Tuna Salad

Since I gave you my egg salad recipe, I might as well post my tuna salad. It’s almost the same ingredients, just has some celery added for a bit of crunch.

Tuna, egg, and chicken salads are lunches that I sometimes serve when there are no leftovers from supper the night before. The kids only recently decided that they like tuna and I’m happy about that. I love the stuff!

Tuna Salad

2 small cans tuna, drained (I use water-packed…feed the juice to the dog or cats…they love it!)

1/3 cup mayonnaise

2 t prepared mustard

pinch salt

1/2 a stalk of celery, finely minced

sweet pickle juice

Mix the tuna, mayo, mustard, salt, and celery. I like to use a potato masher and really smash up the tuna. Add enough pickle juice to make desired consistency. Serve as you wish. We like it on bread with tomatoes and lettuce if we have them. I also like to make tuna melts…toast the bread, smear with tuna salad, top with cheese and melt in the microwave or under the broiler. Yummy!

Serves: 4

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Egg Salad

We are big fans of egg salad around here. Since we get at least a dozen eggs a day from our chickens, I certainly don’t mind making it!

The flavor of this salad really depends on the pickle juice you use. I make and can 7-day sweet pickles each summer and that’s what I use. It’s our favorite sweet pickle. So use whatever you like…don’t throw that pickle juice down the drain!

Egg Salad

My mom’s recipe (or a similar version, I suppose, since she doesn’t really have a recipe)

8 – 10 hard boiled eggs

1/3 cup mayonnaise

1 T prepared mustard

1/4 cup sweet pickle juice

1/8 t salt

Smash the eggs with an old-fashioned potato masher. Mix in the remaining ingredients. Add more pickle juice if it seems too stiff. Serve immediately. Will hold in fridge for a few days but will need stirred before serving as the juices tend to separate out.

Yield: 3 cups

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Snapshots of Summer (and Maybe a Tomato Sandwich)

A peek at what I’ve been seeing lately, you know, other than food.

Chickie's Rock

tiger lily

patiently waiting for a ride

lightning bug

lady bug on Russian sage

Oh no! She's growing up!

scooping up pond scum

squatting in pond scum

"doin' the disses"

mmm, pancakes

Oh. Hmmm. I just can’t write a post without any food! How about a summer lunch staple? It’s not much of a recipe but we eat it pretty often, much to pancake man’s dismay. He doesn’t much care for tomatoes (or basil). The little bugger. He’ll just have to learn to like them because they are main-stays these days.

Open-face Tomato Sandwich

Have ready per serving:

1 piece of toast (this is pictured)

1 large, thick slice of tomato

1 T basil chiffonade (It might go over with little ones better if it’s chopped up even more fine. Or at least, that would make it more difficult to pick out.)

2 t mayonnaise

salt, pepper, garlic powder/salt, onion powder/salt, or any combination of the 4

Spread the mayo on the toasted bread. Sprinkle with the basil before topping with the tomato. Season to taste with salt, pepper, garlic powder, onion powder, or any other herbs and spices of choice.

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Pepper Slaw

I had reason to pack a picnic supper recently. Since we had rib meat leftover from the big meal, I chopped up a bunch of that, added some more barbeque sauce, and made a pepper slaw to serve on top of the sandwich.

I loved the flavor of this slaw. Simple flavor. I did not, however, love how I cut the peppers. They were too chunky and difficult to eat on an open face sandwich. Next time, I’ll use my mandoline and slice them paper-thin. Oh, I can just imagine how they’ll melt in my mouth!

Note: Bradley thought this too onion-y. I guess it’s not for those who don’t love them.

Pepper Slaw

Adapted from Oprah.com

2 T red wine vinegar

1 t honey

1 t olive oil

pinch red pepper flakes

1 T water

3 bell peppers (any color), thinly sliced

1 tiny red onion, thinly sliced

salt/pepper to taste

Mix the vinegar, honey, oil, pepper flakes, and water in a saute pan. Bring to a boil over high heat. Throw in the peppers and onions. turn off the heat and stir. Cover and let sit 3 minutes. Remove from pan and let cool. Serve at room temperature or chilled.

Yield: 3 – 4 cups slaw (with 1/8th inch thick pepper slices…I imagine the yield would be less if the peppers were sliced more thinly)

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Honey Oatmeal Bread

This is another great, basic bread to have around. It makes especially good toast, I think.

Honey Oatmeal Bread

Recipe adapted from my mom’s

2 cups (16 oz) milk

2 t salt

1 cup (3 1/2 oz) quick oats

3 T (1 1/2 oz) butter

1/4 cup (3 oz) honey

1 T vinegar

1/4 cup (2 oz) warm water

1 T active dry yeast

3 T wheat gluten

3 cups (13 1/2 oz) sprouted whole wheat bread flour

about 2 1/2 cups (12 1/2 oz) unbleached all-purpose flour

Heat the milk to 180 degrees Fahrenheit. Let sit a few minutes and then skim off the skin that forms on the milk. Mix the hot milk with the salt, oatmeal, butter, and honey. Let cool until it’s about 120 degrees and then mix in the vinegar. Meanwhile, mix the warm water with the yeast. Stir this mixture into the120 degree milk mixture. Add the gluten, whole wheat flour, and enough all-purpose flour to make a soft dough. Knead at least 10 minutes or until satiny and smooth. Place in a large bowl, cover, and let rise until doubled in volume. Push dough down, divide into 2 or 3 lumps, and form loaves. I am beginning to prefer smaller loaves rather than huge ones that rise way over the edge of the pans so I tend to make 1 more loaf than the recipe calls for. Place the loaves in greased 4×8-inch loaf pans.

Allow loaves to rise again until a bit more than doubled in volume. Bake in a preheated oven for 30 to 40 minutes or until hollow sounding when tapped on the bottom. Remove from pans and cool on a wire rack.

Yield: 2 large loaves or 3 medium ones

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