Buffalo Ranch Pasta Salad

Next week is already Labor Day weekend? I thought I would have time to savor every drop of this summer, after the worst-ever Polar Vortex we went through last winter. Instead, it seems like summer has gone by even faster than usual.

It’s really not surprising, considering how much I’ve done this summer: kayaking, a big picnic with friends, several baseball games, a trip to Columbus, a charity event at the zoo, a mini vacation with my mom, a mini vacation with my girlfriends, lake time for the 4th of July, the Ann Arbor Art Fair, the annual Ferndale Pub Crawl, my sangria party, a professional soccer game, camping, and the sinus surgery I just had a few days ago (the only not fun part of my summer, that’s for sure).

Whew, I’m tired just typing all of that.

I took the flavors of buffalo sauce and ranch dressing, but instead of pairing them with chicken (like in my healthy buffalo chicken dip), I just stirred them into a veggie-loaded pasta salad.

Of course, if you wanted to add diced or shredded chicken to this salad, you certainly could. You could even add blue cheese. But I kept this one nice and light with lots of veggies.

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Buffalo Ranch Pasta Salad

Yield: 8 servings

Prep Time: 15 minutes

Cook Time: 10 minutes

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Ingredients

• 12 ounces rotini pasta
• 1/2 cup buffalo sauce (cayenne pepper sauce)
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 1 packet (1 ounce) ranch salad dressing and seasoning mix
• 4 celery stalks, thinly sliced
• 2 carrots, chopped
• 1 green bell pepper, chopped

Instructions

1. Cook pasta according to package directions. Drain, rinse with cold water, and drain again.
2. Meanwhile, in large bowl, whisk together buffalo sauce, olive oil and ranch mix.
3. Add celery, carrots, green pepper and pasta to bowl with buffalo sauce mixture; toss to combine. Refrigerate until ready to serve.

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