Salads with pasta will soak up dressing fast, so I always put the dressing on it just before serving. Lesson learned this time: I mixed the dressing the night before and put it in a jar in the fridge, it was fine, BUT do not put it in a cooler with ice...the olive oil will solidify (did it.) But remember you can run the jar under hot water and get the oil to 'melt' back to it's correct consistency. Whew.
6 cups dry pasta. I used mini raviolis I found at Winco in bulk food. It is stuffed with parmesan cheese and it's good!
2 cans medium olives (drained)
2 jars marinated artichoke hearts (drained)
2 jars sun dried tomatoes (I used the dry packaged kind at Winco and chopped them then soaked in a little olive oil...way cheaper and very delicious)
Sliced banana peppers to taste (I used about 3/4 cup, drained)
3 cans sliced mushrooms or 1pkg fresh sliced mushrooms
1 each red, yellow, green bell pepper, chopped
3 cups chopped or sliced meat...pepperoni, salami, ham, whatever. I used these cute little mini pepperonis from Winco
Cook pasta, rinse and cool. You can toss in a little olive oil to keep it from sticking. Toss with all the salad ingredients except the dressing and the meat and refrigerate until ready to serve.
Dressing:
1 1/2 cups olive oil
3/4 cup red wine vinegar
3 tbsp dried basil
3 tbsp dried parsley
3 tbsp dried rosemary
1 tbsp fresh minced garlic or 1 teaspoon garlic powder
3 tbsp parmesan cheese
1 tsp salt
red pepper flakes to taste (I used 3 packages of the dominoes kind lol!)
Mix and shake all together in a quart jar or bowl. Best if made a few hours in advance or the night before. To Serve, add the meat to the salad then shake the dressing very very well and toss into the salad. I kinda winged this for our picnic trip...it turned out great and everyone liked it. Looked impressive and was filling enough for lunch. Enjoy!
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