Chicken Pasta Salad

This Chicken Pasta Salad is perfect for summer. I can't stand the heat...it is triple digits here in Arizona.  It is sooooo hard to cook when you have lost your appetite... because of the heat. This Chicken Pasta Salad has saved the day for me. I whipped this salad up in no time and it was really easy... light... refreshing... and it stimulated my appetite again. Yea!

To be honest I have a hard time eating salads. I love salads... but it is not my favorite thing to make and eat. I think mainly it is because I don't like a whole lot of veggies on my salad. This Chicken Pasta Salad is a fruit salad. It has fresh strawberries and fresh blueberries in it. Yum!
Let me just say that this Chicken Pasta Salad has changed my mind towards salad.
One of my three favorite salad recipes... for sure.

I bet if you whip up this salad for the 4th of July that your friends and family will love it.

Here is the recipe for you... so when you are too hot and don't want to cook... you can prepare this:

Chicken Pasta Salad
By Carrie Perrins

16 oz. uncooked Wacky Mac spiral-shaped pasta
1 (10 oz.) canned chicken, drained and shredded
1 cup fresh strawberries, cut in pieces
1/2 cup fresh blueberries
1 cup creamy poppy seed salad dressing, divided
fresh spinach leaves
croutons-crushed
pecans

Directions:
I separated the wacky mac pasta and used only the red and yellow ones, which was only 1/2 the pasta, but you could use the whole package if desired. Prepare the pasta as package directs, rinse under cold water and drain well. While the pasta is cooking... drain and shred the chicken. Cut your strawberries.
Once pasta has cooled down...toss the pasta with 1/2 cup of the poppy seed dressing, to coat.
Toss pasta with the next 7 ingredients, including the the other 1/2 cup of poppy seed dressing.
Serve.

Hints:

You can decided how much fresh spinach leaves you want in your salad... and then you can even serve it over a fresh bed of spinach. I just added the whole bag to the bowl and mixed. The options are great for this salad. You get to make it according to your likes... and it still tastes yummy.

I just took some croutons and crushed them up with a rolling pin... and added to salad. It gives it a crunch...without the big bites of croutons. If you are not allergic to pecans... then don't forget to add them. They add to salad. 

 Toss with the other 1/2 cup of poppy seed dressing that has been set aside.

 Mix up well and serve.

I hope you enjoy this salad. It is one of my favorites!

Here is another one of my other favorites just in case you have missed it...Raspberry Spinach Salad.

To see my previous patriotic posts...

Day 1...Star Dip Here

Day 2...Flag Pinwheel Hair Bow Here

Day 3...Framed Flag Here 

Day 4... Strawberry Cream Cheese Bagel Breakfast Sandwiches Here
Day 5... Salt & Pepper Shakers Here
Day 6... Father's Day Light Switch Cover Picture Frames Here