Ridiculously Cheap, Easy, Colorful, Delicious Pasta Salad Even A Kid Can Make

I call it my glorified Kraft. This salad is delicious and colorful. It takes less than 15 minutes to make. The hardest part is boiling noodles. It’s a great potluck dish because it’s totally original. My family loves it. My friends keep asking me to make more. Now, they can make it themselves.
All you need is two or three boxes of Suddenly Salad Bacon and Ranch ( no substitutions! ), a half cup mayo for each box ( follow the instructions ), one can of sliced black olives, and one pint or so of cherry or plum tomatoes cut in quarters. I prefer to let it sit overnight, but my family doesn’t. .
The Suddenly Salad adds sweet peas and shredded carrots, which gives the salad a lot of color, But the more, the better. Colorful food is more appealing than bland looking food.

So Picture It…
Shell shaped noodles, little red bacon bits, black olives, red tomato, orange carrot, green peas, this is a BEAUTIFUL salad.

Everybody loves bacon. Almost everybody likes ranch. If served almost immediately, this salad has a wonderful variety of textures. My preference to let it sit overnight is due to bacon bits and dental issues. I don’t recommend it for others.
This salad can also be made with light, low fat, or fat free mayo, without affecting the taste.

A large batch will feed 10-15 people and cost around $5. The Suddenly Salad and black olives can be found at any dollar store for about a dollar each. The price of tomatoes varies.

You can add your own signature easily enough by adding cubes of cheese, blue cheese crumbles,feta or parmesan, celery( though I don't recommend it ), broccoli, cauliflower, chunks of ham, chicken, even chunks of summer sausage or pepperoni. With this salad, it would be difficult to go wrong, so be creative if you'd like.

This is also a great recipe to make with your kids. They can practice reading skills, learn the importance of accurate timing, measuring, and following directions. The finished product will instill a sense of pride.

Enjoy!