Mission Impossible

Todd and I are going to a birthday party tomorrow night (no Kaelin- does this get to count as a date), so I was on a mission to make pasta salad to take to the party.

Sounds simple, right?

Hold on... in small town America, the supplies for making a pasta salad is not exactly a staple at the local grocery store(s).

I started out at Kroger's. Made it past the produce, could not find the correct Italian dressing, could not find little pepperonis, could not find wagon wheel pasta... so I gave up and left. (yes I left my basket in the middle of one of the aisles and just walked out- I was a little upset)

So, I drove down to Wal-mart (not my first choice for grocery shopping, but the next store on the way home). They had the Italian dressing, the little pepperonis, and kind of had the wagon wheel pasta. They only had mini wagon wheels, not the real ones, but beggers can't be choosers. I went to get marinated mozzarella balls... not to be found in small town America. I had to compromise and go with mozzarella blocks that I cut up and soaked in Italian dressing.

Now, if I was looking to make chicken fried steak or mashed potatoes with lots of cream gravy (ummmm I am beginning to get hungry), I would not have had a problem with my grocery list. Basically, anything that might be a little different or unusual is not a staple at any of our grocery stores. If you are looking for Twinkies, Moon Pies (but why would anyone ever look for these), bologna, or Vienna Sausage, I can definitely give you some great recommendations on where to shop.

My friend, Lisa, gave me this pasta salad recipe. It is really good. Just be prepared to adjust (which I did) or go to a grocery store that is not afraid to buy things not cooked in lard.

Pasta Salad

1/2 bag of wagon wheel pasta (or the mini wagon wheels if you are shopping in small town America)
1/2 bag of bow tie pasta
1 yellow bell pepper (chopped)
1 red bell pepper (chopped)
1 orange bell pepper (chopped)
2 bottles of Ken's Steakhouse Italian salad dressing
2 bags of mini pepperonis (or the large one cut in half)
2 cans of whole black olives (drained)
2 containers of small tomatoes (cherry or grape- if they are a little on the big side, just cut them in half)
2 containers of mozzarella balls marinated (or in small town America- buy two blocks of mozzarella, cut it up and soak it in Italian dressing)
Italian seasoning to taste

Cook pasta according to directions on package. Drain. In a bowl, add the chopped bell peppers, pepperoni, olives, tomatoes, mozzarella balls with the marinade. Dump 1/2 bottle of Italian dressing over this mixture and stir it up. Add the pasta to the mixture of goodies. Dump the rest of the bottle of Italian dressing over the pasta salad. Put it in the refrigerator until you are ready to serve it (it is even better if you make it a day early). Before serving it, pour the other bottle of dressing over the salad. You might not need all of the other bottle. You just want it to have Italian dressing on it, but not be drowning in it.