I was provided with complimentary Core Bamboo products to facilitate this review.  The opinions in this post are 100% mine.  You can read my full disclosure policy here.

This pasta salad is my go-to recipe for summer.  Actually I make it year round because the whole family loves it. The kids love when I make it during the week so they can take it for lunch.  I like it because it’s quick and easy, travels well, and it’s a great way to use up some of those tomatoes and peppers in the garden.

The secret is mixing the dry dressing mix and a bit of sweetener in with the bottled dressing.  Makes a huge difference!

The only thing better than a favorite recipe is making it with a favorite kitchen tool.  Core Bamboo makes the highest quality and most unique kitchen products, made entirely of 100% organically grown bamboo.

The pictures don’t do it justice. This stuff is NICE and I can tell you my first move after receiving this awesome Core Bamboo cutting board  it was to throw away my old plastic cutting board with all the knife marks it in.  Ew, right?  Now I’m using this one every chance I get.

A few things I love about it: It’s cool looking.  Well, it is! I love the contoured shape and the colorful border. It’s so nice looking and much more fun to cook with.  Now beyond that… The size is perfect. It’s not HUGE so it doesn’t take up the entire counter nor is it heavy and a pain to lug out when I want to use it.  But, it’s not so small that I can’t chop all my veggies on it either.  It’s just right!   Finally, it just works well. The wood is pretty hard so though I’ve been using it (a lot!) there are no scratch marks in the wood from cutting on it.  My other wooden boards all have big knife wounds in them.

I could spend hours shopping on the Core Bamboo site. These are a few of the things I’d love to have in my kitchen.  Aren’t they cool?  Next time you need a gift for your favorite foodie (yes, you’re allowed to pick yourself!) you know where to shop.  Follow Core Bamboo on Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest to keep up with all their latest happenings!

Now onto that recipe, made so much easier with Core Bamboo! 

Zesty Summer Pasta Salad Recipe

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Zesty Summer Pasta Salad Recipe

Ingredients

• 1 box of short cut pasta (I love Dreamfields Rotini)
• 1 9oz. bottle of Italian Dressing (I used Ken's Light Options Italian. If your bottle is 12oz. or so, that works, too!)
• 1 packet of dry Italian Dressing mix
• 2 teaspoons of sugar or one packet of sweetener
• 1 tomato, diced
• 2 bell peppers, different colors, diced
• 1 can of large black olives, sliced

Instructions

Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Cook pasta according to package directions.

While the pasta is cooking chop your veggies and olives and put them all together in a bowl.

When the pasta is done, drain it and rinse it with cold water. Pour into a large bowl. Add the vegetables and stir.

Pour about half of the dressing onto the pasta salad.

To the remaining dressing in the bottle, add the dry dressing packet and the sugar/sweetener. Shake well until combined. Pour over pasta salad.

Stir well to combine and either enjoy right away or keep refrigerated until you're ready to eat.

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I am participating in the Meatless May Challenge this month with a group of other bloggers.  We’ll each be posting 10 recipes in the month of May made without meat!