Summer Seafood Pasta Salad

School is out and summer is here! While I enjoy the extra time with my family and all the fun summer activities, Summer is not my favorite season weather wise. Yes, it's wonderful to have sunshine and green leaves and all that, especially after the long tough winter we had, but hot temperatures are not my thing. If it never got more than 80 degrees, I would be a happy girl. I've even thought that it would be a great idea to put air conditioning in the schools and have Autumn break instead!

When its hot outside the last thing I want is to be cooking in a hot kitchen, so one thing I love to do is have a big ol' tub 'o pasta salad sitting in the fridge. Not only is pasta salad cool and refreshing on a hot day, but when I make it ahead of time all I have to do is spoon it into a bowl and lunch is ready!

 This recipe using imitation crab (one of my favorite pasta salad additions) is my go-to, and would work for the "5 items or less" game on Guy's Grocery Games.

Summer Seafood Pasta Salad

Ingredients:
1 box penne pasta (or other short pasta like rotini)
1 or 2 pkgs flake style imitation crab
1 pkg cherry tomatoes
Tri-colored bell peppers, chopped
Italian dressing

Directions

1. Cook and drain the pasta. Put in the fridge to cool. If you are in a hurry you can rinse the pasta with cold water, however, that rinses starch off the pasta which keeps the sauce from sticking.
2. Add the imitation crab, tomoatoes, bell peppers and Italian dressing. Mix.
3. Store in fridge and serve as needed. Pasta salad often tastes better the next day after the flavors have had time to mingle. I like to sprinkle on a little Parmesan cheese on top.