When we lived in Houston, there were lots of places close by we could frequent – with every manner of food. At that time, one of our favorite places – although it wasn’t technically a restaurant – was Luby’s. David liked the variety of food and one of his – and my – favorites was the carrot-raisin salad. We always considered it our ‘dessert’ because it was so very sweet. We liked it well enough that I bought the Luby’s 50th Anniversary Recipe Collection. Not only does the cookbook have the salad recipe but lots of other recipes that we enjoyed and have been dubbed ‘most requested’ – like Spaghetti Salad, Cheese Enchiladas with Chili Sauce, Coconut Meringue Pie, Chicken Fried Steak, Baked haddock Almondine, Baked White Fish, and many more.

Granted, David probably shouldn’t be eating that particular salad (too much sugar) – but sometimes you need a little treat – and we still have our little treat here at home. Surprisingly so – the salad I make tastes just like the one Luby’s serves. (Note- it’s always better the next day.)

For those that might like to try the carrot-raisin salad, I’m posting the recipe below and under the original Luby’s recipe I’m placing a ‘low-fat’ version for those that are on a more strict diet.

The low-fat recipe still uses some powdered sugar – however, if you want to really trim the calories you might try using Splenda powdered sugar.

Have to say, I’ve not tried making the low-cal salad using Splenda  because some things just taste better with real sugar – and I think this might be one of them.

Each recipe should give you 8 servings.

Carrot-Raisin Salad

Ingredients:

• 2 pounds carrots, peeled and trimmed
• 1 cup raisins*
• 1 cup canned crushed pineapple, drained
• 1 cup ‘good quality’ mayonnaise
• 1/2 cup powdered sugar

Directions:

1. Shred carrots using large holes of grater
2. In a large bowl, combine carrots, raisins and pineapple
3. In a small bowl, mix mayonnaise and powdered sugar until well blended
4. Pour mayo/sugar mixture over carrot mixture and gently toss making sure to coat evenly.
5. Cover and refrigerate for at least 2 hours

* I soak my raisins in water for about an hour before I make this salad. This helps plump them – just be sure to pour off all the excess water before using.

Low-Cal Carrot-Raisin Salad

Ingredients:

• 4 cups carrots, peeled, trimmed
• 1 cup canned crushed pineapple (in own juice) well drained
• 1/2 cup raisins
• 1 cup fat-free vanilla yogurt
• 2 tablespoons powdered sugar
• 1 teaspoon grated orange peel

Directions:

• Shred carrots using large holes of grater
• In a large bowl, combine carrots, raisins and pineapple
• In a small bowl, using a wire whisk mix together the yogurt, sugar and orange peel
• Pour mayo/sugar mixture over carrot mixture and fold over making sure to coat evenly.
• Cover and refrigerate for 2 hours.

Enjoy!

Went out to eat lunch on Sunday and drove through a couple of restaurant parking lots looking for a parking spot before we ended up at the Cracker Barrel. For those who haven’t heard of the Cracker Barrel – it’s a restaurant that serves ‘home style’ foods – chicken and dumplings, meat loaf, chicken fried steak, etc.  

BUT – the fun part is the shopping you can do while waiting for your table. WOW – I was on ‘honey look at this’ overload. They had something for everyone – candy, clothes, toys, souvenirs, and the list goes on and on. I mention this only because we were surprised to see they had sugar free maple syrup – just opposite the huge candy display I might add.

Since David was diagnosed with diabetes some 15 years ago – we’ve tried a lot of maple syrups – none of them outstanding . . . until now. We couldn’t resist buying a bottle of the SF syrup and tried it out Monday on some home made pancakes – it was delicious. For the first time – ever – David can enjoy the real maple flavor of syrup on his pancakes and waffles. We plan to stop by the next Cracker Barrel we see and get a couple more bottles of syrup to add to our ‘stash’.

Went to Nancy’s on Tuesday to pick up my Celebrating Home (CH) order. I love going to Nancy’s house – it always makes me feel like I’ve gone ‘home’ – you know that feeling you’d get when – as a kid – you’d walk in the door and everything was cozy and welcoming . . that’s Nancy’s house. Sadly, as we get older those feelings don’t come around as often.. . . . but, back to CH.  I’d not ordered anything from CH before so I was very pleased to find my decorator items to be really high quality. My candlesticks are very sturdy and well made – and the Christmas stand is just too cute. When flipped over it doubles as a chip and dip dish perfect for . . .

Nano’s ‘Sweet-n-Spicey’ Jalapeno Cheese Spread

Nancy is an excellent cook (BTW – she also fixed lunch for us Tuesday) – so a meal at her house is a real treat. She spoiled David this time with his favorite . . . fried shrimp – and in addition, had a delicious new spread for snacking – or as far as I’m concerned – dessert.

She had taken Texas Pepper Works – Candy-Krisp Jalapenos – chopped and blended them into creamed cheese. She did say she added in a little of the liquid they come packed in – and then served them up on Club crackers.    We of course couldn’t help but think about maybe even adding  in some other ingredients, i.e., chopped nuts, water chestnuts, celery, etc. – sky’s the limit on this one.

 Of course while in town, I had to dash to the store before coming home and get a jar for myself and made up half a package of the cream cheese spread for home. While whipping this up decided to add some of the chopped jalapenos in to the macaroni salad I was making for lunch. The salad already has sweet relish in it – so the candied jalapenos wouldn’t clash with the flavor but add just a hint of spicy-hot. Bet that macaroni salad will be even better tomorrow after it’s had a little time to ‘sit’.

Next-Day Macaroni Salad

We enjoyed it with some chicken finger strips, black-eyed peas, and fresh kale.  This salad recipe is based on the macaroni salad served at one of my favorite Italian restaurants in Houston – Gigolo’s – sadly they closed many years ago. 

Macaroni Salad Ingredients:

• 2 cups cooked elbow macaroni
• 1/4 – 1/3 cup finely chopped bell pepper
• 2/3 cup finely chopped celery
• 1/3 cup sweet relish (or substitute chopped ‘sweet pickles from dill’ for even more flavor)
• 2 chopped boiled eggs
• 1/2 – 2/3 cup mayonnaise
• salt-pepper to taste

Mix all ingredients and chill. This salad will keep in the fridge and seems to get better with each passing day.

If you can’t find   Texas Candy-Krisp Jalapenos  in your area you can order them on line from Amazon from this link – Texas Pepper Works. They are delicious!

Don’t Forget to Laugh

Want to leave you with a smile today. David’s cousin Lyndall sent us this video and it is so funny – particularly to those of us a little further down the road of life. Hope you enjoy it as much as we did.  (The really funny part starts at about the 1:30 mark.)

With the temperature being 100+ just about every day, there isn’t too much one can do outside.   However, when it does get cool enough (upper 80′s) in the evening to sit on the deck, we like to snack on something cool such as fruit.  

I take whatever fruit I might have on hand – cantaloupe, watermelon, blueberries, strawberries, grapes, cherries and mix it all up.  If you are unfortunate to buy a cantaloupe that isn’t sweet – you can sprinkle about 1/2 packet of Sweet-n-Low on top of the pieces, mix them all up – and eureka!  you’ve got sweet cantaloupe.   If you don’t tell anyone, they’ll never know.  I’ve been fooling David with this little trick for years!

I like to dress up my fruit bits with a few Maraschino cherries and a little of the liquid.  And if you’re having an ‘adults-only’ gathering adding a little Chambord (Raspberry flavor)  Liqueur   to the mix really gives the fruit a special flavor. 

How you serve it up really doesn’t matter – Margarita glasses make a ‘dressy’ presentation, but the kids don’t seem to care if it’s in a paper cup, bowl or what. Sometimes they just enjoy spearing the fruit with toothpicks. If I’m going to need a large quantity, I enjoy using this fun ceramic watermelon I bought many years ago in Houston. Anyway you serve it, you’ll find this a cool, healthy, and tasty treat.