Use Your Noodle

Side pasta salads are usually mayonnaise-based.  You will likely see some sort of mayo and sour cream mixture at every barbecue you go to this summer.  It's often left sitting out on the table too, when something like that should be refrigerated.  My cold pasta salad does not use mayo or vegenaise.  Rather, it's a classic cold pasta salad using Italian dressing.  And it's so easy to make too!

In the summer, this is the kind of pasta salad I'd always find in my parent's refrigerator-- either from scratch or from Wegman's (the best grocery store in world).  As a kid though, I didn't really care for it.  Now my tastes have changed, sort of.  Both my mom and Wegman's use cherry tomatoes, but I've never been a fan.  So I used off-the-vine tomatoes instead.  I also went with tri-colored noodles instead of plain white pasta, which has absolutely no nutritional value.

While the pasta boils, cut up tomatoes, green peppers, and mozzarella into cubes.  After draining and rinsing the pasta with cold water, throw it into a big bowl and toss with the veggies, cheese and Italian dressing.  Keep it chilled in the fridge until it is ready to be served.