Hospital Food

I recently was in the hospital for some surgery and once I was given the okay for solid food I gave the food service department a try. You always hear horror stories about how bad hospital food is, but in talking to patients of various hospitals it seems that the quality of the food has gotten better. This was not the case for me, at least with the sandwich I ordered. It was a Chicken Salad on whole wheat. I really can't say it was bad, but it could have been better, more flavorfull. For breakfast the next morning, I had a Ham and Cheese Omlet and I have to say, it was pretty good.

Oh, but that sandwich. Maybe it was because I like chicken salad so well, that I was disappointed. Below, I have put my recipe for chicken salad, that can also be found in my cookbook, Masters and Disasters of Cooking . Hmmm, maybe I should send it to the Food Service Department at the hospital.

Chicken Salad

1 1/2 C. cooked chicken, diced and chilled
1 C. mayonnaise
1 C. chopped celery
1 C. seedless grapes, sliced in half
1/2 C. almond slivers, optional
1 t. salt

In a medium bowl, mix all ingredients together. Chill. Serve on a bed of lettuce, or as a sandwich on bread or pita pockets. Makes about 10 servings.

Mother's Day

I want to wish everyone a Happy Mother's Day. I hope all of you were waited on all day and had no cooking to do. My day was nice. My husband had to work until noon and my daughter had to go to work around 9 am. I had several hours to myself and enjoyed every minute of it. Friday, my husband and daughter went out to eat to celebrate Mother's Day since their hours for work today overlapped.

Once my husband got home, we along with my brother, took my mom to the local casino for an afternoon of gambling. Actaully, we were only there for a couple hours and that was enough. I never win and neither did my mom or brother, but my husband started out with twenty-dollars and came home with fifty. Not a bad day and he bought my supper on the way home, so no cooking for me this evening. 

Tonight, I'll make some buttered popcorn and spend the night watching the season finale of Survivor.

Carol

I won first place!!!!!

We had a Derby party at work on Friday. Well, sort of a party, we had to work all day, too. A contest was held for the best Derby hat and I won. Since I didn't have a hat to start with, I had to go buy a cheap straw hat and decorations. Do you know how hard it is to find a small toy horse, even around here. I went to two Walmarts, a Dollar Tree and two Dollar General stores. I ended up having to print a racehorse from the Internet. I put play money behind the picture and glue all to the front of the hat. Surrounding it, I place fake red roses. I'll post a picture soon. It was raining when I left work Friday and since I didn't want to get it wet, I left it at work.

The party part of the day was a pitch-in lunch at noon. There was so much food. I made a pasta salad and am including the recipe here. This is one of those dishes where there really isn't a recipe, but instead you throw everything together. I'll list the ingredients below, but you're on your own with the measurments. You really can't go wrong with it.

Pasta Salad

cooked pasta, any type
chopped carrot
chopped green pepper
chopped tomato

Sauce:
Equal amounts of sugar and mayonnaise (I use Miracle Whip)
add a little milk if it's too thick. If it's not sweet enough, add more sugar.
Pour over pasta. Chill before serving.