BLT pasta salad

The last edition from the long Memorial Day weekend at the lake...can you tell I'm trying to relive it by posting about it every day?! Counting the days till the week of the 4th of July, where I will be taking the week off from work, wedding planning, and blogging to unplug, spend some QT with Main Man and some good friends, and enjoy some good eats which I will inevitably post when I am shot back into the real world the following week. See how I just got all depressed that it's over before it's even begun? I'm good at that...

Anyway, I pretty much think BLT pasta salad is like the most summery dish you could ever imagine. BLT's are a summer staple and pasta salad is always an easy, light side to throw together in the warmer months. Plus, if I make anything with bacon in it (even if it's only marginal), I know Main Man will eat through it just to get to the good stuff.  "Bacon?" in his best Scooby Doo voice is the standard response when he noses his way to the kitchen to steal a piece whenever I've got it rolling on the stove.

I made this one for Thanksgiving this year and it was a big hit, although I never got a chance to try it. It was a little more time consuming than this recipe that I stumbled on, so I thought I would see if I could get the job done with a few less ingredients (I had all this on hand already so a trip to the store was not neccesary).

8 oz uncooked elbows

4 slices bacon, cooked

2 large tomatoes, diced small

4 T fat free mayo

2 cups baby spinach

Boil your noodles according to package directions. Chop tomatoes and combine them along with any accumulated juice with the mayo and pepper in a medium bowl. Drain the pasta and rinse with cold water to cool. Combine pasta with tomatoes and spinach mixing well. Toss bacon with the salad and serve immediately. If you serve again later, you may need to add more mayo.

 

I enjoyed this, and it did have BLT qualities, but thought it could use a little more umph. I added pepper to it when I ate some and that helped, but next time I think I will add more bacon and use the olive oil based mayo rather than the fat free for some more flavor. It was super simple, and summery, and nice to be able to pull out a side dish that was done for meals that weekend....but I think if I do it again, I will make the one I made for Thanksgiving. More ingredients give it more depth of flavor I think....but if you're in a pinch, this is a quick one to throw together. Happy Summer, people! :)