Ranch Pasta Salad

Certainly anyone with a modicum of creativity and familiarity with a kitchen can come up with pasta salad, but this one was actually pretty darn good... Plus, I actually took pictures and made notes as I put it together, so I'm calling it a new recipe.

I actually used the pasta from a boxed pasta salad, but I picked out the nasty dried vegetables and used frozen, plus threw away the powdered dressing mix and used some dry ranch instead. I guess you could call this a sort-of homemade version of a boxed pasta salad.

If I'd had some carrots or maybe red or yellow bell pepper I'd have added them as well for colour and texture variety, but I didn't. So, I made do with just adding peas. The dressing was simple enough as well; olive oil mayonnaise, some dry ranch dressing mix, and some Olde Thompson's garlic pepper.

I mixed the dressing ingredients together while I was boiling the pasta and stuck it in the refrigerator to get the flavours melding and the ranch mix completely dissolved. It was probably in there about 25 minutes total before I added the pasta and peas.

The package said to boil the pasta for 12 minutes, so I boiled it for 10 minutes, then added the peas and boiled until the pasta was tender. That ended up being about 15 minutes total since the peas were still cold when I put them in. Then I rinsed the pasta and peas under cold running water until they were cool to the touch, and drained them well.

After I mixed the pasta and peas into the dressing, it went into the refrigerator for about an hour, to make sure everything was completely chilled. And then I thought... wait! I bet some Parmesan would be good in there, too! So I added some. And it was. Simple pasta salad, using things I pretty much always have on hand. And no nasty rehydrated vegetable bits!

Ranch Pasta Salad

Serves 4

2 cups uncooked pasta (your choice of shape)

1 cup frozen peas, thawed

2/3 cup olive oil mayonnaise

1 tablespoon dry ranch dressing mix

1/4 teaspoon garlic-pepper seasoning

1/3 cup grated Parmesan cheese

Set a large pot of water on the stove over high heat and bring to a boil.

Meanwhile, mix mayonnaise, ranch dressing mix, and garlic-pepper seasoning in a bowl; cover and refrigerate until needed.

Add pasta to boiling water and cook, stirring occasionally, 10 minutes. Add peas to pan and cook, stirring occasionally, until pasta is tender, about 5 minutes more. Drain pasta and peas and rinse under cold running water until cool to the touch; drain well.

Mix pasta and peas into dressing, stirring well to completely coat. Cover and refrigerate at least 1 hour.

Just before serving, stir salad again, then add Parmesan cheese and stir.

Serving Size: 133g

Calories: 266

Calories from Fat: 130

Total Fat: 14.5g

Saturated Fat: 3.5g

Trans Fat: 0.0g

Cholesterol: 44mg

Sodium: 447mg

Total Carbohydrates: 24.6g

Dietary Fiber: 2.2g

Sugars: 4.6g

Protein: 9.9g