Picnic Pasta Salad

Huge hit at yesterday's BBQ, happy I doubled it! Best part was making it the night before, one less thing I had to deal with the day of the party. Cooked the pasta very "al dente" so it wouldn't get too mushy while the flavors combined overnight. It needs to chill more than two hours or you are missing the point of this salad. I used both dried basil and oregano as well as Hunt's Basil, Garlic, & Oregano sauce. Other reviewer suggested sea salt on the pasta before dressing so I tried it. Because I doubled the serving, I used the entire bottle of cheap zesty Italian dressing, that little bit more was tasty. Adding the crunch of green pepper seemed so necessary that I added a little red bell pepper as well. Left the skins on the cucumbers and used half the olives called for. Sliced the mushrooms so they were easy for the picky to pick out but still got to contribute. Roma tomatoes hold their shape well in this salad. So tasty, so easy!

I just finished making my variation of this salad and it is superb!!! The only thing I changed was the pasta and used the bow-ties I had on hand. But, I used green onions instead of the purple ones, as they are more mild in flavor and don't overpower the taste and when I add cukes to a salad I always fully peel it and scoop out the seeds. It helps me avoid heartburn. I used all the other ingredients called for however I had to use dried oregano, altho the basil was fresh. The other thing I did was to add sea salt to the pasta just after dumping it into the dressing and before stiring. About 1/2tsp is all and a twist of fresh ground black pepper. This is a keeper and I will be eating it for the next few days!!