I’m not a recipe follower. I don’t know if that’s good or bad. I think good.
Awhile ago I gave you my recipe for ring macaroni salad. (find that recipe HERE)
Well the other day I decided that I was going to make macaroni salad. I went to the cupboard to check the noodle selection and there was ring macaroni. Yahoo. It’s my favorite!
I started boiling the noodles only to find that the ham I thought was in the refrigerator was gone. I went to the cabinet thinking DARN…I’m going to have to use tuna for the meat. I don’t like that as well but oh well. My goal has been to use what’s in the cupboards so I was sticking with that and planned to use it but I opened the door and saw two things….
Spam and Queso cheese. Hmmm. That sounded interesting. Time for a recipe tweak.
So I chopped up the Spam into small pieces. Chopped an onion and just then our son Buck called on the phone. He asked what I was doing and I said making macaroni salad. He said, I hope you’re putting celery in it. Hmmm.. I wasn’t. I didn’t have any. So as I was talking to him I walked to the cupboard and got the celery salt. I sprinkled a few shakes into the salad.
I got done talking to him and chopped an onion.
Now for the Queso. How was I going to incorporate that?? I ended up taking Mayo, Queso, salt and pepper and a little milk to smooth it out and used that as the sauce.
Oh my…check it out….
I wish you could taste it!!
It is the VERY best macaroni salad I have ever made. Seriously, I love it. I like it LOTS more than putting cheese chunks in. Every bit is slightly queso flavored this way.
The only thing I did wrong was to only make one box of rings worth. Queso in my macaroni salad is going to be the new standard. I didn’t add a lot…only enough for flavor.
This was an open jar….
I think it’s events like this…being out of ham and making due that challenge me to be a better cook and happily, what results from my experiments is typically better than any original recipe I ever had!
Yes, as always…I apologize that I have no real recipe.
My mom’s macaroni salad uses spam and peas with celery salt and mayo; I’m not quite sure how she came to use this as her standard combo, but I really like it that way.
I’m a dyed in the wool recipe-non-follower! I hear ya! And…YUM!
-Jean ❤
I call that “Pantry Challenge” in our house.
Better write it down….been there before, couldn’t remember what made it so good!
Love trying different macaroni salads. Never thought of using queso cheese. Your’s sounds great. Using spam in place of ham is a good choice. I like celery, onion, and peas. Sometimes shredded carrot and hard boiled eggs. My husband called it cleaning the refrigerator
I use spam all the time in my macaroni salad and just love it! Always have it on hand just in case I want to make some. By the way love your new sewing machine! What a great find!!
I bet this would be good with corned beef and a bit of chopped Cabbage! And a dash of mustard.
I love Spam. Good looking salad and I bet it is good
I cook like you! Rarely follow a recipe exactly as I usually sub ingredients or leave out those I dont want to include. I love macaroni salad.
Spam salad has been a favorite of our house too. I think I will try it with Queso next time.