Some nights it’s just too hot to cook. I also don’t like to go to the grocery store in the summer. Instead, we tend to eat from our garden. A few nights ago I made a simple pasta salad for dinner. It hit the spot!

Ingredients:

• 1 pound of cooked elbow macaroni
• 1//2 cup of crumbled feta cheese
• 1 small cucumber cubed
• 1/4 cup diced red onion
• 1 red or green pepper diced
• 1/4 cup of scallions
• 1 tomato diced
• 1/4 cup fresh basil- preparation: chiffonade
• 1 tbsp minced fresh oregano
• Favorite seasoning salt (we like Lawry’s) adjust to your taste
• Pepper to your taste
• Favorite Italian dressing (We like Newman’s Own- Family Recipe Italian)- a great pasta salad shortcut when you don’t want to make one from scratch!
• 3 tablespoons red wine vinegar- makes it a little more tangy and jazzes it up.

Preparation:

In a large mixing bowl combine the seasoning salt, red wine vinegar, and pepper. Stir well.

Next add in cheese, cucumber, red onion, scallions, tomato, peppers and herbs. Next add the macaroni and about a 1/2 cup of Italian dressing.  Mix well.

Add more Italian dressing to coat the salad well. The macaroni will absorb the dressing.

Serve cold.  Enjoy!