Swim Meet Pasta Salad
You guys asked for the recipe of the pasta salad that I made for the swim meet on Wednesday, so here it is. I honestly just threw it together based on a list of ingredients that my friend Jen gave me when I inquired because Aria came home raving about her pasta salad.
Ingredients: 12oz Bowtie Pasta (aka Farfalle) Italian dressing grape tomatoes, halved or quartered cucumbers, diced Babybell Cheese (we used the red one), cut into 6ths Applegate Uncured Pepperoni, diced whole, pitted, black olives basil leaves, torn
Directions: Cook the pasta according to the directions on the package. Drain. Mix in Italian Dressing to taste. While it cools, wash and prep your other ingredients. Toss all other ingredients with the pasta and dressing. Add more dressing as desired.
Tips:
You may want to wait to mix in the cheese until the pasta has cooled so that it doesn't melt.
You can use any vegetables that you like. I used what I knew my kids would eat.
Feel free to use any kind of cheese you prefer also. Mozarella is a good, versatile one.
Don't want to use pepperoni? Salami, bacon, turkey, chicken, pretty much whatever protein you like and can/will eat cold, would work.
I used Wish Bone brand dressing because I needed a dairy free italian (Yes, I know that I put cheese in the salad, but that is easily picked out, dressing, not so much) and wanted one without seed oils and a bunch of junky ingredients. In the future, I will probably try to make my own dressing.
I hope you enjoy it as much as my family did! I will probably try a slightly different variation for our next swim meet. Gotta keep things fresh!