We have made this salad now probably 10 times since we first tried it. We make it for ourselves occasionally, but most of the time, family requests it for parties, etc. We are not allowed to bring any other kind of salad now! We make it exactly as called for, although we have noted that there is always extra ham and cheddar left over when the salad is gone. I think you'd be fine halving the ham/cheddar and it would still have plenty. Just a personal preference though. It does have a very unique flavor combination, but we love it! Thanks for a great recipe!

I have never wrote a review for a recipe before, but this pasta salad deserves it. This salad is fabulous, just the way it is. This will be a classic in our house for years to come.

Wonderful flavor combination! Thanks a million - will use frequently! I would like to add that since this was for a large group of people, I made a 1lb box of farfalle, doubled the dressing, and used 1/3 more ham. I personally don't like for any salad to be dripping with dressing and doubling the amount (for me) was perfect for 1 lb of pasta. Also, if you let it sit in fridge overnight, it will absorb a lot of the dressing, so make sure to keep some in reserve to add before serving. Fantastic Allison - everyone loved it!

This was really good and I am not a fan of dill, but I left it in. I will be keeping this for sure! Thanks!

I made this salad tonight to go alongside some ribs and I'm giving it 4 stars, but I think with one minor change, it could be 5 stars. I did make some changes; I used 5 slices of crisp, cooked bacon in place of the ham (could have used 6 or 7 though), cubed mozzarella cheese in place of the cheddar (won't do this again), and added a bit of red onion along with the green (I didn't have quite enough green). I will make this again, but next time I will reduce the Dijon mustard down to 1 tsp as the amount called for was overwhelming and we could taste very little else.

This was good; I don't know if it was spectaular, but it was a nice change. I did increase the amount of dressing a bit, although not quite doubled. I also increased the amount of dill (because I love it!) and I used less vinegar, along with some lemon juice, which gave this a great fresh flavor. The combination of ham, grapes, cheese and green onions was a good one. All in all, a very good recipe and I will probably make it again sometime.

This was good with the omission of grapes. I think next time I will use chunks of american cheese instead of cheddar, just a personal preference. I also might make a little more dressing because it seemed kind of dry. The dressing for this is very similar to a recipe I love that is served at Souper!Salads Restaurants. Thiers uses ribbon pasta and whole kernel corn.

This salad is full of tongue-teasing surprises in every bite. It got rave reviews at my party!

I love the flavor of this recipe. I use crumbled bacon instead of ham and half the amount of cheese. It is a great salad that you can keep in the fridge and have as a quick snack.

I was looking for a pasta salad to make for our thanksgiving dinner this year and after trying other recipes with grapes (yes, suggest seedless red grapes) this is the one. I agree tweaking the dressing a bit w/lemon juice and a little celery salt. How can you go wrong adding cheese and ham. Come on :)

I can normally tell what to expect from a recipe by reading the reviews, but the reviews for this are all over the place! A lot of people doubled the sauce, but some people said that there was too much, so I wasn't sure what to do. I ended up increasing the sauce but not quite doubling it, and I still thought the salad was a bit dry after refrigerating for a few hours. I added a few tablespoons of milk to moisten it up. I used fat free mayo and light sour cream to reduce the fat and used chicken instead of ham because of my own preference, but other than that I tried to stick to the recipe pretty closely. I thought it tasted okay, but you have to make sure that you have a grape in every bite. It's mediocre without the grapes. I wouldn't count on serving 8 people with this unless the people are small eaters. I doubt I'll make this salad again.

Very good salad! This was a big hit at our family party.

Overall the recipe was good. I am rating it a 3 because I did not like the vinegar taste in the dressing. The grapes are a great addition.

This pasta salad is good, but I didn't care much for the ham. The dressing is good, very similar to the dressing I make for potato salad. I will make this again, only next time I might use leftover turkey instead of the ham and dried cranberries in place of the grapes. I also think it would be better with shredded cheese instead of diced. It does taste better after being refrigerated overnight. Next time I will plan ahead and make it the day before I want to serve it.

I have to say, I am REALLY surprised at all the positive reviews. I had to throw this away, and it was a big bummer because you have to buy and use a lot of stuff in it. The vinegar was overwhelming, it just tasted BAD. I tried to make sure I got a bite with everything and it still was just...bad. I followed the recipe exactly...definetly not for me.

I had to make a couple of changes. My son hates mayo so I used salad dressing instead. I also did not have any dijon mustard on hand. I replaced that with hot mustard. Doubled sauce and used a 12 oz box of penne (not sure what that measures out to cup wise) and tossed in some croutons. I didn't have a drop of sauce left over. Didn't have any pasta left over either after hubby had seconds! Perfect summertime recipe. Thanks!!

This was just okay. I followed the recipe as written, and ended up with a lot of extra sauce, I am glad that I did not double it. I found that the sauce tasted too much like mayo and it just did nothing for me. My boyfriend liked this okay, but I won't be making it again. This was too rich for a pasta salad it seemed like. I like my pasta salad refreshing and light, and this was neither of those things.