In-Law Inspiration

This summer when we were in Minnesota, my sister-in-law made a really good pasta salad with pepperoni and cheddar cheese.  I've been thinking about making a pasta salad ever since.  At first I thought I would just try to copy hers, but I ended up using ham instead of pepperoni, provolone cheese instead of cheddar, and I added some broccoli in an attempt to add some vegetables to our dinner plate.  Brett was not happy about the broccoli (who am I kidding... I wasn't either.)

The other bit of inspiration for this meal was a seasoning that my mother-in-law gave me for Christmas and I hadn't used yet.  It is called "Garden Salad" from Penzeys Spices and it turned out to be really good.  It has dehydrated Romano cheese, poppy seeds, and chives (among other things.)  I just drizzled the pasta salad with olive oil, put a squeeze of lemon, and a couple of spoonfuls of seasoning and it was done!  The only thing that would have made it better was if the pasta had been a little cooler.  I did give it a quick rinse with cold water, but it was still too warm for the provolone because it instantly melted and became clumps instead of slices.  Other than that it was yummy and I think we'll be adding that to our dinner repertoire.