I bought a big fat bottle of Olive Garden Signature Italian dressing at Costco a couple of months ago. So when I was staring at a box of bowtie pasta in my pantry trying to think of a good side dish for dinner, I decided to put that dressing to work. I tossed in some peppers, olives and a little cheese and whipped up a pretty tasty and simple side dish if you ask me. Monkey Boy and the HH loved it. I might have had to stop myself from sneaking bites out of the fridge before dinner. It was a yummy mix of flavors!
Ingredients
12 oz bowtie pasta
6 oz spinach, chopped
3 oz {about 3/4 cup} grated Parmesan cheese
1 red pepper, chopped
1 {15 oz} can black olives, drained and sliced
1 cup Italian dressing {I used Olive Garden}
Salt and pepper to taste
Directions
Prepare pasta per al dente box instructions, rinse under cold water and drain. In a large mixing bowl, combine the pasta, spinach, cheese, red peppers and olives.
Pour dressing over salad and toss to combine. Salt and pepper to taste. Refrigerate for an hour or so and serve chilled. Enjoy!
Karen says
I do something similar…. no red peppers. I add in a bag of broccoli slaw or chopped broccoli, quartered cherry tomatoes, red onion (sometimes sautéed first), and chopped Genoa salami.
Cindy Howard says
Hi Mavis! I used to work at Olive Garden & sometimes I was able to take dressing home. My favorite thing to do with it is to pour it over salmon then broil it. Delicious!
Mavis Butterfield says
Ohhh that sounds good!
Julie says
I made this this morning, thought would be good for lunch, had no Parmesan so used feta crumbled and made my own Italian dressing. Needed to find something to use up half a jar of black olives and a third of a bag of spinach which I wilted then chopped and added. Thank you it’s delicious.