Pasta, your choice (ravioli, corkscrew, tortellini, etc.)

VEGETABLES (your choice, any or all) :
Fresh or marinated mushrooms
Marinated artichoke hearts
Black olives
Sweet pickles
Green onions
Red Bermuda onions
Broccoli
Snow peas
Red peppers, either fresh or roasted
Zucchini
Carrots
Avocados
Aspa ragus
Green beans
Jicama
Small baby corn

MEATS (your choice) :
Salami, cut into thin strips
Ham, cubed into sm. pieces
Turkey or chicken, cubed into bite size pieces
Italian or your favorite kind of sausage, cooked and cut into sm. pieces
Leftovers

CHEESE (your choice) :
Swiss or Cheddar or Monterey Jack or whatever you like
1 bottle Ranch style creamy dressing or make your own from the dry packet
Parmesan cheese to taste (optional)
Mayonnaise

Cook your choice of pasta until al dente and drain. Put into a large bowl that will hold everything. Sprinkle on some Parmesan cheese and about half the bottle of Ranch-style dressing. Throw in a little mayonnaise (don't you love the measurements!!) to your taste. Blanch in hot boiling water for 1 minute, all the fresh vegetables (such as snow peas or broccoli or green beans or asparagus) so that they have a beautiful green color. Combine all the other vegetables of your choice and mix them in with the pasta. Add the meat and/or cheese and mix again, trying not to mash up the pasta (use a gentle, folding motion).

Your end result is a pasta salad, served room temperature or cold, great for picnics and buffets, large crowds. Wonderful in the summertime when you don't feel much like cooking.

By the way, you can add the entire bottle of Ranch-style dressing if you like, it all depends on how big of a salad you are making. What you don't want is a soupy mess, so keep the proportions small enough so that you have a thick sauce-type consistency enrobing the pasta and vegetables.

I call this "clean-out-the-refrigerator" pasta salad, as it's a great way to use up all those odds and ends that lurk about your refrigerator. You are limited only by your creativity in whatever combinations you choose!