Recipes Discovered

Pasta Salad Recipe

I like taking pasta salads on picnics. I don’t have to worry about mayonnaise spoiling like with macaroni and potato salad, plus pasta salad just gets better the longer it sets. This is a really simple pasta salad that can be changed up a 100 different ways. I’ve made it with a lot of different ingredients, and it’s always a big hit.
The base of the pasta salad is, of course, pasta. I like the spiral pasta, especially the multi colored kind, but any pasta works. I don’t cook the pasta completely because I like a little bite to it. After I cook, drain, and cool the pasta, I toss it with Italian dressing. My favorite is Kraft Light Done Right Zesty Italian. It has a lot of flavor and a lot fewer calories. >>

My favorite combination of vegetables is tomatoes, orange bell pepper, and English cucumber. I like the different textures of this combination, but I really love the color contrast. When I made the pasta salad this time, I used red and green peppers, cucumbers, red onion, and celery. I think any vegetable would work – broccoli, aspargus mushrooms, peas, olives – and I like equal parts pasta and vegetables. For this recipe, I use 3 cups uncooked pasta and then put in a total of 3 cups of vegetables. For the meat, I really enjoy ham in my pasta salad, but Seth like pepperoni. Salami is also really good. Sometimes I mix different meats together, but total I add 1 cup of meat for every 3 cups of uncooked pasta. Cheese is the last thing I add, and again, any cheese works. I really like the sharpness of Monterrey jack, but cheddar, Muenster, and mozzarella are all good. After the pasta is cooked and tossed with the dressing, I add in the vegetables and meat and let everything marinate a few hours or overnight. The only exception to this is when I use tomatoes. I wait to add the tomatoes and cheese until just before serving, so they don’t get mushy.

This pasta salad is really good, really versatile, and really simple. Add your favorite vegetables, meats and cheese to create your own version.