Pasta Salad recipes?

[Miss Mary]

Now that Summer is here, or almost to be technical, cold pasta salads come to mind. With grill outs.

Anyone have good recipes?

I made one recently for a big party, and tossed it with a local Italian/Pizza chain's salad dressing, Creamy Garlic, similar to Creamy Italian. I just cooked (el dente) bow tie pasta, cooled it. Adding raw yellow and red peppers, frozen peas, sliced black olives, grated monterey cheese (could use another type), etc. It was such a hit! My neighbor gave me this recipe and I imagine you could use any bottled creamy Italian Dressing. Just be sure to add the dressing shortly before serving it. I cooked the pasta the day before, adding the olives and vegetables. Tossing it with a few tablespoons of olive oil, so it wouldn't become too sticky. An hour before serving the salad, I tossed it with the dressing and cheese. One of my daughters passed the salad up but when she heard a guest going back for seconds, she thought she'd better try it. Laura couldn't believe it, she said, the pasta salad actually tasted great! Kids!!!

Mary

[CajunMama]

MissMary....your pasta salad sounds delicious! All I do in mine is cook the pasta, cut up some ham and sharp cheddar cheese. I use Caesar salad dressing (Kraft or Wishbone). It seems to have a little more "bite" to it. Then I sprinkle with parmesan cheese. Not the healthiest pasta salad but it sure is good!