Pesto Pasta Salad

I'm a little late in posting this week. My apologies. I'm back in my classroom getting things ready for the new school year. (I already have a sceond degree hot glue gun burn to mark the season.)

There are not many things that I can eat at any temperature, but pasta is one of them.  Any shape or size, I will eat it hot, cold, and even lukewarm. Yes, I said it. Lukewarm. "When would you ever eat lukewarm pasta?" you might ask. Oh, I know a very plausible scenario. Let's say you can't finish that big plate of pasta you ordered at dinner one night. You pack the rest in a doggie bag to take with you. As soon as you get home, you decide it shouldn't go in the fridge. No, it beckons you from the little styrofoam box to be eaten NOW.  So you have a second dinner of lukewarm pasta, and it's delicious. Don't pretend you don't know what I'm talking about...

This weekend I needed to take a pasta salad to my bestie's house for her little man Greyson's first birthday party.  I decided to mix it up a bit and added pesto to the salad. I think it turned out pretty good. There was a lot of presents, cake smashing, and other things going on, so salad was just part of the back drop on this big day. Aren't they cute?

Pesto Pasta Salad Recipe
Ingredients:
-1 pound of bow tie pasta (I found mini bow tie, but full size is just fine.)
-2/3 cup basil pesto
-1 T mayo
-1/2 cup Italian dressing
-1 diced bell pepper
-yellow tomatoes (red variety grape or cherry tomatoes would be fine)
-black olives
-chopped pepperoni
-salt and pepper

1. Prepare pasta as directed on the box. Drain and return to pan.
2. Add pesto, mayo, and Italian dressing.
3. Add veggies and pepperoni.
4. Cover and chill for 2 hours before serving. This can be made the night before and tastes great the following day.

If you have some time, you should head over to Michaela Noelle's blog. I'm guest blogging today as part of her "She Loves Me, She Loves Me Not" series. Click HERE to check it out.