Egg Salad with Dill and Granola Bars

That's a misleading title, isn't it? Feels like I should have inserted an Oxford comma in there somewhere.

It's been a few months since I've posted here...I've been off on other projects for a while.

Here's a recipe for you that I posted on my Facebook page today of dilled egg salad.  I'm pretty sure that posting pictures of  your meals is one of the items on a top 10 list of annoying FB posts (although I see much worse in my daily feed these days).  I'm sorry if you agree with that list, but I spent many years working with food and making it pretty.  It's just what I do, whether I own a restaurant or not.

I found this recipe while surfing around one day, and, quite frankly, after I made it, I was not sure it would be edible.  It wasn't the prettiest stuff you'd ever seen.  If you saw the photo on Facebook, you might have thought the same thing.  It's yellow, and not a pale yellow, either.  This is because there is more mustard than mayo in it, plus a good bit of paprika.  I can tell you, however, if you like egg salad, it is quite good, and I encourage you to give it a try.

I always try to incorporate veggies and fruit into these meals, and since I'm a carb addict, I have to include a few crackers (these are multi-grain club crackers by Keebler - so good!). I've also included these tiny little Champagne grapes that I absolutely adore.

About these grapes....they are an ideal snack.  These tight little clusters of pearl-size seedless grapes are incredibly sweet and full of flavor.

If you study older cookbooks like I do, you may see references to the "raisins of Corinth", which refers to dried Champagne grapes (the Greek port of Corinth was originally the primary source of export for this fruit).  I love those old cookbooks, with their aged sepia-edged pages and handwritten notes from their previous owners.  You can learn a lot about history from them.  It's like taking a step back in time, when cooking was more about practicality instead of the glitzy trend it's become today. That's why I named my restaurant "The Keeping Room" in the first place....to hearken back to those tried-and-true recipes that didn't require lots of fancy equipment and ingredients - those recipes that you already know are going to be good, because you had many of them as a kid at the old homeplace where your grandparents lived.

I got off-topic on that one, didn't I?  Okay, here we go.

Here is the recipe for the egg salad.  Of course, you can modify it to your own tastes.

Ingredients

• 8 eggs
• 1 Tbsp. mayonnaise (I added a bit more to loosen the mixture a bit)
• 2 Tbsp. prepared Dijon-style mustard (I substituted regular yellow mustard, hence that extreme yellow)
• 1 tsp. paprika
• 1 tsp. dried dill weed
• 1/2 red onion, minced (I substituted dried minced onions, about 1-2 Tbsp.)
• 1/4 cup salad cubes
• Salt and pepper to taste

Directions

• Place eggs in a sauce pan and cover with cold water.
• Bring the water to a boil; cover and remove from heat.  Let eggs stand in the hot water for 12-15 minutes.
• Remove the eggs from the hot water, cool, peel, and chop.
• In a large bowl, combine all ingredients.  Mash the mixture enough to be chunky and spreadable.
• Serve on bread as a sandwich or over lettuce as a salad.

While I was in the kitchen, I whipped up a batch of granola bars as well.

Here's the recipe for these bars.

Granola Bars

Ingredients

• 2/3 cup rolled oats, ground 
• 1/2 cup slivered almonds, ground
• 1/4 cup wheat germ
• 1 cup rice cereal
• 1 cup nonfat dry milk
• 1/2 tsp. cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1/4 cup canola oil
• 1/2 cup honey
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract
• 1/4 cup chocolate chips and/or dried fruit

Directions

• Preheat oven to 300F.
• Grind the oats and almonds in your food processor.
• Line a 9x13-inch pan with foil and spray with nonstick cooking spray.
• In a medium bowl, combine all dry ingredients except chocolate chips/fruit.
• Mix in the oil, honey, extract, and chocolate chips/fruit.
• Pour into the prepared pan and, using your hands or a small rolling pin, press down, distributing the mixture evenly.
• Bake for 15 minutes.
• Cool slightly, then remove from pan, lifting by the foil edges, and place on a cutting board or other flat surface.  Cut while still warm.
• Store in an airtight container for up to a week or freeze in plastic bags.

I had to substitute pecans for the almonds, and I didn't have any wheat germ.  After cooling completely, they became crispy-chewy.  These would make a good lunchbox snack.

Enjoy!

Pineapple Banana Smoothie

This past Christmas, I received a Ninja Professional blender/juicer/smoothie maker.  I had wanted one for a while - my plan was to increase my intake of fruits and vegetables, because I crave (and eat) too many carbs.

Well, it's taken a while (four months) to actually implement those good intentions.  I'm motivated now, you see.  I recently left a job that required me to sit most of the day.  Toss in a half-hour lunch, a one-hour round trip commute, a little snacking (carbs!), and guess what?  Ten pounds magically appeared.  So I'm trying to find my way back to that pre-10 pound state.

When I posted a picture on Facebook earlier today of a green smoothie I'd prepared for my lunch, I thought the less-than-positive comments it received were funny.  (This post is for you guys!)  I get why you'd think it would be awful....first of all, it's green!  And I will admit, I was very hesitant the first time I made one, because...you know...it's GREEN.  However, that first time, I not-so-bravely lifted that spoon with a tiny little amount of green smoothie in it and took a sip.  (Honestly, I felt like a little kid again when my mother would make me take a sip of cough syrup).  I found, to my surprise, that it actually tasted good!  (Unlike that cough syrup.)

Now that the green barrier has been broken, I'm planning to venture a little further past the standard drink I've been making so far.  I'm new to this, remember.  I'm still learning and still experimenting with different ingredient combinations.

Here is the recipe I used today, and a few comments beside each one that may help if you decide to make this for yourself.  You can adjust the quantities of each based on your own tastes.

Pineapple Banana Smoothie

• 2 cups packed fresh baby spinach/baby kale combo, chopped
• I used an organic triple-washed blend.  I cut the stems off (you don't have to do this, it's just my preference).  Rinse the leaves.  I know the package says it's been triple-washed and is ready to eat, but WASH IT ANYWAY!  There still may be some residual dirt or "something" on the leaves.  I know this from experience.

• 1/2 each of a Dole mandarin orange fruit cup and a pineapple tidbits fruit cup (the snack kind that is sold four to a pack) with juice
• I like the pineapple tidbits in coconut juice best - but they're hard to find.
• I added a few more (canned) pineapple chunks (about 1/4 cup) to help neutralize the kale taste a bit further.

• 1 frozen banana*
• Bananas that are fully ripened before freezing add a creamier texture, plus they enhance the other flavors.

• 1 scoop of vanilla whey protein powder

• 1/2 cup almond-coconut milk blend (original, not unsweetened)

Place all ingredients in your blender and pulse.  

This yielded enough for a tall glass, plus about 8 ounces more, which I froze for later.

You can add ice to this, if you wish - maybe half a cup.  I chose not to, because it gives me brain freeze, plus it will water down the drink.  This is cold enough for me with the frozen banana and the refrigerated almond milk.

You can use frozen fruit as well, instead of the shelf-stable fruit that I used here.  You may need to let it thaw just a bit before putting it in your blender.

*To freeze bananas:

• Use bananas that are overripe and spotty (just as you would for banana bread....oh, carbs!)
• Peel and cut into chunks.
• Place on a lined cookie sheet and freeze.
• Once they are frozen, place in a freezer-safe bag.

Thanks for reading....let me know if you like this recipe, or share your own favorite recipe!