Homemade Italian Dressing (used for Pasta Salad)

Today, after church, we had a church-wide potluck meal. I know there are many food snobs out there who turn their nose up to a potluck but I love them. I love trying new dishes, seeing what others make, and eating a plateful of bitesized portions of as many dishes as possible.

When I was deciding what to make, I took a look in my fridge to see what I already had on hand. This pasta dish is what came of that search. I found three almost empty bags of dried pasta that I could throw in one pot together; a zucchini; a yellow squash; a can of black olives; some grated parmesan; and some sliced pepperoni.

I knew I wanted to throw together a dressing to go with it, instead of spending money on a bottled dressing, so I Googled and found this great recipe on AllRecipes.com and just removed the salt, per the reviews. This dressing is SO EASY and literally uses stuff you already have in your spice drawer. No need to spend money on a premixed dressing! This took about 5 minutes to whip up and was very flavorful.

Homemade Italian Dressing
1 tablespoon garlic salt
1 tablespoon onion powder
1 tablespoon white sugar
2 tablespoons dried oregano
1 teaspoon ground black pepper
1/4 teaspoon dried thyme
1 teaspoon dried basil
1 tablespoon dried parsley
1/4 teaspoon celery salt

In a small bowl, mix together the garlic salt, onion powder, sugar, oregano, pepper, thyme, basil, parsley, celery salt and regular salt. Store in a tightly sealed container.

To prepare dressing, whisk together 1/4 cup white vinegar, 2/3 cup canola oil, 2 tablespoons water and 2 tablespoons of the dry mix.