I’m not much of a cook, but I’m pretty good at making pasta salads.  Pasta salad makes a great spontaneous meal, usually serves a lot of people, and can be made using almost anything you have in your fridge.

It started about 8 years ago with a recipe for a shrimp pasta caesar salad.  (This recipe isn’t exactly the same, but it’s similar.)  I clipped the recipe back when I was living in my first apartment, and started making it fairly regularly.

From there I began experimenting with my own pasta salad creations.  I’ve tried a variety of different ingredients, usually 4 or 5 at a time, and a variety of different dressings.  I’ve also discovered that pasta salad is best with shredded cheese and a little fresh cracked pepper sprinkled on top.

One of my husband’s favorites is a cucumber pasta salad that I make using multicolored pasta, cucumbers, quartered grape tomatoes, green onion, sliced black olives, and Kroger brand Creamy Cucumber dressing.

Unfortunately, pasta salad is about all I’m good for — I don’t have the patience nor the experience to be a really good cook.  If I wanted to, though, I’m sure I could learn the culinary arts — there are plenty of culinary schools, such as Sacramento Kitchen Academy and Pennsylvania Culinary School, where I could learn to make more than just a simple pasta salad.

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