April's Favorite Pasta Salad

Submitted by Beth A.

"This is my favorite pasta salad. I adapted a dressing recipe (the one that's on the back side of a bottle of Heinz Gourmet Salad Vinegar) to suit our tastes and it has become our favorite dressing for pasta salad. I've been making it this way for about 7 years, and we all think it's wonderful. This is way better than using a bottle of Italian dressing or something like that, in my opinion. The veggies listed here are just the ones we like to have in pasta salad, but you could certainly change that up some if you wanted (like you could add cauliflower if you like that, or even a can of cannellini beans would go nicely, sometimes I add that). I hope you try it (you'll loooove it, LOL!!) Today I made this to go with Strombolis for lunch. Very delicious!"

 

• Ready In: 30mins
• Ingredients: 14
• Serves: 8

ingredients

• 8 ounces rotini pasta
• 2 broccoli florets, chopped
• 1 cucumber, seeded and chopped
• 2 carrots, sliced
• 3⁄4 cup grape tomatoes, halved
• 1⁄4 red onion, chopped
• 1⁄2 lb mozzarella cheese, cubed (or cheddar)
• 2⁄3 cup vinegar, Heinz gourmet salad vinegar
• 2⁄3 cup extra virgin olive oil
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1⁄2 teaspoon paprika
• 1 dash black pepper
• 2 tablespoons mccormick's Salad Supreme dry seasoning (don't leave this out!, I use Salad Supreme Seasoning)

directions

1. Cook and drain the pasta, but do not rinse. Allow to cool. (Any clumping of the pasta will be fixed when it is tossed with the dressing.)
2. Meanwhile, place vegetables and cheese in a large bowl.
3. Combine vinegar, oil, sugar, and seasonings in container with lid; shake well and pour over vegetables and gently toss.
4. Add cooled pasta to vegetable mixture and toss well. Chill until ready to serve.
5. *Note: You could just substitute regular white vinegar in place of the gourmet salad vinegar if you want. I do that when I'm out of the salad vinegar and it works fine.

Reviews

[cookin mimi]

This is a really tasty pasta salad. I have tried many recipes but found them bland. This one is the one I will be using! Thanks, Beth, for the post!