old fashioned macaroni salad with tomatoes and cucumbers

I make a salad similar to this all year long (but with less pepper). Another twist on a classic.This is an easy salad that is perfect for a warm summer day, When it comes to classic summer salads, it’s hard to beat this Marinated Cucumbers Onions and Tomatoes recipe…It just tastes like summer! This particular recipe is from Womack House, a long-ago country kitchen in Fulshear, TX. If you're a macaroni salad fan, you might like this coleslaw as well. Under-season and you end up with a flat-tasting salad. I've shared general amounts, but keep adding pepper, or lemon juice, or salt until the flavors really pop off the pasta. You really need to taste and adjust as you toss this salad. The later is a great option for mixed-crowd parties or households avoiding gluten. I also really like chickpea based elbow macaroni (like this one), and I'm seeing it in an increasing number of stores.

The pasta: You can experiment with different elbow macaroni. You can use classic, commercial mayo, but I also link to a simple vegan mayo I like to use here instead, it brings the spirit of a mayo-based salad with a fraction of the calories, fat, and it's vegan. I've tried to offer up a few alternative ideas here, ways you can maintain all the things you love about macaroni salad, and make it more healthful as well. The mayo: Most classic macaroni salads are not-very-good-for-you mayo bombs. I'll note tweaks down below and in the recipe headnotes! Or, let's say you have a gluten-free friend, you can make a quick swap using chickpea pasta elbows, no problem. For example, there's no reason you can't whip up a vegan version if needed. I'll also offer up some variations to explore depending on who you might be sharing your salad with. I've had my dad's macaroni salad twice in the last ten days, and I'm sharing my take on the classic here, along with a couple of tricks I keep up my sleeve.

The one he uses is medium-sized, and makes its appearance with plastic wrap across the top, secured with a rubber band. The bowl is what I notice first, ceramic with a flower detail on the inside rim, it's part of a set of three my grandma left when she died a few years back. He'll wheel it around in a cooler and when the time is right, he'll flip the top and pull a cornflower blue bowl from the ice. If you invite him to a picnic, barbecue, housewarming, or block party this time of year, odds are good he'll show up with a macaroni salad. This is a fresh take on classic macaroni salad, inspired by my dad.

Old fashioned macaroni salad with tomatoes and cucumbers