Macaroni and Tuna Salad, Potato Salad and Baked Beans

 I try to cook seasonally for the shelter.  These guys are like the rest of us and when the seasons change, they crave the food associated with it.  I made them 20 quarts of old fashioned macaroni and tuna salad the other day.

 These photos are out of order so hang in there.  I also made them 2 huge vats of potato salad.  For the potato salad, I like to cube the potatoes and then boil them so they cook uniformly.

 As soon as I drain them, I toss them with some white vinegar, oil and salt and pepper.  They soak this all in and it makes for a very flavorful salad.  I add diced onions, celery and lots of chopped hard boiled eggs.

 I then add mayonnaise, sour cream and buttermilk.  I don't like it to taste too mayonnaisey and the addition of sour cream and buttermilk takes care of that.

 For the macaroni salad, I boiled lots of elbow macaroni.

 Then added diced onions and carrots.

 Diced celery, sliced green olives, parsley and dill.

 Again, lots of chopped hard boiled eggs.

 Mix it all together.


 Add as much drained tuna as you like.  Add mayonnaise, sour cream, buttermilk and salt and pepper. Mix it all together and refrigerate it for 24 hours before serving.  If you want any of these salads to be creamier, add more buttermilk.

 Then I made them baked beans.  I sauteed peppers and green peppers and added brown sugar, BBQ sauce and yellow mustard.

 I always mix a bunch of different kinds of beans together along with 2 large cans of baked beans.  I used pinto beans, black beans, great northern beans and butter beans.  Add some worcestershire sauce, chili powder, ketchup, liquid smoke and salt and pepper.  The amount depends on how much of this you are making.

 Bake it at 325 degrees for 2 hours.  To make this heartier, I added sliced cooked hot sausage, hot dogs and a variety of other sliced sausages.

I also topped it with partially cooked bacon before baking.  These beans are some of the best baked beans ever!  I made 8 recipes of cornbread to go along with all of this.

Comments

Feeding the hungry, caring for the less fortunate, i feel happy for the shelter people every time i read a food post.

everything looks so good.
Anonymous said…
Really tasty food!
I must admit that we Swedes are useless when it comes to beans, we eat baked brown or baked white beans but that's usually it. When looking at a salads bar at the end of the day it's always the beans that few have touched.

It's a wonderful day here today, 64,4F and that's almost summer temps up here :-) But it will change already tomorrow towards cooler again.

Have a great day!
Christer.
luckybunny said…
I'm making a pot roast today and some roasted cauliflower but I want that macaroni salad so bad. I think I'll have to make it, it will be even better for tomorrow or for a snack later :) Looks sooo good!
brokenteepee said…
That is summer right there. I can almost hear a baseball game in the background :)
Anonymous said…
this is meal just like what we eat in the summer, macaroni salad (we put sockeye tinned salmon in ours) potato salad, (ours has miracle whip) and baked beans, I bet the boys at the shelter loved this! Yum!
OMG it all sounds so GOOD! I'd eat some of everything you made and you know what? I don't even like tuna.
TARYTERRE said…
I'm hungry and want to go on a picnic after seeing all that salad.
JFM said…
Delicious food and a caring heart...you are one of the best~~~
Nellie said…
What a good, hearty, filling meal they had at the shelter.
The men are so fortunate to have you cooking for them. We work with a program called Room in the Inn and the men love a home cooked meal
Barb said…
What a great seasonal meal!
Joyce, I am SO darned proud to have friends like you in my life!
What a wonderful and giving undertaking. I just plain LOVE you for doing it!
The food looks so nutritious as well as beautiful! What a treat for them!