Ultimate Tuna Melt

Let me start by saying I did not name this recipe.  It came from Food.com.  However, I do agree that this is one awesome tuna melt!  The first time I made this recipe was in 2007, and I have made it countless times since.  Not only are they tastey, but they are quite quick and simple to prepare, and low in fat and calories.  These melts make it into our meal rotation often during those times we are trying to lose a bit of weight… such as last night lol.

Over the years I have very slightly altered the recipe to suit our needs and this is what I will share on my blog.  The ingredients are all basically the same, but I may have changed a few amounts and also the method a little to give the best results.  Jeff and I usually each eat 4 of these…. yeah I know it sounds like a lot, but even at that many the calorie total fits well within our daily budgets.  If you can find the 100 calorie english muffins that works best (if you are counting calories anyway), but any type will do just fine.  Likewise, I use the ultra thin cheese for diet reasons, but have used regular slices before as well.  As for the tuna, I use chunk light because I try to avoid Albacore for the mercury levels, however the original recipe did suggest the albacore.

 

Serves : 2-4               Time to make : 15 minutes

Ingredients :

• 4 (100 calorie, or wheat variety) english muffins, cut in half
• 2 small cans of tuna (in water), well drained
• 3/4 cup artichoke hearts, drained and chopped (I usually use one of the small jars of marinated hearts)
• 1/2 cup green onions, chopped
• 2 T. fresh lemon juice
• zest of a lemon
• 1 tsp. oregano
• 1/4 tsp. black pepper
• 1/8-1/4 tsp. cayenne pepper (start with the lesser and taste it)
• 2 tsp. olive oil
• 8 slices ultra thin provolone

Directions :

1. Preheat broiler, and arrange muffins on baking sheet.  Spray lightly with any sort of cooking spray and brown slightly.  This happens fairly quickly so keep an eye on it.  Once done set aside while you mix the topping.
2. In a large bowl combine the tuna, artichokes, onions, lemon juice and zest, seasoning, and oil.  Spoon carefully onto each toasted muffin.  Top with a slice of cheese.
3. Broil for a couple of minutes, watching closely until cheese has melted and starts to brown.  I find that rotating them helps get them all evenly done.

Fish Picatta

This recipe comes from Melissa d’Arabian, whom you may have seen on Food Network.  I’ve made other variations of this recipe before, but this one is SO simple I had to give it a try and I was so glad I did because it’s literally bursting with flavor.  It’s a great weeknight meal because it takes so little effort to prepare, and it’s also a nice light dish with low calories and fat.  If you’re like me and would like to find more ways to incorporate fish into your diet for all it’s healthy benefits, I highly suggest you try this recipe.

Tonight I paired this with some fried potato slices (fish and chips), but it would also be good with a simple pasta to soak up all that delicious sauce left on the plate.  Or perhaps some couscous would be nice too.  Tilapia is fairly inexpensive, but you can splurge a little and use something like Halibut for this too if you want.  Really, any firm white fish would work I am sure.  The lemon flavor is VERY strong, so if you would like it a little less lemony go ahead and do half the lemon juice.  I have tried this with both pinot and moscato and had great results.

 

serves 4                time to make : 20 minutes

Ingredients :

• 2 T. olive oil
• 4 small fillets of white fish such as tilapia, about a lb total
• Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 1/4 cup flour
• 1/4 cup white wine
• 2 lemons, juiced (I also take the zest off one for extra flavor)
• 2 T. capers
• 2 T. butter
• 2 T. chopped fresh parsley

Directions :

1. Heat olive oil in a large saute pan over medium-high heat.  While pan is heating, blot fish with a paper towel, season with salt and pepper.  Dredge in flour, shaking off excess.
2. Saute fish in oil until just cooked through and lightly browned, about 4 minutes.  Turn half way through cooking.  Move to platter and keep warm.
3. Immediately deglaze the pan with the white wine, whisking for about 1 minute.  It  helps to lift the pan off the burner at this point or you will have a HUGE mess.  Add the lemon juice and capers next and stir to combine.  Add the butter, allowing to melt as you whisk together.  Simmer for a couple minutes to allow the sauce to thicken slightly as it reduces. 
4. Pour over the plated fish, and top with your chopped parsley (and this is where I add the zest as well).

 

Day 154 : Raspberry Sauce & Raspberry Lemon Shake

I wanted to make a lemon shake and got the idea to add raspberries, but I didn’t just want to throw whole berries into the mix.  A few years ago I created this raspberry sauce I knew would be perfect for this so went ahead and whipped some of that up and then used a bit of it for the shakes.  You will end up with extra sauce, but it is great over ice cream, on pancakes, or drizzled over cake, etc.  Tonight I used sugar free/fat free pudding because it’s what I had on hand, but honestly I HATE them.  I hate that fake sugar flavor and the feeling it leaves on my teeth, so unless you are dieting (and in that case you are likely aware of the issue and it doesn’t matter) I would suggest using the regular version.

 

Raspberry Sauce

Serves : makes about 1 cup              Time to make : 5 minutes

Ingredients :

• 1 cup frozen raspberries
• 1 1/4 T. sugar
• 1 T. raspberry preserves
• 4-5 T. prepared pink lemonade (I just make a glass from the powder and measure from that)

Directions :

1. Combine ingredients in a blender and blend until smooth. 
2. Push contents through a sieve to remove seeds.
3. Cover and store in the fridge.

Raspberry Lemon Shake

Serves : 1                 Time to make : 5 minutes

Ingredients :

• 1 cup vanilla ice cream
• 1 T. raspberry sauce
• 1 1/2 T. lemon pudding mix (instant)
• 1/2 cup milk
• whip cream

Directions :

1. Combine all but the whip cream in a blender and blend until smooth.
2. Top with whip cream.

 

Day 104 : Blood Orange Lemonade

While out shopping the other day I noticed they had blood oranges at Yokes.  I have seen them on tv, and have always wondered what they could possibly taste like so I decided to buy a couple.  I had no idea how I wanted to use them, but I was leaning towards some sort of drink since I figured I would likely get the best taste of the blood orange that way with fewer other ingredients to get in the way.

I came across this one while searching and thought it sounded perfect.  The original recipe is for double the amount, but I am glad I decided to make half because to my surprise when I cut into the second orange (which was not part of the recipe) that I wanted to use as garnish I discovered that it was not “bloody” at all, and in fact there was just a slight amount of red inside.  Having no knowledge of blood oranges I am not sure if this is something that happens once in a while or what, but it surely would have been a disappointment if I had needed for the recipe!  I still cut it up and threw it in though since I didn’t want to waste a perfectly good orange, bloody or not.

You definitely won’t find a more SIMPLE recipe and though the flavor is somewhat understated I found this drink to be quite refreshing.  I tasted a bit of the blood orange before mixing it in and it was very good.  Sweet and citrusy with just a hint of something else, which according to an internet search is raspberry.  I dunno, maybe it’s a hybrid of the two?  Anyway they are very good.  It also results in a nice pretty pink color to the lemonade!

Blood Orange Lemonade

Serves : 4            Time to make : 10 minutes

Ingredients :

• 8 cups cold water
• 1 cup sugar
• 2 blood oranges, juice of
• 2 lemons, juice of

Directions :

1. Combine water and sugar in a pitcher and stir until sugar is completely dissolved.
2. Pour in the juice of your blood oranges and lemons and stir well.
3. Cut up what’s left of one of each lemon and blood orange and submerge in the lemonade.
4. If you want, add some ice as well.
5. Chill and serve.

Day 23 : Greek Lemon Chicken Soup

What a rollercoaster of a day!  It started off rocky when I almost slid into a truck in front of me at an icy traffic light, but got better with a clean bill of dental health for me.  Partway through the day I ended up getting horrible heartburn that would not go away so I had to have Jeff do a quick grocery run after work to get a few things for the night.  Then my son came down with a fever again after finally finishing his antibiotics for strep last night, which later turned into a rash all over his face and midsection so we just got back from the ER.  Luckily it was not an allergic reaction or anything too serious and they figured it was just a viral thing or slight rash from the meds.  One great thing though that happened today was that my blog was featured on FoodPress.com for my Chocolate Covered Saltine Crackers post a few days back.  Not only is it very neat to see your work featured, but it brought in a staggering amount of blog traffic pushing me up to 250+ views just today!

Somewhere in the chaos of the day I did find time to make a recipe for my blog, and it is a good one!  I have never been a person that liked soup, but this one I like.  It’s not very brothy which I prefer, and I just love the lemony flavor.  This is a soup I have made many times, and now consider to be my go-to recipe for a nice warm comfort food on a cold busy day.  It’s super simple to make, and becomes even easier if you do like me and use a rotisserie chicken from the grocery store.  I usually get the lemon pepper chicken and use the entire thing for this because we like a lot of chicken in our soup.  I also go ahead and use the rind from the entire lemon which is usually more than the recipe calls for.  I even add a bit of lemon pepper on occasion if I want it super lemony.   Next time you are in the mood for a nice bowl of chicken soup I highly recommend you try this one.  You will not be sorry!

Greek Lemon Chicken Soup

Serves : 6-8                          Time to make : 30 minutes

Ingredients :

• 1 (46oz) can chicken broth
• 1 can condensed cream of chicken soup
• 2 cups chicken, cooked
• 1/4 cup lemon juice, fresh
• 1/2 tsp. lemon rind
• 1 cup uncooked rice

Directions :

1. In a 5-quart Dutch oven, combine chicken broth and cream of chicken soup, mixing until well blended.
2. Stir in rice, chicken, lemon juice and rind.
3. Bring to a boil, reduce heat, cover and simmer 20 minutes or until rice is tender.