Summer Picnic Macaroni Salad

Ingredients

• 1 lb salad macaroni (cooked)
• 1 cup frozen peas
• 4 sweet pickles, finely minced (baby gherkins)
• 1/2 cup diced celery
• 1/2 cup diced sweet onion
• 6 ounces albacore tuna in water, drained
• 1 cup sharp cheddar cheese, cubed (about 1/4-inch pieces)
• 1 cup mayonnaise
• granulated sugar
• white vinegar
• salt and pepper

Directions

1. 1

   Drain the macaroni.

2. 2

   Pour a mixture of 3 tablespoons vinegar and 2 tablespoons sugar over the drained (still in the colander) macaroni.

3. 3

   Drain the macaroni (again).

4. 4

   In a large bowl mix salad macaroni, peas, baby gherkins, celery, sweet onion, tuna, cubed cheese.

5. 5

   Dressing: Take the mayo, sugar, some vinegar, salt and pepper to taste; mix into the macaroni mixture. You may want to add more dressing.

6. 6

   This is a very forgiving salad. You can sub salad shrimp, ham or chicken for the tuna or ditch the meat/fish and add some grated carrots (if using carrots you might want to cut back on the sweet pickles), diced zucchini and diced red peppers.

7. 7

   Chill, check the dressing and enjoy.