Egg Salad

Egg Salad
Dorcas Annette Walker

Monday morning started out normal to begin with. I had my list of things that I wanted to get done and had started on the housework when Dana called me from the doctor’s office. He had been having chest pains over the weekend with an elevated blood pressure, but was ready to walk out of the doctor’s office and get back to work as his blood pressure was lower thinking it all was a waste of time. As soon as the doctor saw Dana, he sent my husband to the hospital. I dropped everything and rushed to our local hospital. Tests confirmed that my husband had suffered a mild heart attack over the weekend so the doctor transferred my husband by ambulance to the Cookeville hospital. My son left work and drove me down to Cookeville where our daughter met us. In the space of hours my world dramatically changed. Not only had my husband suffered a heart attack, but he is facing a triple by-pass. Sitting at the hospital with my children- while keeping an eye on my husband as he slowly adjusts to being a patient that is supposed to lie in bed and let others work on him- I couldn’t help but ponder on the fact how quickly life can change. All of our family’s focus is now channeled on seeing that Dana has a successful heart surgery and recuperates. Not only did my housework schedule change, but I had to quickly rearrange my recipes as the last thing the hospital staff needs is a strange cook muddling around their kitchen, sweet as they all are.

So I decided to share a recipe my mother often made that popped into my mind late last night before I fell asleep on the pull-out couch in Dana’s room. Talking by phone with my sister yesterday we both repeated together a phrase we often heard our mother say during our growing up years that now is our motto when any disaster strikes. “It’s a great life if a body doesn’t weaken.” My mom’s Egg Salad can be used as a simple salad on a lettuce leaf or as sandwich filler. Preparation time for my Egg Salad is ten minutes (not counting boiling time for the eggs) and this recipe makes two cups.

Egg Salad

4 large eggs boiled
1 c mayonnaise
1 tsp mustard
Salt & pepper

Mash cooled boiled eggs in a small bowl. Sprinkle salt and pepper to taste. Add mayonnaise, mustard, and mix well. Serve on a lettuce leaf or between two slices of bread!

Weekly tip: To make it easier to peel boiled eggs add ½ tsp salt to the water when boiling them!

Dorcas Annette Walker is a published author, columnist, speaker, freelance magazine writer, and photographer from Jamestown, Tennessee. Contact her at: dorcasannettewalker@gmail.com For more recipes check out her Creative Tennessee Mountain Cookin blog at: www.dorcasannettewalker.webs.com