Pasta Salad

This is a Kelly favorite. My mom's very own pasta salad recipe. Perfect on a summer day, on a winter day, on any day. It is delicious but can take a bit of preparation. The amount of each ingredient really depends on your personal tastes.

Ingredients:
1/2 box ziti pasta
1 head broccoli
1 or 2 tomatoes, or 1 box of cherry tomatoes
10-ish olives
4 artichoke heart pieces (from the jar, pickled)
1 red bell pepper
1/4 to 1/2 block sharp cheddar cheese
1 or two tablespoons mayonnaise (to taste)
splash of Ken's Steakhouse Italian dressing (about 1 tbsp)
1 tsp lemon juice
oregano
basil
salt
pepper
garlic powder
(All seasoning is to taste... but I would guess about 2 or 3 teaspoons of everything but salt. Maybe 1 teaspoon of salt)

Directions:
Cook pasta according to the directions on the box. (Come on, I know you don't need me to hold your hand through this.) Cut off the broccoli stem and chop it into small pieces (a bit smaller than bite-sized). Dice tomatoes or quarter cherry tomatoes. Dice artichoke hearts. Cut cheddar cheese into VERY SMALL cubes. And here I am going to give you a very life-saving interjection:

HOW TO PIT OLIVES:
Take an olive. Put it on a cutting board. Take a big old carving knife, or spatula or really anything flat and solid. SMUSH the olive. Slice the side of the olive if it has not already split. The pit should come right out.

Pit and quarter olives. Cut red bell pepper into 1 cm squares.

Drain the pasta and let it cool. Once it is cool, add mayonnaise, lemon and dressing. Mix it up well. Add everything but seasoning and mix again. Add seasoning. Mix again!

There you have a delicious pasta salad! Store in the refrigerator.

Final step: NOM IT ALL!