Pot Luck Macaroni Salad

Today is my birthday so I'm cooking one of my very favorite meals...baby back bar-b-qued ribs. I'm cooking them on my grill. I have this thing that is called a Chimney. You use it to start the charcoal without lighter fluid. It works every time and has the coals evenly white and ready to cook in a half an hour.

You don't taste the lighter fluid, just the charcoal. You take two sheets of newspaper, stuff it under the bottom of the large coffee can shaped thing. The coals are in the top part. You light the newspapers and within a half hour, you're ready to grill anything.

The nice thing about that is that you can have a second round of charcoal ready for cooking things that take a long time, like the ribs. The second can of charcoal is ashing over right now. I had the ribs bone side down when the coals were hot, then meat side down when they weren't so hot. Then, I'll cook them bone side down again when I put the second can of charcoal in the grill. Of course, when the coals cool down some, I'll cook them meat side down again for a while.

Those things only cost about 10-20 bucks and you never have to buy lighter fluid again.

Anyway, one of the things that I'm serving with the ribs is a macaroni salad with tuna. It's an easy, very good salad to have anytime you'd like a pasta salad to eat or to take to a potluck dinner. Everyone loves it when I bring it to any event and I always like to bring it because I love to hear people tell me what a good cook I am. I've made the recipe about as small as you can make it. It makes a good size serving bowl full and would probably serve 6 or more.

Boil 8 ounces of elbow macaroni. You can rinse in cold water for immediate use.

Chop 1/4 to 1/3 cup each of: onions-I use both yellow onions AND scallions (1/4 cup of each)

green pepper-You can always use red or yellow, I usually use green and tonight I used green because it was on sale, 2 for $1.00.

celery

1 teaspoonful of vinegar...whatever type you prefer

One teaspoonful each of salt and pepper

One 6 ounce can of tuna in water, not in oil

One tablespoonful of mustard, I use yellow

Mix all of that together. I mush up the tuna separately before I put it in the mixing bowl so the salad doesn't have big hunks of tuna. Then, I add Miracle Whip (actually the store equivalent, it works just as well), 1/4 cup at a time, stirring well each time after adding the Miracle Whip. After you have at least 1/2 cup of Miracle Whip in the salad, start tasting it after each 1/4 cup that you put in. Stop adding it when the salad is as moist as you like it. I use about 1 1/2 cup in my salad.

Some people prefer mayonnaise to the salad dressing, but I can't stand by the salad if you use mayonnaise. I'm sure it will be good, but I can't guarantee as many compliments at the church pot-luck dinner as you'll get if you make it exactly like I do. You can also add tomatoes if you like, I do it occasionally. To top the salad off, I slice up 3 heard boiled eggs and lay the slices all around the perimeter of the salad and then I sprinkle about 2 tablespoons of bacon bits over the middle, not on the eggs slices. The toppings are all optional, I didn't put any on my salad tonight because I'm putting most of my effort into the ribs which are still slowly cooking. Oh, by the way, this salad has to be refrigerated, of course.

PS Hi! I just went to Florida and while I was there, my father bought a can of crab meat (claw) and asked me to make it for dinner. I didn't know what to do with it so I decided to make this salad and use the crab meat instead of tuna...it was great.

The Amazing Mashed Potato!

Potatoes are one of my favorite things. I love them mashed, fried, hash browned, scalloped...you name it, I love them. This recipe (or group of them) are mainly about mashed potatoes and things that you can do with the leftovers. I use butter, but this is one of the times that margarine would work as well. Also, salt and pepper to your own tastes. I give general guidelines for those who are clueless in the kitchen, but you can always add more if you like.

4-6 medium potatoes (about 4 to 5 inches long, 2-3 inches in diameter).
1 stick of butter
1/2 cup of whole milk to begin with, you can add more according to how stiff you like your potatoes.
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon pepper

Whether or not you leave the peel on is your business. Sometimes I do, sometimes I don't. Most of the vitamins are near the skin, so if that's a consideration, there you go. I've read that baked potatoes make the best mashed potatoes but you decide what you like. Even if I am leaving the skin on, I do cut some parts off and I shave any areas that don't seem to get clean even after scrubbing and rinsing. If you boil the potatoes, first cut them into thirds and then cover the potatoes with one inch of water and bring to boil. Then, turn the temperature down to a simmer for about 30-45 minutes, stirring every ten minutes or so. That will avoid making potato mush, boiling has the potential to do that. Drain the water out of the pitatoes, put the potatoes back in the pot you boiled them in and mash them crudely at first. Add the stick of butter and mash some more. Then, add the milk. You may or may not need to add more milk. Add small bits at a time, you can always add more but you can't really take any out. (By the way, I have one purpose for instant mashed potatoes. I sprinkle them into my mashed potatoes if I accidentally put too much milk in them.)

OK, now you have your basic mashed potatoes. Remember to taste them often along the way to be sure that you have enough salt and pepper in them. Remember to try different consistencies, you can use an electric mixer for really fluffy mashed potatoes, a hand masher and a fork for chunky mashed potatoes...whatever you like best. If you find yourself (as I have, many times) without a potato masher, you can always use the bottom of a heavy glass/cup. A Pyrex measuring cup is good. Then, you just literally mash them. After you add the milk and butter, it should be mashed enough for you to be able to take a fork to it and finish the job.

Every single time that I make mashed potatoes, I make extra so that I can have one of my left-over mashed potato dishes. I have quite a few things that I can do with left-over mashed potatoes, but these are my three favorites:

POTATOE CROQUETS

1 cup mashed potatoes
1 egg
1/4 cup diced onions
fill a tablespoon about halfway with fresh chives (optional)
Salt and pepper
You may or may not like to add shredded cheese (cheddar, mozzarella, or colby would do nicely) at this point.

Mash it all up, using your hands until everything is well blended. Shape the mixture into patties, dredge in a well mixed egg and then in bread crumbs. (This step is also optional although it does add a nice, crispy outside to the croquets.) Place coated patties into 3/4 inch of hot olive oil in a 12 inch skillet. Fry on each side for about 5 minutes each. Serve soon after preparing.

TWICE BAKED POTATOES

Begin with above recipe up to adding cheese. With the cheese, you could add a tablespoon of any of the following, or get creative and think of your own additions:

chopped green,
red or yellow peppers
chopped celery
bacon bits, fried or canned
You could pretty much add any chopped meat or fish to the potato mixture.
chopped tomatoes

You can add just about anything you'd like or a mixture of things. Some people may just like cheese or other single ingredient.

Blend the mixture together with your hands. Hopefully, you've saved a few potato shells from when you first prepared the mashed potatoes. If not, that's OK, you can buy small aluminum cups or ramekins. Put the mixture in the cup/potato shells. Cover the potato with cheese, salt and pepper or paprika if you'd like to. Place potatoes on a cookie sheet, whether they're in a shell, aluminum container or a ramekin. Put the cookie sheet in an oven pre-heated to 350 and leave in there for 30-45 minutes.

POTATO PANCAKES

1 cup mashed potatoes
1/4 cup of diced onions (optional)
salt and pepper
1/8 cup chopped celery (optional)
2 eggs
1 heaping fork full of flour

Mix all ingredients together. Mixture should be the consistency of a cross between pancake batter and Miracle Whip. If it's too thick, add milk, one tablespoon at a time, until you reach the desired consistency. Pour batter into olive oil that has been warming while you were preparing the batter. These will be a lot thinner than the croquets so pour them slowly, about a half cup at a time, into hot oil. Make them as large or small as you'd like. Fry on first side for 5 minutes and then turn pancake over (carefully) and fry on other side for another 5 minutes. Take pancake out and set on paper towels to absorb excess oil.

Multi-Purpose Meat Slop

This concoction is very handy to have around. You can take it and make meat loaf, meat balls, Salsbury Steak...a bunch of different meals. It's really just a basic meat loaf recipe that you can shape into patties and fry to make Salsbury Steak, roll into balls for meat balls or whatever you need it to be.

1 pound ground beef
1 large egg
1/2 cup of ketchup
1/4 cup of chopped onions
1/2 cup of bread crumbs or three slices of damp bread
Salt and pepper...at least a teaspoon of each, more if you like more

After putting all of those ingredients into a large bowl, you add a few tablespoons of whatever you have in your fridge. Use about 3 of the following (or whatever you happen to have on your fridge door):

soy sauce
worcestershire sauce
any type of salad dressing
steak sauce
mustard
marinade sauce

Mix that all together and when you're done, it should be a bit softer than hamburger meat, but as easy to shape into balls or patties.

For meat loaf, bake it at 350 for about an hour. For Salisbury Steak, fry patties until they're no longer pink inside (then cover with brown gravy to serve). For meat balls, you can bake them at 350 for about a half an hour and then add them to the sauce.

You can use the same recipe, adding 3/4 cup of instant rice and stuff into green peppers or roll into cabbage leafs. Cover with tomato sauce and bake at 350 for an hour and serve with some pasta on the side and a salad or vegetable. When using the Basic Recipe for Italian dishes, you can add a few shakes of Italian spices to the meat, like oregano, garlic...whatever you like.