Bacon, Olive & Tomato Pasta Salad with Marzetti's Simply Dressed Blue Cheese Dressing

Pasta is like the blank canvas of the culinary world. You can take a bowl of squiggly noodles and add spicy pesto sauce; Italian-style meatballs; or even a cool, creamy salad dressing to create your own mealtime masterpiece. In the winter, I opt for a warm, comforting sauce, but on a hot summer night, nothing fits the bill like a cool pasta salad, usually mixed with my favorite all-time dressing -- mayonnaise. On a recent July evening, I decided to nix the mayo and try out a free sample I had received of Marzetti's Simply Dressed Blue Cheese Dressing to see what kind of pasta salad I could whip up.

Here's what I created:

MARZETTI'S BACON, OLIVE & TOMATO PASTA SALAD

Ingredients:

Rotini noodles, cooked and drained

Marzetti's Simply Dressed Blue Cheese Dressing

Crumbled, cooked bacon

Small olives

Chopped tomatoes

Shredded cheddar cheese

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Directions:

Toss noodles with Marzetti's Simply Dressed Blue Cheese Dressing. Fold in bacon, olives and tomatoes.

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Now for the taste test. I poured myself a glass of merlot and sat down in front of the TV with my Marzetti's inspired salad and a fresh episode of "Jeopardy." After my first bite, I smiled. Alex Trebek and his smart alec contestants had nothing on me. Sure they knew the names of every river in Africa and British monarch, but I had developed a pasta salad that was so creamy and delicious, even Martha Stewart would have begged for seconds. The curly pasta, creamy dressing, juicy tomatoes, smoky bacon, salty olives and cheddary cheese shreds were like a party in my mouth.

What really made my pasta salad sing was the Marzetti's Simply Dressed Blue Cheese Dressing. I am pretty picky about my blue cheese dressings, especially those that come out of a bottle. They often have a chemical taste that tells me they were made for longevity more than taste. But the Marzetti's blue cheese dressing tasted like something I would get from a high-end restaurant. It sported nice little chunks of blue cheese and had no chemical or tangy vinegar after taste.

After reading the label on the Marzetti's Simply Dressed Blue Cheese Dressing bottle, I understood why it tasted so much like home made. I did not need a chemistry book to decipher the ingredient list: canola oil, water, blue cheese, buttermilk, salted egg yolk, distilled vinegar, extra virgin olive oil, sugar, sea salt, xanthan gum, dehydrated garlic and cultured whey.

I would even wager a true Double Jeopardy that I'll be making this pasta salad again, maybe even adding broccoli florets, snap peas or whatever other vegetables are hanging out in the fridge to make it even healthier. What I won't subtract, however, is the Marzetti's blue cheese dressing. It's even better than mayo -- and for me, that's saying a lot.

I received this product for free and I was compensated for the article.