Kiki's Easy Pasta Salad

A few nights ago we went to my bro's house for a little cookout. He smoked pork, brisket, chicken, deer meat, beans and potatoes. It was super yummy! Jakob said his eyes were bigger than his plate. I have had that problem many times in my life, but I managed to control myself this night. I hate to show up empty handed, so for my part, I took a pasta salad. I cannot, repeat cannot, eat pasta salad made with mayonnaise based dressings. Gag! Yes, yes, I know, I'm very difficult to live with. I don't know how my husband does it. But, I do like pasta salad made with Italian dressing. I told Mom to pick up some ready-made pasta salad at the store, but she and Bill said it looked like puke (his word haha) so I decided to make my own. On the fly. I was feeling especially brave. It was so good that I made it again three days later. The first time I made it I used turkey bacon and because it doesn't shrink very much when cooking, I only used 7 or 8 slices. The second time, I used center cut bacon and it shrinks quite a bit, so I used the whole package. Also, I used yellow onion the first time and red onion the second time, but you can use whatever makes your heart go pitter-pat. Choose an Italian dressing that you like. I used Reed's Italian Dressing; we discovered it at the state fair a few years ago and I absolutely love it! Here's the recipe:

Kiki's Easy Pasta Salad

• 1 pound pasta, cellantani or tri-color rotini
• 7-8 slices of bacon, cooked and roughly chopped
• 5-6 Campari tomatoes, chopped
• 1/2 onion, chopped
• 1 1/2 Cups Italian dressing
• 1 8-ounce package of shredded parmesan cheese

Cook the pasta according to the directions on the box, then drain. Fry up the bacon and give it a rough chop, I like larger pieces in my pasta salad. In a large bowl, combine the pasta, bacon, tomato, onion, dressing and cheese and mix it well. Enjoy!! (warm or cold, take your pick!)

The cast of characters - I forgot to get the bacon in the picture.

The final product. Yummy!!