BLT Pasta Salad

Summer is just beginning here in the Midwest which means that grilling and no oven meals are the "in thing" to do! One of my favorite no-oven meals are doing up pasta salads to have with grilled meat.

Last year at a wedding I had this type of salad and came home and wanted to tried it out with my crew but didn't have a recipe because I wasn't smart enough to ask the caterer at the wedding for the recipe! I took the time to look online to find something that resembled the salad and I found several so I combined a couple of recipes and came up this recipe that my crew just loves despite the fact that there is chunks of tomatoes in it!

It has become my go to pasta salad for picnics and get togethers because of how easy it is to make up. Here is what I came up with....

BLT PASTA SALAD

1 lb rotini pasta cooked, drained and cooled

1/4 cup Real Bacon bits

1/4 cup Miracle Whip Light

1/4 cup Ranch Salad Dressing

1 pint grape tomatoes, chopped

2-3 leaves of iceberg lettuce, chopped

I cooked, drained and cooled the rotini the night before along with adding in some of the bacon bits and some of the Miracle Whip and Ranch Dressing. Then the following day before I was going to serve it, I chopped the tomatoes, and lettuce. I added more Miracle Whip and Ranch Dressing and Bacon Bits and it was ready to serve!

You might have to play with the measurements for the salad because the only measurements that I know for sure is the rotini pasta and the grape tomatoes. The rest of the ingredients I just put in with the rotini and when it looked good I stopped adding them. I don't like pasta salads dripping with dressing so I made it where the dressing part of the salad was light---just enough to stick the ingredients together. Also, I used grape tomatoes instead of the "sandwich" size tomatoes so that I ended up with more tomato "meat" than tomato seeds.

One of these times that I make it, I will probably get some romaine lettuce or fresh spinach to use in place of the iceberg lettuce! So far the few times that I have made it, I have change things up with different shaped pasta including using tri-color rotini. Also I have used roma tomatoes as well, if you use any other tomatoes besides the grape ones you will want to de-seed the tomatoes! I didn't one of the times I have made it and regretted not doing so!

With this pasta salad you will want to make sure that it is eaten within a day or two after making it because the tomatoes really get mushy after the first 24 hours!

This salad would be a good compliment side with some grilled chicken or a nice juicy grilled burger or steaks for a nice simple summer meal!

This post is linked at:

• Ultimate Recipe Swap at Life as Mom!
  
• Recipe Swap at The Grocery Cart Challenge!
  
• Food on Fridays at Ann Kroeker!
  
• Fearless Fridays at Home Ec 101!
  
• Friday Feasts at Mom Trends!
  
• Foodie Friday at Designs by Gollum!