Tangy Balsamic Pasta Salad Food

BALSAMIC PASTA SALAD

Steps:

• Whisk first 6 ingredients together to prepare the dressing mix, set aside.
• Cook the pasta of your choice.
• While pasta is cooking, chop broccoli and blanch for 2 minutes.
• Combine cooked pasta, blanched broccoli, chopped red pepper and sliced green onion.
• Pour dressing mix on top of pasta mixture; toss to coat.
• Chill until ready to serve.
• **Note: Preparation can be accomplished while pasta is cooking, making this a very quick dish**.

BASIL AND BALSAMIC PASTA SALAD

Steps:

• Boil the pasta until al dente. Strain and rinse with cold water immediately to stop from continued cooking.
• Once pasta is fulled cooled (as in cold), pour pasta into a large mixing bowl. Add the entire bottle of dressing, the mozzarella chopped into about 1/2 inch cubes, basil, red bell pepper, cherry tomatoes and green onions. Mix together and taste. Add ground black pepper and kosher salt to taste. You'll probably only need very little if any salt. It depends on the brand of dressing you buy.
• Let sit in the fridge at least 2 hours. Fold in parmigiano cheese, cucumber and chopped avocado right before you serve.

GREEK PASTA SALAD I

Steps:

• In a large bowl, whisk together olive oil, vinegar, garlic powder, basil, oregano, black pepper, and sugar. Add cooked pasta, mushrooms, tomatoes, red peppers, feta cheese, green onions, olives, and pepperoni. Toss until evenly coated. Cover, and chill 2 hours or overnight.

UGLY PASTA SALAD

Steps:

• Combine oil, vinegar, garlic, salt, thyme, and oregano in a large bowl, whisking to combine.
• Add chickpeas, hominy and mozzarella cubes and stir to combine.
• Cover and refrigerate for as long as you can to let the flavors combine (or let it sit out just while the pasta cooks-- it will still tasty).
• Cook the pasta shells according to package directions.
• Drain and rinse in cold water.
• Add pasta to the marinated ingredients, stirring to combine.
• Eat hot, warm, room temperature, or cold (the salad makes great leftovers), sprinkling each serving with the optional Parmesan cheese separately.
• Note: As you can imagine, this recipe could have many, many different vegetables added to it and many different cheeses would make tasty additions.
• I sometimes add olives, grape tomatoes, scallions, etc.

SWEET AND TANGY PASTA SALAD

Steps:

• Cook pasta according to package directions. Meanwhile, in a large bowl, combine the cucumber, corn, artichokes, olives, red pepper and onion. Drain pasta and rinse in cold water; stir into vegetable mixture. , In a small bowl, whisk the dressing ingredients. Pour over salad; toss to coat. Cover and refrigerate for at least 2 hours. Serve with a slotted spoon.

ANTIPASTO PASTA SALAD

Steps:

• Cook the pasta in a large pot of salted boiling water until al dente. Drain, and cool under cold water.
• In a large bowl, combine the pasta, salami, pepperoni, Asiago cheese, black olives, red bell pepper, green bell pepper and tomatoes. Stir in the envelope of dressing mix. Cover, and refrigerate for at least one hour.
• To prepare the dressing, whisk together the olive oil, balsamic vinegar, oregano, parsley, Parmesan cheese, salt and pepper. Just before serving, pour dressing over the salad, and mix well.