Cucumber, Tomato and Pasta Salad

Ingredients

• 2 cups tri-color spiral pasta, uncooked
• 10-15 cherry tomatoes, cut into halves
• 2-4 tablespoons black olives, canned sliced
• 1 large cucumber, sliced and quartered (peel, if desired)
• 1/3 cup feta cheese, crumbled
• 1/4 cup Italian dressing
• 1 tablespoon almonds, sliced (optional)

Directions

1. 1

   Cook rotini as directed on package to al dante; Drain and run pasta under cold water.

2. 2

   Drizzle italian dressing over pasta, mixing slowly so as not to break apart the pasta pieces. Add in tomatoes, black olives, cucumber, and 5 tablespoons of the feta cheese. Continue mixing ingredients until well-coated.

3. 3

   Sprinkle remaining feta cheese over pasta mixture and top with almonds. (Instead of almonds I've used Melissa's Salad Sprinkles. This could not be located in RecipeZaar as a recognized ingredient but I wanted to record it in the directions as another option for a salad topper.).

4. 4

   NOTE: If you don't care for feta cheese, try using Parmesan cheese instead. It tastes just as good and gives the salad a somewhat different flavor. Use only four to five tablespoons instead and mix in as given above.