Sunday, October 2, 2011

Pasta Salad and Ranch Dressing

I learned to make this pasta salad at a restaurant I worked at for several months. We are spoiled now and don't want any other.
First you have to make the ranch dressing. It is simple: equal amounts of mayonnaise and buttermilk (today I did a quart each) and Hidden Valley Ranch Dressing (1 packet per quart). Just mix it together good (use a whisk) and put it in the frig.

Now for the pasta salad you will need:

Your homemade Ranch dressing
Approx 1/2-3/4 cup bacon bits
2 or 3 green onions
1 -8 oz. package shredded cheddar and Monterey Jack cheese
green and black olives or canned chopped olives
1 -8 oz box Rotini pasta

If you have whole olives you will want to chop them up fine (I use a mine food processor). You only need enough for 2 heaping spoonfuls. Put these in a large bowl.
Cook your rotini pasta, then put in a colander and run cold water on it until it is no longer hot. Add it to the bowl. Mix. Add your bacon bits, chopped green onions and cheese. Mix again.

Now add some Ranch dressing. It takes a lot. You want to keep adding until it no longer looks sticky but more creamy. It took 3/4 of a quart for mine today. Mix well and put in the frig for a couple hours to let the flavors blend some.
So good!

4 comments:

  1. Well, I need to try this. It sounds great!!

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  2. Oooh wow that looks good. I wish I had a big bowlful right now!

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  3. Just discovered your blog. We hope to be more self sufficient as we work on developing our farm property, and I love getting ideas like you have on your blog. Thanks for sharing!!

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  4. Thanks! I really hope it is a help to some people. I enjoy blogs like mine as well and love to keep learning how to do things myself.

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