The Perfect Day for Making Tuna Salad

I have hardly made any cold pasta salads this summer for a reason I do not know..I love pasta salads (that may be the reason..I can't stop eating them and don't need to keep shoving pasta salad into my body).  Anyway, it' been in the high 90s the last few days and I thought to myself, "you know, a tuna pasta salad would be good this weekend to have around ready to pull out when we want to eat hamburgers or hotdogs or something and I don't want to cook because it's in the high 90s"..I have a tendency to talk to myself a lot these days and I enjoy my own conversations.  Thus, I threw together the tuna salad just now.  I did make it one other time this summer, and Joe, my son, complained that tuna salad should have rings in it as I had used shell noodles, so I had picked up a box just to make him happy the next time I made it.  I was out of my sweet pickle relish (making that next weekend) so I substituted some baby sweet pickles like my mom used to use in her cold salads.  It's pretty good that way..had forgotten about using them even and luckily I had part of a jar of some in the fridge from a feed with the kids.  Here's how I made it.

COLD TUNA PASTA SALAD:

Cook one half of a  16 ounce box of large pasta rings-I used Creamettes, according to directions on the box.  I add a handful of frozen baby peas into the boiling water too to save a kettle..drain and rinse with cold water. 

Meantime into a medium to larger bowl or sealable container:
chop 3 tiny sweet pickles and some of the pickle juice from the jar-about 3 Tablespoons
1 cup Miracle whip-can add a little more if it doesn't seem moist enough to you.
1/8 cup Western dressing
a small amount of finely chopped yellow onion, or a few green onions diced finely
1 can of your favorite style of tuna, drained well and rinsed.
small amount of salt and pepper
a large handful of shredded cheddar cheese (I use mild for this)

add cooked noodles and stir until mixed well.  sprinkle paprika on the top and refrigerate until cool and flavors have had a chance to meld together.  I actually think it tastes better the second day, so good item for a potluck that you can make ahead to bring..