kellie’s pasta salad
12 -16 oz medium sized pasta
black olives
cherry tomatoes
green or red onion
green, red, or yellow bell pepper
sugar snap peas
yellow summer squash or zucchini
1 c caesar salad dressing
1 c ranch dressing
Cook the pasta, and rinse in cold water. Drain well, toss with caesar salad dressing and let cool in the fridge. (The pasta will absorb the dressing while it is cooling, and make the pasta taste yummy!) While the pasta is cooling, chop the salad veggies (choose a mix of colors), and add when the pasta is cold. Toss the salad with the ranch dressing to finish, and serve.
Gluten restrictions: use brown rice pasta instead of wheat pasta.
03/27/10 update: I made my own caesar salad vinaigrette using the seasonings from the caesar salad dressing recipe, added to oil and vinegar, not mayonnaise. I used about 1 T lemon juice and 3/4 c olive oil. My vinaigrettes turn out best when I blend them in a blender or food processor. I could not find sugar snap peas at my local grocery store, so I used broccoli slaw for the green element of the salad. (Athough I think fresh green beans, which my local grocery store was awash in, would have been fine too.) It turned out pretty and tasted yummy! Next time I might marinate some artichoke hearts to throw in also … I am loving this pasta salad!
