Arguably one of the best sides at any summer barbecue or holiday the rest of the year is luckily something that has variations.

Loaded with vegetables, the zing of vinegar and more carbs than necessary, pasta salad has a lot to offer.

Unfortunately, it’s a bit much when you’re watching your gluten intake.

There is gluten-free pasta, but I haven’t found any that I like, except for lasagna. Chickpea pasta isn’t bad, but if I’m craving some pasta salad, it’s more the crunch of the cucumbers and peppers mixed with that little shock from the dressing.

Not too long ago, I was scrolling through social media and saw a post about “pasta-free pasta salad.”

I clicked and the woman said she was trying to cut carbs but still wanted a pasta salad.

Her solution was to make it but without noodles.

No, she didn’t realize she made her version of antipasto salad. It was an innocent misunderstanding.

That’s a great thing about food — it’s a fuel source and when you have to rethink your relationship with it, you get creative.

To this woman, she did “invent” a new salad … for her.

That was an inspiration for me to think of how to make pasta salad — er, unpasta salad — a little more healthy but still satisfy a craving.

With Hashimoto’s disease, I’ve been watching the gluten (pasta), sugars (dressing) and processed food (pepperoni) intake, so I saw this as another challenge.

Usually, I have more ingredients to throw a cake or cookies together, but for once I had “food” food and decided to get to work.

I got to chopping the broccoli and cauliflower. My little mandolin helped get the olives, cucumbers and poblano pepper cut up.

Halved cherry tomatoes and just a couple of pieces of diced pepperoni rounded out the salad that day.

Next was deciding the cheese.

In my household, we love cheese. We take mini road trips to find wedges of unique flavors. This day for the not-so-pasta salad I decided to have a little bit of fun and add just a couple small cubes each of sweet red onion cheddar, muenster and mozzarella.

The original recipe called for bottled Italian dressing, but I went for a red cabernet vinegar and oil mixture I threw together just for something a little different.

The end result was pretty good.

This is something I’ve added into my rotation for an easy, filling lunch when I know I have a busy workday ahead, or when I want to take something to a barbecue.

Since there’s no true recipe, it’s fun to experiment, substituting prosciutto or bacon for the pepperoni.

Best of all, enjoy the satisfaction of the vegetables and “zing” of pasta salad without the effects of gluten.

‘Unpasta’ salad

1/2 head of broccoli, diced

1/2 head of cauliflower, diced

1/2 poblano pepper, seeded and diced

2 tablespoons mild pepper rings, diced

1 cucumber, diced

1 can black olives

1/2 ounce pepperoni, cubed or diced

Cherry tomatoes, sliced

8-12 small cubes of mozzarella

Oil and vinegar

Directions

Put all ingredients in a large bowl and mix.

Add oil and vinegar to taste.

Refrigerate and serve.

Share your favorite recipes and memories with Features Editor Ashley Fox at afox@tribtoday.com.