Italian Chopped Salad

I have a face book friend (Kandance Green) I went to high school with that posted she made this recipe over the weekend, so though her I am sharing it with you!  It looked really good!  She found it on Pinterest, where else right?  

I will share the recipe below , but she did a few things differently than the recipe called for and she also had some suggestions that I will add.  

Prep Time: 30 minutes

    Cook Time: 10 minutes

   Total Time: 40 minute

Yield: 8 servings as a main dish, 16 servings as a side dish

Ingredients

Dressing
• 1/2 cup red wine vinegar
• 2 tablespoons honey
• 1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
• 1 teaspoon dry Italian seasoning
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• Salt and pepper
• 1/2 cup olive oil
Salad
• 1 cup ditalini pasta
• 3 cups chopped romaine hearts
• 1 can (15 oz) chickpeas, drained
• 1 jar (7.5 oz) marinated artichoke hearts, drained and chopped
• 1 cup grape tomatoes, quartered
• 1 cup cubed salami
• 1 cup cubed Provolone
• 3/4 cup chopped cucumber
• 1/2 cup mini pepperoni
• 1/2 cup sliced green onions
• Pepperoncini peppers

Directions: 

1. To make the dressing, combine the vinegar, honey, mustard, seasoning and garlic in a blender. Season with salt and pepper. Blend to combine. Slowly stream in the olive oil to emulsify. Alternately, add all the ingredients to a jar and shake until completely combined slightly thickened.
2. Bring a pot of salted water to a boil. Add the pasta and cook until done. Drain and cool.
3. In a large bowl, combine the romaine, chickpeas, artichoke hearts, tomatoes, salami, provolone, cucumber, pepperoni and green onions. Add in the cooled pasta. Add in the dressing and toss to coat.
4. Serve the salad topped with a few whole pepperoncini peppers.

Advice from Kandace:  

• She chose to buy the Greek Vinaigrette instead of making her own.  (I probably would also do this, in the past when I've made a dressing from a recipe it hasn't turned out so great lol )  plus she said it was cheaper to do that instead of buying all the ingredients not knowing if she would even use them later for anything else.  

• She also pre-chopped everything and let it marinate in the dressing for about an hour.  And she said next time she will probably leave out the chick peas because they really didn't have a flavor.  But her advice is they do add fiber and protein!  

• To make the recipe low carb she suggested leaving out the ditalini.  

• And to serve she said she chopped romaine and served it on a plate and topped it with the mixture but she would eat it even without the romaine because of how flavorful it was!  

Here is a link to the original posting of this recipe !  http://www.tasteandtellblog.com/italian-chopped-salad/