My mom made pasta salad all the time with Cheese Fantastico. Tri color rotini was on sale this weekend, so I decided to make some again. This is really a versatile recipe, and perfectly amazing. (Fantiastico is my family’s favorite easy chicken marinade, BTW)

You have corn in your recipe. so I tried it. The salad is still resting, but I liked it so far.

Things my mom’s recipe had that yours doesn’t. Diced red bell peppers and drained capers. The red bell peppers do a lot for visual appeal and crunch, the capers are little umami blasts.

Seriously, Cheryl, thanks for posting this, as it got me right back in the headspace for a pasta salad I haven’t made in five years from a recipe from my mom who passed a decade ago.

I hate the person who is like, “I made this recipe but changed it in these ways… But here’s where mine went today:
For cheese, I used smoked white cheddar and smoked gouda (Yay, Grocery Outlet for cheap stinky cheese!). I had half a jar of pitted kalamata olives, in addition to sliced ripe black olives, so I sliced those and added them.