A classic tuna salad made with the addition of grated apple and served here on griddled Texas Toast.

Tuna Salad with Apple

Not long ago, my sister in law told The Cajun she was getting rid of some old cookbooks and asked him if I might like them.

Since physical libraries don't hold onto cookbooks for very long these days and the older cookbooks are extremely useful tools for recipe research, I'm never one to turn down cookbooks, so I said of course! 

Most of them were older Southern Living annuals and back then, not only were they summaries of the year's recipes shared from the magazine, a lot of folks don't realize that many Southern Living recipes started much like you see with Taste of Home - they were recipes submitted by readers! 

The Chicken Box Restaurant Chicken Salad

A simple chicken salad made with shredded chicken, boiled egg and celery with a mix of flavorful seasonings.

The Chicken Box Chicken Salad

If you've hung around here any length of time, you already know I love chicken salad! It's a great meal any time of the year, but especially when the summer heat is on.

The one I make the most is what I call a classic deli-style chicken salad. It's a very basic chicken salad, absent all of the other goodies like grapes or cranberries or even avocado, or bacon and nuts and all the little extras we like to throw into our chicken salads these days.

Still, I'm not staunchly tied to one single chicken salad to be the one and only chicken salad, so I find myself constantly experimenting and trying new recipes, and, in fact, I've got quite a few different versions published already here at the website... and more to come!

A shrimp gumbo, made with a roux and the trinity, and the addition of boiled eggs to stretch the meal and add additional protein for the Lenten season. Eggs may be omitted if you prefer.

Lenten Shrimp and Egg Gumbo

Egg most often appears throughout the year in a gumbo made from a hen or chicken, quail eggs in everything else often, though during Lent it's seafood. The egg stretches the meal and adds extra protein.

I based my version on a recipe from Best of the Best from Louisiana cookbook, which did not include okra, so I left it out, though certainly use some if you prefer. Some folks will argue with you that it's not a gumbo without it because they probably read that somewhere.

When you find yourself with some leftover hard-boiled eggs, here are a few ways to incorporate them into future meals.

Recipes Using Leftover Hard-Boiled Eggs

Leftover boiled eggs aren't something we hear too much about anymore, especially in my family, because, well we eat them up! I know there are more folks who don't even boil real eggs for Easter anymore than there are who do, but for those of us who do still boil eggs, I've pulled together a round-up showing a few ways to use up those leftover boiled eggs!

First out of the gate, of course - Deviled Eggs!

A basic egg salad made with hard boiled eggs, onion, celery, seasoned salt, pepper, Cajun seasoning, parsley, mayonnaise and mustard.

Basic Egg Salad

Some of you will think it's downright silly to have a "recipe" for egg salad, but believe it or not, I get asked all the time how I make mine, and folks land on my other egg salads all the time from Google, looking specifically for an egg salad recipe. I guess they are just looking for approximate measurements, or just curious to see what other folks do. Makes sense to me!

Anyway, I had a craving for some egg salad and made a batch this weekend, so I finally decided to take some photos to put it up on the site. Since many of you are likely on food overload right now from all those Super Bowl eats and probably not really all that interested in any new recipes today, I thought it might be a good time to sneak in a post on the way I like to make my egg salad.