Pasta Salad Bar . . . another assemble-your-own bowl/plate idea

We've made grain bowls, rice bowls, party platters and Mexican Haystacks - all attempts to add a little fun to our meals during COVID-10. For our picnic at Wilson Lake this past weekend I decided to expand on those assemble-your-own plate/bowl ideas. This time I started with our basic Salsa Pasta Salad (for 2 not 50) using small shell pasta (it's what I had on hand) and about equal amounts of mayo and salsa that I flavored with Ranch dressing mix; to that I added chopped onions, celery and carrots.
Right before we heading out, I set out protein-rich ingredients—all things that were in our fridge. Barry assembled his bowl, I assembled mine; we packed them on ice along with oranges and the cookie of the day (old-fashioned ice box cookies) + containers of ice water.
The idea of customized bowls or plates can be adapted to any number of things . . . and in this case, we can use the basic pasta salad as a side with sandwiches or add any number of ingredients to it to make a protein-rich main dish that could be varied according to our preference for the day.

Our Pasta Bar started with a small version of Salsa Pasta Salad. We filled bowls with the pasta salad and each added our choice of proteins that we had on hand: Smoked Turkey, grated cheese, garbanzo beans, a hard-cooked egg + fresh chives for garnish.

 

Above: Photos of our Wilson Lake outing.
Below: Old Fashioned Ice Box Cookies -- a recipe I tested for an upcoming magazine article . . . these buttery, and versatile make-ahead cookies will be featured in a later post.