Auntie Diane's Italian Pasta Salad (this is a quick one)

This is a pasta salad that is literally mindless. It is incredibly easy to make, its cheap and its very quick. It is served cold, and the longer it sits, the better it gets, so it is great for tailgates, bar-b-q's get-to-gethers, or whatever! It is a perfect pairing for hot dogs and hamburgers on the grill!

What you need from the kitchen:

Large boiling Pot

can opener

Large strainer

cutting board

Good Knives

Large Serving bowl

From the Super Market:

1 pound of ziti (I have used both regular and wheat... the regular is better in this particular recipe, but if you prefer wheat for dietary reasons, that's cool to)

1 package of frozen "Bird's eye" Italian vegetables

1 can of corn

1 red onion

1 bottle of Kens Italian dressing (again, you can use the light, but it comes out much better with the real thing)

1 cup of shredded Parmesan cheese

1 can of sliced olives.

SO HERE we go!! Start by boiling your pasta, my aunt Kathy always told me to keep the cover on the boiling water it will heat up quicker...you would think this would be common sense, but for whatever reason, I did not grasp the concept until about a week ago, it makes a huge difference. Back to the recipe, so boil your water, and once is ready throw in your pasta.

While that is going, open up the corn, and the olives, and pour them into your strainer. Run them under COLD water.. this will clean off any nasty stuff that comes with being a caned product (corn and olives are not to bad... but for future reference cans of beans can be pretty gross making this step essential for any cook). Once those are nice and clean, you want to throw them into the large Bowl that you will be serving the dish from. Remember this serving bowl needs to be large enough for 1 pound of pasta cooked!!

Now you want to open up the frozen vegetables, and place them into the strainer, and repeat the process, only this time you are thawing them, as opposed to cleaning them :)

Once you have done that step throw them into the bowl to add to the olives and the corn.

Now its time to chop your onion and throw that into the mix... use the whole onion - it looks like a lot, but the onion really makes it!

bye now, your pasta should be ready, take the pasta and drain it into the strainer - (If you have not figured it out already, a really good, large strainer is essential to a kitchen, if you don't have one, go buy one, they are cheap, and Ikea has a great big silver one for like, 10 bucks).

Run the pasta under cold water to cool it down.

Once the pasta is cool, mix it with the rest of the ingredients in the bowl, then mix it up with the entire (yes the whole bottle) of Italian dressing. Once that is well dressed, mix in the cheese, and you are READY to SERVE!!

If you are going to be serving this right away, have at, if you want to wait to serve it, go ahead and cover it with Plastic Wrap and throw it in the fridge!

Goooooooooooood luck!!