Tuna Salad With Avocado

In my opinion, anything is better with avocado. Tonight I made a fairly simple dinner of tuna salad, and made it just a bit better by serving it with sliced avocado and some of those yummo corn tortillas I got at the restaurant in Parker the other day.

Tuna Salad:

1 large can tuna, drained
2 boiled eggs, chopped
1/2 onion, chopped
12 cherry tomatoes, cut in quarters
salt and pepper to taste
1/3 cup mayonnaise

Mix all together well and serve on a bed of lettuce. If you like avocado, put some slices on top.


Here I am, a new self portrait, to show you how long my hair is getting. I let it air dry instead of using a hair dryer. I think it still has some natural curl left in it.

I Make A "Stab" At Gucamole

I accidently stabbed myself in the hand while I was trying to get the pit out of an avocado today. The good folks over at Avocado.org say:

"Remove the seed by sliding the tip of a spoon gently underneath and lifting out. The other common seed-extraction method - striking the seed with a knife and twisting - requires some skill and is not recommended." Guess I should have read that first, huh?

Fabgrandpa was outside washing the awning. He heard me scream and came running inside to see what happened. Don't worry, it isn't as bad as it sounds, just a tiny wound in between my middle and ring finger on my left hand. It didn't require stitches or anything. It DID hurt like hell, though

The remedy? An application of New Skin and Patron.

That New Skin stuff is great. As soon as you dab it on, it burns for a second, then the pain is gone. It is a sticky liquid that dries quickly to make a skin-like bandaid on a cut. I love this stuff.

I got that little bottle of Patron about two years ago. It has been living in my "office drawer" since then, waiting for just the right occasion. It was just right and just enough for today.

Dinner tonight was leftover blackeyed peas, cornbread, and fried spam. Not very exotic, but filling and good. And I didn't have to cook.


The recipe for the day:

Banana Pancakes

1 cup Bob's Red Mill Baking Mix or your favorite gluten free pancake mix
1 cup milk
1 egg
1 teaspoon olive oil
1 teaspoon sugar
2 bananas

Mix all ingredients except bananas. Heat a couple tablespoons of olive oil in a skillet. When the skillet is hot, pour pancake batter in. While the pancakes are cooking on the first side, put slices of banana on top. When the pancakes are browned on the bottom, flip over and cook on the banana side until browned. Serve with butter and syrup. The taste of cooked bananas is soooo good!

Anasazi Beans With Guacamole

I am always looking for new things to eat that are healthy, inexpensive, gluten free and good tasting. The other day when we were in Parker, I found these Anasazi Beans. I had read about them in cookbooks and on the internet, but I had never seen any in a store. They were more expensive than other kinds of dried beans, about twice as much for a 16 oz bag. I bought them anyway and brought them home.



I couldn't wait to take them out of the bag and take a picure of them. I mean, they are so pretty just sitting there in the pot:




I made bean soup with them, adding some chopped celery, onion, garlic, basil, thyme, and black pepper. I don't usually add any salt to the pot when I am cooking dried beans. It makes them tough and chewy, so we add the salt after they are cooked if they need any. I have always added some sort of meat to the pot when I cook beans, but this time, since we are trying to eat less meat, I did not add any at all. We wanted to see how good dried beans could be with no meat added.



Also, I have found that if you either soak the beans overnight, or put them in a pot with water, bring to a boil and cook for 5 minutes, then pour off the water and rinse the beans well, you won't get the flatulence usually associated with eating beans. (It works, believe me, I know it does!)



After you rinse the beans, add them to the crockpot with the other ingredients. I cooked these beans for about 4 hours on high, then turned them off and let them sit overnight in the crockpot. The second day, I turned the crockpot on high and cooked them another two hours. The soup turned out just right. I served it with homemade guacamole spooned on top, and cornbread on the side. The guacamole added just the right amount of mmmmmmmmmm to this soup.


Now isn't that a beautiful bowl of soup?

Black Bean Nachos

Ack! When I got up and looked at the calendar this morning, I realized that we only have 19 days before we leave here for our job in Missouri. Less than 3 weeks!!! I have so much still to do before we go that I don’t know how I am going to get it all done.

Every spring before we leave I usually clean out all of the closets and storage bins. I go through all of our clothing and discard stuff we haven’t worn in the last year. I get rid of any extra things we have accumulated in the last 12 months that may be weighing us down.

As I go through everything, I make a pile of stuff to put on ebay, another pile for donations to the local library, a pile for donating to a thrift shop, and one for the trash bin. I need to get busy, but it is cold and raining today and I just don’t feel like doing it.

Before we leave town, we have a plan to go visit with friends who live 130 miles away in south Georgia. We have been talking about going out to that Chinese place in town with the FabGrandpa’s parents but have not done that yet. We need to get the truck serviced. I’m telling ya, there is just so much to do!

So what am I doing today? Just sitting here, doing nothing. Drinking a third cup of coffee. Putting off until tomorrow every little thing that I can. And thinking about what I can cook for dinner, because I try to use up as many of the groceries as I can before we travel down the road.

Last night I made us some yummy Black Bean and Shrimp Nachos. I stole the idea for this dish from a restaurant I used to go to when I worked in downtown Atlanta for the telephone company. I can’t remember the name of the place, and it is no longer there, but my friends and I used to go there once a week, and I always ordered these nachos every time.

Black Bean and Shrimp Nachos

Corn tortilla chips

1 can black beans, drained

1 jar salsa or 1 can diced tomatoes

4-5 green onions, sliced

1 can black olives, drained and sliced

1 cup shredded colby, cheddar, or jack cheese

½ lb cooked shrimp, peeled and deveined

Optional: sour cream, sliced avocado, jalapeno peppers

Place a couple of handfuls of corn tortilla chips on each plate. Sprinkle a half can of black beans on top of the chips. Add some of the salsa or tomatoes, spreading it around on top of beans and chips. Add half of the onions to each plate, then black olives, as much as you like. Cut the shrimp into bite size pieces, and add half of it to each plate. Sprinkle a half-cup of shredded cheese on top of each plate. Place the plates, one at a time, into the microwave and cook for one minute to melt the cheese. Serve with sour cream, avocado slices, and jalapeno pepper slices. Makes two dinner size servings.

I wish I had thought to take a picture of this last night because ti is really a nice looking dish on the plate.

Mexican Seafood Soup

When Jim and I were working in south Texas, one of our favorite restaurants, Las Margaritas, served a delish soup made with a white fish and shrimp. I asked Margarita for the recipe several times, but she wouldn't share it. I want to believe that it was because she was one of those cooks who "just knows how" to cook something, and really didn't have a recipe for it.

After we left Texas, I experimented for months, trying to reproduce that soup. This is as close as I can get without driving for three days.

Mexican Seafood Soup

Olive Oil
3-4 stalks of celery, coarsley chopped
1 large onion, chopped
2-4 cloves garlic, minced
2 (or 3 if you dare) jalapenos, seeded and chopped
1 16 oz can diced tomatoes
3 carrots, peeled and cut in chunks
3 medium potatos, washed and cut in chunks
3 cubes Shrimp bouillon (Caldo con sabor de camaron) w/ 1 cup water
OR 16 oz seafood stock
6 cups water
2 tablespoons cumin
1 teaspoon basil
1 teaspoon red pepper
1 teaspoon salt
2-3 shakes of tabasco sauce
1 bunch fresh cilantro if desired
1 lb tilapia or other firm white fish, cut in bite size pieces
1/2 lb shrimp, peeled and deveined
1 avacado, peeled and sliced
1 lime

Heat the olive oil in a dutch oven. Saute the celery, onion, garlic, and jalapenos until the onions are clear. Add tomatoes, cumin, basil, red pepper, tabasco, carrots, and potatoes. Put the bouillon cubes in 1 cup of water in a microwave safe container. Microwave for 4 minutes, until the water is boiling. Stir well to make sure the cubes are dissolved. Add to the dutch oven. If using the seafood stock instead, add it now. Add the rest of the water. Bring to a boil, then turn the heat down, cover the pot, and simmer for 40 minutes. Add the fish and shrimp, cover, and simmer another 10 minutes. Slice the avacado and squeeze lime juice over to prevent discoloration.

Ladle the soup into bowls, add a few slices of avacado, and a squeeze lime juice. Serve with corn or flour tortillas.

Or, just drive down to Pharr, Texas, walk into Las Margaritas, and order a bowl.