Mom's Macaroni Salad

This is my Mom's 'go to' Macaroni Salad we've had at countless BBQ's, birthday parties, Thanksgivings, Christmases and get-togethers. It's super delicious and despite having it throughout the year, it reminds me of Summer. It's the perfect Summer BBQ Salad. It's cool and crunchy and goes great with burgers and dogs. I love to have it the next day for breakfast, if there's ever any leftovers. 

It's a simple recipe with nothing too surprising as far as macaroni salads go but there are a few secrets to what makes this one so good. 

Number 1. Use Best Foods or Hellman's Mayonnaise. Do not use Miracle Whip or even the low fat Mayo...I wouldn't use any other brand of mayo for that matter. It just won't do. I've had macaroni salads that have used both substitutes and other brands of Mayo and they are not good...in my opinion. :) So use Best Foods mayonnaise. 

Number 2. Use Clausen Kosher Dill Pickles. Or in this case, since I found a recipe for crunchy homemade pickles that are just like Clausen Dill Pickles, I used my own. Crunchy, garlicky pickles makes this macaroni salad great. 

Number 3. And lastly, use hard boiled eggs that are perfectly hard boiled. Over cooked eggs will have a greenish hue haloing the yolk. Yuck!
These eggs are perfectly cooked. (They were so beautiful I had to take pictures.) One might think, how hard is it to boil an egg? Well it's not hard to boil an egg, it is easy to overcook them. So here is how to boil a beautiful egg. 

Hard Cooked Eggs

Place eggs in a single layer in a pot and cover with enough cold water so that the water is about an inch above the eggs. Heat pot and bring to a boil. You must watch these eggs to know when the boiling begins. Once water begins to boil, boil the eggs for no longer than 2 minutes. (set a timer) Turn off heat and let eggs sit in the hot water for 15 minutes. (Again, set a timer, because you will forget) 
Pour off hot water and replace with cold water, letting it overflow in the sink to cool down the pot and the eggs. Let sit in the cool water for a few minutes then drain water and refrigerate the eggs until completely cold. Tap to crack shell and peel.

Almost forgot, I've seen all over Pinterest to add some baking soda to the water before boiling to help with peeling of the shells and it worked well. 

Mom's Macaroni Salad
Serves 8

2 cups Ditalini pasta, cooked
8-10 eggs, hard boiled and chopped
2-3 stalks celery, chopped 
2-3 green onions, chopped (white and green parts)
5-6 Clausen Kosher dill pickle halves, chopped  (I used my homemade pickles here...see picture)
1-1 1/2 cups Best Foods Mayonnaise
Salt and pepper (to taste)



Cook pasta, rinse with cold water, drain and cool in refrigerator while you chop all the veggies and peel and chop the hard boiled eggs. Mix all ingredients together in a large bowl. (Note: my Mom usually chops her ingredients a little smaller than I do, I keep mine bigger so my kids can pick out the stuff they don't like, so feel free to do a small dice on your ingredients if you'd like a more uniform appearance.)

Stir in mayonnaise. Salt and pepper to taste. Cover and return to refrigerator to let the flavors meld, minimum 1 hour. When you pull it out to serve, the pasta will have absorbed some the mayonnaise so you may have to add additional mayonnaise to get a more creamy consistency.  

Dill Pickles

I remember my Dad making pickled cucumbers was when I was a kid, maybe 9 years old. We had a garden in our backyard and we had a ton of cucumbers one summer and my Dad wanted to try to make pickles. I remember they were really limp and not crunchy at all. The flavor was there but they just didn't have the right texture. With that not so perfect pickle experience long behind me, I attempted to make my own pickles and have good news! Or as my 5 year old says when something good happens, "Lucky Day!" 

I stumbled on the best most perfect homemade pickle recipe out there. (courtesy of the blog At Home My Way via Pinterest) They taste just like Clausen Dill Pickles, crunchy and garlicky. The best part of this recipe is that there is no canning involved. You can put them in glass canning jars like I did but you don't have to. You can put them in a large plastic container with a lid. The cucumbers aren't heated so you won't get soggy limp cucumbers. In fact, they were so good, my kids ate the two big jars pictured above in two days. I keep the small jar of pickle slices way in the back of the fridge hidden so they can't get at them. :)  

Initially, what got me to try this recipe was that I got a really good deal on Persian cucumbers, 2 lbs for a dollar and a large bunch of fresh Dill also for a dollar. See aren't they beautiful? I knew my family couldn't eat this many before they went bad so when life gives you and abundance of cucumbers at a really great price, make pickles!

Dill Pickles (slightly adapted recipe from At Home my Way)

• 2 pounds Persian cucumbers, (sliced, quartered or halved..I made all of these)
• 1/3 cup dried minced onion
• 6 cloves garlic, sliced
• 1/2 T mustard seeds, (I used pickling spice)
• 6 heads of fresh dill
• 1 1/2 quart water
• 2 cups cider vinegar (I used regular vinegar)
• 1/2 cup canning salt (do not use regular salt, used canning salt)

In a large pot, add onion, garlic, mustard seeds (or pickling spice), dill heads, water, vinegar and canning salt. Bring to a boil to dissolve salt and let cool.

As pickling brine is cooling prep cucumbers. 

Starting with the right cucumber is the most important step. Use pickling cucumbers or thin skinned cucumbers like Persian or English. The waxy ones you get for salads are not good candidates for pickling. The skin is just too tough. 

Wash and slice cucumbers lengthwise into spears or halves or slices like so.

Place cucumbers in large canning jars or a deep plastic container with tight fitting lid. Add a few sprigs of fresh dill to the jars.

Once pickling brine is cooled, pour over cucumbers, making sure to add the pickling spices and garlic to each jar (I actually removed the wilted Dill at this point and added fresh dill to the cucumbers). Top off with brine and cover with lids. 

The recipe called for letting the pickles sit on the counter for three days and then refrigerate overnight. Turning the jars up-side-down a few times a day over the three days.

I actually put them right in the refrigerator and let them pickle in there for three days...and Ta Da!  Delicious!

I used these delicious pickles in my Mom's Macaroni Salad which is a regular dish for all our summer BBQ's. Keep a look out for the upcoming blog for her recipe. :)



Indian Spiced Lentils

I went out to dinner last month with a few girlfriends and we had the most delicious Indian food and it inspired me to try to make some at home. I figured that this is probably not food my kiddos would venture to eat but I would keep the hot spices out of it and see if I could get them to try it. Served with Rice, they're basically the Indian equivalent to rice and beans and my kids love rice and beans so what could go wrong?  Well, the look of it for one. "What's that red stuff?" "What's that sauce?" My kids judge everything on how it looks. If it's unfamiliar they won't even try it, usually.

So this is what I did. I knew they would like it, the spice was mild and had the most comforting flavor so I knew if I could get them to try it I'd have them. I caught them while watching TV, their attention more focused on Ninjago than what I had in my hand. I took a small piece of Naan Bread and put a small spoonful of lentils on the bread. Without showing them what I had, I said, "I'll give you a dollar if you try this?" Of course my kids eyes and mouths opened at the mere mention of cold hard cash. (They're saving up for some NERF guns that they want so they are always looking for ways to earn more money) Before they got second thoughts, I quickly placed the bite sized lentils with Naan bread in their mouths. 
I was so surprised, as they didn't make any faces, no squinting eyes, no gagging, no spitting out...They chewed and swallowed and gave me a smile with a thumbs up! Yay! They liked it! I couldn't believe it! Of course, it has already back-fired on me because now anytime I want them to eat their dinner, no matter if it's something they like and are familiar with, they say, "If you give me a dollar I'll take a bite!" Ugh! Oh well, I still consider it a success that they tried something new!

I served these delicious Lentils with Tandoori Chicken, Basmati Rice and some Whole Wheat Naan Bread. I even had lentils with rice for breakfast the whole week after too! This is one of my new favorite dishes for sure!


Indian Spiced Lentils (recipe slightly adapted from The Diva Dish)
Serves 6

1 cup lentils (I used green lentils)
2 1/4 cups vegetable broth
1/4 cup white wine

1 sweet potato, peeled and diced

1/2 cup roasted red bell peppers, diced

1 small onion, diced

4 cloves garlic, minced

1 15oz. can of tomato sauce

1/2 tsp ground ginger

2 tsp ground cumin

1 tsp ground turmeric

1/4 tsp cayenne pepper(add more for heat)

2 tsp paprika

1 T ground coriander

1 tsp garam masala

2/3 cups vegetable broth

juice of one lemon

salt and pepper (to taste)

Rinse and sort lentils. Add 2 1/4 cups vegetable broth, wine and lentils to medium sauce pan and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low, cover and simmer until tender, approximately 35 minutes. Makes about 2 1/2 cups of cooked lentils. Set aside.

Add onion and garlic into a skillet with a little oil and saute until onions are soft, about 5 minutes. Add sweet potato, bell peppers, tomato sauce, spices, 2/3 cup of vegetable broth, lemon juice, salt and pepper and simmer for about 15 minutes. Add cooked lentils and simmer an additional 20-25 minutes. Add additional salt to taste as needed. Serve.

Chipotle Beef Empanadas

While looking through my recipe file, I stumbled on a super old recipe from Martha Stewart Living. I don't even know the year since it was a magazine tear out from probably 1998 or earlier. It was basically a recipe for a Jamaican-style empanada, she called them Beef Patties. The picture showed this flaky beautiful crust with a spicy curried beef filling. I tore it out years ago so I could try them and never did so with Cinco de Mayo approaching, I decided to use this recipe as the inspiration to make these Chipotle Beef Empanadas. I used Martha's dough recipe, only omitting the curry powder that was called out in the Beef Patties dough recipe. I like spicy food so I went for a Chipotle Beef filling which I threw together with what I had on hand, but you can really add any filling you want because it is the crust that sets these empanadas apart!
That Martha sure knows her stuff...the crust is super flaky and buttery and delicious because it has butter in it, along with the shortening. I've had empanadas before but never with a crust that was this good. Seriously! In fact, I plan to use this crust to make some small fruit pies this summer when berries come in season. I also made a few for my kiddos with just plain taco meat filling since they wouldn't touch the spicy stuff. I made a whole batch, individually wrapped them in plastic wrap and then put them in a Ziploc freezer bag so I could cook them one at a time or save them for Cinco de Mayo. Super easy and it makes about 18 empanadas so you can feed a crowd. 

Chipotle Beef Empanadas
(Makes 18)

For the Dough: (Adapted slightly from Martha Stewart's Beef Patties recipe)

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. baking powder
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
1/2 cup shortening or lard
3/4 cup ice water

1 large egg, beaten with 1 tsp water (egg wash for the crust)

For the Filling:

1 lb. ground beef
1 small onion
1 clove garlic, minced
2 chipotle Peppers in adobo sauce, finely chopped
3 tsp Adobo sauce
1/2 pasilla chilies, finely chopped
1/4 tsp oregano
1 tsp salt
1/4 cup apple juice or water
1/4 cup breadcrumbs

Prepare the Filling:
Brown ground beef until crumbly, drain fat and set aside. In another pan, add onion, garlic and pasilla peppers and cook until soft. ~ 5 minutes. Add chipotle peppers and adobo sauce and oregano and cook another 2 minutes. Add cooked ground beef, salt, juice and breadcrumbs and cook until heated through another 5 minutes. Let cool completely.

Prepare the Dough:
Whisk together flour, salt, baking powder in a large bowl. Add butter and shortening. Working quickly and using your fingertips, combine mixture until it resembles a very course meal.

 Add water. With floured hands, mix.

Knead once or twice to fully combine. The less kneading the better.  Divide dough in half; and shape into disks and cover with plastic wrap. Refrigerate for 15 minutes. (Dough can be refrigerated up to 5 days, bring to room temperature before using.) Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Divide each disk of dough into 9 pieces. Using a rolling pin on a floured work surface, roll out 1 piece to an 1/8-inch thick circle.

Place a large spoonful of beef over one side, leaving at least 1/2 inch border.

Fold dough over to enclose filling: Press edges with a fork to seal.

Place on cookie sheet and coat each empanada with the egg wash. Bake in a 400 degree oven for 20-25 minutes.

If you don't want to cook these right away, at this point you can freeze them. You will need to slightly freeze them so they can be individually wrapped. Place prepared empanadas on a cookie sheet and place in the freezer for approximately 30-40 minutes. Remove from freezer and wrap each one in plastic wrap and then transfer the wrapped empanadas into a freezer bag and return to the freezer. Write heating instructions on outside of bag. 400 degrees for 20 minutes. Enjoy!

Shrimp with Chili Garlic Cream Sauce

Shrimp is a rarity in our house since I've been home with the kids. Normally, it's just too expensive, but you will see a few shrimp recipes from me in the coming months because it was on sale and I bought 4 pounds of it. Yay!
Here's an awesome shrimp dish that came about after trying to mimic the Walnut Shrimp from PF Chang's. This dish is nowhere near the same in flavor, but rather I wanted to mimic the texture of a lightly fried shrimp in a cream sauce. For the shrimp I lightly coated it with cornstarch and garlic powder and fried it in canola oil. The cornstarch/garlic powder adds a delicate coating and doesn't smother the shrimp with a heavy fried batter. The cream sauce was adapted from a Sriracha Cream Sauce I found on Pinterest from a blog called Damn Delicious. Instead of using Sriracha, I used Chili Garlic Sauce, which is basically the same but with garlic. I like the intense garlic flavors from this sauce along with the heat and thought it would taste better with the shrimp than just sriracha. 
The finished dish came out absolutely delicious. Sweet and spicy and with the lightly fried shrimp you get the crunchy too, just yummy! You can adjust the heat with the amount of chili sauce you add, I added 3 teaspoons and it was spicy but not burning. My husband wanted it hotter so next time, I'll probably add 4 teaspoons or just hand him the bottle. :)  Enjoy!

Shrimp with Chili Garlic Cream Sauce
(Serves 2)

1 lb. medium shrimp, peeled and de-veined
3-4 Tbsp. cornstarch (enough to coat shrimp)
1 T garlic powder
oil for frying
green onions, chopped
toasted sesame seeds

Chili Garlic Cream Sauce: (adapted from damndelicious)
2-3 tsp. Chili Garlic Sauce (to taste)
1/2 cup Mayonnaise
2 Tbsp. sweetened condensed milk
1/2 tsp. soy sauce

In a medium bowl, add shrimp, cornstarch and garlic powder and toss to coat well.
 

 

In a medium bowl, add all the chili garlic sauce ingredients and mix well and set aside. 

Heat about an inch of oil (I used canola) and add shrimp in small batches so they are not touching or crowding. Fry for about 5-8 minutes turning to ensure even frying and remove with a slotted spoon. Drain on paper towels.

Add the fried shrimp to the bowl with prepared Chile Garlic Cream Sauce and stir to coat shrimp. Serve over steamed rice and top with green onions and toasted sesame seeds.

Complete the meal with a Nappa Cabbage Salad or with a Spicy Asian Meatball Soup as a starter.

Heath Bar Cookies

I was in need of a sugar boost real quick yesterday. I don't bake that often, at least I don't bake desserts, so I wanted something easy and remembered my mom's Heath Bar Cookies recipe. This is one of my mom's tried and true recipes from her collection she put together many years ago and gave to her daughters for Christmas. I affectionately call this cookbook, 'Mom's book'.(I'm not sure where she got the original recipe, since she didn't note the source. So apologies for not crediting the originator, if you happen to know it please send me a note) 

This recipe is super easy and only has 4 ingredients: Saltine crackers, butter, sugar and chocolate chips. Can't be any simpler...well unless you go to the store and buy a Heath Bar, that's probably the simplest. But anyway, if you want a super rich and decadent dessert, this cookie is it. Although called cookies, they are more like candy really. Make them for a crowd because you will need to share these, they are that rich and simply delicious!

Heath Bar Cookies

Makes 35-40 cookies depending on where they break. 

1 sleeve of saltine crackers
1 cup butter
1 cup brown sugar
6 oz. chocolate chips (I used the mini chips)


Preheat to 350 degrees.



Line cookie sheet with parchment paper and line with a single layer of saltine crackers.

 Bring butter and sugar to a boil.

 

Pour over saltines and smooth out toffee to cover each saltine.

 

Bake at 350 degrees for 10 minutes. Keep an eye on it to ensure the sugar doesn't scorch.

Remove from oven and immediately sprinkle with chocolate chips. (Excuse the bloom on my chocolate chips, you can tell I don't bake much. The white appearance is caused by the cocoa butter separating and moving to the surface. Although unsightly, it's completely edible and can be removed by simply heating the chocolate. So... I put mine back in the oven to heat up the chips a bit to remove the bloom from my chocolate chips)

Let sit to cool enough to put in the refrigerator and refrigerate until firm. Break into cookies and eat!