My Mom’s Macaroni Salad

by //

We had a little get together while my son, Ryan, was home on leave from the Army. My Mum brought this family favorite.

In our family cook book she wrote of this salad:

” When I was in high school,  I would sometimes have lunch at the Elite Café. They always had a lunch special which included a hamburger with your choice of macaroni salad, potatoes and gravy or French fries. I loved the macaroni salad. When Mom went to work as a cook for the Elite Café she taught me how to make the macaroni salad the way they made it there. It is my favorite salad. The secret and key ingredient is the the green peppers; you can vary the other ingredients, but don’t ever leave out the green peppers!”  ” This salad without the shrimp, radishes and black olives is the approximate salad that the Elite Café used for their salad when I was in high school. It was so good that we would eat it every day!”

 She always makes such a lovely presentation. I think it is a gorgeous salad – simple and very delicious too!

Here’s the recipe as given by my Mum- Sherrill:

mums-mac-salad

Macaroni Salad

  • 4-6 cups cooked macaroni, drained well
  • Best Foods/Hellmann’s mayonnaise- enough to moisten all other ingredients
  • 1 medium chopped onion
  • 1 green bell pepper, chopped
  • 1 cup chopped celery
  • 1/2 head iceberg or other crisp lettuce, chopped
  • 1 large tomato, diced
  • fresh radishes, sliced (optional)
  • ripe black pitted olives, drained (optional)
  • small shrimp, cooked and drained (optional)
  • cucumber slices (optional)
  • salt and pepper to taste
  • Paprika, sweet to taste

Place macaroni in a large bowl, add the onion, green pepper, celery, lettuce and tomato. Stir in enough mayonnaise to make salad fairly moist.  Add salt and pepper to taste. Sprinkle the top with paprika and garnish with the radishes, black olives, shrimp and cucumber if desired.  Make it pretty- like Mum!

Thanks to my Mum- for letting me show her salad and give you her recipe. I hope you all enjoy!

xo

About the author

Gabi
I am a writer, artist, gardener, obsessed cook/baker and recipe lover. I spend my time finding new ways to enjoy my life and try to encourage everyone around me to do the same. I like creating a cozy, warm, comforting and inviting atmosphere and hope to share some of that here. Hopefully, I get to learn from others who share my interests too.

10 comments

  2. Marie says:

    Hi Gabi,

    Just stopping by to check in and say hello. Hope all is well in your neck of the woods. Happy spring to you!
    Hugs,
    Marie

  3. nick says:

    Family cookbook? Vat is dis of which u speak? What a great idea. Now if only I could get my father to write something down on paper. Half the reason we started our blog was to keep track of what we do so we can look at it later!

    Your salad is quit enticing, especially with all those differing textural components. I’d imagine it tastes as good as it looks. Highly recommend homemade mayo (super easy), but if I had to pick a store bought one Hellman’s would certainly be up there.

  7. Debbie says:

    I have fallen in love with the “looks” of this salad and plan to make it for myself this weekend! I am really enjoying your blog.

  8. Gabi says:

    Marie- Hey thanks :)- we usually use elbow macaroni or small shells. Any smallish with a little body to stand up to the other ingredients would do.

    Shelly – Thanks yes – I can’t wait for picnic weather. 🙂

  9. Shelly says:

    This looks so good and refreshing, Gabi. It’ll be great to make now since warm weather is finally arriving :)!

Leave a Reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.