Italian Pasta Salad

Marie's Note:

This is doubly good because the pasta and veggies are marinated with Italian dressing, then drained and a mixture of mayonnaise and Parmesan cheese is added. Super delicious!

• Total Time: 45 mins
• Prep Time: 30 mins
• Cook Time: 15 mins

Ingredients:

Servings: 6

• ¾ cup uncooked spiral shaped pasta
• 1 ½ cups cherry tomatoes
• ½ cup chopped celery
• ½ cup chopped carrot
• ¼ cup chopped sweet red pepper
• ¼ cup chopped green bell pepper
• 3 tablespoons thin sliced green onions
• 1 ½ cups Italian salad dressing
• ¾ cup mayonnaise
• ½ cup grated parmesan cheese
• 1⁄3; cup cubed mozzarella cheese
• 1 (2 ¼ ounce) can sliced black olives , drained

Directions:

1. Cook pasta according to package directions, rinse with cold water and drain.
2. Place in a bowl, add tomatoes, celery, carrots, peppers, onions and Italian salad dressing.
3. Cover and refrigerate for 4 hours or overnight.
4. Drain.
5. Just before serving, combine mayonnaise and Parmesan cheese, then stir in mozzarella and olives.
6. Gently fold into the pasta mixture.

Reviews

[Nikoma]

I was really looking forward to trying this one, but we just thought it needed something! More veggies probably. Maybe some pepperoni... I did add about a cup of fresh broccoli. I thought some cucumber would be good too. There was just to mach mayo for me. Especially with the residual Italian dressing. I would say go ahead and add add add whatever you've got in the fridge! I also had a strange urge to throw on some chow mein noodles half way through eating it (which is odd because I've never even had them in the house) Could use a little more crunch in my opinion. Worth a try, but just not for us as is. Thanks Marie!

[adopt a greyhound]

Excellent salad. Easy and very tasty. Served with Gurkensalat from the Farm - the Little Cuke Salad from Germany and The Perfect Burger.

[jdrichardson]

I was looking for an easy, light pasta salad for dinner. I was tiring of the usual mayo based salads. I came across this post and thought I'd give it a try. I left out the mayo and didn't have any motz cheese, but it turned out to be very appealing and just what I was looking for. Thanks for the post! Thumbs up!