Fruity Broccoli Salad

Whisk together this dressing in a medium bowl or casserole dish:

2/3c olive oil mayonnaise

1/4c white Balsamic vinegar

a big sprinkle of black pepper

a small sprinkle of garlic salt

1T honey

Add the the broccoli and apple, cut into bite size pieces, then sliced-chopped onion. Stir in the pecans and craisins and fold together with a silicone spatula.

8-10oz. broccoli florets

1/2 lg. purple onion

1 Envy apple

1/2c craisins

3/4c chopped pecans

Refrigerate this before serving. Leftovers, if there are any, will keep several days, covered, in the refrigerator. This salad is great with anything, or just by itself. You could also add a cup or so of roasted, cut up chicken if you'd like. . .Lin

Crunchy Tuna-Egg Salad

I woke really hungry this morning. 
This is unusual for me because I often don't eat anything at all until 2 or 3 in the afternoon. Since I'm still tying to stay strong with a 16-8 or 18-6 intermittent fasting schedule, I know the earlier we eat, the more efficiently our bodies process whatever food we put in them. So. . .today seems like a good day to initiate a time shift! It'll require much discipline though, since once I start eating...my body's like a crazed food disposal system...I'm sure anyone near me can hear it growling: Give Me MORE! But, hey, it's Monday, and I'm up for the challenge!

For me, going way back to my stressful days working as the Department Secretary for a small city Police Department in Wisconsin, I've found tuna salad to be a surprising comfort food. When my energy was low, or I could feel the grey cloud of anxiety or depression approaching; like the leading edge of a low pressure storm front; I'd take a break - walk down to Subway - and buy a tuna sandwich. With lots of added onions, olives, tomatoes, a big drizzle of EVOO, and sometimes cheese. I swear it worked like a charm, every single time, to restore sanity, balance and calm. Their tuna salad was really good and I was told by a couple employees that it was nothing more than tuna and mayonnaise! Since I'm not a minimalist in regard to food prep, that's a hard concept for me.

This time I stopped to taste it after combining tuna, eggs, mustard and mayo. Yes! It was good! But, I kept thinking how much 'better' it would be with sweet pickle, dill pickle, green onion, yellow bell pepper and of course celery - lots of celery. And I was right, it's great. But, as I said, it was also really good at the first taste test! So, feel free to add as much or little, of all these accoutrements, or even others, as you like. Chopped Kalamata olives are good too. Use this as a guide, rather than an exact how-to-type recipe.

In a bowl, chop together, crosscutting with 2 steak knives :

2 hard boiled eggs

2 5oz. UN-drained cans of tuna in EVOO

1T+ spicy brown mustard

1/2 - 2/3c EVOO mayonnaise

Try it now and stop if the flavors are what you like, or you're short on time and want to keep this simple. Proceed if you want something crunchier with other flavors. Chop and add:

1/4c yellow bell pepper

1 celery heart + greens

4-6 green onions

1/3c sweet pickle

1/3c dill pickle

This was great as breakfast at 8:00 this morning with a side of seasoned grape tomatoes, avocado and tiny sweet potato-corn crackers. Mmmm. Happy Monday Everyone! . .Lin

Zingy Tuna Salad

3 5oz. cans tuna

canned jalapeno sliced

2T fresh lemon juice

2T grainy seedy mustard

1/3c± whole milk plain Greek Yogurt

1/3c± mayonnaise 

a celery heart + greens

sweet pickle

dill pickles

1/3c chopped onion

Drain the tuna if you're using tuna "in oil" or in water. The oil used is usually soybean which is not healthy. IF you can find tuna in Extra Virgin Olive Oil, use it! Don't drain it!!!

Put the tuna in a medium glass bowl and add the first ingredients. Chop all the vegetables and stir those in. This tuna salad has a little kick to it.

I'm a fan of crunchy vegetables in my tuna salad. One of the best plain tuna sandwiches I've ever had is the one at Subway. I asked, and theirs is just tuna and mayo. Tuna is very versatile. Serve this with crackers, scoop it onto a tossed salad, serve it in a Romaine lettuce wrap. . .Be creative! Have fun with your cooking! . .Lin

Tomatillo Tuna Salad

Combine the following in a medium glass bowl:

1 lg. can tuna - drained
1 chopped mini pepper
3 stalks chopped celery
2/3c chopped sweet onion
2/3c chopped sweet pickles
1/2c chopped kalamata olives
3T± tomatilla salsa
1/2c± mayonnaise

Use just enough mayonnaise to hold everything together. This is great in a lettuce wrap with avocado, a corn tortilla melt with some shredded taco cheese, or like here, in tomato shells.

To sort of quote Will Rogers. . .I can still say. . .

'I never met a tuna salad I didn't like'. .😉. .Lin

Grilled Cheese w/ Tomato, Bacon and Onion

I'm not a huge 'sandwich' person, and I almost never put lettuce on them. One possible exception might be if it was a cross section slice of a really tight, crispy Romaine.

I LOVE a good grilled cheese, with raw onion and tomato. This is a variation with a twist or two.

I'm not crazy about bread, so I only make them a few different ways. Either with good, healthy, sprouted grain bread, pita bread, sandwich rounds -or- what my family used to call 'crud bread.' Pure white garbage bread, with no redeeming nutritive value. If you're not concerned about nutrition, I will say, crud bread makes delicious PB&J's, day-after-Thanksgiving turkey sandwiches-slathered with mayonnaise, and perfect grilled cheese, made with butter and American cheese.

This time, I started with a multi-grain Sandwich Skinny, basically a round pita, sliced horizontally, all the way across. Mayo on the inside of both pieces, a big 1/4" slice of raw onion and beefsteak tomato, a sprinkle of crumbled bacon, sliced Dubliner cheese (which is sort of a Parmesan-Gruyere cheese)

Now this is where things take a turn. . .

Instead of spreading the outside with butter, try using MAYONNAISE! Heat a non-stick pan, place one mayo-ed side down. Cover and let it toast and heat through for a minute or two. Spread mayo on the top, flip it, cover it and turn off the heat. Leave it on the hot burner for another 5 minutes before slicing and serving.

Mmmmm. . .Crispy-Grilled-Perfection! 😊 . . Lin

Creamy Chili Garlic Dressing (and a salad)

2T chili garlic sauce

2T white balsamic vinegar

6-8oz. mayonaise

If you like things hot and spicy, just combine these 3 ingredients in a shaker container, shake, and you're done!  If you're not fond of the idea of all those chili pepper seeds surprising you with a blast of heat, strain the sauce, rubbing it with the back of a spoon, into a little bowl,  Stir the strainer contents a bit, then press, repeating until you've extracted all the sauce and are down to seeds.  Drizzle a teeny bit of vinegar over the seeds, stopping to stir and press again.  Continue with this until you run out of vinegar.  Pour this into your shaker jar.  Add mayonnaise and shake well. . .Lin

¼ sm. head of purple cabbage

1 baby romaine heart

3-4oz. baby kale

6 green onions

1 big carrot

lentil sprouts

Those of you who follow my blog probably know that my ultimate definition of A Salad is this one *  Today my lentil sprouts were ready to eat, and the lettuce mix I made a few days ago was gone.  I have no tomato, avocado or cucumber, so I was forced to totally deviate from my usual 5 Ingredient Salad.  This ended up being sort of a "clean-out-the-'fridge" salad!  It's good to do that once in awhile, to expand our brains which seem to like to be fixed on one or just a couple ways, of doing things.  Use your salad spinner for the romaine, baby kale and cabbage.  Scrub the carrot then slice lengthwise into long julienne strips and cut them about 1" long.  Add the rest and toss.



This all turned out wonderful.  A nice lunch.  There was enough leftover, for another 3 bowls of salad this size. . . Ahhh, more for later!  Be Bold, Be Adventurous, Think Outside Your Normal Routine, Happy Cooking! . . . Lin