Mmmmm, pasta salad! Who doesn’t love a good pasta salad? I’ve been receiving so many emails to my Inbox but I’m trying not to go shopping (which is a challenge) but once/week or less. So I’m making do with what I’ve got.

Then I received an email from the KITCHN, with a recipe for the “Easiest Pasta Salad” and I HAD the ingredients, Woohoo! I also had some shredded lettuce that I put at the bottom and served the pasta salad on top, oh, it added a nice crunch and bit of freshness (that I am oh so craving right now!)

The best thing about this recipe is that you can use what you’ve got. Pasta and the dressing are the main stars – her rule of thumb is for every 1/2 pound of pasta you use 1 pound of veg/cheese/meat ingredients to mix into the salad … change it up with what you’ve got! I had a small package of salami, no mozzarella in the fridge, but I did have Monterey Jack, and that worked nicely. Tomatoes, red onion, cucumber… it was fabulous! Keeps 5 days in the fridge, however, I can tell you it won’t last that long! Look at what you’ve got in the fridge and see if you can find a good combo to mix together. The dressing is fabulous – I omitted the garlic but left everything else.

This recipe comes together quickly. First you whip up the dressing which is a wonderful combination of olive oil, red wine vinegar, Italian Seasoning, sugar, (garlic) salt and pepper, then add the chopped red onion so that it can be marinating (and losing the bite that you will taste hours later – marinating it makes it nice and mellow – absolute perfection!)

Next you cook the pasta and then rinse it under cold water and pop in an ice bath for a few minutes. I know we’ve all read that we shouldn’t rinse pasta. Trust me, you can do it. This is a fabulous recipe!

After you drain the pasta you add the mix in ingredients (veggies, cheese, meat)  then the dressing – pop it in the fridge so the flavors can come together nicely.

This recipe is a keeper! Be sure to check out the Kitchn! Also on Facebook and Instagram!

✍️ Until next time…