Andi's Pasta Salad W/Blue Cheese,broccoli and Grapes

This recipe is my recollection of a recipe my best friend's sister used to make. She had explained it to me once and I quickly scribbled down the ingredients and brief description of how she said she made it. I have made this several times and it is one of those "to taste" recipes. I sometimes garnish this with crumbled cooked bacon or a little Parmesan cheese. Please don't substitute reduced fat or fat free dressing - I tried doing this once and was very unhappy with the results. I prefer Marie's brand for the dressing (usually sold near produce in a small jar..I use pretty much the whole jar usually), but you could also use homemade. Prep time allows for cooking the pasta. Plan ahead - this needs to chill.

• Ready In: 40 mins
• Serves: 10

Ingredients

• 1 (12 -16 ounce) package rotini pasta, cooked and drained, cooled completely (corkscrew shape)
• 1  bunch fresh broccoli, florets only, cut into bite-sized pieces
• 2  cups white seedless grapes or 2  cups red seedless grapes, halved, approximately, to taste
• 1 (15 ounce) can black olives (small or medium size)
• 1⁄2-1  cup red onion, sliced thinly or finely chopped
• 1 1⁄2-2  cups  chunky-style  bleu cheese salad dressing, approximately to taste, do not use fat free (such as Marie's)
•  salt, to taste
•  fresh ground black pepper, to taste
•  crumbled  cooked bacon or  sunflower seeds, optional garnish

Directions

1. Combine pasta, broccoli, grapes, olives, and red onion in a large bowl.
2. Pour all of the blue cheese dressing into a separate mixing bowl.
3. Add enough of the reserved canning liquid from the olives to thin the dressing enough to your liking (*note:ifyou forgot to save the canning liquid, just use some cold water)- you may not need the full 1/4 cup, or you may need a little more- it depends upon how thick the bleu cheese dressing you purchased was.
4. The idea is to make the dressing thin enough to evenly coat all of the veggies& pasta lightly.
5. Mix thinned dressing with the veggie& pasta mixture and toss to coat well.
6. Chill at least 2 hours or overnight to allow pasta to absorb the dressing a bit- the chilled salad will appear dry.
7. Taste for seasonings- you may add a little salt& pepper if desired, but it may not be necessary depending upon the dressing brand you selected.
8. Toss salad again before serving.
9. Garnish if desired.
10. Garnishing IDEAS: If you like a little crunch, please feel free to garnish this with some crumbled cooked bacon or some sunflower seeds- sometimes I have even stirred them into the salad itself.