#TastyTuesday ~ Italian Pasta Salad

Time for another quick and easy recipe because...yes, deadlines are here. Plus, it's spring break at bebe's school and that always means a lot of running around. One of my go-to quickies when spring and summer come around is pasta salad. We can make an entire meal from a 15 minute session in the kitchen. Here's one of my tried-and-true recipes:

Ingredients:

1 12-oz. package tri-color rotini pasta - tri color makes it taste better...just ask bebe

1/2 pound Italian salami, finely diced (optional)

1/2 cup green bell pepper, diced

1/2 cup red bell pepper, diced

1 cup Italian-style salad dressing (light dressing is fine, but we prefer the regular)

1 can (6 oz) sliced black olives

5-6 ounces of shredded mozzerella OR cheddar cheese

2  0.7 oz packages dry Italian-style salad dressing mix

1/2 cup shredded Parmesan cheese

Directions

Fill a large sauce pan with 5-6 cups of water, bring to a boil. Toss in the pasta and cook for 8 minutes. Drain and rinse with cold water. In a large Tupperware bowl combine the pasta with all the other ingredients EXCEPT the salad dressing and parmesan cheese. Once mixed well, fold in the salad dressing. Sprinkle the parmesan cheese over the top and serve. 

**NOTE: I didn't include the salami this time as we were using this as a side dish; including the salami, for us, makes this more of an all-in-one type meal**

There you go! A quick and easy pasta snack or side dish (or meal if you include the salami).