Delicious & Easy Tuna Melt Recipe

I wasn't sure what to make for supper the other night - I needed something quick and suddenly I thought of Tuna. I decided to make Tuna Melts, along ith Campell's Soup. Doesn't everyone have a few cans of Campbell's Soup in their Pantry for those cold winter days? Granted, it's kind of spring now but soup goes so well with Tuna Melts!

Prep Time: 10 min

Cook Time: 10 min

Ingredients (makes 3 sandwiches):

*2 cans of flaked tuna

*cheese (Mozzarella, Swiss, Cheddar etc. - whatever you prefer) to cover area of bread

*finely chopped pickles (I usually use 3-4 medium sized ones)

*1/2-1 cup of cauliflower or sweet potatoe puree

*mayo or miracle whip (use as much or little as you like)

*6 slices of bread, 3 burger first buns (thin burger buns), mini burger first buns (for toddlers) or english muffins

*butter

*finely chopped onions - optional

*corn - optional

Mix all ingredients, put on bread, Burger First Bun or Bagel and layer with cheese. Spread butter on the other bread, bun or bagel and lay on top of cheese. Put in frying pan, butter-side down. Spread butter on other side of bread or bun. Fry each side for 5 min or until crispy.

Serve with Campbell's Chicken Noodle or any homemade soup. Olivia really enjoys this and generally requests it for the next couple of days. ;-) I like the hidden veggies in this simple sandwich.

Linking up with Paisley Passions

Tuna Salad Melts Recipe

Who doesn't like a Tuna sandwich?  (I guess that is kinda a rhetorical question, I can think of at least two groups of people who don't like Tuna; my sister group, and those who are actually allergic to fish).  But aside from those crazy groups, mostly everyone can enjoy a tuna sandwich.  I like to make my tuna salad a little more exciting than the regular old, bland, put-some-mayonnaise-in-and-slap-into-two-peices-of-white-bread types of sandwiches. Why not go the extra mile (or kilometre for us Canucks and rest of the world) and make it into a melt and add some extra flavours and crunch to the sandwich.  This is how I make my Tuna Salad Sandwiches, and they seem to be a big hit with the family.

1 can of White Tuna (a little more expensive, yes, but much better tasting)
Sourdough or Calebrese bread
1 small tomato, finely diced
1 large dill pickle, finely diced
1/2 shallot, finely diced (just for a hint of flavour, not to overpower it)
Juice from half a lemon
Couple of tablespoons of mayonnaise (or Miracle Whip)
Squirt of Mustard
Slices of your favourite cheese (I like to use a really old chedder for mine, Sylvia likes Swiss, but Provolone or nice stringy mozzarella is wonderful as well)
Butter
Regular salted potato chips.

Place a nice heavy bottom frying pan onto the stove and heat to about a medium heat.  The heavier the better because the heat is distributed much better.  Mix the tuna with the tomato, pickle, shallot, lemon, mayo, and mustard.  Cut the bread, whichever you use, into nice thick slices.  Spoon the tuna mixture onto the bread and top with some cheese.  Close the sandwich together and spread the butter on both of the outside sides of the sandwich.  Toss the sandwich into the frying pan and cover to keep the heat in (It will help melt the cheese.  After a couple of minutes, check to see if the bottom is nicely browned, the flip the sandwich and place the lid back on for another couple of minutes. When the sandwich is down, slice in half and serve with the potato chips - going all deli style.

Alternatives:

-I like to add some either chipotle powder (just a little shake) or about an 1/8th of a teaspoon of canned chipotle peppers to the mix for some extra kick

-Instead if just having some chips on the side, open that sandwich up and put some in the sandwich.  It tastes great like that!

-You could always add some more veggies to the mix for kids who don't necessarily like eating vegetables, like some steamed zucchini or steam carrots

Until next time,
-d

Philly Cheese Steak Recipe

Man, do I ever love cheese steaks.  I have never been to Philadelphia, so I can't really compare the ones that I make to the originals, but I would think that they can hold their own.  I love the combination of the warm steaks with onions and gooey melted cheese.  The thought just makes me hungry.  I tried out this way of making cheese steaks the other day, and all three and a half of us really enjoyed them.  For these cheese steaks, I had a big, left over barbequed Strip loin that I used, but in at the end, I will talk about cooking with a raw steak.  The important thing also is the choice of meat.  You have to use a good cut of meat like a strip loin because no one wants tough steak.  Here is what you will need.

1 large strip loin, trimmed of fat and cut really thin
3 strips of bacon, cut up into pieces
3 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
2 shallots or red onions, thinly cut
1/2 red pepper
1/2 green pepper
1 cup of beef broth
3 tbsp of heavy cream
shake of Worcestershire sauce
Sourdough bread
slices of real mozzarella (the nice stringy kind that you get in a ball), or Provolone
Pepper

In a frying pan over medium heat, put in the cut up bacon and start frying that.  I used the bacon instead of olive oil to add to the flavours because, as we all know, bacon makes everything better.  When the bacon starts to cook, and some of the fat has melted off, add the garlic, shallots, and peppers.  Saute the veggies until the start to get soft.  Add the beef broth and Worcestershire sauce and reduce the heat.  Add pepper to taste.  Let the concoction reduce until there is about a third of the liquid remaining.  Add the meat and heavy cream.  Coat the meat with the sauce and reduce the heat.  Cut up the bread and put it on a cookie tray in the oven for a few minutes until is starts to toast a little.  Take it out and top with the meat and veggies and a generous amount of cheese, which is what puts this over the edge.  Throw the sandwiches back into the oven until the cheese start to melt and get all gooey.

Some Alternatives:

-You can make these without having the meat pre-cooked.  Again, I just (oddly) had a left over steak from a previous night.  To do this, after the veggies have started to cook, throw in the raw meat into the pan.  Because it is cut so thin, it will not take too long to cook, only a couple of minutes, just until it doesn't look raw anymore, but it can still be pink.  When you add the beef broth, the meat with continue to cook.  You don't want to over cook the strip loin, as it will get tougher, the longer it is cooking.

-Add whole peppercorns to the mixture for some added kick

-I like the open faced sandwich, but you can certainly make it on a submarine bun.  Just remember to toast it a little first, so it doesn't get soggy too quick

-d