Five Food Groups Macaroni Salad

I loved this salad! Needed a recipe for a pot luck, and decided to try this one. Only changes I made (because of what I had available) was to use chicken instead of tuna, dried cranberries instead of the raisins and mayo instead of salad dressing. I had to make copies of the recipe for everyone at the pot luck....and now it is a favorite in many homes! Thanks for sharing this great recipe!

Made this for a cook out, made it for 20 people Everyone liked it. Would make it again. Increased the amount of carrot and raisins just for color.

Awesome! I made one alteration I used ham flakes instead of tuna, because we have people in our family who won't eat tuna. Terrific and easy to make!

YUM! I needed to use up some cooked, whole wheat farfalle (bow tie pasta) and wanted a salad with pasta and ranch, so I did a search and this one came up. I'm glad I chose it! I did make some changes based on reviews and what I had on hand. I can't have store-bought Ranch Dressing, so I make my own. Instead of using the salad dressing/mayo and the dry mix, I just used an equal amount of already prepared Ranch Dressing. I used a can of chicken breast instead of tuna, dried cranberries instead of raisens (rest of the family doesn't like them), and shredded the carrot. Since I didn't have tri-color pasta the salad needed some green, so I added chopped parsely. I used a Fuji apple and sharp cheddar. Scrumptous! Thanks for the quick and easy and delicoius recipe!

Great salad to bring anywhere! I followed another reviewer's suggestion and added dried cranberries instead of raisins, the whole 6oz package because they are tasty! I also used canned chicken because not many at my BBQ preferred the tuna. As a creamy salad dressing, I used Ranch.

This recipe is great. I substituted dressing for reduced fat mayo, tuna for canned salmon, used whole grain pasta, and cheddar for swiss. results were spectacular.

This was good but needed a little fixing up. After a night in the fridge all the dressing was soaked in by the pasta, but I just poured some plain youghurt on it and that worked great. Also tossed in some extra raisins because it was a bit bland. Adding some mixed seeds also helps change it up. A nice pasta salad that I ate happily for an entire week for lunch.

My new favorite lunch! It's best with granny smith apples (in my opinion!) and I love it with dried cranberries, too! I make a big batch of it and eat it for lunch all week!

oooo very different I like it! I used mayo and I think you may need more than 1 cup since it really soaks into the pasta but what a great change to the same old mayo, mustard, vinegar recipe

Rave Reviews at our family BBQ tonight! Modifications: used the whole packet of ranch, used some sour cream along with the mayonnaise. Omitted the raising, and added a chopped yellow pepper. Truly delicious, everyone had 2-3 helpings! THANKS!

I left the tuna out since I was serving this as a side dish for a cookout. My husband loved it, I liked it well enough but I am not big on "sweet" pasta salad, next time I would use mayo instead of salad dressing, and would add ham instead of tuna. It kept well and stayed moist, hubby ate on the bowl all week long.

I loved it and my whole family did too. I didn't use carrots b/c it wasn't on hand.

I was really disappointed with this recipe. It was bland and no one in my family wanted to eat it which is rare because tuna/pasta salads usually are something I can get everyone to eat. I made it according to the directions (using whole wheat pasta)

I reviewed this back in 2007, and have been making it since then. I made it again today, and the changes I made were to substitute Ken's Sweet Vidalia Onion dressing for the creamy salad dressing + ranch combo. It is definitely a sweeter pasta salad, but still delicious. I am eating it right now straight out of the bowl, without waiting for it to go in the fridge...

I followed instructions but recipe seemed dry, Needed more salad dressing. Tasted a little bland. I needed for a recipe group the next day so I added more dressing, roasted pine nuts and added cranberries but I would not make again.

I made exactly as written, and it was delicious!! I even put the raisins in, I just picked them out, lol. Not a raisin fan. Everyone else ate every bit. no leftovers, always a good sign that its a favorite in my home:) ty

This is the best salad. I have already made 2 batches in a week! 2 of my family members who don't like tuna love this salad. YUMMY!

This recipe was good but a little on the bland side. Firstly, I used my own homemade Ranch dressing mix. Secondly, I had to add some freshly ground black pepper, paprika and fresh chopped chives from my garden...still a bit bland. I also substituted cranberries for raisins because I didn't have any in the pantry. For the final touch, I squeezed some lemon juice on top. It is good and I will probably make it again but with more herbs/spices to bring it up!

I posted this recipe years ago. I can't get back to my old account to edit it. If anyone finds it helpful, allrecipes wouldn't post the brand name so it might not be clear that "creamy salad dressing" is actually miracle whip. It definitely would make a big difference in the flavor and consistency if you used a bottle of salad dressing instead. This is one of those throw together recipes we never measured. I just add the "dressing" until it seems like enough, and sometimes add more the next day. I have sinced moved south into dukes mayo land, I have not bought miracle whip in years. I am going to make this today with the suggested cranberries instead of raisins and chicken instead of tuna. I plan to try some with the original miracle whip and some with dukes and have a showdown.

I loved how this recipe was simple and easy to change up!