Warmer weather always brings requests for main-dish salads. This week we have a Pizza Pasta Salad for you to try.

This pasta salad is aptly named as it contains many of items normally found on your favorite pizza. Tomatoes, onion, mushrooms, green peppers, and pepperoni are tossed with mozzarella cheese, fresh basil, and wagon wheel pasta, then lightly coated with an Italian-style dressing. Each serving contains 36 grams of fat.

For this recipe, we:

• Reduced the amount of mozzarella by half. To spread the flavor, we cut the cubes slightly smaller than the original.

• Replaced the pepperoni with Hormel Turkey Pepperoni and reduced the amount from 8 ounces to 6 ounces.

• Reduced the amount of oil from 1/3 cup to 2 1/2 tablespoons. (To compensate, we added 3 tablespoons water.)

Results were excellent. There were a lot of veggies in the salad and just enough cheese and pepperoni. No one could tell a difference in the salad dressing. Reduced to 14 grams of fat per serving, this is the perfect salad for your pizza-loving family and friends.

Tip of the Day: Hormel Turkey Pepperoni is available in most grocery stores. If you don't see it, ask your store manager. It is not always located with other sausage-type products.

Pizza Pasta Salad

2 plum tomatoes, seeded, chopped

1/2 medium red onion, chopped

8 fresh white button mushrooms, sliced

1 small green bell pepper, chopped

6 ounces turkey pepperoni, cut into quarters

8 ounces mozzarella cheese, diced

20 leaves fresh basil, thinly sliced

1 pound wagon wheel pasta, cooked, drained, cooled

DRESSING

1 teaspoon garlic salt

1 teaspoon Italian seasoning

1 rounded tablespoon tomato paste

2 tablespoon red wine vinegar

3 tablespoons water

2 1/2 tablespoons olive oil

Freshly ground black pepper

In large bowl, combine tomatoes, onion, mushrooms, green pepper, pepperoni, mozzarella, basil, and pasta. In small bowl, whisk together garlic salt, Italian seasoning, tomato paste, vinegar, and water. Whisk oil, in slow stream, into dressing.

Pour dressing over pasta mixture; add pepper. Toss salad to coat evenly and chill. Makes 8 servings.

Before and after

Based on 1 serving ( 1/8 of recipe)

Pizza Pasta Salad		Adapted
Calories	625	401
Fat	36 g	14 g
Carbohydrate	48 g	47 g
Sodium	986 mg	695mg
Fiber	3 g	3 g
Cholesterol	69 mg	51 mg
Calories from fat
	53%	32%

Nutritionists recommend those on daily 2,000 calorie diet limit their fat consumption to 65 g or less, cholesterol to 300 mg or less and sodium to 2,400 mg or less per day.

Karen Weber, Pat Streicher and Ellen Illig are registered dietitians at Jewish Hospital's Cholesterol Center. To have your recipes rehabbed, send them to: Recipe Rehab, The Jewish Hospital Cholesterol Center, 3200 Burnet Ave., Cincinnati 45229.