I’m sitting on the porch as I share this Feed Me Friday recipe, noticing that everything around me is covered in a think green powder.  POLLEN. (More about that and how I survive where I live next week) Aside from the bad things pollen signals, it announces the arrival of spring and new life and growth and suppers on the porch.

I LOVE suppers on the porch! I never make pasta salad when the weather’s cold.  It just doesn’t seem right, but when the days grow long and we take paper plates outside in the evening, pasta salad seems right at home.

Pollen also signals the approach of the end of the school year, which means pleas come from the Hospitality Committee at school to help with Teacher Appreciation Luncheons. We don’t get to know our teachers very well when our kids are in high school, but the least I can do to say “thank you” is to contribute a homemade pasta salad for the annual Luncheon. I bought a really cute, brightly colored plastic container at the Dollar Tree (for a $1) so that I could send in an attractive dish that doesn’t need to come back. The organizer-moms will sing my praises!

 

I’m calling this one “Kitchen Sink Pasta Salad,” because it’s a combo of what I had on hand. It’s hard to mess up a pasta salad if you know the key ingredients. Now that the weather is warming, you need to be “pasta salad ready.”

4 Basics of pasta salad

1. pasta of your choice
2. veggies of your choice
3. cheese of your choice
4. sauce of your choice

Kitchen Sink Pasta Salad

• 2  12 oz. boxes of rainbow twirl pasta
• 1   6 oz  can of pitted black olives (sliced in 1/2 long ways, so they’re still hearty in size)
• 3/4 cup chopped carrots
• 1/2 cup chopped baby bok choy (I think you could also uses celery with a bit of the leaves)
• 1/2 cup chopped cauliflower
• 1 sweet onion, chopped
• 1   8 oz. block of Colby Jack cheese, cut in small cubes
• 1 cup Roasted Red Pepper Dressing
• 1/2 cup Zesty Italian Dressing

1. Cook and drain your pasta. While it cooks, chop and mix all of your veggies.
2. While your cooked pasta drips in the colander, toss all of the veggies on the bottom of the hot pasta pot. Dump the hot pasta on top of the veggies. I think this steams them just a bit, but it keeps them perfectly crunchy.
3. Toss the cheese cubes evenly all over the top of the pasta; this lets them melt just a tiny bit, so they hug some pasta twirls and you get more wonderful porch supper flavor in each bite.
4. Let the cheese have a few minutes to “hold on,” and then drizzle the Roasted Red Pepper Dressing over the salad, gently combining so that the veggies are evenly distributed. The pasta will drink up the dressing and take on all of that awesome flavor.
5. Let the salad cool completely before you put it into your really cute dish for serving. Finally, drizzle 1/2 cup of Zesty Italian Dressing (You could use all of 1 kind, but this is what I had) all over the top of the salad and do not stir.

Now head out to the porch!  Or say a prayer of gratitude for the teachers in your life (now or in the past …) who taught you so much about things like math, grammar, waiting in line, and doing your homework. Happy Feed Me Friday!

If you want to compare to Jeff’s favorite pasta salad, you can read that recipe here.

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