“Nothing lasts forever, except the day before you start your vacation.”
– Gayland Anderson
While pondering a theme for this month’s column, I kept remembering the summers of my childhood. When we were in grade school, there wasn’t a feeling in the world that could compare to hearing the last bell ring for dismissal and the start of summer vacation. It was pure freedom.
I remember lying under the big apple tree on our farm and looking up at the sun through the branches, playing in the woods, chasing minnows in the creek in my bare feet. I remember being told to go deep in the pasture to find a newborn calf and its mother and bring them home to the barn. That task was magical. I loved riding the tractor with my dad for the first cutting of the alfalfa fields in June. Nothing, for me, will ever come close to the wonderful smell of freshly mown hay.
If the hay was being cut, you could be sure the weather was going to be sunny and hot for the next four days, because if it rained, the quality of the hay would deteriorate rapidly. Cows require high nutritional value in alfalfa to produce quality milk.
On the second day, the hay was raked into windrows. On the third, it was baled into rectangular bundles that were tied tightly by machine. Neighbors would help pick up the bales in the field and stack them on a flat wagon. When the bales were about four to five layers high, we would drive back to the barn and unload them into a loft for use in winter. This process continued until all of the hay was put away.
When the last load was coming in from the fields, my mother would start putting out sandwiches and salads. When the job was done, everyone ate. And boy, did we eat! My mom would make vast amounts of various sandwiches, macaroni salad, potato salad and fruit salad. I thought she made enough to feed an army, yet it was all polished off.
On warm summer nights, our family ate supper outside and enjoyed a barbecue with different salads while sharing the events of the day. It usually ended with us kids enjoying some ice-cold watermelon. You remember that, right? The big oval melon with all those seeds?
My mother was creative with her salads. Vegetables from our garden were plentiful, yet we enjoyed her potato and macaroni salads best. We just called them summer salads. I still love serving different salads for a summer supper, and I’m always looking for new ones to add to my repertoire.
I recently received a recipe for macaroni salad from my friend Susan Hancock. Susan is originally from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and is a volunteer for Harpswell Aging at Home. Besides cooking for Meals in a Pinch, she helps coordinate HAH’s successful Lunch with Friends program. She also is a part-time administrative coordinator with the Harpswell Anchor.
Susan gave me the following recipe that her mom often made for barbecues and picnics when she was a child. This salad is a bit different from the traditional macaroni salad, and is best made a day ahead. It is delightful and would be a nice addition to your next picnic.
So follow this recipe and, while you wait for the flavors to meld, go outside, lie down under a tree, and look at the summer sun’s rays coming through the branches. I promise it will take you back to a simpler time. Enjoy!
Macaroni salad
Ingredients:
- 1 pound of elbow macaroni
- Italian salad dressing, such as Newman’s Own Classic Oil & Vinegar
- 1 large onion, finely chopped
- 3-4 carrots, shredded
- 1 bunch celery, chopped
- 8-ounce jar salad olives, drained and chopped
- 1 tablespoon dill seed
- 1 tablespoon celery seed
- Salt and pepper to taste
- 1 cup mayonnaise (more or less to taste)
Directions:
Cook and drain macaroni. Generously dress with salad dressing. Add remaining ingredients and mix. Refrigerate overnight. Add more mayonnaise, if needed, before serving.
If you want to make it as a main course, you can add 3-4 cans of white tuna.
Harpswell Aging at Home always needs cooks for its Meals in a Pinch program, which provides nutritious meals to older adults in need. For more information, contact Julie Moulton at 207-330-5416 or juliemoulton28@gmail.com.
