Upgrade Life and Taste Just Ivy Pasta

Ideal Meals for the “Wai Guo Ren” (Foreigner)
Living in Taiwan for a few years has taught me how to make foods I am familiar with back home but with limited resources and on a budget. If you have access to a COSTCO, then your options broaden, but for the most part, we eat simply and this recipe is a part of a collection for the American teachers living in Taiwan with a simple stove, toaster oven and small grocery store in town.

Today’s recipe: Upgrade Life and Taste Just Ivy Pasta – serves a crowd

My bag of pasta has this title across the front and it has ME rolling! What a perfect name for pasta salad- and I still have NO IDEA what they are trying to say (That tends to happen here a lot in Taiwan)!
If you have a bottle of Italian dressing, then your life just got even simpler! Just add that to your cooked pasta and veggies, stir and serve! But if not, there is a list of ingredients here to make your own Italian dressing. Try mixing extra for a green salad on another occasion or, as I’ve found, the pasta salad is a bit dry the next day so I add some more dressing before serving it again.
As I was trying to take a good picture of my pasta salad under natural lighting, my little girl decided to join my “picnic” and help herself to my bowl! I thought it was cute so I documented that too!

Item’s needed:

• Stove top burner
• Large boiling pot
• Strainer for cooked noodles
• Large mixing bowl
• Cutting board and knife
• Spoon for mixing
• Can opener
• Measuring cups/ spoons
• A picnic blanket

Ingredients Needed:
1 bag spiral pasta (tri-colored is fun)
2 chopped tomatoes
½ chopped green pepper
¼ chopped onion
1 Can of black olives ( optional)
1 Can of kidney beans (optional)
1 cup olive oil
½ cup rice vinegar
2 tablespoon lemon juice (optional)
2 teaspoons Italian seasoning
1 teaspoon salt
Pinch of black pepper
½ teaspoon sugar
Directions:
1. Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Add pasta and cook 13 -15 minutes or until done.
2. Meanwhile, place the chopped tomatoes, green pepper, onion, black olives and beans into a large bowl.
3. Add the remaining ingredients to the bowl and mix thoroughly. This allows these ingredients to marinate before adding the pasta.
4. Drain pasta and rinse with cool water. Add to the bowl and mix. Chill and serve!