So yesterday, at the Cardinal Raquet Club Tennis Tournament to benefit the Anderson County Humane Society, I made spaghetti salad and cornbread salad. I really was shocked when everyone came up and was asking me for the recipe.
I guess it's because it's food I grew up with. When I was younger, I remember going to family reunions and there would be tables loaded with food. Fruit salad, pasta salad, potato salad, baked beans, deviled eggs, brownies, Strawberry Luscious and Death by Chocolate. And going inside Granny Carey's house, there was always the aroma of a pot of coffee brewing, mingled with the smells of a pot of green beans cooking on the stove. Course, back then there was always someone smoking in the kitchen too.
We'd eat, run around and play, eat some more, go hang out in granny's room and play dress up or investigate her shed, eat some more, put pennies on the railroad track outside of her house and watch the train run over them, and eat just a little bit more.
It wasn't the stuff I saw in magazines. There were no dainty lemon squares or painfully proper sandwiches, cut in half and arranged lovingly on a plate. We ate deviled eggs sprinkled with paprika that you had to grab on your first trip through or there weren't any when you got around to going back through the line the second time. We had lemon jell-o salad with pineapple and carrot in it that didn't have time to melt because it was gone in a hurry. We had baked beans that were so good, whole pans disappeared before dessert did.
For the longest time, I thought our family was different. I honestly thought no one else could possibly gather together this many people and this much food in one spot.
Then, I moved down to South Carolina. One night, talking to my good friend Billy, we were comparing childhood memories and I told him about those memories. He asked if we were related.
I guess those pictures in magazines have a purpose. Maybe there are people who put out gourmet spreads and everyone eats on china. But for me, I'd rather have everyone gathered around the grill while Mason cooks up ribs or burgers and dogs, and serve the same normal things.
Spaghetti Salad
feeds a lot
1 lb. spaghetti noodles, broekn in half and cooked
1 16-oz. bottle of Zesty Italian dressing (any brand)
1 large tomato, chopped
1 green pepper, chopped
1 cucumber, peeled and chopped, optional
1 bottle, McCormick's Salad Seasonings
Drain spaghetti and let cool. Add vegetables. Toss with dressing. An hour before serving, add salad seasonings. Toss to combine. Chill. Serve.
Thinking about it, I guess you could even add chopped black olives and green onions to this, and even a little parmesean cheese. I haven't tried it that way, but it seems to me it might dress it up a bit. A couple of things, you really do need a big bowl, it really does feed a lot of people - I'd say 30 to 40? - and it's great chilled the next day. Not that we've ever had much leftover, but still good.
