How do you jazz up your plain old pasta salad?

Ditch it and start over with this delicious and easy one, a Garden Fresh Pasta Salad chock full of crunchy vegetables and tender pasta, all tossed in a zesty Italian dressing. In fact, this pasta salad is so delicious, we’ve been known to add chicken and make a meal of it!

Ingredients

1lb uncooked fusilli pasta
1 cup cherry tomatoes, halved
1 red bell pepper, chopped
1 yellow pepper, chopped
1 cup English cucumber, seeded and chopped

Zesty Italian Dressing

1/4 cup olive oil
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1/4 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
2 tbsp fresh lemon juice
2 tbsp red wine vinegar
2 tbsp white wine vinegar
1 tbsp Italian seasoning blend
1 tsp kosher salt
1 tsp sugar

1/4 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese, to toss before serving

Directions

1) Cook the pasta according to package directions, just until tender. Drain pasta and rinse with cold water.

2) In a large salad bowl, combine pasta, cherry tomatoes, red and yellow peppers and cucumber.

3) For the dressing, in a medium glass jar, combine olive oil, vegetable oil, ¼ cup Parmesan cheese, lemon juice, red and white wine vinegars, Italian seasoning, salt and sugar. Shake dressing well. Pour dressing over pasta salad and toss to coat. Just before serving, toss with remaining ¼ cup Parmesan cheese. Can be served chilled or at room temperature.

Serves 8-10

Bite Me Bit: “My garden is my most beautiful masterpiece.” 

-Claude Monet

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 Authors of bestselling cookbooks Bite Me and Bite Me Too, saucy sisters Julie Albert and Lisa Gnat love eating, feeding, entertaining and dishing up easy recipes and forkin’ fun at BiteMeMore.com.