Delicious and Easy Pasta Salad

Last week, one of our friends had an impromptu get together, and everyone brought a dish. We ate whatever everybody brought. It was a perfect idea for food, and all types of dishes were covered! The only problem is, I have a really hard time deciding what to bring to these kinds of things. I'm always afraid I'm going to mess up whatever I decide to make, plus the cheap side of me just wants to throw something together we already have.

Well, I got brave for this one. Using only food we had in the house, I was able to create a pasta salad that everyone raved over. I even had people asking for the recipe, and I couldn't really give them measurements. I felt bad, because whenever I ask my grandma for recipes, she can tell me all of the ingredients but has no clue how much she uses! So, I figured it out for you.

I began with a box of Rigatoni noodles, cut up two cucumbers and a bunch of cherry tomatoes from our garden, and almost a whole bottle of Italian dressing. I gently stirred all of it together until all of it was covered with the dressing. At this point, it was good, but it needed something more. 

I searched AllRecipes.com and found a similar recipe. (Don't follow this part yet!) They added 1 cup of Parmesan cheese and 1 Tbs. Italian seasoning. I mixed the seasoning into the cheese and incorporated it into the salad. I didn't use the whole amount. In fact, I had about 1/4 cup left. I also didn't use fresh Parmesan; remember, everything was already on hand, and that wasn't!

The best way to decide how much to use of everything is to give it a try. If you like how it tastes, great, if you don't, adjust. Refrigerate until cold, although mine was served at room temperature, and it was still good.

You get the plastic lunch container picture, because this was the last serving, and I wanted to make sure I had something to share with you!

What kinds of recipes have you been able to come up with that worried you but turned out great?