A Pasta Salad Recipe

I found this recipe in The Best of Concho Cookery produced by The San Angelo Standard-Times which is a cookbook I got while we lived in San Angelo, Texas. This cookbook represents a twenty-five year gathering of winners in the Concho Cookery Contest sponsored annually by the San Angelo Standard-Times copyrighted 1982.

I have changed up the original to our liking so I will list the original and then my changes. Okay.

One Dish Salad

3 cups cooked rice, cooled (I use pasta--elbow, or twists)
1/2 cup sliced ripe olives (I have used the diced version)
1 pkg. frozen sweet peas, cooked accordeing to pkg. directions (I'm not a fan of these so I omitted
the peas)
1/4 cup chopped pimento
3/4 cup coarsely grated carrots
1/4 cup chopped red onion (any variety will do--the red is pretty)
1 8 oz. pkg. sliced ham, cut into strips ( had our ham from our hogs and diced it and I have used diced chicken and it is equally good)
1 cup cheddar cheese cubes
1/2 pkg. dry Italian salad dressing mix (save the rest for the next salad--no worry--you will probably make it again real soon)
1 cup mayonaise ( I use Miracle Whip) or you can use a lighter version
Tomato wedges (I'm not a fan of tomatoes in pasta salad--soggy)
Lettuce leaves (if you want to be fancy)
I also added chopped celery, red bell peppers(kinda a duplicate with the pimentoes I guess), yellow bell peppers or green bell peppers.

Toss the first eight ingredients in a large salad bowl. Stir the Italian salad dressing mix into the mayonnaise. Add to salad and mix well. Chill. Serve on lettuce leaves and garnish with tomato wedges. Makes a big bowl and is perfect in my opinion for a hot summer evening meal.

If you make this and like it please leave me a comment. If you make changes, let me know I might like YOUR changes.

Blessings and happy quilting,