I have never been a fan of pasta salad (or potato salad, or macaroni salad…).  I think it has to do with the mayonnaise.  I generally don’t like any sort of condiment, especially mustard or mayonnaise (and pickles, guacamole…am I sounding picky yet?) , so most cold savory salads I never even consider.

Then one day, my husband asked me to make him a pasta salad.  I immediately cringed, but then thought twice about how I could take advantage of this opportunity and make this to my liking, as well as to his (he isn’t quite as picky as I am).  I wanted to come up with something that was easy, yet scrumptious, and this salad is exactly that.  I made it, and both my husband and I were pleased with the results.

Then…my husband asked to make the exact same thing again.  He didn’t want me to change a thing, but I wasn’t sure if I remembered everything that I had put into the salad (I kind of just put what I had laying around in it the first time.)  So, I knew when I repeated it that I had to remember somehow what was in this fantastic recipe.  After I had made it a second time, I came up with a way to remember all the ingredients: the salad includes all the colors of the rainbow.  Okay…it may be a bit of stretch, so let me explain.

Red=Red peppers
Orange=Carrots
Yellow=Pasta
Green=Broccoli
Blue=Olives (use your imagination )
Purple=Red onions (they look more purple than “red” to me…”)

Then, the only thing left is the dressing!  The dressing I decided to use is a Lite Caesar dressing by Ken’s Steak House.  The bonus of this dressing is that it is low in calories, yet it is SO dang good.  I have found this dressing at both Smith’s and Wal-Mart.  You can also sub any other dressing you would like, but I highly recommend this one, or at least something similar.

Rainbow Pasta Salad
Ingredients:
1 lb. Bow Tie Pasta
2/3 bottle Ken’s Steakhouse Lite Caesar Dressing
1 Red Bell Pepper
3-4 Carrots
2-3 Broccoli Crowns
2.25 oz. can sliced olives
1/2 Red Onion

Directions:
Cook the pasta.  While pasta is cooking, cut all veggies to bit size pieces.  Drain pasta and rinse in cool water.  Add veggies to pasta.  Add dressing and stir to coat evenly.  Chill and enjoy!