Grandmother's Tuna Salad Recipe and Update

My paternal grandmother made the best tuna salad and she always served it in a hobnail moonstone bowl.  Reminder to self....search the Internet for 'The Bowl'.  For years we have been trying to crack the recipe and I think I have finally done it.  

My daughter in law came very close in the winter of 2018.  But I think that it was just one ingredient off and that one ingredient was Miracle Whip instead of mayo.  I always felt like the tuna salads we were making looked too yellow.

  My grandmother's philosophy was that there was nothing that couldn't taste better with a little sour cream added.  AND if it was something sweet she was of the mind that peanut butter could make it better.  Her peanut butter Rice Krispies  treats were very tasty.

But back to sour cream, Miracle Whip, and tuna salad.  We are a Hellman's household and there isn't a jar of Miracle Whip in the house but one day it dawned on me that Miracle Whip was the cat's meow in the 50-60's. AND Miracle Whip is WHITER than mayo.  So last week I tried the recipe again with Miracle Whip and it looks and taste like my grandmother's.

Grandma Brunette's Tuna Salad Recipe

2 cans of chunk tuna in oil NOT water. Must be chunk and in oil, drained (do not rinse). 

shell pasta approximately 1 1/2 cups uncooked (the photo shows shell and elbow because I ran out of shell) 

celery 2 or 3 stalks sliced lengthwise and then diced into 1/2 inch pieces.  Any bigger and you start getting those celery strings caught in your teeth.  

1/4 to 1/2 white sweet onion diced into 1/2 inch pieces, must be sweet onion or the onion taste will over power the other ingredients

frozen peas 1/2 to 3/4 cup

1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon salt, we always salt lightly

Miracle Whip

sour cream

OPTIONAL dill weed just a dash or two

Garnish with paprika.  She ALWAYS garnished everything with paprika.

Cook the pasta until al dente.   Drain and rinse with cold water.  If you do not rinse the shells they will stack inside each other (been there, done that). Drain and place in a large covered bowl,  and put in fridge to get cold.

While cooking the pasta you can dice your celery, onion, and thaw out your peas.  

Don't mix together any of the ingredients until everything is cold.  Add the drained tuna to the pasta and break apart the chucks into flakes and mix into the pasta.  Now add the rest of the ingredients and look for any shells that might be sticking together and separate them.

In a small bowl mix 1/4 cup Miracle Whip, 1/4 cup sour cream, and salt.  If you are adding dill weed this is the time to add it to the dressing mix. 

Add half the dressing and mix lightly so that the tuna doesn't fall apart.  If salad is too dry then add more dressing.  The photo above is how I like my tuna salad.  If you want more dressing then add more.  Just don't add it all in the beginning.  It is much easier to get to the correct amount of dressing by slowly adding.  Once you have made the salad a couple of times you will know the correct amount to add right from the beginning.

Garnish with a couple of light shakes of the paprika jar.  This is just for looks and was always how my grandmother presented her tuna salad at the table.

Now comes the most important part.  Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and place in the fridge for 12 hrs.  I have found that if you don't wait, the tuna flavor will be too strong.  I don't know why, but it is.  

Oh and while I am talking about tuna, do not buy tuna in water or tuna pieces.  It is tasteless and the pieces are so small that it is more like tuna slime and not tuna flakes. 

ENJOY

Update....we haven't embarked on any interesting projects of late.  But we have a long list to start on when the weather breaks.

  We did a massive tree trimming and shrub removal at the Torrey Road house in preparation for when we put it on the market.  

We installed a 3rd gen Nest thermostat in the Torrey Road house and I will do a tutorial in the coming weeks.

I also made a great potato soup recipe the other day and I will do a post about that recipe along with my sister's crock pot potato soup recipe which is to die for.  

I am also planning on writing a blog post about how we sold 2 properties (FSBO) without an agent.  One property sold for 10K under asking but 40K more than properties adjacent to it.  The other sold for asking on the second day even after the first buyer's agent told me to lower the price.  The property sold for 35K over identical other properties and it is still the highest selling condo in the area.

I am thinking about writing a post on my fave YouTube channels.  I watch some unusual ones that if someone told me I would watch these in 2020, I would have to say 'No way'. Hint there are kitties involved and maybe a dog or two.  

If any of these future posts sound like something you are interested in, just subscribe to my Instagram account where I will post whenever there is a new post on the blog.  

 https://www.instagram.com/gear_acres/

Reuse Repurpose Recycle

No post for a week, must have gotten a lot done....

.......yes a lot, but not on the house.

Monday of last week we worked on the south and east kitchen window shingles and was making great progress.  Then the rest of the week happened.

Tuesday R had oral surgery and had to take it easy.

Wednesday G had a rare Wednesday night race so R had a short day of working on shingles.

Thursday R was busy on a paid outside job and I wrenched until 230AM on G's race car.  Yes, they pulled me out of wrenching retirement.  G was involved in two wrecks in the feature on Wednesday but still finished 10th.  Both not his fault and both from getting hit from behind. 

He needed to be ready for Friday's race because he lost some points recently and needs to maintain his place in the standings.  So he needed body work people and engine people. The engine had 10 races on it and was oiling the plugs. Better to pull it now and rebuild than to end up with a pile of debris.

Dirty hands, chipped nail polish, and regulation flip flops for working in a race shop...don't call OSHA.

So I worked on the engine swap with G, while his two friends, that are also engineers, worked on repairing the body and frame.  B went back and forth between both groups.

Also, I put my mother's condo on the MLS and we are selling FSBO (for sale by owner).  I started fielding calls immediately for showings.  Friday I had a showing.  They loved it but wanted a country setting. Condos in the country are rare but I think they just weren't ready for a condo just yet.  Agent told me, as she was leaving, that it was a lovely condo and that we will have no problem selling it BUT we needed to come down on the price.  Yea.....right.

Waiting for the first showing.  I can hear my mother now..."get your feet off the sofa."

Friday was a short work day for R because G had his Friday night race.  

Saturday started out sunny and I showed the condo again. As they were leaving the agent said to expect an offer. Then Saturday turned into a rainy day.  Rain then sun, rain then sun, rain then sun. We would nail a few shingles here and there between rain drops but I couldn't paint.  

Offer came in.....full price/cash offer.  B looked over the offer, we signed the purchase agreement, buyers signed the bottom line.  Done deal.  Inspection ordered.  No appraisal because it's a cash offer.  They take possession at the end of September.  Sold for over 30K more than any other condo in the development. We only had to pay $89 to get it on the MLS and 3% to the buyer's agent.  Only way to go. Saved us 3% to a seller's agent, which was roughly $6,600.  Plus, all the agents seem to want to list low for a fast sale.  It's hard for an agent to sell for a certain price if they do not truly believe in that price.  I'll do a post on selling FSBO when we are all said and done.  

BTW this is the second FSBO that I have sold in the last 10 months.  The other property was sold by us without a buyer's agent, so there was no cost at all to sell because we didn't even do an MLS.  Buyer was a lawyer and he knew our daughter in law so they emailed back and forth and took care of the paperwork.  I have two more properties to sell next year and we will do the FSBO plus $89 MLS.

Sunday we shingled and mowed.  There is one good thing about a drought.  It really cuts down on the mowing.

Monday (today) despite the forecast for no rain....it rained and rained.  By the time it cleared, it was late so we drove to Lowes in White Lake about 35 miles from our house.  We passed a small nursery with a cool planted roof so we stopped. 

We walked around and I of course checked out the hostas.  Had them all except a miniature or small hosta called Limey Lisa.  Now that I look at it, the leaves are too big for a miniature so it is a small hosta. Had to have it.  Also purchased a hydrangea called Twist and Shout.  When we got to the front door, they were closed. Duh....our truck was parked right in front (see our red truck) of the door.  R pounded on the door and they said they didn't know anyone was out looking at plants.  Really?  They said come back tomorrow. We said can't because we don't live around here.  Fortunately they were able to bring the cash register back up and we paid and left.

Twist and Shout hydrangea

Got to Lowes and while they brought our item up to the front, we went to the garden area.  Bought a common lilac plant (syringa vulgaris, doesn't seem to be affected by the black walnut trees like the other fancy lilacs) for 10 bucks and a one gallon Pow Wow Berry coneflower (bees and butterflies love it and the birds eat the seed heads during the winter) for a fiver.

 Today's plant haul

And here is where we are at with the shingling and painting.

R has a small side job to do in the morning but if it doesn't rain anymore, I'll prime and paint these shingles until the sun goes down.