In June of 2015, I shared the original recipe for the macaroni salad my mom has always made. This year, as summer sprung into full gear, I developed an alternative. The driving desire behind it was to avoid using tuna. As you know, tuna is a danger to dolphins in that they still do get caught in nets, and it also contains high amounts of mercury. Since I was breastfeeding at the time, I didn’t want to eat much fish and thus avoid passing any mercury on to my daughter. I also didn’t want to feed her the salad and have her directly ingest mercury. Some folks aren’t so bothered by this, and others follow the government guidelines, believing that is safe and we shouldn’t worry beyond that. When it comes to my daughter, however, I’m a bit more cautious. I know that science isn’t perfect, and government officials are miles and miles less trustworthy.
Anyway, this is a recipe, not a lecture on science or politics, so let’s get down to it!
What you will need:
Box of spiral or small elbow pasta, Mayonnaise (Hellman’s again), red or green pepper, cucumber, carrot, celery, onion, and salt and pepper.
- 1 Box of Spiral or Small Elbow pasta
- 1-2 Cups of Mayonnaise
- 1/2 Red or Green Pepper finely chopped
- 1/2 cucumber finely chopped (peel if waxed)
- 1/4 Cup Onion finely chopped
- 3-4 Stalks of Celery finely chopped
- 1-2 Finely Grated Carrots
- Cracked Pepper and salt to taste
Boil the entire box of pasta until tender. Drain (they should not be drippy wet). Set aside
Wash the vegetables, then finely chop all of them except the carrots, which you will grate.
Combine vegetables, pasta, spices and mayonnaise.
Set aside in the refrigerator for at least one hour (overnight or most of the day is best). The noodles will soak up that mayonnaise, so you may need an additional amount. Serve cold and enjoy.
