This recipe was found from Aaron McCargo JR, the Next Food Network Star. His show is actually pretty decent. After watching it I attempted this Macaroni Salad.

Please remember that 2 pounds is a lot of noodles, which I found out the hard way. If you want to make the recipe as is, I would suggest two pots for noodles, and a lot of refrigerator space to cool the noodles.

Mega Egga Macaroni Salad Recipe

If you just want to try the recipe, I would suggest using half of everything. The full two pounds will serve a lot of people, and then some!

Ingredients

2 pounds elbow noodles
12 hard boiled eggs, peeled and diced
1/2 onion, finely diced
4 celery stalks, finely diced
3 cups heavy mayonnaise
2 tablespoons salt
1 teaspoon coarsely cracked black pepper
Dash of hot sauce
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
1/4 cup pickle relish (optional, I didn’t use this)

Directions

In a large pot with salt, boil pasta for 12 to 15 minutes until cooked. Stir often. Drain and cool. Refrigerate for 30 minutes.

Cooking Tip: I would try putting the pasta on a large cooking sheet or something similar. Keeping it in a bowl will only cool the noodles on top, the ones at the middle and bottom will stay warm.

In a large pot with a dash of salt, add eggs on medium high heat. Bring to a boil. Cover and remove from heat. Let eggs sit for 6 to 7 minutes. Remove eggs and shock in ice water. Once thoroughly cooled, peel eggs and roughly dice.

Cooking Tip: This is the perfect method to boiling eggs. They came out very well cooked when I did this. I even made more just to eat hard boiled eggs alone.

Place pasta in a large bowl. Add onions, celery, eggs, relish, mayonnaise, salt and pepper, hot sauce and Worcestershire. Mix until well combined.

Grilled Asparagus with Tomato and Mozzarella Salad

Serves 4 to 6

Ingredients

2 bunches medium asparagus (about 2 pounds) peeled and woody stems trimmed
2 tablespoons of extra-virgin olive oil
2 cups grape or cherry tomoatoes, halved
8 ounces fresh mozzarella cheese, cut into 1/2 inch cubes
2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley
1 teaspoon of grated lemon zest
1 tablespoon freshly squeezed lemon juice
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
freshly ground black pepper

Cooking Tip: To “peel” the asparagus just peel off some of the thick stalk.

Directions

Arrange the asparagus in a microwave-safe dish, cover with plastic wrap and microwave on high until crisp-tender, about 2 minutes. (You can also steam the asparagus if you don’t want to microwave it). Brush asparagus with 1 tablespoon of olive oil and set aside.

Toss tomatoes and mozzarella cheese in a large both with the remaining 1 tablespoon of olive oil, parsley, lemon zest, lemon juice, salt, red pepper flakes, and black pepper.

Heat a grill pan over medium heat. Grill asparagus, turning occasionally, until tender and lightly charred, about 5 minutes. Cut asparagus in half crosswide and arrange as desired. Place salad in the middle of serving dish. Be creative with it!

Cooking Tip: This is a great appetizer or side dish.

It’s actually difficult to find a good simple white rice recipe. Heres something simple to go along with almost any meal.

Ingredients

1 cup white long grain rice
1 tablespoon butter
1 teaspoon salt
2 cups water

Directions

Add the rice to a covered sauce pan. Add the butter, salt, water and stir.

Bring rice to a boil, reduce heat to lowest possible simmer, covered for 15 minutes.

Turn off heat but leave rice covered for 5 minutes longer.

Long grain rice may be fluffed and separated before serving.

Note: Use more or less water depending on humidity and elevation of local where rice is cooked.

Cooking Tip: The more you take the cover off of the rice, the longer it will take to cook. It needs the steam to cook better. I’ve made this mistake.