Macaroni salad is a summer staple in our house.  It’s the perfect side to anything you throw on the grill and you can make it on a Sunday afternoon and have it on hand for a quick stand-in side as needed during the workweek.

There’s nothing particularly fancy about this recipe other than I love a classic sauce and that’s what this is.

Let’s Get Crafty!
1/2 box elbow macaroni, cooked according to package directions
I like mine to be al dente so I watch the cook time pretty closely and usually taste one a couple times.  I didn’t have the extra time today to have it chill a few hours in the fridge before dinner so I improvised.  After draining the water, I left it in the colander and added some ice to speed up the chilling process.  After the ice melted, I put it in our freezer for 20 minutes.

Put together the sauce while the pasta is in the freezer:
1/2 cup light mayo
2 tablespoons mustard
pepper (I don’t generally add salt because the dill pickles bring a lot to the table)

Toss it all together with a couple more things:
Pull the pasta from the freezer
Add in the mayo sauce
1/2 red pepper, diced (mostly for color and because I was out of celery and felt like a crunchy component is needed)
1-2 tablespoons dill relish (or chopped up dill pickles)

The verdict on this recipe?  Everyone liked it and the kids even wanted seconds.  Which was a win.  My husband and I were missing the chopped eggs.  We’re rolling into the beginning of summer – so there’s time!

Thanks for stopping by!  I hope you have a great day.