Ellen's Muffaletta Pasta Salad

Ingredients

• (16 ounce) packagerotini pasta
• carrots, peeled and cut into 1/2-inch cubes
• cup chopped pepperoncini (Optional)
• 1/2 pound Genoa salami, cut into 1/2-inch cubes
• 1/2 pound Cheddar cheese, cut into 1/2-inch cubes
• 1/3 pound provolone cheese, cut into 1/2-inch cubes
• 1/2 sweet onion, cut into 1/2-inch piece s
• 1/2 cup1/2-inch piece spitted green olives
• 1/2 cup1/2-inch piece sKalamata olives
• 1/2 cup1/2-inch piece spepperoni
• 1/2 cup1/2-inch piece scelery
• 1/2 cup chopped green bell pepper
• 1/2 cup chopped red bell pepper
• 1/2(6 ounce) jarmarinated artichoke hearts, drained and cut into 1/2-inch piece s
• (8 ounce) bottleItalian-style salad dressing, or more to taste

Instructions

1. Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil. Cook the rotini in boiling water until tender yet firm to the bite, about 8 minutes; drain. Rinse pasta with cold water until chilled; drain.
2. Mix carrots, pepperoncini, Genoa salami, Cheddar cheese, provolone cheese, sweet onion, green olives, Kalamata olives, pepperoni, celery, green bell pepper, red bell pepper, and artichoke hearts together in a large mixing bowl. Pour Italian style salad dressing over the salad and toss to coat; add pasta and stir.
3. Cover bowl with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 1 hour before serving. Stir salad and add more Italian style dressing as needed if you find the salad too dry.

Tips

Instead of rotini, try fusilli pasta in green, white, and orange colors, or even a mixture of the two to total one pound. Kalamata olives can be replaced with canned black olives. Mix the salad all up again just before serving and add more of the Italian dressing, if the salad seems dry because the pasta absorbed the dressing.