Quick Pasta Salad

I love making pasta salads in the warm weather months. It's quick to throw together, and you just add what ever ingredients you have on hand, or you can really dress it up for company. I love the versatility of this dish. For many years, I used a really zesty Italian dressing for the salad. Then, I found a Pesto dressing that we really enjoyed, but now I can't get it in my town at our stores! Does that happen to you- you find a product that you love, and then the store stops stocking it? Maybe it's just the fact that we live in a smaller town. Anyway, today's Pasta Salad was an experiment, and it turned out pretty good, thanks to a jar of purchased Pesto.

Quick Pasta Salad

8 ounces of Rotini pasta, or pasta of choice ( tricolor is great- I used whole wheat, this time)

1 small cucumber, peeled and diced

1/2 of a red onion, diced

1/2 green bell pepper, diced

grape tomatoes, cur in half (as many as you want!)

sliced black olives, optional (thought I had some- but didn't)

1 tbs. or more of grated Parmesan cheese

3 tbs. Pesto - purchased or homemade

3 tbs. red wine vinegar

Cook pasta according to package directions. Drain. Into a large bowl, add the cucumber, red onion, bell pepper, tomatoes and any other veggies you're using . Mix pesto and vinegar, and salt and pepper to taste, and pour over veggies and stir in pasta. Add in the Parmesan cheese, stir and cover bowl and refrigerate until ready to serve. This is my "in a hurry" Pasta Salad. You can add whatever veggies that you prefer, or even pepperoni. This turned out very tasty, although, I think that a homemade pesto would be more flavorful. But, my basil plants are too small to use right now, but later in the summer, I hope to make my own pesto! What do like in your Pasta Salad?