Strangely, I decided that while there was a -40 degree windchill in Chicago I wanted a summery pasta salad to hunker down with. Wishful thinking, I suppose! This is one of my easy go-to’s that you can make quickly and only gets better for left-overs once in the fridge overnight. I list the ingredients below that I used this time, but you can swap things out and toss things in – it’s great with cherry tomatoes, vidalia onion, broccoli, capers – really whatever suits your fancy.

Ingredients
1.5 lbs cooked and chopped chicken breasts
1 lb Rotini Pasta
1 cup Italian dressing
1/2 cup mayonnaise
2 tbs mustard
Juice of 1 lemon
1/3 cup minced red onion
1/3 cup sliced green olives
1 chopped green pepper
1/3 cup sliced almonds
salt & pepper to taste

Salt and pepper the chicken breasts on both sides and cook, typically 20-25 minutes at 350 depending on thickness. Remove and set aside to cool until easy to handle and chop. Meanwhile boil a large pot of salted water with a dash of olive oil tossed in. Cook the pasta until al dente. Drain pasta and set aside in a large bowl. Toss in a little Italian dressing to coat the noodles while they cool so they don’t start to dry out. While the chicken and pasta are cooling down, chop the olives, onions, and green pepper. Then chop the chicken and add all ingredients listed above to the pasta.

Mix together well and add more dressing or lemon juice to taste. Refrigerate for at least an hour before serving. Super easy and love to have this handy in my fridge for a quick, tasty lunch.