Creamy Avocado Pasta Salad Dressing

Sum sum summertime. Some days (especially this summer) it's just too dang hot to even grill.
So here is a heart healthy cold pasta salad dressing that actually tastes BETTER than a Mayo dressing! It's so versatile, you can make it as a side dish, or just throw in a whole bunch of good stuff and make it a meal. I like to serve myself small variations of it with a side of tuna drizzled with olive oil mixed with minced garlic and lemon juice.
~~~ Submitted by Lynne

INGREDIENTS (per 2 cups uncooked pasta, makes 4 cups cooked)
1 Avocado
1 Garlic toe, minced
1 tsp lemon juice (prevents browning of avocado)
1/4 cup + 1 tbsp whole milk
Dash of salt to taste

INSTRUCTIONS

There are 2 ways to do this, if you like it really creamy, add all the ingredients above to a blender and whirl it until it reaches a cream ranch dressing consistency. (You may have to add a little more milk, a teaspoon at a time).

My favorite way (because I like to have some chunks in it) is to flex some muscle and use an old fashion potato masher to moosh it all up.

Once you have the consistency you want, assemble your pasta with the extra's that you want to put in it (see below for ideas), pour in the avocado dressing, and mix it all up until nicely coated. Refrigerate until ready to serve (but not more than a day).

Pasta Salad Ideas
1) Add cooked shrimp or chicken bites
2) Go Hawaiian and toss in some pineapple. (This is soooooo good!)
3) Put a sweet touch on with mini marsh mellows mixed in. (Kids will love it!)
4) Black olives with this dressing go with everything!
5) Chopped green onions or scallions complement the flavor and the green.
6) ANY bite size chopped veggies... cukes, yellow squash, zucchini, tomato, peppers.
7) Herbs, herbs, herbs! Think: Cilantro, Basil, Parsley's, Rosemary, Thyme, anyone one of those of a combination of a few of them will lift the flavor to delightful new heights.
8) Don't forget... chopped celery and/or carrot for some crunch factor.

Notes:

This dressing can also be gently heated and used with hot pasta. Any of your favorite grated pasta cheeses go well with it.

The type of pasta isn't listed because this goes with all of it. Take your pick, elbows, penne, ziti, linguini, small shells... if it's pasta? It will work.

There is one draw back, in that making this salad dressing for your pasta salad gives it a pretty short left over life. About 1 day in the fridge and that's it. HOWEVER, the good news is... you'll hardly ever have any left overs anyway, it's that good.