Super Easy Amish Macaroni Salad

I have a love/hate relationship with macaroni salad.

I love it because it's *awesome* in all of it's sweet, tangy goodness.

I hate it because...well, it's not good for the waistline.

*sigh*

The good stuff often isn't.

I'm not sure what possessed me to make a batch the other day- truth be told, I've never made it from scratch before- but make a batch I did.

Ohgosh.

You know, I remember loving it as a kid too, the stuff from the deli section of the grocery store.

I'm really a sucker for just about any creamy bad-for-you salads that I have no business eating and apparently I always have.

Nevertheless, I do love my macaroni salad- a lot.  I love that sweet tang.  The crunch of a little pickle, celery, and pepper.  I'm not sure that it really has any culinary counterparts, to be honest.

It's its own thing.  Go you, macaroni salad.

Anyway, so I made a batch the other night and it was so ridiculously good in that tangy macaroni salad-ish way.  You have no idea the self control it has taken not to eat all of the leftovers.

Seriously.  I should have made a half batch because it was too good.

This is classic picnic food people.  Or "I'm just going to grab a bite from the fridge" food.

Or well...any time food.

All I know is that my will power on this one is sure to end come summer grilling season!  :-)

I did back off the sugar a little, but the only other recommendation I have is to use small elbow noodles.  My grocery store had a couple of different sizes- the small looked too small and the big looked a little too big...I mean, the bigger size worked out alright but I think texture-wise I would have preferred the smaller variety.

Other than that, leave this simple recipe alone- it's perfect the way it is.

Amish Macaroni Salad

Modified slightly from Allrecipes.com

2 C uncooked elbow macaroni

4 hard-cooked eggs, chopped

1 small onion, chopped

3 stalks celery, chopped

1 small red bell pepper, seeded and chopped

2 Tbsp dill pickle relish

1 1/2 C mayo

2 1/2 Tbsp prepared yellow mustard

1/3 C white sugar

1-3/4 tsp white vinegar

1/4 tsp salt

1/2 tsp celery seed

1. Bring a pot of lightly salted water to a boil. Add macaroni, and cook for 8 to 10 minutes, until tender. Drain, and set aside to cool.

2. In a large bowl, stir together the eggs, onion, celery, red pepper, and relish. In a small bowl, stir together the salad dressing, mustard, white sugar, vinegar, salt and celery seed. Pour over the vegetables, and stir in macaroni until well blended. Cover and chill for at least 1 hour before serving.