Chicken Pasta Salad

This is a simple way to answer the question "What's for dinner?" when your meeting ran over, you would rather play with your kids than stand at the stove, or like tonight, when. it's. too. hot. This salad is different every time I make it because I use what's on hand in the fridge, and the variations are endless. It's more of assembly than recipe, but here is what I usually put into a big serving bowl:

Cooked chicken, shredded or cut into bite-sized pieces (a rotisserie chicken from the grocery store works well too, and these days our market sells them for $5.99)

Any kind of pasta, cooked and drained--run it under cold water to cool the noodles off--my kids like the tri-color rotini but I use whatever is on hand

Now comes the fun part--look through your fridge for the half-cucumber, green beans from last night's dinner, shredded carrots, cherry tomatoes (or regular tomatoes), frozen peas, whatever you fancy, cut it into bite-size pieces and toss it in. My kids also like corn, bell peppers--make it colorful.

Most night I just dress this with salt and pepper and ranch dressing--either my own homemade or the Hidden Valley Ranch from the packet that you mix yourself with mayo and milk--it's much better than the bottled one. But depending on the ingredients and whether we have ranch dressing, I use a balsamic vinaigrette or Trader Joe's Chinese Chicken Salad Dressing.

Toss it all together--if I'm really on top of things I just do it in the morning--and serve it over salad greens (tonight I used some organic baby spinach). I usually try to make enough to have it for my husband's (or my) lunch the next day--or the kids' lunch the day after. I have found they like the leftovers better if it's not what they had for dinner the previous night.

Because I try to shop in season the composition varies a bit throughout the spring and summer--I even made it this past winter when it was 90 degrees in January here in Pasadena--if you like crunch you can add tortilla strips or those crunchy Chinese noodles, use a raspberry dressing and add raisins if you like the sweetness mixed in your salad. Unfortuately, I didn't think to post this until we had devoured the whole bowl or I would have taken a picture--still trying to get used to this whole blogging thing--next time. Finally, this is a great, filling meal for a tight budget because the majority of ingredients are what are already in your fridge, freezer, or pantry taking up real estate before they go bad. Use them up! I have even been known to mix different pasta shapes depending on the half-full boxes on my shelf. Enjoy!

Servings: 2 adults and 2 hungry kids with leftovers, and I cut some veggies and pasta extra small for the baby.
Cost: if you have to buy the chicken, less than $1.00 per serving; otherwise, free, owing to the fact you already have paid for the pasta on your shelf and used the veggies for some other purpose.