Thimbleanna

Spaghetti Salad

Spaghetti Salad

Ranch Dressing**
1 t. parsley
1/2 cup diced onion
1/2 cup celery
1 t. whole celery seed
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon salt

Approximately 1 lb. spaghetti

Cook the spaghetti according to package directions and drain. Rinse with cold water and
let cool for 10 – 15 minutes. Add all other ingredients and enough of the ranch dressing to
coat the spaghetti.

You’ll probably want to adjust the ingredient proportions to suit your family’s tastes.
To be honest, I really don’t follow the proportions very carefully — I just look at the
list of ingredients and dump them all in until it tastes about right!

** If you can’t buy Ranch dressing where you live, you can find recipes
all
over
the internet.
Just google “homemade ranch dressing”.

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Spaghetti Salad

20 Comments / Recipes / February 18, 2011

Randi over at I Have to Say is once again hosting a recipe swap. This time she said we could pick the theme. I saw my first real sign of spring here today which means warmer weather is on its way, so my theme is going to be warm weather food. (My first real sign of spring happened this morning.   On the way to work, I noticed our duck couple waddling across the front yard. They come back every year. We never see any ducklings though — maybe they just used our yard for their courtship every year and then move on to somewhere else to raise some little ducklings.  I would have taken a picture of them tonight, but I couldn’t find them. They’re at the end of this post from last year, if you really want to see them.)

Photobucket

Anyway, back to my warm weather recipe: Spaghetti Salad. This is my boys’ hands down favorite pasta salad. I’ll bet your kids will love it — especially if you have one like TheSecondChild, who puts ranch dressing on almost everything. (TheFirstChild drowns everything in catsup — do you suppose it’s my cooking????)

Years ago, some work friends and I went to a local restaurant one day for lunch. This salad was on the salad bar. When we got back to work, we couldn’t stop talking about how much we loved this spaghetti salad. So, I thought, what the heck — I’ll just call and see if they’ll give me the recipe. They put the chef on the phone and he told me how to make it! Of course, he gave me proportions to feed an army, but I scaled them down. Please excuse the picture — there should be celery in this salad, but SOMEone (and I’m not naming names) forgot to get the celery that was clearly written on the shopping list. (The parsley is missing too, but it’s excused because I grow my own and it’s still too cold outside!)

Spaghetti Salad

Spaghetti Salad

Ranch Dressing**
1 t. parsley
1/2 cup diced onion
1/2 cup celery
1 t. whole celery seed
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
Approximately 1 lb. spaghetti

Cook the spaghetti according to package directions and drain. Rinse with cold water and let cool for 10 – 15 minutes. Add all other ingredients and enough of the ranch dressing to coat the spaghetti.
You’ll probably want to adjust the ingredient proportions to suit your family’s tastes. To be honest, I really don’t follow the proportions very carefully — I just look at the list of ingredients and dump them all in until it tastes about right!

** If you can’t buy Ranch dressing where you live, you can find recipes all over the internet. Just google “homemade ranch dressing”.

I hope you’re all having a good week and finding some time to squeeze in what YOU want to do!

XOXO,
Anna

20 thoughts on “Spaghetti Salad”

  2. sharon

    Well that looks yummy all except for the onion part.I do not do those remember??? LOL!!! GAG ME!!!
    And I’d be concerned if I were you that your children drown there food with condements. LOL!!!!!

  3. Marianne

    now that is something different, I can’t get my head round the spaghetti bit, if it was pasta shapes then maybe my head could ‘get’ it….I just think of spaghetti as being something you eat hot. I bet my children would like it, might try it on the children, they arrive tonight!

  4. Lesley

    I’ll have to give this a try – it looks and sounds lovely!
    Not tonight though, as we’re having fish’n’chips on the beach – the weather has gone really warm the past two days but we have been forecast snow for the weekend!! Crazy weather :(

    xxx

  5. Karen

    Sounds yummy Anna – and a easy one to whip up. I LOVE pasta and I love ranch dressing – sounds like a recipe made for this old hips of mine, LOL. I’ve been seeing the geese in our area marking there spots for spring nests. It’s fun to see them just sitting in an area, like the side of the road or yesterday a pair was in the middle of a frozen pond. What a hoot.

    Happy Weekend Sister – Karen

  7. June

    I’ve not heard of spaghetti salad before, what a fun idea and I thank you for sharing the recipe.

    How wonderful that you are seeing signs of springtime. Ducklings are always so adorable to watch; I love their little scurrying waddles as they explore the new world behind mommy.

  8. Miss Jean

    This sounds really good. I LOVE anything with pasta, or as we call it at my house, Noodle-y!

  10. randi

    Not only does this sound good, but it looks easy to make as well. Two things that I love in a recipe!

    thanks for posting this!

  11. rohanknitter

    Hmmm, I love ranch dressing, I’ll have to give this a try. Let me know if you try the spinach salad I posted – even my picky bil liked it – and that’s saying something!!!

  12. Isabelle

    Cold spaghetti? Hmm. Not a national Scottish dish, but hey, we gave the world haggis so who am I to query anything?

    Love the socks, but I shall never knit socks. I know my limits, and they tend to be scarves. Possibly hats. Socks – too three-dimensional.

  14. Tammy

    Thank you Anna!! I now have another winner in my easy recipe stash…I made this for dinner tonight to rave reviews, even the extra teenage boy who was our guest loved it. I have to tell you it is hard for me to find easy quick meals that everyone likes and this is definitely in that category so thank you!!!!!

  15. Jackie

    Your kids sound like mine! Ketchup and Ranch Dressing…I don’t think it is the cooking just the kids. Recipe looks great, I will have to give it a whirl!

  17. Anna K.

    What is it about little boys and Ranch dressing? My son loves the stuff.

    Sounds like a tasty recipe. I’ll have to give it a try! I’m the same way with most recipes – I glance at the ingredients and then mix everything to taste. Drives my hubby bonkers when I explain how to cook something! (he likes to get in the kitchen and cook…love that man!!)

  20. Nan

    All I can say is YUMMY for the tummy! The Man will come find you and hug you for parting with this recipe, Anna! You’ve been warned…… LOL!

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