A Post About Food

I have never posted about food, but I do admit that I love it.  I seriously love to eat.  I also love to cook, but you wouldn't ever guess that since Paul is the one who does the bulk of the cooking in the house.  I don't like cooking for the kids.  They're picky, they tell me they hate things that I slave over a hot stove for, and they don't like their green beans to touch onions.  Ever.

So there's no fun in cooking for them.  But I do love to cook.  Before Children (BC), I loved hosting parties and get-togethers so I could showcase my talents, trying out new recipes and testing new ways to prepare old favorites.  Once children came, it was too much to do all that, and clean the house, and keep the kids fed, and change diapers... So I stopped.

But every now and then, I get the urge and inspiration.  Today we're on our way to the local PLSO (Professional Land Surveyors of Oregon) chapter's summer picnic, so I made one of my old standby favorites  - Macaroni Salad.

For those of you who don't know me, we have been gluten and dairy free for almost 5 years.  I have spent that time tweaking old recipes into new ones that work for our family.  This is one such recipe, and it keeps getting better!  For Father's Day, I bought Paul a Vitamix, so this version has homemade mayo.  If you've never liked conventional mayo from the store, I highly recommend that you make your own.  I can't stand the stuff, but the first time I made my own, I ate half the jar.

 

You see -- it's not all weird whiteness.  It has a nice yellow sheen.  I think it has to do with the fact that you use dry mustard in the recipe...

 ..but I also use farm fresh eggs.  I love living in Portland.  Everyone has chickens (except me), so you can't swing a dead cat without hitting someone who wants to sell you some of theirs.

 

 So back to this macaroni salad that I made (with home-made mayo from farm-fresh eggs, because that's how we Belchigators roll).  I chopped up 1/2 of a gigantic onion, two stalks of celery and a red bell pepper. 

Then I mixed up my mayo, vinegar, sugar, salt, pepper and mustard.  (Why, yes.  That is the whisk attachment to my hand-held mixer!  I'm classy like that)

 Then I cooked up my pasta.  I use Trader Joe's brand gluten free pasta.  I cook it for 10-11 minutes (the instructions say 7-10) so that it's good and done.  Once it sits in the fridge for a few days, it starts to get crunchy, so it's best to start out with really well done noodles.  I drain them and rinse them with cold water.  And when I rinse them, I really rinse them.  I stir them around and make sure that every single noodle is good and cold.

 Then I mix up the noodles with the veggies...

 ...dump the sauce on and stir.  Voila!  Delicious macaroni salad!

And now that you want to make some because you know I'm eating this while I type (and getting that yummy sauce all over my keyboard), here is the recipe.  Enjoy!!

Gluten Free Macaroni Salad

Ingredients

• 2 - 16oz packages Trader Joe's Gluten Free Pasta (I use the Fusilli)
• 1 Cup Mayonnaise
• 1/4 Cup Distilled White Vinegar
• 1/4 Cup Sugar
• 2 1/2 Tablespoons Prepared Yellow Mustard
• 1 1/2 Teaspoons Salt
• 1/2 Teaspoon Ground Black Pepper
• 1 Onion
• 2 Celery Stalks
• 1 Red Bell Pepper

Cooking Directions

1. Chop onion, celery and bell pepper and set aside in large bowl.
2. Cook pasta in boiling water for 10-11 minutes, until very well done. Drain and rinse well so that every piece of pasta is cool to the touch.
3. While pasta is cooking, whisk together mayo, vinegar, sugar, mustard, salt and pepper by hand.
4. Add cooled pasta to veggies and mix. Pour sauce over and mix well, so that everything is coated.
5. Cover and store in refrigerator overnight.