Best Summer Pasta Salad

A couple of years ago my friend Robin hosted a party at her home and served the most delicious pasta salad.  She shared the recipe with me and every since, it's my "go to" summer salad.

After boiling your pasta, the salad takes only about 5 minutes to prep.  Here's the yummy recipe if you'd like to give it a try:

ROBIN'S PASTA SALAD
Ingredients:
1 pound pasta (I like to use bow tie)
Zest and juice of 1 lemon (if you don't have a fresh lemon on hand, a tablespoon of store-bought juice works)
Olive oil to moisten cooked pasta (I use about 1/4 cup)
2 handfuls of toasted pine nuts
2 handfuls of dried cranberries (cranraisins work too)
1 cup crumbled feta cheese
1 tablespoon dried sweet basil (fresh basil if you'd like)
Salt & pepper to taste (I like using Lawry's)

Directions:
1. Cook and drain pasta according to package directions
2. Add all of the ingredients and toss well
3. Enjoy!

On a different note, I've discovered a fun blog that you might enjoy too ~ Kristin's Bringing Pretty Back.  Hope you'll check her out and tell her I sent you.

Please remember to enter my super fabu giveaway this month ~ over $200 in Retro Revival products and J&O gift cards!  Lots of people have already entered and I'm having a blast seeing all of the pictures, including this one from Charity:

Charity's wearing a custom Sleep Bonnet I made for her.  Isn't she just gorgeous?!  As far as I can tell, she's in the lead right now with the most "likes" for her photo.  I'm hoping that one of you, my loyal blog followers, will win the contest ~ good luck to you all!