Looking for a macaroni salad recipe

ambie35
ambie35 Posts: 853 Member
edited September 30 in Recipes
Hey everyone,I am craving some macaroni salad (it is bbq season after all,and I already have a good recipe for sweet potato salad). Wondering if anyone can offer up a low cal white sauce macaroni salad recipe. Usually I can improvise a recipe to make it low cal,but I've not made macaroni before so Im not even sure what is meant to go in it.
Thanks,any suggestions welcome.

Replies

  • silver02bullet
    silver02bullet Posts: 261 Member
    I use a light italian dressing as my "sauce" and dice up bell peppers, cucumbers, onions, and a little parm cheese with my noodles. My mother puts chunks of fresh tomatoes in hers, but i don't. You can pretty much add any vegetable.

    It's easy and MUCH better tasting after the first day of sitting in the dressing. And you don't even need much dressing to coat the noodles! (I use those vegetable noodle spirals.)
  • Drunkadelic
    Drunkadelic Posts: 948 Member
    http://www.skinnytaste.com/2011/06/blt-macaroni-salad.html
  • ambie35
    ambie35 Posts: 853 Member
    thank-you :)
  • casirdms
    casirdms Posts: 145 Member
    http://www.skinnytaste.com/2011/06/blt-macaroni-salad.html

    yum!!
  • fbmandy55
    fbmandy55 Posts: 5,263 Member
    My mom has been using yogurt rather than mayo for her pasta and potato salads. It's actually pretty good and helps out on calories alot!
  • bcattoes
    bcattoes Posts: 17,299 Member
    Hey everyone,I am craving some macaroni salad (it is bbq season after all,and I already have a good recipe for sweet potato salad). Wondering if anyone can offer up a low cal white sauce macaroni salad recipe. Usually I can improvise a recipe to make it low cal,but I've not made macaroni before so Im not even sure what is meant to go in it.
    Thanks,any suggestions welcome.

    If by "white sauce" you mean mayo-based then it's going to hard to get low calorie because mayo has a good amount of oil and that means calories on top of the already calorie rich pasta. But you can make a healthy macaroni salad by using a whole grain pasta (there are many varieties to choose from these days) and mayo made with canola or olive oil (though regular mayo isn't really that bad).

    I've found that "traditional" macaroni salad varies from place to place. Where I live it always includes chopped onion and celery, and boiled eggs. Other veggies that are sometimes added are chopped tomato or shredded carrot. But really you could add anything that you like.

    Or as another poster suggested go with a vinegrette dressing instead of mayo. This has the added benefit of not spoiling in the heat if you are going to be outside.
  • bethany675
    bethany675 Posts: 44 Member
    Kraft mac & cheese has the new veggie pasta (made from ground califlower). Just get a box of that and throw away the cheese mix. Then you can also have a smaller amount that the huge box of elbow noodles too.....resist temptation. LOL
  • cavaaller_85
    cavaaller_85 Posts: 94 Member
    Check out this one. I LOVE it, and so does my husband (he doesn't even know it's guilt-free!).

    http://www.hungry-girl.com/newsletters/raw/1569

    Her website is WONDERFUL for substituting "bad for you" foods. You should subscribe and check out some of her other stuff!

    9094951.png
    Created by MyFitnessPal.com - Free Calorie Counter
  • clairemoon
    clairemoon Posts: 1
    Hi,
    I'm italian and here we use some little jars containing every kind of vegetables, dressed with olive oil (the brand names here is Ponti or Polli, or Saclà)
    But in my family we make also another kind of "cold pasta": we dress maccheroni (yes, this is our way to call them...) with fresh sliced tomatoes, mozzarella and tuna.
    xx
    Chiara
  • ambie35
    ambie35 Posts: 853 Member
    Thanks for the advice everyone. I ended up making a macaroni salad that was less then 200 cals a serving :)
  • ambie35
    ambie35 Posts: 853 Member
    Thanks for the advice everyone. I ended up making a macaroni salad that was less then 200 cals a serving :)
  • bcattoes
    bcattoes Posts: 17,299 Member
    Kraft mac & cheese has the new veggie pasta (made from ground califlower). Just get a box of that and throw away the cheese mix. Then you can also have a smaller amount that the huge box of elbow noodles too.....resist temptation. LOL

    The new veggie pasta (mix of veggie and white flour) does have 50 less calories than the Kraft whole wheat blend mac & cheese, but it also has less than 1/2 the fiber so really it isn't healthier. The healthiest pasta is probably Barilla Plus. It has less calories than the Kraft veggie pasta and twice the fiber, plus 10g protein and a slew of nutrients.
  • pa_jorg
    pa_jorg Posts: 4,404 Member
    realize i'm late to this thread, but this website has some unique ones:
    http://www.dailygarnish.com/recipes?search_term=pasta salad

    also, please share the sweet potato salad recipe...sounds yummy!
  • ambie35
    ambie35 Posts: 853 Member
    realize i'm late to this thread, but this website has some unique ones:
    http://www.dailygarnish.com/recipes?search_term=pasta salad

    also, please share the sweet potato salad recipe...sounds yummy!

    thanks for the link
    The sweet potato recipe is pretty simple. Take 1-2 sweet potatoes microwave them on the baked potato setting. Let them cool enough to deskin and cube. Grill the bits on a george foreman,cool again and toss with some light olive oil and veggies of your choice( I like corn kernels,some tomato,and red onion),along with some rosemary,pepper ,etc)
  • pa_jorg
    pa_jorg Posts: 4,404 Member
    realize i'm late to this thread, but this website has some unique ones:
    http://www.dailygarnish.com/recipes?search_term=pasta salad

    also, please share the sweet potato salad recipe...sounds yummy!

    thanks for the link
    The sweet potato recipe is pretty simple. Take 1-2 sweet potatoes microwave them on the baked potato setting. Let them cool enough to deskin and cube. Grill the bits on a george foreman,cool again and toss with some light olive oil and veggies of your choice( I like corn kernels,some tomato,and red onion),along with some rosemary,pepper ,etc)


    Thanks, sounds easy and tasty.
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