Tuna Noodle Salad with a Pineapple Twist

Summer

waking up before the birds

sun takes its mark in the eastern sky

morning air awakens scenes

days trumpet call 

body marching to a different drum

waking up earlier and earlier

a glowing ball of fire

extends waking hours

supercharged by 

natures power 

Tuna Noodle Salad with a Pineapple Twist

Cook one box of noodles (any shape)

In a bowl: 1 can tuna, 1 chopped yellow pepper, 3 chopped carrots, 2 chopped celery stalks, 1 chopped onion, and 1 can pineapple cut pieces small.  

Sauce: 1 cup mayo, curry paste or curry powder, salt and pepper.  (add a bit of sugar if you’d like it sweet)    Mix into tuna and vegetable. Add noodles and mix thoroughly. 

Make at least 4 hours before serving.

Honey Sweet Beef (Maybe I could have called it Sweat Beef)

Summer is my favorite season of the year (except for about two weeks of sauna-hot temps).  Last year’s steamy hot days left us lethargic, sticky, and desperate for a comfortable night’s sleep.  We found ourselves longing for cooler temperatures where real PJ’s and a light blanket are required.  Instead of comfort, I found myself laying in bed without any covers, dressed in my favorite boxers and tank top, doing the backstroke in the puddle of sweat, and hoping that the fan blowing directly on my body would cool me off as the perspiration evaporated. 

As of yesterday, we can wear long sleeved shirts in our home, even though it is 90 degrees out, and the humidity is so high that while looking out our window you need to pinch a tender piece of flesh to alert your scenes to the fact that the haze outside is not a bad dream.  The nightmare is finally over; we’ve got central air in our home.  Goodbye to loud fans blowing throughout the day and night, creating a hot windstorm that never really causes a cool breeze through the home, a hot breeze that your brain tries to make you believe is better than no fan at all.  Gone are the blinds drawn down to create a dark cave effect, futilely attempting to simulate cave-coolness, hiding the green grass, trees and colorful petunias, snap-dragons, lilies and a host of seasonal beauties growing in front of the house.  Now I can appreciate my all of my spring labor in the rich fertile earth.  

Now I can celebrate summer, enjoy being able to see my fish staring out of the non-fogged glass tank.  I can gaze out my front window on summer’s beauty protected by my 74 degree controlled environment.

Honey Sweet Beef (Maybe I could have called it Sweat Beef)

Place 1 or 2 pounds of stew mean into a crock pot.  Add two cups of water, marjoram, 10 shakes of Worcestershire sauce, and salt, cook on high until the meat starts to pull apart easily with a fork.

Add: 4 cut carrots, 1 zucchini, 1 yellow pepper, 2 stalks of celery, 1 chopped onion, 2 cloves of chopped garlic, 2 cups of BBQ sauce, and1/8 honey. Cook on high for 2 hours stirring occasionally.

Add: 3 tablespoons of flower stirring while adding to prevent lumps. Turn down to medium for about 1 hour.

Serve over gnocchi or rice

For a zip add cayenne pepper to taste.

Ug Baked Chicken with BBQ Sauce

Today I was in the mood for some chicken and baked potatoes.  Fortunately, a week ago,  I went The Big Top, a grocery story which is not one of my normal shopping stops, and bought a bag of chicken legs to cook for dinner.  For one reason or another I did not cook them that evening and froze them until another day.  Let me say that this is the first and the last bag of chicken I will every buy from that store ever in my life!  

This morning I placed the legs in a pan, shook salt and pepper on them and left them to bake for the next hour and a half. About forty-five minutes into the baking, I spooned my favorite BBQ  sauce over each leg and continued baking for another forty-five min.  While the chicken and baked potatoes where baking, my home filled with a wonderful aroma, causing my stomach to do cart-wheels in anticipation of the up-coming eating event.  At this point, I must add that normally I buy a very high grade chicken from a butcher shop.  I love their meat and in particular their chicken, which they do not add any water to and is always fresh and tasty.  Back to the Big Top, after pulling the chicken out of the baking pan, there was over an inch of water on the bottom. I felt that the extra water was quite strange due to me not adding water in the first place.  In addition to the extra liquids, the chicken had a very odd taste ruining my meal completely and giving me an upset stomach for the rest of the day.

The moral of the story is never buy cheap meat.  If I can’t afford meat, a vegetarian meal is healthier than that cheap garbage from Big Top.

Quick and Easy Portobello Tortellini

Grand Rapids, Michigan is quickly heating up.  Our new home does not have air-conditioning. Brian and I hoped to get it installed before it got too unbearable, but spring decided to act like summer temperatures raising above 80 degrees foiling our plans to beat the heat with AC.

 Last summer it was so hot and humid outside that our fish tank looked like it was sitting in a bathroom with the shower turned on.  Our dogs and cats laid on the floor panting all day and most of the evening, and we were so hot that we did not even desire to read a book. My brother-in-Law Mike, who lives next door, said that every time he drove past our home he thanked God he did not live at our address; his home is much cooler inside, he had air. Not desiring to see a replay of last year, Brian and I decided to tighten the belt, deny ourselves a vacation and buy the much need unit.  

Yesterday, the weather got quite warm and motivation to cook almost disappeared.  Knowing that we are trying to eat in as much as possible; even though Russo’s pizza called my name, actually, it was Brian chanting “Pizza, pizza...” I set out to make a quick meal.  Opening the refrigerator I surveyed its contents.  The portobello mushrooms that I bought the day before started singing, “Eat me, eat me, we will make the perfect meal.”  Not desiring to offend my fungal friends, I picked them up and started creating.  After melting a healthy amount of butter to cook them in I browned them and tossed in some chopped red onion and garlic, and some salt.  In the end, I placed the mushrooms over tortellini, poured olive oil over the top and sprinkled both plates with parmesan cheese.  Brian decided to add some dried red peppers for a bit of zip. 

After eating, we looked at each other and exclaimed how please we were to stay in and eat and not spend money at a restaurant.  

Portobello Tortellini

Melt 2 Tbsp of butter in a pan.  (Do not use marjoram!)

Slice two portobello mushrooms and place them on the melted butter. Salt all the piece.

After mushrooms are brown, add chopped onion and 2 cloves of garlic.  You might need to add a bit more butter.

When onions and garlic are translucent and some a bit brown, place over tortellini, pour olive oil and parmesan cheese over the top.  

For someone who desires their meal to be a bit snappy, add either cayenne or dried red peppers.

Enjoy!

Mothers Day Picnic

My husband once heard a woman say, “Ladies, stop telling me that your house is not clean enough for a visit, and you do not have any food or drinks to serve me so you will not invite me to your home.  I’d rather sit in the corner of a dirty home, eating crackers and drinking water, than never be invited to someone’s home.”

Over twenty-five years ago, Brian heard this woman speak on the radio.  Ever since that day, we’ve tried to model our lives after her statement and have never regretted a moment of doing so.  I cannot tell you how many girlfriends visited my home, when my kids were young, having to push the clean laundry over a bit, in order to sit down on the couch; in the end, they often grabbed the towels and started folding. Yet these friends continued to come to my home weekly for good conversation and whatever food was served for lunch, be it peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, or leftover curry from the night before.  Having fun was never dictated by how clean my home was or how much money was in the bank.

Yesterday was no exception.  Brian and I live in a very cute, but small home. This year,  I desired to have all of the Rabourn family over to my home for Mother’s Day dinner.  Knowing that we live on a tight budget, I knew we couldn’t afford buying food for the entire family, but we could provide a nice back yard to picnic in.  Plan in mind, I text-ed the family, inviting them over for a family meal, and added on the bottom of my message, “What would you like to bring?”   I know our family did not mind lending a hand and making a dish to pass, getting together is more important than one person doing all the work.  I also understood that it is a Mother’s Day picnic, and no Rabourn man is willing to allow one of us girls to prepare all the food on a day that is meant to celebrate her.

Originally, I wanted to have grilled burgers or chicken, knowing that this main course was cost prohibitive I settled on Chicken BBQ (Sloppy Joes).  Mom Rabourn brought her famous pineapple upside down cake, Mike brought potato salad, Dan and Beth brought broccoli, Jim and Peg brought wonderful chocolate covered strawberries and a fruit and vegetable plate, and Ted and Rita brought beer and lemon aid.  

With the countertops covered with plates full of festive foods, beers or Margaritas in hand, and the perfect 70 degree sunny day, we were ready to relax and enjoy our picnic.  One of the best points of this Mother’s Day celebration was no television distractions, just the family sitting in a big circle telling stories and chatting.  A perfect way to celebrate.

Four and a half hours later, with jam packed bellies, family members start picking up the backyard, collecting their empty platters and bowls, in preparation for leaving.  Hugs given, and promises of the girls meeting on Thursday afternoon for coffee and lunch, cars drove away from what turned out to be a perfect Mother’s Day picnic.

Chicken BBQ

5 lbs chicken breasts place in a crock pot.  Add about 3 cups of water and let cook until the meat is falling apart.  

Drain excess liquid

Add: 1 chopped sweet pepper, 1 diced onion, 3 chopped cloves of garlic, 3 cups of ketchup, 1/2 mustard,1/3 soy sauce, 1 cup brown sugar, 1/4 cup honey, and a tablespoon of dried red peppers.  

Place in 375 oven for about an hour, stirring occasionally.

Serve on hamburger buns