Tuesday, April 28, 2009

Pasta Salad Recipe

Once the weather starts warming up, we eat Pasta Salad almost every week. I came up with this simple recipe many years ago and have been making it ever since. I love making a large bowl and having it for lunch or as a side dish with dinner. I'm also known to eat it for breakfast. :) It's also great to take to a picnic or barbecue. The best thing about making this pasta salad: it only takes about fifteen minutes from start to finish. It is also inexpensive to make if you purchase the ingredients when on sale or free.

Ingredients:

1 bag or box of noodles
Kraft Zesty Italian Salad Dressing
Fresh Veggies of your choice

Directions:

Cook noodles as directed on package. I used a package of Wacky Mac noodles because they were free after coupon at my local grocery store.

While the noodles are cooking, cut up fresh veggies. Today, I used tomatoes, cucumber and green pepper. I've also used the following ingredients in the past: fresh broccoli, onion, squash, and zucchini. You could also add pepperoni to spice it up a bit.

Drain the noodles.

Combine noodles, veggies and zesty italian dressing. I use about 8 ozs. (half of the bottle pictured below) of salad dressing. You may want to add more--depending on how many vegetables and noodles you use. For best results, I refrigerate it for the day or overnight so the flavor is absorbed into the vegetables and noodles.I made this entire bowl of pasta salad for approximately $2.51. Here is a breakdown of the cost:

Wacky Mac Noodles: FREE after coupon
Kraft Salad Dressing: .05 cents (half of a 16 oz. bottle discussed HERE)
1 cucumber: .99 cents
1 tomato: .72 cents
1/2 green pepper: .75 cents

I'm linking this post to Tasty Tuesday at Balancing Beauty and Bedlem.



5 comments:

Courtney@Booksnboys said...

Oh man, my little brothers LOVE pasta salad. They would eat it for every meal if they could. Funny thing though, they only eat the pasta & Italian dressing :p Any idea how to get the ten and under set to eat the veggies too?

Staci said...

This stuff is SOOOO good! I am coming up next time you make it; so be prepared :)

Anonymous said...

I freaking LOVE pasta salad. Hubby likes it with meat and cheese though. A little more expensive taste on his part lol lol. :) LOVE it :)

Jen@Balancing Beauty and Bedlam said...

Thanks so much for breaking down the cost/coupons with us. It's great for people to see what a deal this can be. :)Thanks for sharing it at Tasty Tuesday.

Staci said...

I just made this and can't wait to try it! YUMMY! You have been talking about for a while and keep not bringing it so I have been CRAVING this!