Stephie's Macaroni Salad

My number one, sure fire, guaranteed method of finding great recipes to cook is to ask my mom for her recipe. I know the recipe is extra special when she tells me she doesn't have it written down.

Mom's macaroni salad is legendary in the family. She brings it to almost every BBQ/get together we have all summer long and never there's never leftover to be found. Often, she makes a double or triple batch so Dad can have some for lunch.  Making the salad is fairly simple, but there are a couple tricks to making the salad truly excel. The first and most important tip is the salad needs to be made at least the day before you need it.

Ingredients

• 1 lb Creamette Elbow Macaroni
• 3 ribs of celery - diced
• 5 - 6 scallions - diced
• 1/2 pound cooked baby shrimp
• 2 cans crabmeat
• 1/2 can solid white tuna
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tsp pepper
• 1 tbsp parsley
• 1 tsp celery salt
• 1/4 tsp celery seed
• Hellmann's Mayonnaise

Tools

• Pot for cooking pasta
• Colander
• Mixing Bowl
• Mixing Spoon

Cook the pasta until just done and rinse. Al dente pasta doesn't add here. Add the celery, scallions, shrimp, crabmeat, tuna and seasonings to the bowl. The second trick for the recipe is to add about a half can of crab juice.  Mix the ingredients in the bowl.

The last ingredient is the most important: mayonnaise.  Throw the Miracle Whip away and get the real stuff: Hellmanns.  Add in a couple large spoonfulls of mayo and mix.  You want to add just enough mayo so all the pasta is coated.  Put the salad in the refrigerator and come back tomorrow.

As the salad sits overnight, the pasta soaks up the mayo leaving the salad rather dry. Add more mayo and mix again until you have a nice sticky but not overly wet consistency.