Score!! (cooking related)

[jebbypal]

Okay, you've all heard me whine about things that I miss out on due to the corn allergy (barbeque, swiss miss cakes, etc). However, I've probably never waxed poetic to you about Tuna Salad.

I have always loved tuna salad (as long as there weren't eggs in it). As a kid, I used to freak my brother out when I made it (one of the few things I was allowed to make since my parents had huge fire fears and didn't let me use the stove until I was about 14) by taunting him about "secret ingredients". Which generally boiled down to a splash of pepper vinegar into the salad. But it was fun.

and I've always loved it and it was always easy and it's pretty darn hard to screw up. Until I couldn't use Miracle Whip (modified food starch). It took me about a year to get used to the taste of plain Mayonnaise (Had never eaten it before in my life. Just Miracle Whip.)

Then I mastered that and thought things were hunky dory. Except I started reacting to pickle relish. Good tuna fish was a thing of the past. (for real, go and try to find a pickle relish without corn syrup in it. Seriously).

However, I finally decided to experiment and figured I'd try adding apples.

OMG, sooo close to the real thing as far as getting the sweetness back into the dish. Probably 100x healthier too to combat the cholesterol of the mayonnaise.

Mmmmm.....happiness is reclaiming a recipe I thought lost.

Comments

[escritoireazul.livejournal.com]

Do you eat grapes? My favorite chicken salad recipe has grapes in it for that sweetness, and I'm now wondering if it would work with tuna, too. I'm going to have to add apples the next time I make tuna salad, because this sounds awesome.

[jebbypal]

Yep, I eat grapes, I'll have to keep that in mind the next time I have a hankering for chicken salad.

yes, the apples worked wonderfully -- 1 apple, lemon juice to taste, 2 celery stalks, can of tuna, mayonnaise, salt and pepper to taste. (plus the home made bread i make due to the corn issue makes it all irresistible).

[luridmuse.livejournal.com]

you just cut up the apples and toss them in or did you do something to them first?
I tossed some crushed up almonds in our tuna the other day and it wasnt too terrible, probably would have been better if they werent cimmamon roasted almonds.

[jebbypal]

I just cut the apples up and tossed them in. Sprinkling the lemon juice on before you add the tuna will prevent the apples from browning too much if that bothers you. The recipe I was using also said to add chestnuts but I didn't have any and my pecans are whole pecans right now instead of crushed.

me and almonds haven't gotten along ever since i got a hangover on some swedish rum and almond drink. *shudders*

[luridmuse.livejournal.com]

I might have to try that. With the kids being home now, Im trying to keep them on a healthy diet and not a "oh this is easy eat this" processed foods. Candy bars and cookies have been replaced with fruits and snow cones made out of juice.
will let you know how it goes :)

[jebbypal]

Hmmm, I've discovered a quick and easy and almost foolproof way to bake chicken well.

Line some sort of oven safe pan w/ foil (for easy cleanup), and preheat your oven at 375. Put your chicken breasts in, pour in some olive oil and add spices (rosemary, basil, oregano, thyme, pepper, salt, -- garlic powder/salt if you like. Could also use poultry seasoning instead of individual spices if you like). rub over the chicken with the olive oil to coat and poke some holes in the chicken with a fork. Let it sit on top of the oven while you go and cut veggies.

Veggies -- cut up onion, bell pepper, and celery. Throw on top of the chicken. If you want potatoes, throw some baby potatoes on top of all of it -- other wise, we'll make some pasta.

Cook for an hour or so until the chicken is done. Remove the lid and cook another 15 minutes to get the chicken brown (or until it's dry if you like your meat drier like I do).

If you want pasta, cook up some spaghetti. Coat the done spaghetti with olive oil, add in some basil, and cut up several tomatoes to toss with the pasta.

Serve chicken on top of pasta. Or you can cut the chicken pieces up and toss the chicken and cooked veggies w/ the pasta.