Like most families, we struggle to get enough vegetables into our diets. This pasta salad, served cool, is full of great greens and reds, and it is so tasty! The sunflower kernels give it a nice crunch.

Ingredients

　　12 ounces rotini pasta

　　5 ounces Cheddar cheese, grated

　　2 tablespoons olive oil

　　2 tomatoes, diced

　　2 broccoli florets, blanched

　　1 bell pepper, seeded and diced

　　Salt and pepper to taste

　　1/2 cup salted, roasted sunflower kernels

　　Bring a large saucepan of salted water to a boil. Add the pasta and cook for 9 minutes, or until it is tender; you don’t want it too al dente. Drain the pasta and transfer it to a mixing bowl. When the pasta has cooled to room temperature, add the cheese, olive oil, tomatoes, broccoli, and bell pepper, and mix well. Season with salt and pepper and mix again. Top with the sunflower kernels.

　　Reprinted with permission from Georgia Cooking in an Oklahoma Kitchen: Recipes from My Family to Yours by Trisha Yearwood with Gwen Yearwood and Beth Yearwood Bernard. Copyright © 2008 by Trisha Yearwood. Published by Crown Publishing Group. All Rights Reserved.Trisha Yearwood is a three-time Grammy-award winning country music star and the author of the bestselling cookbook Georgia Cooking in an Oklahoma Kitchen. She is married to megastar Garth Brooks.