Italian Sausage and Italian Pasta Salad

Today is so hot and humid - and I didn't feel like spending my day in the kitchen today. The car is acting up and it's just one of those days!

I ran to the market very early this morning to pick up a few things - one being some rope Italian sausage. That won't keep me in the kitchen all day.

Last minute decision - Italian sausage with peppers and onions on crusty Italian bread with a nice pasta salad and fresh corn on the cob! Sounds good to me!





While the water was boiling for the macaroni, I prepped the other ingredients:
Cut cheese into various sizes (sharp Cheddar, Monterey Jack, Muenster - although you can use any type you want); sliced pepperoni; sliced black olives in thirds; sliced green olives in half; sliced celery; sliced and halved Vidalia onions; cut baby carrots into small chunks; diced deli ham.

Once the water boiled, I added my salt and allowed the water to return to a full rolling boil. I cooked 1 pound mini farfalle pasta al dente; drained; rinsed under cold water so that the pasta would be cold.



Using a large mixing bowl, I poured about 1/3 cup zesty Italian salad dressing into the bowl and then added my drained farfalle; mixed well.



Combined my prepped ingredients with my pasta; poured about 1/3 cup olive oil over and mixed well.





Since I had a half can of black olives left, and more stuffed olives, I sliced additional celery and made my olive salad.



When ready to eat, I cut my rope sausage and fried in olive oil with sliced Vidalia onions and sliced red bell pepper.



Cut Italian bread and fill with sausage, peppers, and onions; served remaining peppers and onions on the side with pasta and olive salad.

It was nice not having to stand at the stove all day cooking and I have enough pasta salad leftover for tomorrow's meal.