Crocheted hats courtesy of youtube

Sooo I think it's safe for me to say that I HATE the $2 regular red heart yarn. It's not my friend when it comes to crocheting. I used it to start my first bear hat, a grizzly bear hart for my two year old, and well, I started eight times before I chucked the dang thing in my yarn cubby. I of course had back-up, red heart soft yarn, I only started it 4 times, 5 you tube videos on "How to crochet a hat" and voila, a grizzly bear hat!

Now it occurred to me that I made it a little too big. I made it so big it can last him for many winter years to come. I'm starting another one and forcefully putting this hat on my child for now while I pull a "Don't you love your mother?" face whenever he thinks it's ridiculous I'm giving him a hat 2 sizes too big.

Well, maybe 3 sizes too big.

Dinner tonight was fall-back option dinner night because I wanted tuna casserole. My husband isn't too big on tuna casserole. Bless his heart, he'll eat it though, even though fish isn't exactly his favorite protein. Let's put it this way, he'd rather eat tofu than anything with a gill, fin or claw, but out of love, he'll eat fish (as long as of course, it's made deliciously). It's not in his top food request. I compromised, because I really wanted tuna. I made a meal that I used to make when we were stationed in Monterey. It was quick, easy, and lemony, and he usually would gobble up the whole plate. The acid from the lemon cuts down a lot of the fishiness of canned tuna. 

Warning, do not make this meal if you're not into citrus, It's very tart that it makes you pucker up a bit when you're eating it. It's a great dose of vitamin C.

Tuna with lemon vinaigrette spaghetti

1 box thick spaghetti, cooked to box's instructions until al dente

Juice of 2 lemons (or just 1 if you don't want it too tangy)

Zest of 1 lemon

1/4 cup olive oil

Salt and Pepper to taste

1 tsp crushed red pepper flakes, or more, depending how spicy you want it

2 tbsp parsley, chopped finely

shaved parmigiano reggiano to top

2 small cans of tuna, in water, drained

Combine the juice, zest, oil, salt and pepper, red pepper flakes and parsley in a bowl. Whisk the vinaigrette until it thickens up a bit, then stir in the tuna. Toss in the pasta until thoroughly mixed, top with parmigiano.

Please DON'T use the stuff in the green container. Grana padano works, but no icky fake parmesan stuff. A little effort is worth it especially since this is a no cook sauce pasta. 

I use this vinaigrette base for salads too, but with a bit of variation. It's really easy to vary up vinaigrette and it really will go a long way.

Just remember that there's a 2:3 ratio, 2 portions of acid to 3 portions of oil. It can be any oil or acid you'd like. An emulsifier helps, I like using honey and/or mustard. This time of the year, cranberries are of course aplenty so go ahead and use a sweeter vinaigrette for your salad. 

This was last night's dinner, it was just a chicken salad I tossed with a honey mustard vinaigrette (uh, courtesy of whole food though, I was REALLY lazy) but I just grilled the chicken and tossed it with chiffonade lettuce, craisins, candied pecans and feta. 

I'm going to go back to finishing that crocheted hat, part two. I'm hoping I measured it more properly this time , the weather is getting pretty nippy and warm hats are in order.