Princeling's Summer Salad

This is a pasta salad that my son, "the princeling", loves. It's pretty flexible, so the quantities aren't too specific. Basically, it's a pasta salad that uses sour cream rather than mayonaise as the binder. You can change up the kind of pasta or add almost anything your family likes to this and make it "yours". We have used cubes of Genoa Sausage rather than the tuna, but the princeling didn't like it as well... It makes a big bowl, leftovers hold well for a couple days; they tend to taste even better than the first time around. By the way, I didn't count the cooling time for the pasta in the prep time. You can cool it under running water or stick it overnight in the refrigerator.

• Ready In: 32 mins
• Serves: 8-10
• Yields: 6 cups

Ingredients

• 1  cup sour cream
• 1⁄2 teaspoon dill weed
• 1⁄4 cup  dried onion flakes
• 1 (16 ounce) package tri-color spiral pasta, cooked drained, and cooled
• 1⁄2 cup fresh broccoli, blanched
• 1⁄4 cup sliced ripe olives, drained well
• 1  avocado, pitted, peeled, and cubed
• 1 (5 ounce) can tuna (flake it apart)
• 1 (4 ounce) jar bacon bits (DO NOT USE BAC-O's)
• 1  green pepper, chopped small
• 5 -6  grape tomatoes (optional)
• 1⁄4 cup fresh peas (optional)
•  salt
•  pepper

Directions

1. Add dill weed and dried minced onion to the sour cream and set aside.
2. Place cooled spiral noodles into a large bowl.
3. Add brocoli, black olives, avocado cubes, tuna, bacon bits, green peppers, and whatever optional items you like.
4. Toss well so that the add-in items are well distributed.
5. Add the sour cream mixture, so that it is throughout the pasta mixture.
6. Put the dish in the refrigerator for a few hours or overnight so that the flavors meld well.
7. Serrve. It makes a good complete meal for hot summer days.