Happy Fourth of July to everyone in the USA! My mom and I made this classic, American side dish today in preparation for our family BBQ tonight. This is a great dish to make ahead of time, even the day before and keep refrigerated until needed. You could double the recipe to serve more people. I chose this particular recipe because it was straightforward and sounded like a the basic mac salad one buys at the deli counter. For the vinegar we used apple cider vinegar as my mom said that is the normal type to use for this kind of salad.

Macaroni Salad ©EverydayCookingAdventures 2013

We refrigerated the salad for about two hours before serving it with our other BBQ dishes, cheeseburgers and Martha Stewart’s Lemony Potato Salad (click link for that recipe). The macaroni salad came out truly delicious! The only change we made was to substitute 1/2 a shallot instead of green onion. It tasted as good as the deli variety and wasn’t vinegary or sour like this type of salad can sometimes be. It was lightly creamy and the crunch of the celery and bell peppers was very yummy. Here’s my classic macaroni salad:

Happy 4th! ©EverydayCookingAdventures 2013

Classic Macaroni Salad

From: Chef Evelyn at Food.com, 2003

Prep Time: 15 mins
Total Time: 27 mins
Servings: 4

Ingredients:

• 1/2 lb macaroni, cooked and drained
• 1 cup sliced celery
• 1/2 cup chopped green pepper
• 1/2 cup chopped red pepper
• 1/2 cup chopped green onion

Dressing

• 1 cup mayonnaise
• 2 tablespoons vinegar
• 1 tablespoon mustard
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon pepper

Directions:
1. Cook macaroni according to package directions, drain, and rinse under cold water until cooled.
2. Meanwhile, in a medium bowl, combine dressing ingredients.
3. Stir in macaroni, celery, bell peppers, and onion.
4. Cover and chill in refrigerator one hour or overnight.