@Chanbot
Okay, I managed to distill a pasta salad down to its simplest possible form, and made some attempt to measure things for you.
Pasta salad is great because besides being cheap and quick and easy to throw together, it's even better the second day and you can just eat it cold straight out of the fridge.
All you need for this at the minimal level is pasta, italian dressing, and a vegetable or two. But there's a lot of stuff you can just throw in there based on whatever odds and ends you have around, it's pretty versatile. I went with broccoli because I know you have a bag in the freezer right now, but you can do the same recipe with peas instead.
First, make your pasta. You can use shells or just about anything, but I'd avoid the long spaghetti type noodles for this, they absorb moisture differently because of the shape. There's 4 cups of it here cooked...I'm not sure what the dry amount was but probably close to that. This was just leftover pasta from something I made last night. When it's cooked, drain and rinse it with cold water and then put it in a container in a fridge so it can start chilling down. Or make it ahead of time like me so you can just take it out of the fridge and it's good to go.
Just a couple of handfuls of broccoli in a tupperware, and I added a half cup of water. Just gently set the lid on top without snapping it in place and microwave. In this case two minutes was perfect, it doesn't even need to be cooked really, just thoroughly unfrozen will do. It's a terrible crime to overcook veggies obviously, so if you're not sure of the time with different amounts (or if you're using peas) just heat for one minute at a time and then check to see if there's any frost left on them before adding another.
Once that's done, give the broccoli a rough chop.
...if you're using peas, you can skip that step.
When the noodles are cool, put them in a big bowl with plenty of room to add things and mix them around without making a mess. I sprinkled on garlic powder, parsley, and pepper before adding the broccoli and then the dressing. This would also be a good opportunity for you to use your lemon pepper. (And if you can get ahold of fresh parsley to chop up in there, that's even better.)
You can use any kind of Italian dressing, there's different brands with different flavors on the label like Robust or Zesty but it's all just vinegar with oil and spices so basically all the same.
I forgot to measure the dressing and just squirted some in there, but you'd want to start with I'd say about 1 tablespoon per cup of pasta, and stir and fluff it around, and then see if you need more from there. The idea is to have the dressing COAT the noodles, not drown them. You don't want a puddle in the bottom of the bowl. (Shake the bottle before you use it so you get more than just the oil that's separated to the top.)
At this point it's technically fine to eat just like that, but a little on the sad side. You want some color in there. You could try chopping red bell pepper or even finely dicing some carrots may work. As I said, it's really versatile so you can mix in just about any kind of veggie.
Here I added a tomato and a cup of shredded cheese. I'd have sliced some castelvetrano olives in there too if I'd had any left, and fresh parsley is always great. I know you don't really like cheese, but it's okay, you can learn. The next time you have a block of cheddar sitting in the fridge, you might consider this instead of letting it grow a new civilization over several months...
Anyway, you can eat right away, but it's better fully chilled and after the flavors have had a little time to blend. It might be a little dry after a day or two, the noodles will soak up the dressing, but you can mix in a splash or two more and it should be good to go.
Some crumbled bacon or diced chicken is also really good in there, if you have it.
Update: congrats on your spaghetti btw, I'm very proud of you!!
