Tuna Melt & Fries

It was just me for dinner tonight, and it's slim pickings in my fridge this week. I'm not really a huge fan of tuna salad, but it's cheap and easy to throw together. I used some leftover tuna salad from Tuesday night, and made a tuna melt. To make my meal a little more fun, I made some homemade French fries.

For my tuna salad, I mixed a can of tuna in oil with diced green bell pepper, a little mayo, a little Dijon, and some ground black pepper. I've almost given up dairy (haven't dropped butter yet, and still indulge in cheese occasionally), but I'm doing a pretty good job. For this tuna melt, I used two Veggie Cheddar slices. It doesn't melt as well as real cheese, but it's not a bad substitute, in my opinion.

I sliced up a russet potato for my French fries, tossed them in olive oil, garlic powder, and Frank's red hot sauce. Baked for 15 minutes or so, and then broiled for a few minutes at the end to make them crispy. In other news, I've been on potato overload this week, and I think after this week, I'm going to have to avoid white potatoes for a couple weeks. Note to self: Don't buy a giant bag of potatoes.

Perfect Picnic Sandwiches

My favorite sandwich at my favorite Tucson sandwich place is the Bart's Bag at Beyond Bread. It's Brie, turkey, red onion, lettuce, and tomato with honey mustard and mayo on a baguette. I get it almost every time I go to Beyond Bread and have been faithfully eating this same sandwich for years. A few weeks ago, my boyfriend and I went to see the outdoor movie in the park and I made us sandwiches and pasta salad and brought strawberries. This is my homemade version of an adapted Bart's Bag and it was amazing. Perfect picnic sandwich.

Perfect Picnic Sandwich
baguette
spinach
tomato
red onion
brie
turkey
honey mustard
mayo

Slice the baguette in half and spread mayo on one side, honey mustard on the other side. Place turkey, then brie, then spinach, tomato and red onion. Enjoy!

Becky: ICBC Shallots

For the shallot recipe, I made a french dip sandwich.

Servings: 4

Ingredients:
1 Tbsp olive oil
1 shallot, chopped
1 Tbsp all-purpose flour
3 Tbsp dry sherry (optional)
2 10 1/2 cans beef consomme
1 10 oz. bag romaine lettuce blend
1/3 cup balsamic vinaigrette
Freshly ground black pepper, to taste
4 whole-grain rolls, split
4 portions lean roast beef, thinly sliced (about 1 lb.)
1 tsp. Montreal Steak Seasoning
8 cherry peppers

Directions:
Place a large skillet over medium-heat, add olive oil and heat for one minute. Add shallots and saute 2 minutes. Add flour and saute 2 more minutes. Whisk in sherry and cook for 3 minutes.
While whisking, slowly pour in beef consomme. Bring to a boil over high heat. Then reduce heat to low and simmer.
Place salad greens in a large mixing bowl. Drizzle with vinaigrette, toss to coat and season with black pepper. Divide into 4 salad bowls.
Set out 4 dinner plates. Place a roll and a ramekin (or small cup) on each plate.
Divide roast beef into 4 portions. Use tongs to dip a portion of roast beef into warm au jus sauce, place inside roll and sprinkle with steak seasoning.
Fill ramekins with extra au jus sauce for dipping. Place 2 cherry peppers on each place. Serve and enjoy!

This recipe came from my Eating For Life cookbook, by Bill Phillips. Inside this cookbook is lots of healthy meal options for breakfasts, lunches, dinners, snacks, shakes and desserts. This recipe was in the Dinners chapter, although I made this for lunch instead. I also cut this recipe in half because it was only me and my daughter eating while my husband was at work.
I did make some changes to this recipe. For instance, I used beef broth instead of consomme, because it was all they had at Super Walmart and from what I understand, I really didn't think that beef broth was really that much different. I also bought a red bell pepper because I didn't see any cherry peppers there either.
Looking at this recipe, I thought it seemed rather plain, but it actually ended up being pretty delicious! The au Jus sauce made my kitchen smell yummy while it was simmering on my stove-top. I also really liked the extra flavor that the steak seasoning gave the roast beef. The salad was a little bland though, but that's only because I prefer heartier salads with lots of stuff in it. I'm not a huge fan of just lettuce and dressing. Also, I'm not a huge fan of plain red peppers, but I still ate about half of mine just because lately I've been trying to eat healthier. I would definitely make the sandwich again though!

Wednesday Night Dinner: Roasted Vegetable Sandwiches

I forgot to take a picture before I dug into my sandwich, so this photo is actually Jake's half-eaten sandwich. I roasted eggplant, zucchini, onions, red bell peppers, and mushrooms for Italian sandwiches topped with capicolla, salami, provolone, pepperoncinis, black olives and red wine vinegar. Scout made sweet potato fries to go along with our sandwiches and we started with an appetizer of artichoke dip bread, post to come sometime later this week. We had a few different desserts as Scout's been on a bit of a baking frenzy. Dinner just keeps turning into a feast every week. It's pretty amazing.

Wednesday Night Dinner: Sherried Tomato Soup and Grilled Cheese Sandwiches

I made The Pioneer Woman's Sherried Tomato Soup for dinner this week along with grilled cheese sandwiches. It was delicious. I really love tomato soup and grilled cheese. It's an excellent combo. This photo, by the way, was taken after I dropped my camera in my tomato soup bowl. Well done, Carrie.