pasta taco salad

We've made this twice now and it just keeps getting better. Love it for a potluck or a weekend lunch as it's own meal. Yummmo!

You'll need:
(note: like most of my recipes, the amounts of eyeballed... so if you only have 1/2 C cheese and no olives, that's fine, it'll still be good)

• 1 lb ground beef
• 1 small can chopped green chilies (they're not that hot, and I'm a giant wiener, promise)
• 1/2 C chopped onion
• 2 C rotini pasta
• 1/4 C black olives (optional)
• 1 C halved cherry or grape tomatoes
• 1 C cheddar cheese (you can use shredded, but I really like it cubed in this recipe)
• 2-3 C shredded lettuce
• 1/2 to 1 C Dor.othy Lynch salad dressing (what? you don't have Dorothy? fine, use Catalina) (but it's really, really good, you should try it if you have it near you)
• 1/2 to 1 C salsa
• small bag (convenience store size) Doritos, crushed

What you'll do:
Cook the pasta according to package directions, drain, rinse with cold water, drain again, and set aside. Brown the ground beef with the onion and green chilies. When it's finished cooking, transfer to a bowl and place in the fridge until cool. In a separate bowl, combine cooled, drained pasta, olives, tomatoes, and cheese. Once the meat is cool (so the cheese doesn't melt), add it to the pasta mixture. Add 1/2 C each of the dressing and salsa and stir the entire salad together. You can add as much salsa as you like for a kick, but I usually stick with about 1/2 C. Add more dressing, 1/4 C at a time, until the mixture is no longer dry (but you don't want it soupy either). Add the lettuce shortly before serving. Lastly, spread the crunched Doritos over the top of the salad. Enjoy!