What's Cooking? Wednesday - Pasta Salad Bowl

Today is What's cooking? Wednesday and it felt like a good day to make a pasta salad for dinner.  This is one of our favorite meals during the warm months.  Like most of the things I make, it isn't really a traditional recipe but it's easy, quick and tastes good.

I forgot to put the Parmesan Cheese on top...oops!

Pasta Salad (used to be called Spaghetti Salad but I don't always use spaghetti pasta so I changed the name)

1 - 2  lbs dry pasta, cooked according to directions, drained and cooled in cold water
1 bottle Italian Dressing (today I used Bernstein's Fat Free Cheese and Garlic Italian)
2-3 Roma tomatoes, chopped
1/4 red onion, chopped
handful black olives, sliced
handful green olives, sliced
1/2 green pepper, chopped
1-2 oz mozzarella cheese, cut in cubes
15-20 slices of pepperoni (lay flat on paper towels, microwave for 1 min. at high power, cool), crumbled or cut into 1/4ths
Parmesan cheese to sprinkle on top
Optional -
raw broccoli, broken into small florets
lightly steamed asparagus, cut into small pieces
raw zucchini, sliced and cut into 1/4ths

Mix everything together in large bowl and cool until ready to eat.  Sprinkle Parmesan cheese on top.  Serve with slices of toasted french bread and fruit.

All the ingredients can be varied depending on personal preference and how many people you are cooking for.  Also, you might not use all the Italian Dressing...it depends on how much pasta you used and how "wet" you like it.    It's a very forgiving recipe.  :)