Easy Summer Pasta Salad

My first year of college I bought a boxed pasta salad mix. After I mixed it all up, I realized I could easily replicate it, and it would taste better and have bigger chunks of vegetables and meat.

The ingredients:

ranch dressing (I mixed mine from the powder base)
pasta shells (I used gluten free pasta shells)
carrots, cut into small pieces
frozen peas
ham or bacon, cut or crumbled into small pieces
cheese, cut into small pieces (I used colby jack)

After cooking the noodles, rinse them well, making sure they don't stick to each other. Drain and cool. Once cool, throw in the carrots, peas, ham or bacon, and cheese. Mix together, then drizzle dressing over it all. Stir together, adding more dressing if needed. You can always add more, but you don't want so much that it's a sloppy mess. The pasta will absorb some of it, but not a lot. When it looks good, cover and refrigerate for a few hours so the flavors can meld.

The great thing about this recipe is that you don't actually have to measure anything- just add what you have till it looks right. So much better than rehydrated bits of carrots and peas.

Great for hot summer days when you don't want to eat something hot. I like having it on hand for lunches.