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Pizza Pasta Salad

Hi friends!

Happy Wednesday and happy July! I hope you all holiday weekend with family or friends. I always love celebrating our country along with family traditions of grilling, swimming and fireworks. 

I’m starting a new series of posts over the next few weeks about everything summer as we make our way through the season. To kick off my series, we are talking summer foods!

There’s nothing quite like enjoying a pasta salad alongside chicken or a burger or just by itself. If you’re looking for a fun and crowd-pleasing pasta salad this is for you.

Here’s a look at how to make Pizza Pasta Salad

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Ingredients

Here’s what you need

(The amount of ingredients you will need to use varies since you can alter how much you want to make. I often make enough for a few servings but you can add more or less based on how many people will be eating)

Pasta (I chose medium shells)

Mini Pepperoni

Mozzarella Cheese (balls or shredded-whichever is your favorite)

Cherry tomatoes

Basil

Oregano

Italian Dressing

Directions

1) Boil pasta and add salt

2) Refrigerate until pasta is cool

1) Add Italian dressing, basil and oregano to pasta

2) Add in cheese, pepperoni, and cherry tomatoes3) Refrigerates well-add fresh Italian dressing before serving again

You can alter add how much of each ingredient you want to use based on how you are feeling too. This can be served as a side with a larger meal or it can be enjoyed on its own. Either way, it’s a perfect Italian mix to add to your summer salads in the summer.

What’s your go-to recipe for summer salad?

Let me know in the comments below. Get ready because next week we are talking about summer drinks!

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Summer Pasta Salads and Appetizers

Hello all! Happy Wednesday! I hope you are all having a great week! I hate to say it but I have been slipping on making a new meal once a week. It’s definitely been harder to make it happen in the summer with more family time and a more relaxed family schedule. We sometimes eat later or go out more. I’m looking forward to getting back to cooking in the fall. 

I have still made a few recipes this summer, some of which are staples in my home.

We will start out with my Italian Pasta Salad. I think we got this recipe on a box years ago. We tried it and loved it and haven’t looked back.

My favorite summer pasta salad.

Here’s what you need and how to make it.

What you Need:

Rotini Pasta (or your favorite kind of pasta)

Italian Dressing

Cherry Tomatoes

Mozzarella Cheese Balls

Sliced Cucumber

Steps:

  1. In a pot, boil water to cook pasta. (I change the amount of pasta I use depending on who I’m cooking for and how many servings I need.)
  2. Drain water and then put pasta in large serving bowl.
  3. Slice cucumber and then add cherry tomatoes, and mozzarella, to pasta.
  4. Stir in all the ingredients and drizzle Italian dressing.
  5. Put in fridge to chill until ready to serve.

*If you plan on saving and serving again, make sure to add more Italian dressing

If pasta isn’t you choice, maybe you like to snack on chips and salsa.

When we went on vacation, we had a great shrimp cocktail sauce salsa. It was full of so much flavor. 

Appetizer night

Here’s an idea of how I’ve made this tasty dish.

What you Need:

Cocktail sauce

Salsa (I like a peach salsa or a medium hot salsa)

Baby Shrimp (can be frozen or in a can)

Steps:

  1. In a bowl mix half of the cocktail shrimp sauce and half of the salsa in a bowl
  2. Mix in the baby shrimp and then chill until you are ready to serve.
  3. Serve with tortilla chips or pita chips.

*If you aren’t a big fan of mixing half of each sauce you can change your parts to ¼ of one and ¾ of another. 

Also pictured is brie cheese with raspberry sauce. I like to cook the cheese and add the sauce at the end, it’s full of flavor and filling too.

I like to enjoy it with bread or crackers.

All of these recipes are super easy for entertaining in the summer and are easy to throw together. 

What are some of your favorite snacks to serve and share.

Drop them below!!