Tuna boats on garlic bread

I made (with the wee one's assisance) open faced tuna sandwiches on garlic bread slathered in cheese. With cheesy peas.

Spiru-tein and tuna sandwiches

No exercise. Crappy diet. That's me today. Tried to make up for eating croissants and brownies and pizza earlier by having a tuna sandwich (with only one slice of bread) topped with alfalfa sprouts and a side of raw cauliflower.

Had bad need regarding a friend's health today and spent three hours at the vet's office. Our youngest cat has a chronic urinary tract disease and he developed a blockage. I had made the very difficult decision to have him put down because I don't know if we can afford the ongoing maintenance of his condition. Today's bill would have been $1,500 to relieve the blockage but not correct the condition.

This is Oz, after I made the decision to euthanize him.

But at the last minute the vet found another solution! The animal hospital would subsidize his corrective surgery if we allowed a student surgeon to perform it as a teaching case. $1500 reduced to $600, all inclusive, and he gets his surgery not just treatment.

I'm still waiting to hear how he did. I obviously said yes.

So that's why I'm carbohydrate queen today. 

Figured I'd go ahead and try today's protein powder with dinner, Spiru-tein cookies and cream flavor. 

Only 14 grams of protein, lots of nutrients and a reasonable price point. ($1.99 for the sample.) My daughter loved it, but it left me ambivalent. Drinkable, not too sweet, but more like a thick flavored milk. 

Tuna and peas over egg noodles

I originally planned to make this to use up some leftover tuna from sandwiches earlier in the week.

But I had a really crazy shift at work and then I fell walking out of the store so my husband made his own version of my vision.

- Egg noodles

- leftover tuna

- peas

For the sauce:

- soy milk

- cornstarch 

- cheddar

- Swiss cheese

And a sprinkle of shredded Parmesan on top.

Crôque monsieur Américain

My daughter has been hungry for "French grilled cheese" as she calls crôque monsieur, but since I don't have cream, or fancy ham, or an extra $15 to buy good gruyere... I whipped up an Americanized version that satisfied about 90% as much as the original.

Now, if you need measurements, I'm sorry because I don't have a clue.

I started with two tablespoons butter in my small Le Creuset saucepan. I mixed in about two tablespoons flour and melded them together over medium high heat with a rubber spatula.

I splashed in soy milk and half and half, and then cheddar, provolone, Romano and Parmesan until smooth.i added a large pinch of nutmeg and some fresh ground black pepper.

I ended up with about 2 cups cheese sauce.

In a cake pan, i toasted 6 slices of bakery bread, placed 1/3 slice gouda on each, topped with two teaspoons tuna, and then topped each with two teaspoons sauce. I added a slice of cheddar to each. Another two teaspoons cheese sauce. Put lid on.

Then I sprinkled fresh cauliflower and garden peppers into the bottom of the pan. I covered each sandwich with sauce then doused the vegetables lightly.

Baked 10 minutes at 475, then broiled until bubbly.

Crazy bagels

It's cold and rainy. My husband wanted sandwiches. I wanted broccoli.

We made sandwiches and store-bought soup.

The sandwiches were open faced tuna melts on half of a bagel. My daughter and I split halves-- 1/4 each of salt and poppy with tuna, then cooked broccoli and finally extra sharp cheddar melted on top.

Yup, you read that correctly. Cooked broccoli. It was a fabulous addition. I think I may be adding broccoli to my sandwiches all the time...

But next time I'm doubling the amount of broccoli.

Kale and tuna

Daughter made lunch today. Open faced tuna sandwiches with spinach dip and cheese on an English muffin, kale chips, and homemade basil pickles from the pickling cucumbers from our garden.

Tuna sandwiches

Today's lunch:

Tuna on the multigrain bread I made yesterday with local greens from Klein Farm. Sweet potato fries with dip made from 1/2 cup vanilla yogurt, 1.5 tablespoons Pennsylvania maple syrup, 1 teaspoon honey and 1 heaping teaspoon fresh ground cinnamon.

Casserole and more Target shopping

My girlfriend gave us a chunk of velveeta and my husband was hungry for tuna casserole, so I mixed up a velveeta sauce and made this tuna, spinach and rice casserole.

Today I used my 5% pharmacy rewards from Target and did a big shopping order of about $250 worth of merchandise that I paid less than $200 for.

Subtotal: after coupons: $241.03
Team member discount: - 24.71
Rx rewards: -11.09
Red card: -10.26
Tax: $2.64
Total: $197.61

What I bought:
- Clorox 2 stain remover, $1.75 - 55 cent coupon
- Doritos, 2 bags cool ranch, $3 each
- pirate booty, veggie flavor, 2 bags at $2.79
- tortilla chips, $2.99
- Juicy Juice 100% juice juice boxes, 4 @ $2.55
- organic spring mix, $2
- fresh express romaine garden salad, 2 bags at $2
- fresh red potatoes, $2.29
- asparagus, fresh, $1.99
- fresh broccoli, $1.79
- fresh cauliflower, $1.79
- Smuckers blueberry preserves, $3.09
- agave nectar, $3.99
- Dickinson wild berry preserves, $3.87
- market pantry strawberry preserves, big jar, $2.89
- market pantry Mac and cheese, 6 @ 67 cents
- tomato sauce, 4 cans at 67 cents
- Archer Farms raspberry salsa, 2 @ $2.99
- mild salsa, $2.49
- wheat pasta, 2 @ $1.07
- Barilla plus multigrain pasta, 2 @ $1.14
- market pantry pasta, various shapes, 5 @ $1
- better oats, blueberry muffin instant oatmeal, 2 boxes at $1.79
- Quaker oatmeal to go banana bread squares, 3 @ $7.50
- Bush's vegetarian baked beans, the big cans, 3 @ $1.99
- 12 ounce can of chunk light tuna, 4 at $2.34
- market pantry sugar, $2.79
- unbleached white flour, $1.99
- old orchard juice concentrate, 4 @ $1.59
- welches 100% grape juice concentrate, $1.50
- 2 archer farm frozen pizzas, $4.99 each
- Thai vegetable blend, $2.29
- cilantro lime rice blend, $2.29
- frozen peas, 2 bags, $1.02 each
- sweet potato fries, $1.97
- dannon strawberry yogurt parfait, $1.99 minus 50 cent coupon

Now for the household items:
- Nads facial wax strips, $4.49
- two big bottles of up and up cetrizine, $13.19 each
- up and up toothpaste, on clearance, 2 tubes at $1.95 each
- Scott natural toilet paper, 12 roles, $9.99 - $2 coupon
- 2 boxes tampons, $4.94 each minus $1 coupon

And the cats:
- 28 pounds cat litter, $8.92 minus $1 coupon
- 20 lbs Iams, $23.74
- Purina one salmon and rice, 14 pounds, $10.99
- beyond chicken cat food, 7 pounds, $7.69 minus $1 coupon

Other coupons:
- $1.50 off $10 in fresh produce
- six reusable bags, 30 cents

Hot tuna rolls

In a skillet:
- pour a tablespoon oil and sprinkle with a 1/2 teaspoon Ras el Hanout
- slap 1 tortilla shell in warm skillet
- spread with Boursin herbed cheese
- scatter with prepared tuna
- sprinkle with grated extra sharp white cheddar
- leave in skillet, careful not to burn shell, until cheese gets melt
- roll

Yes, I burned mine

Special Request school lunch

My daughter told me in the car last night that her "mouth was watering for boxed macaroni and cheese." So, I packed some Wegmans spirals and cheese dinner in her thermal bowl. With what else? An organic carrot, some of the Terra chips she didn't try yesterday, half a tuna sandwich on whole grain white, a 100% juice juice box, and some chex mix for dessert (or in case she doesn't like the chips).

Cream Cheese and Tuna sandwiches

I made these open-faced tuna sandwiches as an attempt at a quick lunch when we are low on groceries.

Ingredients:
- 2 everything bagels
- 1 tablespoon butter
- 1.5 teaspoons mayonnaise
- 1 can tuna
- 1/2 teaspoon four color pepper
- about 2 tablespoons shredded cheddar for each half a bagel, which is about 1/4 cup
- 1 tablespoon grated romano
- about 1 heaping tablespoon cream cheese for each bagel half

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

In the Le Creuset skillet, I melted one tablespoon butter on low and placed the four bagel halves face-down in the pan to toast. After about two minutes, I turned the heat to medium, let them toast for a minute and flip over.

As soon as you flip the bagels, turn off the heat to the burner so you can leave the bagels in there. Spread about a tablespoon of cream cheese onto each bagel.

In a separate bowl, mix tuna, mayo, pepper and romano. Place about 1/4 of the tuna mix on each bagel in an even layer. Top with cheddar, about 2 tablespoons each sandwich.

Place the skillet in the oven for five to ten minutes to melt the cheese on top.

Oops! Grilled Cheese

I set out to make grilled cheese with tuna using our last four slices of bread. Since we only had those two sandwiches, I planned to cut them into three slices each so each person got two grilled cheese with cheddar and tuna "fingers" and a salad of romaine lettuce and raisins.

When I went to help the child flip the sandwich, it flew across the room and landed in the middle of the old brownie tin I use to bathe the tortoise. I took the side of the bread that landed against the pan, threw it out, and used cut the remaining guts and bread in half to make a double stuffed sandwich.

Otherwise, instead of 2/3 a sandwich each, we'd have gotten 1/3. This way we each got half, though the child got the HUGE stuffed half.

I also served some homemade granola to make up for the missing sandwich.

tuna boats

I've been struggling with my iron levels lately so I haven't been doing too much serious cooking. Leftovers and simple food. Breakfasts of cream of wheat, raisin bran, and/or yogurt. Snack sandwiches of those veg. sausages on biscuits.

A few meals out. Pizza with a friend Monday. Lunch with in-laws yesterday. Dinner with my Dad.

So for lunch today, I sliced my homemade French country bread (last loaf from the freezer), toasted it, and made some tuna. Topped with shredded Jarlsberg and served with a side of mandarin orange slices.

Parmesan Tuna Sandwiches

So, I did make tuna sandwiches for lunch on the store bought wheat bread from Wegmans. (I bought it because I had a coupon.) We only have one can of tuna, so that means a half-sandwich for each of us (Mommy, Daddy and Baby).

My tuna today was:

• one can solid white tuna packed in water
• 2 tablespoons safflower mayonnaise*
• 2 tablespoons parmesan cheese
• 3 slices Wegmans whole wheat sandwich bread sliced in half.

*What shocked me is that my mayonnaise is really mayonnaise. For years, I've been using vegan/soy mayonnaise for health reasons and because I hate mayonnaise in the traditional sense. But when I was scraping the last of the mayo out of the jar, I noticed that the ingredients listed eggs. I had purchased safflower mayonnaise instead of soy!

What made that even more compelling was the high vitamin E content in the mayonnaise. 1 tablespoon of that safflower mayonnaise has 2o% of the RDA of Vitamin E. Interesting.

To accompany these meager sandwiches, I also served tortilla chips and mango salsa (vitamins A & C thanks to the salsa) and applesauce. We also had a snack a few minutes ago of dried Italian meat stick so I'm sure that will also help compensate for the half-sandwich.

Tuna on Homemade Bread

We had boring tuna sandwiches on homemade bread for lunch, except my husband decided to jazz his up with black olives and cheddar cheese.

Tuna and tator tots

The daughter came down with pink eye at 3 a.m.

Sigh.

My mom brought sticky buns this morning as part of a bribe to encourage me to do her taxes. It worked. It also made me sick to my stomach. All that sweetness.

For lunch we had tuna on homemade cinnamon raisin bread, with tator tots (which for me involved half ketchup and half Frank's Red Hot Buffalo Sauce.)

Hoping to get to Aldi this afternoon. Also aiming for Wegmans. High hopes I know.

Using up the cinnamon raisin bread

To use up the rest of the loaf of cinnamon raisin bread, we're having tuna sandwiches on it. I hope it will be good, but chicken salad on cinnamon raisin bread is... so... here's hoping. I put the bread in the oven on broil to warm and toast it and almost forgot it!

Another tuna casserole

Since lunch was spicy and used both meat and beans, I opted for a milder dinner. In one pan, I cooked 1 lb of egg noodles.

Meanwhile in my Le Creuset skillet, I did the following:

• Added three tablespoons butter
• about 1 teaspoon basil
• one teaspoon garlic pepper
• and some serious shaking (maybe 1.5-2 teaspoons) of the seasoned parmesan mix that came with the spinach rigatoni things from Aldi

Once the butter melted, I added:

• one cup soy milk
• one packet of cheese mix from Wegmans cheddar and shells mac and cheese dinner

While that cooked, and I stirred, I prepared about two cups cauliflower in the microwave and opened a can of tuna. Then I added them to the skillet.

• one can tuna
• about two cups cauliflower

I drained the noodles and added them.

• 1 lb egg noodles cooked.

I stirred, and added more of the seasoning

• about 1 teaspoon Aldi parmesan seasoning

Then:

• about 1/4 cup extra sharp cheddar cheese
• about 1/4 cup sour cream

Stick in oven at about 35o until the family is ready for dinner.

Weekend summary

So, right now I'm drinking a very sweet cup of dessert tea because my daughter convinced me to have a honey-rock candy thing in mine...

Yesterday we took it mellow on the food. My husband went to the warehouse club for pet supplies and came home with tuna, Cool Ranch Doritoes and Brie for us. He toasted some tortilla shells in the skillet and made tuna wraps with melted cheese for lunch.

For dinner, he also swept in and made pasta with an olive oil/butter sauce, grated romano cheese and the last of the fresh broccoli that was starting to look a tad flimsy. It was yummy.

Not much gourmet this weekend, but we have full bellies.

Odds and ends

Last night for dinner, I served spinach nuggets and leftover spaghetti which my daughter got to enjoy with a caramel apple from her trip to the corn maze for girl scouts.

Breakfast for her today was Greek yogurt and Booberry.

For lunch, my husband made tuna sandwiches on homemade bread with carrots and "dippins" (ranch dressing). With some chocolate chip cookies I brought home from my business trip.

Hopefully, it will rain and my dad will have us over for dinner. If not, I took chili out of the freezer.

Interestingly, we haven't had any juice or milk since I returned home (and it's been almost a week, am I lazy or just busy?)