Packable for Summertime

These recipes have been made many times to share with our best friends from Illinois when we meet them in Medicine Bow. The barbeque freezes well, so I can make it way before our trip and use it to help keep the other food cold in the cooler.
    Raw onions don’t agree with our friends, so I substitute chopped chives in the potato salad. The flavors mingle and taste better after it is chilled for a day or so.
    We like the peanut butter in the Rice Crispie bars better than the original marshmallow cream. They can be served for a breakfast or as a hiking bar. Be sure to boil the syrup and sugar for the bars just until the sugar dissolves; then remove from heat. If it cooks longer, they are too hard to bite into and may break a tooth. (It happened to me!)

Potato Salad
4 med. size potatoes, cooked, peeled and diced
½ cup chopped celery
¼ cup chopped onion
2 hard boiled eggs, chopped
Dressing:
¾ cup mayonnaise
1 Tbsp. cider vinegar
½ tsp. salt
1 Tbsp. prepared mustard
    In a medium bowl, mix the veggies and eggs. In a small bowl, mix the dressing ingredients and then stir into potato mixture. Taste; add more salt if needed. Cover and chill. Makes about 2 ½ cups. Multiply ingredients to feed as many as necessary.

Barbeque
1 lb. ground beef
1 large onion, chopped
2 cups chopped celery
¾ cup chopped green bell pepper
1 cup catsup
½ can tomato soup
1 Tbsp. cider vinegar
2 Tbsp. brown sugar
    In a large saucepan, brown ground beef; drain. Add onions, celery and pepper; cook over low heat until tender, stirring often. Stir in catsup, soup, vinegar and sugar. Simmer for 1 hour. Serve in hamburger buns. Serves 4 to 6.

Peanut Butter Rice Crispie Bars
1 cup white corn syrup
1 cup granulated sugar
1 cup peanut butter
6 cups Rice Crispie cereal
    Bring syrup and sugar to a boil in a large saucepan. Stir just until sugar dissolves. Remove from heat; stir in peanut butter, then mix in cereal. Spread in greased 9- by 13-inch pan. Cut into bars.