Macaroni Salad with Ham and Cheese is such a treat and super easy to make! This is comfort food for the summer y'all! I could eat a big 'ol bowl of this stuff and call it a day! It's that good!

This recipe is my attempt at recreating grandma's delicious macaroni salad she made for us many times over the years! And by grandma, I'm talking about my mother-in-law. 

Grandma can make a mean salad! I can never get it just right, because clearly she has the magic touch when it comes to making her famous macaroni salad. She's also famous for her potato salad. My version of that is coming soon as well. It's good but, once again, not grandma good!

I never had a macaroni salad quite like this before, so I was skeptical when I first tried it all those years ago when I was just the girlfriend. Of course, I had to try everything! Didn't want to be rude, you know! One taste and I was hooked! I looked at Don and asked him to marry me!! I was ready to take the plunge and commit to eating this stuff for the rest of my life! I couldn't imagine my life without it! Luckily I felt the same about the guy too <grin>

I don't really have a recipe per say. This is one of those recipes where you fly by the seat of your pants and if it tastes good - do it!

I did, however, try to jot down a few measurements for this post as a guideline. That is in bold and underlined to show how serious I am about it!

Honestly, I'll say it again, if it feels good, do it! Go with your gut and taste, taste, taste as you go! That's the best part of all!

Give it a taste after each addition and adjust as needed to your liking. Don doesn't really like it too 'wet', so I'm careful with the mayo. By all means if you want more mayo - put it in there! Don't be shy about mayo usage, and for the love of all that is good in this great world PLEASE use real mayo! I'm begging you! It's like the law when making a good macaroni salad. It certainly should be!

Macaroni Salad with Ham and Cheese

By Life Tastes Good
Published 05/19/2014

Ingredients

• 8 ounces of some kind of tube noodle, cooked per package directions and chilled. I normally use elbow noodles, but I had some Cavatappi already made, so I went with that
• 1/4 cup mayo or to taste
• 1/8 cup pickle juice
• 1/4 cup diced or sliced up ham. I use Virginia Baked Ham
• 1/4 cup diced or sliced white american cheese
• 1/4 cup diced bread and butter pickles. Sometimes I use a sweet relish, but that is typically only when my good friend blesses me some of her homemade stash. It is to die for!
• 2 hard boiled eggs, peeled and sliced
• a sprinkle or two of paprika
• salt and pepper to taste

Instructions

1. Combine 1/4 cup mayo with the chilled noodles and mix to coat all the noodles. Add 1/8 cup juice from the pickles, 1/4 cup diced ham, 1/4 cup diced cheese, and 1/4 cup diced bread and butter pickles into chilled pasta noodles and mix to combine well. Give it a taste and add more of anything or everything to suit your tastes.
2. Sprinkle with paprika and season with salt and pepper until it is just right! Put it in the fridge so all those flavors can mingle a bit. It will taste better after sometime mingling together in the fridge.
3. When ready to serve, give it another taste and adjust the flavors as needed. Sometimes the noodles get greedy and really soak up the mayo, so if it seems a little dry, don't be shy about adding more mayo. Enjoy!

Yield: 4 Servings
Prep Time: 10 mins.

Total time: 10 mins.

Tags: Macaroni Salad, Summer, Pasta, Picnic, Barbecue, BBQ, Pot Luck, side, eggs, party

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