Pasta and Vegetable Salad with Homemade Italian Dressing

Spring is here, the snow is gone, the weather is warm, and our grill is in full use. Thom and I had been discussing different marinades to use for meats on the grill. This brought us to the topic of how chicken marinaded in Italian dressing is pretty much love on the grill (seriously, go try it); from here we digressed to memories of making Italian dressing at home by opening up the seasoning packet and mixing in vinegar and olive oil. I am not sure if they still make the product or not, but I am sure that it is full of preservatives and junk that we really should not be eating.

On a whim, I searched the internet for a recipe for Italian dressing mix, and to my surprise, I found one that makes multiple batches of Italian dressing. The first round was used on chicken breasts for the grill (surprised?). The finished dressing turned out so awesome that I decided to experiment with it further. When I was a kid, my mom used to make a simple pasta salad with rotini primavera and Italian dressing as a summer side dish. It was simple, yet tasty. This pasta salad is based off that simple recipe, with some added veggies because, well, veggie are cool.

What you need:
1 16oz box of shaped pasta, I used wagon wheels
2 cups of veggies, I used cauliflower, sugar snap peas, and Brussels sprouts, but any combo would work
1 finished batch of Italian dressing (recipe below)

What you do:
1. Boil the pasta until tender, if your veggies require cooking, toss them in with the pasta.
2. Drain your pasta/veggies in a colander, rinse with cold water.
3. Place pasta and veggies in a serving bowl, pour Italian dressing on top and toss.

Italian Dressing Mix, based off recipe that can be found here.
What you need:
1 tbsp garlic powder
1 tbsp onion powder
1 tbsp sugar
2 tbsp dried oregano
1 tsp ground black pepper
1/4 tsp dried thyme
1 tsp dried basil
1 tbsp dried parsley
2 tbsp salt

What you do:
1. Mix all dry ingredients in a container with a tight fitting lid, recipe makes approximately 1/2 cup of mix
2. To make dressing, combine 1/4 cup white vinegar, 2/3 cup extra virgin olive oil, 2 tbsp water, and 2 tbsp mix.