sunday funday with caesar pasta salad

Have you ever been to Cheddar's? One of my favorite dishes there is the Chicken Caesar Pasta Salad. I mean, I am in love with it. I eat the whole thing whenever I order it. One day I turned on the Food Network for some background noise and lo & behold... a similar recipe was just being shown!


I grabbed this recipe from Sandra Lee. For the record, I'm not a fan of her; she's a peg above Rachael Ray for me. But once in a while, she does get little smart ideas for good recipes. Add some romaine lettuce and cooked chicken, and you have the same Cheddar's dish!


For this recipe, I used the whole 16 oz. box of pasta instead of half. So, if you decide to cook the whole box of pasta, just double everything. I used dried parsley flakes too, so half that if you don't have fresh (dried has a more powerful flavor than fresh). I also seasoned the majority of it by taste instead of precisely measuring. Word of caution for lemon-haters: it does have a nice tangy lemon flavor. I love it, but some people don't. I think you can forgo the lemon or just add the zest and it'll taste perfectly fine. :)

What are some of your favorite pasta salad recipes?