Katague Recipe for Chicken Macaroni Salad

At our last year and this year Thanksgiving dinner in Walnut Creek at my son's residence (and every party in the David B Katague household), my wife and with my assistance prepared Chicken Macaroni salad. The recipe is a favorite of my four adult children and six grand children who all grew up here in the US. There are several Chicken Macaroni salad recipes that I know, but this version is the simplest one and my favorite.

2 cups elbow macaroni small, cooked
1 lb boneless chicken breast, boiled and cubed
1 ½ cup pineapple chunks or slices and chopped
1/2 cup Spanish, sweet onion ( Vidalia or equivalent), minced
1/2 cup raisins( optional)(sweetened and dried cranberries may be used)
3 hard boiled eggs, chopped( optional)
2 cups mayonnaise (can be 1 cup mayo and 1 cup miracle whip)
1 cup Cheddar cheese, cubed (optional)
2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon pepper
2 red delicious apples chopped into small cubes
1/4 cup sweet relish

Cooking Preparation:

Cook the macaroni as directed in the package. Place the macaroni in a large container. Add the mayonnaise (and /or miracle whip) and mix well. Put in the minced onions and mix well. Place the cheddar cheese(optional) in and mix again

Now, add the cooked chicken breast and distribute evenly. Put-in the pineapple chunks or slices, boiled eggs(optional), and and apples (raisins optional) and mix well. Add the sweet relish and salt and pepper to taste. Chill inside the refrigerator for about an hour. Serve chilled.

Note: The popular Pinoy recipe has raisins but no apples. I love raisins, but my wife hates it. So in this recipe, I listed raisins as optional. Apples in the Philippines is very expensive. Another option that I enjoy is to use sweetened dried cranberries instead of raisins. Here in the US, the dried and sweetened cranberries are more expensive than the raisins.

My Recipe for Honey-Baked Ham and Potato Souffle

Instead of or besides turkey, our thanksgiving dinner menu always include honey-baked ham. My wife and I have a simple recipe for any left-over ham. Incidentally, one can now purchased one pound of slice honey baked ham ( without the bone) in our local honey-baked ham store. So you do not have to wait for left-over ham to cook the above recipe.

The following is our favorite ham and potato souffle recipe:

Ingredients

8 big potatoes-peeled and slice to 1 cm thin

1 lb sliced honey- baked ham

1 lb pasteurized sour cream

2 big onions slice to 1 cm thick

½ bunch of fresh parsley

½ cup of milk

¼ cup of flour

Garlic Salt and Pepper to taste

Procedure

Grease a deep pyrex dish with oil and add a dash of flour. Place a bed of slice potatoes, followed by slice of ham, then parsley, onions and garlic salt and pepper. Repeat the layering process two times Then pour the milk. Topped the pyrex dish with potatoes slices. Cover the Pyrex Dish.

Place the pyrex dish in a preheated 375 F oven. Bake for I hour. Serve the dish warm. Enjoy!

Feasting on Dungeness Crabs this Year, 2014

I purchased my first fresh Dungeness crabs yesterday for this year crab season. Raleys had a sale for only $5.99 per lb. I bought three medium-sized whole crabs costing me only $21.24. The price of Dungeness crab in the other stores in our area were at $6.99 per lb. or higher. Dungeness Crab personal fishing season started last November 1 in the Northern California Bay Areas, but the commercial crabbing started only a couple of days ago(November 15).

Needless to say Macrine, David III and I had a feast eating with our hands and fingers. The crab meat was delicious along with garlic bread and green salad with fresh avocado slices and honey mustard dressing. There was a left over crab (claws and 1/4 body) that I cleaned today and made into an omelet.

Here's my simple recipe for a crab omelet.



2 potatoes- peeled and slice into 1/4 inch cubes
1 onion-cut into small cubes
1/4 small cabbage shredded
3/4 cup crab meat
olive oil and garlic salt
6 eggs

Sauteed the onions in oil until cooked. Add the shredded cabbage and heat at low heat until cooked. Add the potato cubes and continue heating until the potatoes are cooked. Add the crab meat and mixed and then pour the beaten eggs into the pan. Cooked until the eggs are cooked. Invert the omelet in the pan and continue heating at low heat. Serve 6.

Baked Cauliflower with Garlic and Cheese

The other day while I was shopping at our local grocery store (Food Maxx), I saw that the cauliflower heads were on sale. The regular price for a large head of cauliflower is $3.49, but it was on sale for only $2.99. I have never cooked this vegetable before, so I did some research. I used the following very simple recipe to cook my first cauliflower dish. It turned out to be very delicious as well as nutritious. The recipe is from allrecipes.com.

Ingredients:

2 tablespoons minced garlic
3 tablespoons olive oil
1 large head cauliflower, separated into florets
1/3 cup grated Parmesan cheese
salt and black pepper to taste
1 tablespoon chopped fresh parsley


Directions

1.Preheat the oven to 450 degrees F (220 degrees C). Grease a large casserole dish.

2.Place the olive oil and garlic in a large resealable bag. Add cauliflower, and shake to mix. Pour into the prepared casserole dish, and season with salt and pepper to taste.

3.Bake for 25 minutes, stirring halfway through. Top with Parmesan cheese and parsley, and broil for 3 to 5 minutes, until golden brown.

Serve it along with chicken or pork adobo and steam rice and with green papaya pickles ( acharra) as a side dish. Good for 6.