Easy Greek Pasta Salad

This pasta salad was born when I clipped a coupon for Marzetti dressing in the Sunday circular and didn't know what to buy.  Summer was here and we had been itching to eat outside on our never-used screened-in porch, so a pasta salad seemed to fit the occasion.  We also had a huge (Costco-sized.  HUGE.) block of feta in the fridge to use up, so a Greek pasta salad it became!  This recipe is obviously adaptable depending on what ingredients you like.   I think it would be great with the tomato halves roasted, but Jake doesn't like roasted tomatoes so I left them fresh.  If you try it that way, let me know how it turns out.

So, after two years of living in our house and never using the porch for anything other than storing leaf bags, we ended up using it twice in one day! And I think we actually had this pasta salad as a side for both meals.  The porch is inconveniently placed because the only access to it is through the basement (every house in Pittsburgh is on a hill), but the grill is right there, so we happily had a couple of picnics.  It's so peaceful on the porch without the tv or any of our other distractions that we determined it's well worth dragging everything downstairs.

Dinner was followed up with a fire in our also-underused fire pit where Lily learned that she loves s'mores as long as there aren't any marshmallows.  Too messy.  Can you still call it a s'more if you're just eating cold chocolate on graham crackers? I wasn't too surprised by her aversion because she hates the way cotton candy sticks to her fingers.  Yet, somehow this distaste for messiness doesn't translate to her playroom.  Or jumping in muddy puddles.  Or hating baths.  Can't win 'em all.

Easy Greek Pasta Salad

1 pound short-cut pasta 1 - 1.5 cups creamy Greek/feta salad dressing (I like Marzetti and Trader Joe's) 1/2 cup  English cucumbers, diced 1/4 cup red onion, diced 1/4 cup kalamata olives, roughly chopped 1/2 cup cherry tomatoes, halved 1/4 cup bell peppers, diced 8 oz. feta cheese, crumbled Fresh mint and/or oregano, diced, to taste

Boil the pasta in salted water according to package directions.  Drain the pasta and immediately combine with 1/2 cup of the salad dressing (this is so that the pasta absorbs the dressing).  Set aside until cool.

Add in all of the other ingredients, including half a cup of dressing, and stir to combine.  Add additional dressing as needed.

Refrigerate for at least an hour to let the flavors develop.  Enjoy!  Store any leftovers in the fridge for up to a few days.

Source: L+K Original (I just threw it together, but there are many Greek pasta salads out there to explore)