Pasta Salad

My son, Zac, age 9, is a pasta fanatic. Whenever I ask what we should have for dinner he ALWAYS asks for pasta. He doesn't care if it's spaghetti, or baked ziti, or stuffed manicotti as long as it's pasta! So for his part in our dinner it seemed appropriate that he should draw the Pasta Salad. Now, granted, this isn't exactly a "new" recipe, per our criteria in the previous post about our family potluck dinner experience, but it has been a really long time since I'd made it, so I decided it would count. There's not really a set recipe for this one. Just cook the pasta you want, add any vegetables, cheese, pre-cooked/cured meats (salami, pepperoni, ham etc.) Liberally coat with Italian dressing and salt and pepper to taste. We used the ingredients listed below, but you could alter it to what you like.

Ingredients:

1 16oz pkg. rotini or bowtie pasta
1 carrot, diced
5 green onions, sliced
2 celery stalks, sliced
2 tomatoes, diced
broccoli, chopped
1 can olives, sliced
1 can corn
1 cucumber, diced
cheese, cubed
Italian dressing
Salt and Pepper to taste
2 Tbsp. Parmesan Cheese (optional)*

Cook pasta in salted water. Rinse with cold water to cool. Stir in vegetables, olives, and parmesan cheese. Add Italian dressing and salt and pepper to taste.

*I don't like the parmesan cheese in this salad. I think it makes it tastes "gritty."