Bacon Ranch Pasta Salad

If you have read my post on Mom's Pasta Salad, you may have been able to tell that I like me some pasta salad! I decided to invent one a while back. It wasn't disappointing! If you are the type of person who really needs measurements for your recipes, it is time to look away because I just flung it all together!

Ingredients:

Bacon

Pasta

Black Olives

Cheddar or Colby Cheese

Green Onion

Ranch

The first step is to start your bacon cooking. Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil and put a baking rack over it. Lay out your bacon strips and pepper them. Put the pan into a cold oven and set the oven to 350 degrees. Bake it until it is a little crispy (it will soften up a bit in the salad.)

Next start your water boiling for your pasta. Add a bit of salt and olive oil to your water. Cook pasta according to package directions. When it is done, drain it and rinse it in cold water. Allow it to drain and dry out a little while you are getting your other ingredients together.













Slice up a few green onions, grate up a bit of cheese, and drain your black olives. If your olives are not already sliced, you will probably want to slice or chop them as well.

Get everything together in your bowl. When the bacon is cooked wrap it in a paper towel to pull off some of the grease as it cools. Chop your bacon and add it into the bowl as well.


















Once your pasta is sufficiently cool and drained, add it in as well.













Start adding your ranch dressing a little at a time. Once it looks like you have enough in there, add a little bit more. The pasta will soak up a little bit of the moisture as it sits, and no one likes a dry pasta salad.

I discovered that this pasta salad really needs some time to chill and allow the flavors to blend. If you eat it right away the onion flavor is a bit too strong. Cover it up and put it in your refrigerator for a few hours. Chilling it overnight would be ideal.