Receta Peppered Bacon & Sweet Balsamic Pasta Salad
I typically go grocery shopping every Sunday. If for some reason I can't make it on Sundays because we've had a busy weekend then I will go Monday night after the Hubs gets home from work so I can leave Princess P home with him. Before I go shopping I typically spend a few hours at least planning the menu for the week & checking sales at the store & coupon match-ups for those sales. Then add in checking Pinterest for meal ideas & my day is shot. That's where the hours of time comes in, Pinterest sucks me in :)
This past weekend we spent Sunday celebrating Princess P's 3rd birthday with family so I had no time to work on the menu or a list. I planned on just working on it Monday & then going shopping Monday night. But then I got this wild hair to at least head to the dollar store to grab what I needed from there & then I would just have to hit up the grocery store on Monday. Well once I got done at the dollar store, I got the additional crazy idea that I would just go ahead and get it all done now. No list, no plan, no coupons. Just up & go. I highly don't recommend this because you end up forgetting vital things like toilet paper.
I sat in the parking lot of the grocery store jotting down some of the things I remembered we had in our pantry & fridge to use for meals so at least I wasn't going in blind. I knew we had a box of pasta so I decided I would grab some veggies and a bottle of dressing and we'd have pasta salad one night.
When I made the pasta salad on Monday for our dinner, on a whim, I decided to fry up some of the peppered bacon we had & throw that in. I wasn't overly confident on how all of the flavors would blend but it turned out great! The sweetness of the dressing was a great contrast to the spice of the bacon. This is definitely a recipe that will make another appearance on our weekly menu.
PEPPERED BACON & SWEET BALSAMIC PASTA SALAD
YIELD: serves 6-8
- 1 box (16 ounces) rotini pasta, cooked
- 1 medium cucumber, cut into half moons
- 1 box (16 ounces) grape tomatoes
- 1/2 cup chopped green onions
- 1 bottle (8 ounces) Kraft Sweet Balsamic Dressing
- 12 slices peppered bacon, cooked crisp
Combine the pasta, cucumber, tomatoes & green onions in a large bowl. Add in a small amount of the dressing to coat the pasta. Refrigerate until ready to serve.
Right before serving, add the rest of the dressing & the bacon. Toss to combine.
Don't run off just yet! Stop by and check out some of these other quick & easy dinner ideas
Be sure to stay connected on social media for all the latest recipes & behind the scenes fun!