Tuna salad (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Monday is Roasted Chicken day in our house. So I served this Macaroni Vegetable Tuna Salad with a lemon, parsley and butter Roasted Whole Chicken (grass fed/range free) and the meal was absolutely delicious. My husband raved and just loved the meal. (I will gladly post my roasted chicken recipe later this week.)
My inspiration for making the meal:
How I remember when mama used to say “it’s too hot to be in the kitchen!”
So during these lazy days of summer when the temperatures rose to the 80’s or 90’s day after day, back to back in the city, you would be looking for ways to stay cool and deal with the sweltering heat. Why you could fry an egg on the sidewalk and serve them up. LOL! I mean it was so very hot, hot, hot! And there was no sign of relief.
Back in those days we had no air conditioning at all! There were only fans strategically placed in every room blowing every which a way! LOL! Practically all of the screened windows were left wide open day and night and we would be happy at the moment we were graced with a cool breeze from the ocean (thank God we lived near the beach) every now and then thank goodness. On the days that we did not go to the beach, Mama used to have us all wear our bathing suits anyway and so we would take dips in the two bath tubs that was filled with iced cold water. There was one bathroom for the females and one for the males and they were right next door to each other.
Sometimes mama went as far as to say that it was too hot to eat at all. LOL!
So we all almost lost our appetites because it seemed as if all we wanted to do was drink ice cold water, limeade and/or lemonade all day long. We’d suck on ice cubes and my father used to make ices with different flavored syrups on top of them for us or else you’d suffer during those hot summer days if you didn’t. But if the truth was to be told it seemed like most of us youngsters were oblivious to the intensity of the heat because we were always having fun by playing games in the streets, spraying each other with water guns and having fun with our friends around the way. We would be in and out of the house, practically running wild and mama didn’t mind it at all. LOL!
I remember how mama would have us come in for dinner and we’d eat lots of finger snacking foods, like fried chicken or fish sticks and chilled fruits and vegetable salads galore because she and my older sisters was great at whipping up a large variety of chilled summer salad dishes that were delish.
So although spring is here: but baby it’s still cold outside! So I am game for an occasional chilled summer salad almost any time of the year because it always triggers those old memories and brings me back, makes me smile and think about those wonderful pleasant hot days of summer.
I look forward to this summer too when my husband and I could get out there and enjoy the wonderful sun on the coast and stop in a casino or two. LOL!
So here’s what I did with this weeks vegetable leftovers.
tuna macaroni salad (Photo credit: kumquatgirl)
“MACARONI VEGETABLE TUNA SALAD”
Ingredients:
3 cans Tuna in oil (drained)
3 cups of dried macaroni (Boiled and drained)
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1 cup of leftover mixed vegetables (contains carrots, corn, string beans, and peas)
1 cup of leftover broccoli florets
2 cups of leftover Cole Slaw
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1 Celery (chopped)
4 Hard boiled eggs (sliced)
3 chopped plum tomatoes (optional)
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2 heaping TBS of sweet relish
3-4 heaping TBS of Mayonnaise
1 heaping TBS of Creole hot mustard
1 teaspoon of celery seeds (optional)
½ teaspoon of cayenne pepper
1 teaspoon of chopped fresh parsley
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1 teaspoon sea salt
1 TBS of olive oil or coconut oil
6-8 cups of boiling water
Cookware:
1 quart sauce pan
1 medium sized plastic or glass bowl with top
Directions:
1- Bring to a boil the 6-8 cups of water. Add in the dried macaroni, salt and olive oil and stir frequently. Allow the macaroni to boil for at least 10-15 minutes or until macaroni is tender.
2- Strain macaroni and pour into medium bowl.
3- Add and combine all ingredients to bowl (except the eggs and tomatoes) and mix well.
4- Layer/spread the chopped plum tomatoes over the top of macaroni vegetable tuna salad.
5- Slice the hard boiled eggs and layer/spread over the top of the chopped tomatoes.
6- Sprinkle with fresh parsley over top the layered sliced boiled eggs.
7- Cover the bowl and refrigerate for at least two hours before serving.
Dance to the Music (Sly and the Family Stone album) (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
SLY AND THE FAMILY STONE
“Hot Fun In The Summer Time”
Lyrics
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NfN47R7Mx5M
End of the spring and here she comes back
Hi, hi, hi, hi there
Them summer days, those summer days
That’s when I had most of my fun back
High, high, high, high there
Them summer days, those summer days.
I’ cloud nine when I want to
Out of school, yeah
Country fair in the country sun
And everything, it’s true, ooh, yeah, yeah
~~~
Hot fun in the summertime
Hot fun in the summertime
Hot fun in the summertime
Hot fun in the summertime
~~~
First of the fall and then she goes back
Bye, bye, bye, bye, bye there
Them summer days, those summer days
~~~
Boop-boop-ba-boop-boop when I want to
Out of school
Country fair in the country sun
And everything is cool. Ooh yeah
~~~
Hot fun in the summertime
Hot fun in the summertime
Hot fun in the summertime
~~~~
Sly and Family Stone In concert here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4B5EtjNNf60
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lovelyseasonscomeandgo 
“It’s too hot to eat…” Yeppers, I feel the same way at times in the summer. Sometimes I defer to a cold plate.
O.K., now I have to make Pasta Primavera and a Fritatta for leftover veggies. Why is it that whenever I visit this blog, I have more things to do? 🙂
Have more things to do….LOL! 🙂