Fruit and Tortellini Salad

Greg and I made this a while ago when we were craving foods that remind us of summer. My Mom used to make me a salad like this to take to my summer job as a lifeguard. There is nothing like chilled cheese tortellini with fresh veggies on a sunny 85 degree day! This is another meal with a very lose recipe: tortellini (or ravioli), chopped veggies, salad dressing (optional), parmesan cheese (optional). It takes as long to prepare as the pasta takes to cook & the veggies to be chopped. It is good warm, but best chilled for a few hours.

Our favorite dressing to mix in is Girard's Caesar dressing. But, we were out, and it's $$$, so we tried the Kraft version. For more than a dollar less and 4 more oz., it was a pretty good substitute! Orange and yellow bell peppers were on sale, so we chopped half of each up with two cucumbers (skins removed because they were the waxed kind).

It really satisfied our craving! We'll be making this again, but I want to try adding avocado in. We love the "green gold", but we haven't added it into this before. Maybe some sliced tomatoes would be nice with that, too.

Recipe: Serves 4
1 small bag frozen or fresh cheese tortellini or ravioli
2 - 3C. chopped veggies
2-4 TBS favorite salad dressing
2-4 TBS parmesan cheese

-Cook pasta according to directions on the bag.
-Chop veggies
-Drain the pasta. Add all ingredients. Mix well. Chill for 2ish hours until cool.
-Enjoy!!!