Sweet Tuna Salad- October Dish of the Month

My roommate introduced me to raisins in tuna salad. Since then, we make this every week, enough for the whole week. And it never lasts more than 2 days.

Per can of tuna, add

2ish cups cooked pasta (macaroni works best, but chopped spaghetti works well too)

half-ish cup cooked red kidney beans

half-ish cup chopped green pepper

2 tbs. mayonaisse

handful feta cheese (optional- chopped swiss or american works too)

handful raisins
salt and pepper to taste

Mix all ingredients together in mixing bowl. Start small with the mayo, and add just enough to hold everything together. Eat with--- well, anything. It's tuna salad. Usually we eat it as a side to rice and veggies at dinner, or as a main dish along with salad and fruit on the side.

Bon appetit!

July: Mom's Breakfast Oatmeal

Cheap, extremely filling, mostly healthy, in less than 10 minutes--- and it actually tastes good. You can't beat that.


Serves 1 very hungry person, or two not-so-hungry people.

2 cups water
1.5 cup oatmeal
Boil oatmeal on low heat for about 3 minutes, stir once or twice to prevent sticking. Stir in a little whole milk (no more than 1/4 cup)
Cook for another minute then turn off the burner. Add
20-60 raisins (depending on your mood or how many raisins are left in the box)
brn. sugar to taste (I use about palmful)
cinnamon to taste (5-7 shakes)

Stir well and pour into bowl. If it's too liquidy, let it sit a few minutes to thicken.
--For thicker oatmeal, use only 1.5 cup of water, and less sugar.
--If you want, use milk entirely instead of water-- it just takes longer for the milk to heat and you have to stir constantly to be careful not to scald it.

This was my favorite breakfast growing up. We had it at least 3 times a week. I've been having it every morning lately, and it keeps me from getting hungry before lunch time. So I thought it deserved the Dish of the Month slot.

The Best Smoothie in the Whole World

This is the best smoothie in the whole world because I can make it out of what's always in my fridge, it only takes 3 minutes and 15 seconds total, and it actually tastes pretty good. When I don't have time to poach and eat an egg before I go out the door, this works well for a first breakfast ( I usually eat a second breakfast mid-morning).

Pull out your blender and set it up. Drop into it:

5 strawberries (pull off the green tops)
a handful of blueberries
a small banana (break it up into a few chunks before adding)
2 handfuls of ice cubes
a bit of orange juice (just pour for 1.895 seconds, and you'll probably have enough)

Lid the blender and pulse at the lowest setting (tap on and off quickly). After about 30 seconds of pulsing, blend at medium speed for about 30 seconds. Pour the drink into your biggest travel mug (there may be excess, just use another cup and store that one in the fridge for later). Rinse the blender right away. You're now ready to walk out the door with breakfast, leaving a clean kitchen behind you.

The above is my favorite, but sometimes, if I have chocolate milk in the fridge, I use a little more milk for liquid and a little more ice, and use only banana and nuts (no berries). It's just as good as the berry smoothie, but not quite as filling for me.

The best thing about the Best Smoothie in the Whole World is that you can be creative with whatever fruit you have available. Mix apples and raspberries, or oranges and pomegranate juice. Have fun.

Bon appetit!

Poached Egg

It's an egg of pure perfection. No grease, goo, hardness, or lumps. And it only takes 10 minutes.

     You'll need a pan of water and a large spoon. I usually use a deep skillet. Make sure there is enough water to cover the egg.
     Boil the water. Turn it down to simmer. Carefully crack the egg into a small bowl. Slide the egg into the water, using the spoon to keep the white from going all over the place. Simmer for about 2 minutes (closer to 3 if the egg came straight from the fridge), until the egg is firm, but is still soft and yielding at the pressure of the spoon.
     Remove the egg from the water with the spoon. Run cold water over the egg for a few seconds to cool it (very low pressure, you don't want to break the white). Serve on bread or toast.

Tips: Even as little as 30 seconds of cooking time makes a significant difference in a poached egg, so watch it closely. Don't exceed three minutes. Also, you will want to scrub your skillet in water right away as soon as you remove the egg. Boiled egg white is a pain to try to wash once it has a chance to stick, but it takes 15 seconds if you get it right away. Besides, washing the skillet gives your egg time to cool to just the right eating temperature!

I usually put the egg on toasted buttered french bread, and sometimes use cheese, and hollandaise or ranch sauce, to make a Benedict.


Bon appetit!


p.s. What you're going for: The 'perfect' poached egg has smooth, soft, well rounded white and a yolk that has just started to firm around the outside but is still a little runny in the very middle. A little overdone or underdone still tastes about the same. It may take a few tries to get a feel for it, but once you know how to poach an egg, you can make all kinds of lovely fancy-looking, sounding, and tasting dishes with it. Sky's the limit. Or, like me, you can just enjoy it on simple toast every morning, with a rotating variety of fruit side dishes. :)

Potato Chips

If you've never made these, you have to try. You'll never want to buy from the store again.


a large potato
olive or canola oil or both
salt
knife, spatula spoon fork or other utensil, skillet

Heat about 1/2 cm of oil in the skillet to high heat.
Peel and slice potato. Slice as thinly as desired (the thinner, the crispier-- thick ones that cook less crispy are amazing too).
Drop slices into the skillet and cook for 1-2 minutes, until desired crispness. Salt to taste.
Remove the chips from the oil and.... well, eat them.

Serve with fish (of course), sandwiches, hot dogs, burgers, dip-- you get the idea.That is, if there are any left after you've finished sampling them.

Made these tonight for the first time ever. I don't know if it's the fresh, natural, pure ingredients or if it's the satisfaction of making them all yourself, or the fact that you can eat them hot-- but you can't beat homemade chips.

February's Dish of the Month: Spicy Carrot Salad

I never liked carrot salad. But I like this!
       --My roommate (again)

I know, another roommate quote. But I cook for my roommates a lot. If you can't stand the raisins in carrot salad or the sugar in candied carrots, but you think you might like normal carrots, this is a grand salad to try.

You'll need:
 bowl, shredder
carrots, mayonnaise, black pepper, garlic, and (optional) chile or cayenne pepper

This is super simple.
Peel, wash, and shred a couple of carrots.
Add a tsp. black pepper, a tbsp. minced garlic, a few tablespoons of mayonnaise, and (if desired) a little cayenne or minced chile.
 I like to mix olive oil with the mayonnaise before adding it to the carrots

Let the mayo and seasonings enhance, not drown, the carrot flavor. It's easy to put too much. Start with less and keep adding and tasting until there's just enough to make it taste how you want.

This salad goes well with a number of Russian dishes. I'll post some of those soon.
It's also a great side to simple soup or rice dishes.
It goes especially well with pumpernickel bread as a midnight snack.

Bon appetit.

January's Dish of the Month: Spicy Potato Soup

Would you make this soup for my birthday? It's my favorite!
                         --my roommate

You will need:

Dishes: average-sized pot, small skillet, knife, cutting board, peeler, wooden or other large spoon for stirring, average cereal bowl and spoon for measuring. (You may prefer to use standard measuring cups and spoons.)
Ingredients: potatoes (I usually use red), big carrots, onion, chicken bullion cubes or powder, salt, black pepper (preferably from a grinder), cayenne pepper, parsley (preferably fresh), flour, milk, olive oil or butter
Time: About 30 minutes to prepare, 15-30 to sit. Plan to spend an hour.

Note: This soup is super easy, except for the roux which can be a bit tricky. Get that right, and you're fine.
     Fill the pot about 1/3 to 1/2 full of water (about 6 cups), and set on high heat to boil. When the water is warm, add chicken bullion to taste (it should taste the way you like chicken noodle soup to taste). Then while waiting for the water to boil, peel and chop 5-6 medium potatoes and 2 large carrots.
     It's okay to start adding potatoes before the water boils. When the water finally boils, turn heat to low and add the carrots. Add salt to taste. Be careful with the salt, as there may be a lot of salt already in the bullion. After a few minutes, add the black and cayenne peppers to taste, and a little parsley (one cereal spoonful/2 tsp.)
    Now make the roux. Heat 1/2 stick of butter or a few spoonfuls of oil (enough to drown the skillet bottom) in the skillet. Use the lowest heat setting to give you time to chop the onion before the oil gets hot. Peel and chop one small or 1/2 large onion, then saute onion in the skillet on medium heat. While the onion is cooking, fill the cereal bowl 2/3 full of milk and stir 5 heaping spoonfuls of flour into the milk. (I have never used a measuring cup or spoon, but the cereal bowl and spoon have never failed me. However, it is about 1 cup of milk and 4 tablespoons of flour.) Be sure to get all the flour lumps out. When onions are translucent turn the heat to low and stir the milk/flour mixture into the onions. If there is too much onion and not enough liquid to make the roux soupy, add a little more milk right away. Thoroughly warm the roux after adding the milk, but do not let it thicken. Add it to the soup right away. Stir it in thoroughly. The soup should start to thicken after a few minutes.
     If you have fresh parsley, chop it small. Add parsley to taste, and additional pepper or salt if needed. I like to add a lot of pepper and parsley, but I like spicy things. Let sit on lowest possible heat and stir occasionally for about 15 minutes before serving. Serve with your favorite bread.
     Although it tends to thicken some with age, this soup stores well in the fridge up to 4 days. It probably stores well longer than 4 days, but it's always been gone by the fourth day, so that theory remains unproven.

--If you just want regular potato soup, leave out the cayenne, and don't put quite as much black pepper.
--Other seasoning blends that work well in this soup, instead of cayenne pepper: Italian seasoning blend, Greek seasoning blend, garlic, chopped fresh green onion, or all four. :)
--If you discover a tweak that makes this recipe better, please comment!

Bon appetit!