We’ve all done it. It’s a day before a barbecue or picnic and you just remembered that you are suppose to bring a side dish. You can have your husband stop for one or two ingredients on his way home but between lack of time and no extra money this week, you need to make something with the ingredients you have in your house. One of the easiest things I like to do is make pasta salad. What goes into it depends on your tastes and what you have in your house. This isn’t so much a recipe as it is a guideline to help you throw together what you have to make the best last minute pasta salad.
Here is what it looks like for me:
Pasta, any (I prefer gemelli or rotini)
Ham chunks (cut up lunch meat works if you don’t have chunks or pepperoni would be great too)Cheese chunks (whatever type you have, I have used muenster, monterrey jack, and colby jack)
Cucumber
Tomato
Olives (really, whatever veggies you have you think would taste good in this salad)
Italian dressing (if you don’t have any, this is a fast and easy recipe to make your own)
To make the salad, it is as simple as: cook the pasta, let it cool, cut up the ingredients, mix together with the Italian dressing, chill and serve. All amounts are up to you. I like to start with just a little dressing and add more as I go. You can always add more, you can’t usually take it back out. If you are making it a day or ahead of time, be sure to add just a little more the day of as the pasta will absorb it. Or put it dry in the fridge and add the dressing the day of the event.
Looking for a last minute side dish? Check out The Best Last Minute Pasta Salad Click To TweetThat is seriously it. So taste but so simple and easy. Since all the ingredients depend on what you have in the house, it could look different every time you make it. You can see from the pictures that this time I left out the ham and the olives. I didn’t have any in the house and this was very last minute as a side dish at dinner. I actually make this all the time for lunches at lumberjack competitions. My husband is a bit sick of sandwiches and this is easy to eat. Plus, it’s cold. That is a great bonus as we are outside all day at competitions. It’s usually quite hot.
Jennifer | The Deliberate Mom says
Oh my goodness, no wonder this is a “last minute” salad! It looks so simple to throw together (and sounds great too)!
Thanks for sharing (and for linking up to the #SHINEbloghop).
Wishing you a lovely weekend.
xoxo
Jennifer | The Deliberate Mom recently posted…How to Build a Trusting Relationship with Your Child
Julie says
I’m actually making this tomorrow to take as our lunch for a competition we are doing Saturday. Since I have to go grocery shopping, I’ll get plenty of ham and cheese to add so it has protein. Perfect lunch on a hot day outside. 🙂
Narissa says
Just saw you shared your post on Twitter. Pasta salad looks so simple, easy and YUMMY. First time on your awesomeblog, pls keep in touch!
Btw, I’m Narissa from Imomtips.com
Julie says
I make this pasta salad so many times a summer! It’s my husband’s favorite.
Narissa says
Of course. He has to love your cook “pasta salad”. it’s delicious, isn’t it !