Colorful Pasta Salads to Brighten Your Summer

Summer Is THE Season Of Pasta Salad!

Let’s talk about it:

Besides hot dogs, hamburgers, grilled chicken, and produce of ALL kinds, pasta salad to me, is the epitome of summer! When you’re packing a picnic, planning a cook out, preparing for a barbecue, there’s always some sort of pasta salad on the menu. At least on my menu, that is! You know, depending what the theme of the soiree is, is what determines how I will prepare said salads. Perhaps the theme is a “summer salad soiree”, Now, THAT is a party I want to host, or at least be invited to! In my eyes you can most certainly turn anything into a pasta salad. A main meal can be created into a salad! Whatever you believe pasta salad can be, is true! Summer needs pasta salad. They go hand in hand. When I think of summer I think of sunshine, flower fields, rainbows, farmers markets, fun outfits, and colorful food. The perfect thing to make that’s easy to pack with color and flavor is a pasta salad.

Let me show you how I pack color into my pasta salad:

This salad is stunning, but so simple!

Let me show you:

You can have fun with your choice of pasta or choose tri- colored rotini to add even more color into the mix! Color is what we’re aiming for here, so the more color, the better! I used 1/2 a pound of farfalle noodles, but if you’re serving more than 10 people, or you’re not having a huge buffet, you can make the full pound.
An entire small head of broccoli. Washed and roughly chopped.
A small jar of sliced marinated mushrooms. You can sauté fresh button mushrooms to mix in. However, I wanted the tang and sourness of the marinated, jarred mushroom. It just all depends what vibe and flavorful you’re longing for!
A small jar of roasted red, yellow, and orange peppers infused in garlic oil. I chopped all of that up into bite sized pieces.
I spooned in some sweet pepper strips as well since they’re my Dad and I’d absolute favorite. You might be wondering why I did this if I just added in roasted peppers, but trust me.. they are two totally different flavors. Flavors that can not be beat when combined in a pasta salad!
To wrap up the vegetables that I tossed in this salad- I added a few handfuls of Kalamata and pimento olives as well as chopped chives. Normally, most people would use sharp red onions, or maybe even a sweet Spanish onion. However, I was feeling a much more mild taste to even out all of the already strong and savory seasonings we have going on in her.
I chopped up 1/2 a log of sweet soppressata. Absolutely stunning to add into your pasta salad if you’re not feeling pepperoni.
An entire ball of fresh mozzarella, chopped.
A block of Colby jack cheese, cubed.
I had some mortadella left over from a snack plate I recently plated up for myself the other day when I decided to enjoy a little movie night alone, so I diced a few slices of that up and tossed it on in.
Season with garlic salt, onion powder, fresh chopped basil, parsley, and oregano.

The next step is the dressing! Right?

However, It won’t be the next step for this salad because there really isn’t a dressing. Yes, it is “dressed”, but it is not covered in a dressing that needs a recipe. All you have to do is glisten this Italian pasta salad with really good olive oil and a few pours of red wine vinegar! That’s it! Even though deep down I am a true more is more girl, in this case simple is succulent! It is definitely best.

Now that we’ve covered pasta salad, let’s talk macaroni salad!

This is NOT your typical Pennsylvania Dutch macaroni salad!

A twist on a summertime classic. A creamy salad filled with crunchy vegetables, fresh dill, and sweet crab. A salad that will absolutely touch all of your senses. A salad that is indulging, yet also refreshing. I love when that happens. The juxtaposition of it all. That’s the way I enjoying putting outfits together as well, since I’m completely obsessed with styling the clothes in my closet. Fashion is for another day though, let’s get back to the salad!

I cooked 1/2 pound of elbow noodles.
I cut the corn off two fresh ears. I dry toasted it in a pan with some paprika and old bay just to give it a whisper of that flavor we’re searching for in this salad. You might be asking why I dry toasted the corn instead of adding even just a touch of butter. The uninvolved answer is because there’s more than enough fat in the dressing, so you don’t need to add it to the corn! We don’t necessarily want to “cook” the corn since we still want that nice pop factor in the salad. We’re just trying to add a “smoke” to it is all.
Cube up an entire ball of fresh mozzarella cheese.
Thinly slice a handful of bright red radishes.
I used two different types of imitation crab. Now, if you’re serious about your seafood, or you truly hate the texture of imitation crab you can use the real deal. However, being the sushi lover that I am, I grew to love imitation crab as much as the actual thing!
Sliced green onions. As many as you like since they are much more mild than raw onions.
1 1/2 cups of your favorite mayonnaise.
1/3 cup of sour cream.
1/3 cup of half and half to thin the dressing out, just a little bit, while still leaving it quite creamy!
2 tablespoons of dijon mustard.
2 tablespoons of good honey.
The juice of 1/2 of a lemon.
A few dashes of soy sauce.
Season with sea salt, freshly cracked black pepper, garlic powder, onion powder, dill weed, parsley, old bay, and some shakes of cajun seasoning for that extra touch of flavor.

We are in the dead of summer, so to me that means celebrating with as much pasta salad as you possibly can. I promise you, you won’t regret it. You can have it for lunch on the back patio, poolside at your local country club, on the deck your families cookout, or you can really just serve yourself up a big bowl of whatever salad you choose to recreate and enjoy it on the couch in the AC, in your comfiest lounge clothes, watching the newest episode of The Summer I Turned Pretty because I know I can’t be the only one counting down the days, anticipating next weeks episode! Then, the next, and the next. and the next episode! I know, I know, I’m not wishing summer away just because I’m into a show. However, it is that good!

Usually, I tell you Diamonds to let me know if you try my recipes, however, I actually NEED you to genuinely make both of these salads before summer ends. It’s a demand! It’s the homework I am giving you before the beginning of one of my favorite seasons kick off! That means you do have quite some time to enjoy these recipes, as well the rest of what summer has to offer. Aside from this blog, I am also an ACCESS coordinator, and in the summer we fortunately have Fridays off! This morning my mom and I are getting ready to go enjoy some time at a lavender farm as well as getting coffee and breakfast at a coffee shop that doubles as a bookstore. I’m looking forward to it, so I’m going to get ready and I hope you all soak up this Friday just the same as me!

Deepfrieddiamonds