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Sunday, May 3, 2009

The Best Damn Food We Ever Did Eat

Today has been a wonderful day. We got up, ate, sat around, and then I went to the grocery, Josh mowed the lawn, I started stuff for dinner, Josh put the grill together, I dug up weeds and planted some bulbs, we finished putting dinner together, Josh cooked it on the grill, we ate it, and it was WONDERFUL. Now our stupid neighbor can shut his face about the lawn.


I got this cookbook at my bridal shower, and it is absolutely the best cookbook I've ever gotten. It is filled with great ideas for hosting parties, and is just awesome. I've actually been reading it since my shower. I've never actually read a cookbook, I always flip through, but this one is so interesting. You just have to check it out I guess. It has all kinds of tips about organizing your kitchen, and has sample meal menus as well. Love it. Anyway, we were thinking about what we were going to have for dinner while we were eating breakfast (we're serious about eating, you don't even know), and when I finished eating I started looking at the book to see what sounded good. Josh decided he wanted kabobs, and I knew he likes macaroni/pasta salads, so I picked out a macaroni salad to make. This salad was so good.

This is the original recipe from the book:
Macaroni Salad
Prep: 30 minutes Chill: 4 to 24 hours
Makes: 6 side-dish servings

1 cup elbow macaroni or wagon wheel macaroni (3 ounces)
3/4 cup cubed cheddar or American cheese (3 ounces)
1/2 cup thinly sliced celery
1/2 cup frozen peas
1/2 cup thinly sliced radishes
2 tablespoons thinly sliced green onion or chopped onion
1/2 cup mayonnaise or salad dressing
1/4 cup sweet or dill pickle relish, or chopped sweet or dill pickles
2 tablespoons milk
2 tablespoons horseradish mustard (optional)
1/4 teaspoon salt
dash black pepper
2 hard-cooked eggs, coarsely chopped

1. Cook pasta according to package directions; drain. Rinse with cold water; drain again. In a large bowl combine cooked pasta, cheese, celery, peas, radishes, and green onion.
2. For dressing, in a small bowl stir together the mayonnaise, pickle relish, milk, mustard (if desired), salt, and pepper.
3. Pour dressing over pasta mixture. Add chopped eggs. Toss lightly to coat. Cover and chill for 4 to 24 hours. Before serving, if necessary, stir in additional milk to moisten.

Nutrition facts per serving: 311 cal., 22g total fat (6g sat. fat), 97 mg chol., 411 mg sodium, 20 g carb, 1 g fiber, 9 g pro.

My take on this: it was wonderful. However, I did make changes to it. I used the wagon wheel macaroni, just because I think its more fun. I did not use radishes, because I don't like them. I didn't thinly slice the celery, I had to dice it to the point where Josh didn't know it was there because he does not like it at all. He didn't notice it until his very last bite. I used chopped onion instead of green. I used mayonnaise, but I used fat free, so the nutrition information on mine will look a bit different than the book. I used dill pickle relish, and I didn't use the horseradish mustard, because I don't like real mustardy side-dish salads. I learned how to hard boil eggs for the first time today, and they turned out perfect. There are so many different theories on how to make the perfect hard boiled egg, but I will use this one from now on.

Hard-Cooked Eggs
4 eggs
cold water
1. Place eggs in a single layer in a medium saucepan. Add enough cold water to just cover the eggs. Bring to a rapid boil over high heat (water will have large rapidly breaking bubbles). Remove from heat, cover, and let stand for 15 minutes; drain.
2. Run cold water over the eggs or place them in ice water until cool enough to handle; drain.
3. To peel eggs, gently tap each egg on the counter top. Roll the egg between the palms of your hands. Peel off eggshell, starting at the large end.

I followed this exactly, all except the peeling part, I did my own thing on that. But they were awesome.

Back to the macaroni salad, I chilled it for probably three to four hours, and added about a tablespoon of milk to it when we were ready to eat. I recommend trying this one. It is so good.

Onto our kabobs!
Raw kabobs:


Cooked kabobs.


I had a recipe I was going to use for this, but then just went with my own thing. I cut three large chicken breasts into one inch-ish chunks, put them into a glass dish that I have a lid for, with teriyaki sauce and let them marinate for about three or four hours. I bought bamboo skewers, it is very important that you soak the skewers in water, do not try to use them without soaking them, for they will catch fire on your grill. Three hours is long enough, that is how long ours soaked for. I put green pepper chunks, red pepper chunks, chicken chunks, and pineapple chunks on the skewers. I bought canned pineapple chunks because I didn't feel like learning how to peel a pineapple today. I already had enough things to do. So I put them all together and sat them aside to make the glaze. I mixed orange juice, honey, and soy sauce together until I thought it tasted good. I'm really sorry that I don't have specific measurements for this one, but I really just did my own thing. If I had to guess, I'd probably say a cup of oj, two tablespoons honey, and a teaspoon soy sauce, but those are guesses. Try it out yourself. Josh went out to the grill with it, and instructions to brush the skewers with the glaze right before they came off the grill.

I have to say, this was one awesome meal. We didn't have another side because the kabobs cooked too fast for me to make one. They cook up in 7-10 minutes. We will for sure be having this meal again, and you're invited over! :)

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