Italian Goddess Pasta Salad

Because I write a food blog that features lots of yummy recipes, people will often ask me if I eat like this every day. Well...no. Generally I have three active (very active) cooking/baking days a week from which I draw a week's worth of blog posts. Like a lot of you, there are days when I am in a total cooking funk. Such was the case last Friday when I shared my thoughts with a friend. “Tell me what's in your fridge and I'll play Lynne Rossetto Kasper  and tell you what to make,” she offered. So I sent her this picture along with assurance that I had every type of rice and pasta known to man, a variety of lettuces, and a big bag of Brussels sprouts.

She responded with three varied and delicious sounding recipes, none of which I used (but I will!), because by the time she responded I already had Brussels Sprouts Bisque in the works, and Tri-Color Rotini cooked and cooling for pasta salad.   Once I looked, really looked, at this picture I saw that though my ingredients were limited, I had everything on hand to make a delicious pasta salad.

 After the pasta had cooled I put it into a bowl and then started slicing up various things from the fridge. It was great to be able to finish up the artichoke hearts, black olives, slices of salami, and the remains of two salad dressings. (You know my penchant for salad dressing experimentation.). I named this recipe for the two salad dressings that I used, but any Italian dressing that you have on hand would do fine, or mix up your own vinegar and oil.

Italian Goddess Pasta Salad

1/2 (16 ounce) package tri-color rotini pasta

2 shallots, finely diced

1/2 cup Melissa's Fire Roasted Red Peppers, diced

1/4 cup Feta, crumbled

1/2 cup artichoke hearts, drained and quartered

1/4 pound salami, diced

1/3 cup sliced stuffed green olives

1/3 cup sliced black olives

1/2 teaspoon Italian seasoning

Pinch of garlic powder

Pinch seasoned salt

Freshly ground pepper

2 Tablespoons Italian salad dressing

3 Tablespoons Green Goddess salad dressing

Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil; cook rotini at a boil until al dente 8 to 10 minutes. Drain and run under cold water to cool

Mix rotini, shallots, roasted red peppers, Feta, artichoke hearts, salami, green olives, black olives, and seasonings in a large bowl.

Drizzle with Italian dressing (or combination of dressings) of your choice; toss lightly.  Refrigerate salad at least 2 hours before serving, or overnight.