Five Ingredient Pasta Salad

I have been craving pasta lately, so when Kadie over at Seven Alive shared her spring pasta salad recipe earlier this week, I knew a modified version was in my immediate future.

Kadie’s recipe had lots of veggies.  Which I really do love, but that would mean I have to eat an entire batch of pasta salad alone, because my husband is a total carnivore.  So I went a different direction with my recipe, but I’m still so full from thankful for the idea!

• 1 lb. box of bowtie pasta (feel free to substitute other shapes as you like)
• 8-12 oz. thick-cut capicola, salami, or ham – diced or julienned
• 1 c. shredded mozzarella
• 1 pint grape tomatoes – cut in half or quartered
• 1 – 16 oz. bottle of your favorite Italian dressing (I use Kraft Light Zesty Italian)

Boil and drain your pasta, and prepare your tomatoes and meat.  Cool your pasta fully, then lightly toss all ingredients together, adding about 1/2 bottle of dressing.  If you are keeping this overnight, it will soak into the pasta and you will likely want to add the other half-bottle the next day, but if you are serving it immediately, the whole bottle will be a bit much.

Of course, the beauty of cold salads is that you can substitute any of the ingredients to suit your family’s tastes!  But, this one was a winner in my house, so I think we’ll be sticking with it!

See you this afternoon when the Freestyle Friday link party opens up!  Until then, have a fantastic Thursday!

I link up to these great parties!
~ Adrianne