Easy Peasy Pasta Salad

Okay this is an easy one! It's so versatile, you can substitute just about any part of it.

The main ingredients are:
Pasta
Dressing
Cheese
Something crunchy
That's it :)

For more detail keep reading...

You'll need one bottle of:

I have used a "California dressing" when I couldn't get Kraft Catalina (I think it was "Western Family" brand). I've also been caught short with only a half bottle so I read the ingredients list and threw in what I had and sorta made a homemade version. You can use regular instead of calorie-wise but I try to use calorie-wise when I can (gotta keep my girlish figure, you know). You will probably use half to 3/4 of the bottle depending on how much you make.

Next you'll need:

Now you can pretty much substitute anything. Tonight I used rigatini whole wheat pasta but I've used everything from plain old elbow macaroni to penne, bowtie, coloured, and every kind of pasta in between. The cheese can be sharp, mild, medium, light, mozzarella, or whatever you prefer, just cut into cubes. I added chopped celery tonight because, as you can see, I was quite low on dill pickles (someone in my family loves dills but neglects to tell me when the jar is getting low... hmmm that person's name is "not me" because when I asked they all told me it was "not me.") So normally I would have as much dill pickle as what you see for the celery. I also throw in finely chopped onion but my brother hates them and because he got the news he gets to drive his own tractor trailer truck on Friday (yaaah) I let him have his way :)

So basically you need pasta, cheese, and something crunchy...oh and the Catalina dressing. And don't forget the "something crunchy" can be a combo of different things.

Now that we have the ingredients straight, it's just a matter of putting it all together. I prefer my pasta "al dente" and I'm talking really "al dente" (ughhh mushy pasta makes me shudder) so cook according to package directions. Drain and run under cold tap water to cool and stop cooking. If the pasta is too wet take a clean tea towel and sponge off, the dressing will stick better. Add balance of ingredients and toss.

This is what you end up with. Tonight I served it with baked chicken.