Sweet and Sour Pasta Salad

Nancy made a pasta salad for dinner tonight.  It was very tasty.

Sweet and Sour Pasta Salad – original recipe from Food.com By Danielle in New Hampshire  Nancy's changes in bold italics 
Added March 19, 2002 | Recipe #23049

INGREDIENTS

Servings: 16
1 (16 ounce) package tri-color spiral pasta – based on comments on the website, I used an 8oz package, and used Ancient Harvest Quinoa Supergrain rotelle
1 medium red onion – I substituted green onion
1 medium tomato, chopped – substituted celery, steamed carrot slices, tiny broccoli florets
1 medium cucumber, peeled, chopped
1 medium green pepper, chopped – substituted peeled and chopped kohlrabi
2 tablespoons minced fresh parsley - omitted
Dressing – one of the comments on the original recipe said there wasn’t enough dressing, so even though I cut the pasta in half, I didn’t cut the dressing in half, especially since I had more veggies
1 1/2 cup sugar – I used 1 cup.  
1/2 cup vinegar – it didn’t say, so I used a mix of white vinegar and apple cider vinegar
1 tablespoon ground mustard
1 teaspoon salt (optional)
1 teaspoon garlic powder

COOKING INSTRUCTIONS

1 Cook pasta according to package directions; drain and rinse with cold water.  Add a little olive oil to keep from sticking.
2  Place in large serving bowl, add onion, tomato, cucumber, green pepper and parsley veggies, set aside.
3  In a saucepan combine the dressing ingredients, cook over medium-low heat for 10 minutes or until sugar is dissolved.
4  Pour over salad and toss.
5  Cover and refrigerate for 2 hours. Hah. We couldn’t wait. It will probably be better tomorrow, though.
6  Serve with slotted spoon.

Breakfast for dinner

Nancy works late tonight, but the 'kids' and I had breakfast for dinner.  Blueberry pancakes, turkey bacon, scrambled eggs, sweet potato hash browns, and orange juice.  All of which I could eat, since I used almond milk instead of skim milk in the pancakes.

I got the recipe for the sweet potato hash browns from the Fitchen blog http://thefitchen.com/2013/08/29/sweet-potato-hash-browns/.  I used garlic scrapes from Seton Harvest instead of garlic, and only one large sweet potato, which I shredded using our mandolin.  And I didn't do any of the rinsing and drying of the shredded sweet potato the original recipe called for.

INGREDIENTS

2 sweet potatoes, peeled and chopped/shredded

1/4 cup sweet onion, chopped

4 cloves garlic, minced

1/4 cup gluten-free flour

Salt and pepper

1 1/2 Tbsp olive oil for frying, per batch

COOKING INSTRUCTIONS

Mix together the sweet potatoes, onion, garlic, flour, salt, and pepper.  Heat oil in cast iron or non-stick skillet.  Place about 1/4 cup of sweet potato mixture per hash brown in skillet.  Press down with spatula.  Cook approximately 3 minutes per side.  

Southwest Chicken Salad

This recipe is modified from a Taste of Home recipe http://www.tasteofhome.com/recipes/southwest-chicken-salad.  I  make the dressing just like their recipe, although I make part of it without the chili powder for me.  I do the salad as a sort of buffet, so each person can put what he or she wants on it, and I can avoid trigger foods like cheese, roasted red peppers, and black beans.

INGREDIENTS

DRESSING (double if serving more than 4)

3 Tbsp lime juice

3 Tbsp olive oil

4 tsp honey

2 tsp cumin

1 tsp chili powder

Salt and pepper

SALAD

Romaine lettuce

Lemon grilled chicken breasts, cut up

Red bell pepper, chopped and roasted

Black beans

Frozen corn, thawed

Cucumber, peeled and chopped

Avocado, peeled and chopped

Sweet onion, chopped

Tortilla chips, crumbled

Cheddar cheese, shredded

Travel and food - leg 3, Tempe

We arrived in Tempe Sunday evening and didn't feel like doing anything.  So we had a nearby Lebanese restaurant, Mijana https://mijanatempe.com/, deliver food to our hotel room.  And it was pretty tasty and non-pain-triggering.  I had lamb shank with rice and a lentil soup I didn't like much at the time - but ate Tuesday with Fritos and enjoyed.

Monday we visited the ASU campus, John opened an account with the ASU credit union, and we got a feel for the place and what's close by.  It was very hot out.  Jean left us partway through the day to go spend time with her friend Anna, who moved away from Evansville their sophomore year.

Nancy, John, and I met Rick and Pam Stivers at a Starbucks in the late afternoon.  They moved from Evansville several years ago and now live just north of Phoenix and are as active in their new UU church as they were at UUCE.  They looked great, and we very much enjoyed our chat with them.  Plus it is nice to know that John can call on them if needed.

Another family John will be able to call on if needed is Anna's family.  We met Matt, Trish, Anna, Evan, and Anna's friend John at a terrific restaurant called The Vig.  There was some confusion about which one we were meeting at, but we all eventually ended up at the Arcadia Vig   http://thevig.us/menus/arcadia-dinner-menu/. We ate outside on their patio, but it was reasonably comfortable being evening and with the misters going.  I had a yummy Greek salad without tomatoes.  I had to pick out the chickpeas, since I hadn't realized they were included, but had plenty of food - even took 'home' a carry out box and had some for dinner Tuesday.  I sat next to Matt and thoroughly enjoyed hearing some about his work and adventures in Dubai, etc.  And he very graciously ignored the fact that I called him 'Mike' instead of 'Matt.'  

We had to cut our dinner somewhat short so that we could go see the apartment John planned to sublet.  It was very nice, as was the young man who showed it to us.  The fellow renting the apartment is currently out of the country, and it turns out his lease does not allow sublets, and that he was aware of that while trying to sublet to John.  Fortunately we got all that figured out before John arrived in August.  So now he'll be paying a little more for a studio apartment instead of a one-bedroom, but he'll have a place, and it will all be on the up-and-up.  Much of Tuesday was spent on this.

Studio apartment has closet in living room, a divider between living room and sleeping area, sleeping area,  kitchen, and bathroom.  John's will probably have carpeting instead of hardwood floors.

We also visited several places John is likely to frequent while living in Tempe - Changing Hands bookstore (very wonderful), Tempe Public Library (also nice), the Game Depot (a great selection of games, and lots of spaces for playing in the store), and a comics store that also had games and room for playing.

We had lunch at a restaurant next to Changing Hands.  It turned out to be one of my favorite restaurants - eighties music, relatively quiet, big screen TVs with sports but sound low or off, delicious food, good service.  Mac's Broiler and Tap http://www.macsbroilerandtap.com/.  The four of us each ordered something different, and with a different one of the standard sides.  And we all enjoyed our food.  I had Mac's Fish Sandwich, without cheese, tomato, or mayo - and with cut up fresh fruit as the side.  There was probably some butter on the toasted bun, but not bad trigger-wise.

We were all pretty exhausted by the end of Tuesday, and mostly ate left-overs in our room (which had both a fridge and a microwave) for dinner.  Another feature of our hotel room was that there were grab bars by the toilet, which I really appreciated.  We stayed at the Country Inn and Suites just across the river from the ASU Tempe campus. Our trip home was uneventful.  Got in to St. Louis around 5, stopped at Chili's in Mt. Vernon for dinner, arrived home around 10.  My body was very glad to sink into the blue recliner, and to have Sirius sleeping on my lap again.

Travel and food - leg 2, Temecula

I am SO glad we got to visit Sara, Grady, and Lucy!  Not only was it great spending time with them, but this body really appreciated being at their home.  Relaxed more, slept better, and Sara fed us good food I could eat without fear of triggering more pain.  I was still hurting while there, but it was almost all hip pain from my bursitis and knee pain from my osteoarthritis.

Dinner included grilled chicken, spinach salad, green beans, corn on the cob, and strawberries.  Breakfast had scrambled eggs, bagels, and fruit.

And we got to enjoy baby Lucy!  She is terrific - very active, bright, and fun.  She signed for 'more' and something like 'enough of that' or 'all done,' or maybe 'no, thank you.'  She was on the brink of walking - I saw her take one step on her own, but I think she was saving the big deal for when her grandparents got there.  She loves balls, and cars, and books.  And a head massage thingy that Sara had.

Travel and food - leg 1, Pasadena

We just arrived home from an eight-day trip.  We drove to St. Louis, flew to LA, took a shuttle to Pasadena, rented a car (and a U-Haul cargo van for one day), helped move John's things to a U-box, attended John's graduation from Caltech, visited family in Temecula, CA, visited with friends and found John an apartment in Tempe, AZ, dropped off our rental car at the Phoenix airport, flew back to St. Louis, and drove home.

The travel was hard on this aging body, and finding food that wouldn't increase my discomfort was a challenge.  Fast food restaurants I've found things I can get away with eating include McDonald's (Egg McMuffin with no cheese, hamburger with no ketchup, decaf coffee) and Subway (Italian white roll with meat, no cheese, allowed veggies, and oil & vinegar dressing - also Fritos).  And there is a salad I can eat at Denny's.  The motels we stayed at had complimentary breakfasts, and I found it pretty easy to eat at those (especially if I brought my own almond milk to put on cereal).  I suspect I got some soy with the bagels, and who-knows-what with the scrambled eggs, but mostly fine.

There was a fancy Senior Banquet dinner at The Athenaeum  https://www.athenaeumcaltech.com/  the night before graduation.  Registration for it included providing information about special dietary needs, but that information did not always make it to the staff at The Athenaeum.  So several of us had the staff scrambling a bit to find things for us to eat.  I loved the fruit plate they brought me for dessert!  And got to try a couple of new fruits - Star Fruit and Dragon Fruit.

A real highlight of our visit to Pasadena was getting to meet many of John's friends, and having the opportunity to spend time with some of them.  One night we had dinner with John's friends Jesse and Dughi (or Matt, as his family calls him) and their families at The Counter http://www.thecounterburger.com/.  The Counter was terrific, having food that accommodated both my dietary requirements and Jesse's very different ones.  He ate French fries and their grilled cheese trifecta, but with only American cheese.  I had a burger on a gluten-free bun with bacon and avocado and a side salad with no tomatoes and Dijon balsamic vinaigrette dressing.

Brent, Jesse, and John.

Nancy, John, and I, after the graduation ceremony.

Another place we ate in Pasadena was the Fish Dish 

http://www.fishdishgrill.com/.  It was very tasty - probably not totally successful in avoiding trigger foods, but not too bad.  I had scallops and sweet potato fies.

Weekend Frittata

The original recipe for this was from Susan Blum's book, The Immune System Recovery Plan.  I've found lots of good information in this book, and recommend it to anyone with an autoimmune system disease.  The recipe calls for Swiss chard, but I'm trying to use up our Seton Harvest haul for the week, so I used Vita Greens instead of Swiss Chard.

I'm thinking I may add some chopped up pine nuts next time.

INGREDIENTS

5 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil

1 medium onion, thinly sliced

2 cups sliced mushrooms

2 cups Swiss chard or other greens, washed and trimmed of stems, cut into ribbons

8 eggs

1/4 cup chopped parsley, or Tbsp dried

2-3 oz crumbled Greek feta and/or goat cheese

Salt

Black pepper

COOKING INSTRCTIONS

Preheat oven to 400 degrees

Heat a large 10-12 inch nonstick skillet (that can be used in oven - I use my cast iron skillet) on medium high heat.  Add 2 Tbsp oil to the pan.

Add the onions, spreading them out evenly.  Let them brown for about 7 minutes.

Turn the heat down to medium and continue to let the onion caramelize, moving them around to release some moisture, about 8 minutes more.

Then add the mushrooms and sauté together until they have released their moisture and are cooked through, about 5 minutes.

When the mushrooms are nearly done, add the Swiss chard and sauté until barely wilted.  Remove the mixture from the skillet and set aside.

Clean out the pan and set it back on the heat.  Add 3 Tbsp oil.

In a large bowl, beat the eggs with a little water.  Add salt and pepper.

Add parsley, cheese, and vegetables to the eggs (cheese may be omitted).  Mix together.

Pour the egg and vegetable mixture into the skillet and then turn the heat down to medium-low.  Cook, undisturbed, until the mixture firms up on the bottom, then transfer to the oven.

Bake until the top is cooked, 10-15 minutes.  Cut into 8 wedges.

Kale Vegetable Soup

We share a half-share at Seton Harvest CSA with our friend Susie.  Susie picked up last week, and our first pickup was yesterday.  Lots and lots of greens this week.  And probably for most of the summer 😉

INGREDIENTS

1-2 Tbsp olive oil for sautéing 

1 cup lentils

1 red or Vadalia onion, thinly sliced

3 cups chopped kale

1 cup cubed winter squash or sweet potatoes

1 pkg 16 oz frozen mixed vegetables

32 oz low-sodium chicken broth

2 cups water

Salt and pepper

COOKING INSTRUCTIONS

Sauté the onion, approximately 15 minutes, until carmelized.  Add all the other ingredients.  Bring to boil, then cover and simmer for about an hour (45 minutes if using sweet potatoes).

Serve with 1 oz Fritos or other corn chips sprinkled on top of each serving.