Recipe of the Week: Pepperoni Pasta Salad

Hello! I hope that you are doing well today! It's been excruciatingly HOT here in Oklahoma, so when it gets this hot I hate to turn on the oven or stove to cook something because it heats up the house. When it's just to hot to cook, I like to whip up a delicious pasta salad. One of my favorites is a Pepperoni Pasta Salad, so I thought I'd share that recipe with you today:

Here's what you'll need to make this YUMM-O-LICIOUS dish:

INGREDIENTS:

• 12 oz. pasta, cooked to package directions and rinsed (I used colored Rotini pasta, but you can use shell pasta, bow-tie pasta, penne pasta...whatever you have on hand will work just fine!)
• 1 cup of your favorite Italian dressing (I like/used Kraft Tuscan House Italian)
• 1 - 4 oz. can sliced black olives
• 1 - 4 oz. jar diced pimentos
• 8 oz. of your favorite cheese, cubed (I used Monterrey Jack, but you can use mozzarella, cheddar, co-jack...once again, whatever you have on hand will work just fine!)
• 2 large carrots, thinly sliced
• 1 large cucumber, peeled and diced
• 1 medium green pepper, diced
• 3 oz. pepperoni slices, quartered and separated
• 1/4 of a small onion, finely chopped (I can't use onion in mine, as it it a migraine trigger for me, so I used onion powder to taste.)
• 1 teaspoon minced garlic
• Optional: If you have cherry tomatoes on hand, you can quarter several of those and toss into the salad too

Once pasta has been cooked, drained and cooled, add the rest of the ingredients. Chill until ready to eat and enjoy!

Wishing you a blessed day!