I'm big on pasta salads. Sometimes I will use leftover cooked veggies and or pasta, (or even another grain like rice, couscous, etc) or just raw veggies. It's not bad if I do have to cook the pasta and or veg, that I can cook once and get about 4-6 meals from it. If I see it's going to be a hot week, I will often cook up extra veg or pasta to have on hand. I cannot really swallow meats, so I tend to add beans in mine to get more protein in me. But leftover meats are always a nice addition to add instead. The main ones I tend to make most often are variations of the following:
A "Greek" one:
Cooked pasta
Chickpeas or small white beans
Kalamata Olives
Feta
Cucumber
(Grape tomatoes if you like. I can't.)
Chopped fresh dill
Chopped flat leaf parsley
A little diced red onion if you like
Tiny bit of garlic
A lemon & olive oil dressing
A "Southwest" one:
Cooked Pasta
Black beans
Diced green pepper
(Jalapeño if you like, I can't)
Queso fresco cheese
Diced avocado
Diced tomato
Chopped fresh cilantro
Chopped green onion
If I could swallow corn, I would put freshly grilled corn kernels in there, but since I cannot, I make a dressing with the corn. Roasted or grilled Corn and Cumin salad dressing. When I whiz up the dressing, I put the corn in there and blend. Corn taste, but no swallowing issue for me.
An Italian one:
Cooked pasta
Cannellini beans
Diced roasted red peppers
Tiny fresh mozzarella balls
Olives
Diced red onion
Chopped flat leaf parsley
Chopped oregano
Roasted garlic
Diced artichoke hearts. Since I cannot swallow them, I make a balsamic & artichoke heart dressing.
Roasted Veggie Pasta Salad:
I do a salad from the items we grow in the garden. Roasted zucchini, yellow squash, eggplant, red onion, and sometimes, fennel. We also grow fresh herbs, so I will switch up and add, fresh basil, or tarragon, or flat leaf parsley, depending on what I feel like.
"Cobb Pasta Salad"
Pasta shells, cooked
Diced avocado
Finely chopped chives
Hard boiled eggs, sliced
Bacon, crumbled
Blue cheese, crumbled
Cobb salad dressing
Serve on chopped romaine lettuce
I also love my crockpot to make meals in, because it doesn't heat up the kitchen. Tonight I made a bunch of Caponata (sort of the Siciian version of Ratatouille, kind of), it's a sweet and sour eggplant dish and it's good cold/room temp. I love it on a nice bread or even over pasta. I also did sausage and peppers in the crockpot this week for my gram. Just serve on some good bread.
Can do pulled pork or cook a whole chicken in the crockpot to use through the week in salads.