I Forgot About The Potluck! Problem Solved With A Quick And Easy Pasta Salad

We've all been there

We've all been there. The potluck is tonight and you forgot. It starts in about an hour and here you are without a dish to pass. What on earth can you throw together in that short of time?

You are in panic mode so all you can think of is: 1) Just don't go. 2) Go empty handed and feel like a schmuck. 3) Bring one of your own bowls to the deli and ask them to fill it up so you can pass it off as your own.

Since none of those options really appeal to you, I think I have a solution; pasta salad! By keeping a few ingredients on hand at all times, you can easily throw together a tasty treat in virtually minutes. Starting with pasta and salad dressing, you can build yourself a dish that will suit any potluck. Let's get started.

Standard pastas like penne, shell, rotini, and even macaroni noodles will make a fine pasta salad once you add your personal touch. If you have a lot of partially full boxes of different pastas, just mix them together. Be sure to cook similarly sized pastas together. If you're cooking penne with angel hair pasta, you'll run into trouble because the cooking time is different. You would want to cook these types of pasta in separate pots.

Don't fret too much about the dressing. If you have Italian or Ranch Style dressing on hand, you have it handled. You can actually mix the two together so you get a nice oily finish to the pasta salad as well as the creamy texture. If you're ambitious you can whisk together a few ingredients like oil, white wine vinegar, honey, mustard, or whatever flavors you like together. Throw in some herbs and you're done.

Now it's time to cook the pasta. Decide on the dressing you're using while the pasta cooks. Then, drain the pasta and put it into a large serving bowl. Before the pasta cools off, pour on the dressing. You want to do this while the pasta is warm so it absorbs all the flavor. Be careful not to add too much dressing right away. You can add more as you go but you can't take it out.

It's time for your creative cooking to take over. Take a peek in your cupboards and refrigerator and start pulling out food that looks good to you. If you have any cheese, tomatoes, frozen peas, chickpeas, olives, onion, or even artichokes in a jar, throw it in. Give it a taste, and keep adding until you're satisfied. Don't forget the sunflower seeds in the back of the fridge and those croutons, too.

Cut or shred leftover chicken and throw it in. Or, if you have a bit of grilled steak left, thinly slice that and add it. Do a little taste-testing as you go by taking a small portion of the pasta salad out of the big bowl and put it in a small bowl, then add the next ingredient and taste, until you're satisfied. Throw it all together in your serving bowl, put the cover on, and head out to your potluck - on time and with a dish to pass.

Forgotten about a potluck tonight? No problem! All it takes is a few simple ingredients and a little imagination and you'll have a delicious pasta salad ready to save the day!

by: Angela Tyler.

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