed up running gait that all started with the stupid foot.

From the beginning of May until just a few weeks ago, running has been painful, slow and downright miserable. I never stopped running, but did cut back on mileage and accepted that I was just going to have to run very slow and stop nearly every 1/2 mile to stretch.

Around the middle of May the pain got to be too much and nothing I was doing on my own to try and relieve it was helping. I made an appointment to have ART (active release technique) done and was so glad I did. I’ve had it done in the past when I had plantar fasciitis in my other foot and it was very effective, so I went into my first appointment feeling hopeful.

ART has definitely helped over the last month or so, it’s just a very slow recovery process for me because I messed everything up so bad. It’s also helped loosen up some other severely tight areas in my body like my hips and hamstrings.

I can’t say that I’m 100% better, but I’m running without the severe hip pain which is about the best feeling in the world! The foot is probably 80% better and most importantly I’m not compensating any more.

I’ve added a few more miles to my long runs on the weekends, but am still not running the same mileage as I was before all of this. That’s a good thing because I was running too much anyways.

My pace is still slower than it’s been in probably 10 years, but I feel like I can slowly start adding back in some speed work. My hope is that by fall I’ll be back to where I was before all this started. Fingers crossed no more injuries pop up because I want to enjoy the rest of summer running.

So that’s the lowdown on why I’ve been quiet about running, but what I won’t be quiet about is telling you how good this Summer Vegetable Orzo Salad is!

The salad is packed with all of my favorite summer produce. Cherry tomatoes, fresh corn, basil, jalapeño for some heat and even peaches. The peaches add a nice sweetness and the flavor goes perfectly with all of the vegetables.

This veggie (and fruit) packed pasta salad is dressed in a light and fresh honey lime dressing. If you’re vegan, simply swap the honey for agave nectar.

The salad is easy to make and a great side dish for any of your grilled summer proteins, such as this Grilled Steak with Herb Butter or these Sweet and Spicy Grilled Chicken and Pineapple Skewers. Enjoy!

More Summer Salads

Chicken and Berry Pesto Pasta Salad

Zucchini Ribbon Salad with Lemon and Parmesan Cheese

Grilled Zucchini Corn Tomato Salad

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Yield: 6 servings

Summer Vegetable Orzo Salad

Print

Prep Time 20 minutes

Cook Time 10 minutes

Total Time 30 minutes

Ingredients

Salad

• 1 cup uncooked orzo
• 3/4 cup fresh or frozen corn, if using fresh I recommend grilling it
• 1 cup cherry tomatoes, halved
• 2 peaches, diced
• 1 jalapeño, deseeded and minced
• 2 green onions, finely sliced
• 1 tablespoon fresh finely chopped basil
• Kosher salt and fresh ground black pepper to taste

Dressing

• 2 tablespoons fresh lime juice
• 2 teaspoons olive oil
• 2 1/2 teaspoons honey or agave nectar
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1/4 teaspoon granulated garlic
• Kosher salt and fresh ground black pepper to taste

Instructions

1. Cook the orzo according to package instructions. Once cooked, cool completely or rinse under cold water and drain. Add the orzo to a large serving bowl along with the remaining salad ingredients.
2. In a small bowl whisk together the dressing ingredients then pour it onto the salad. Toss everything together and taste for seasoning. Serve immediately or cover and refrigerate until ready to serve.

Nutrition Information:

Yield:

6

Serving Size:

1
Amount Per Serving: Calories: 216Total Fat: 3gSaturated Fat: 0gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 2gCholesterol: 0mgSodium: 5mgCarbohydrates: 43gFiber: 3gSugar: 11gProtein: 7g