Brooke's Favorite Pasta Salad

This is and has always been one of my favorite pasta salads!

I've never been a fan of the mayo-filled summer salads (I've always found them to be too filling, they spoil easily after sitting out for a few minutes, and they're often loaded with additional carbs and calories). This dish has been one of my favorites since first making it!

This recipe actually originated from and was introduced to me by my Aunt Laura while I was in college, when I had my own (first) kitchen and started cooking away from home! It's so easy and I could literally eat it every day. I'm guilty of always having this as a side for any of our summer BBQs or cookouts (but have never received any complaints, so I continue on!) - it's just too easy and delicious to pass up as a side!

I hope you enjoy! :)

Ingredients:

1/2 Box of Farfalle (bow-tie) Pasta

Bottle of Italian Salad Dressing

3 Bell Peppers

2 Cucumbers

Carrots

2 heads of Broccoli

1 Onion

1 bag of Mini Pepperoni

1 block of Pepperjack Cheese

(Feel free to use any vegetables that you like! I usually use the above or whatever we have in the refrigerator from the garden. Same with cheese - I like to use Pepperjack to give it a extra little pop!)

Instructions:

Prepare/boil the pasta per the directions on the box. Once the pasta is done, drain and run under cool water. Sit aside to cool.

While the pasta is boiling in step one, start washing and prepping your vegetables. I like to throw everything together in one bowl once I've cut them up. Cube all of your vegetables and the onion into small pieces, and cut the broccoli into small bite-size pieces. Cube the Pepperjack cheese into small pieces, and set aside.

In a large bowl, combine the cool pasta, pepperoni and veggies. Slowly stir in Italian salad dressing - making sure not to over-do it with dressing, but making sure that everything is coated well. (Typically, I end up using about half of the bottle).

Once the pasta salad is well mixed and cool - add your cheese to the top. (Warning: Make sure the pasta is cool and not warm before adding the cheese. If it's still warm - the cheese will just melt into the pasta salad). 

Refrigerate then serve!

After you refrigerate, you may need to add more Italian salad dressing to the salad before serving - the pasta and veggies will soak up the dressing while chilling in the refrigerator.

Hope you enjoy! :) I'm challenging myself to try new pasta salads this summer - I've already pinned a few on Pinterest that I can't wait to try!