Fancy Tuna Salad

I was looking for a new tuna salad recipe to try. I make this one from Well Fed often, but I needed a change. I was inspired by this recipe over at greenlitebites.com, but I only had the shorter "pickling"cucumbers from the farmers market. Also, I wanted to use my homemade mayo in place of yogurt.  I left out the soy & wasabi and added some dry mustard.  Here's my recipe:

Ingredients

1 4oz can of Sustainable Seas Albacore Tuna (any wild-caught tuna will work)

1 fresh carrot, julienned

1-2 Tbsp of homemade paleo mayo (or use your favorite recipe)

1 tsp of lemon juice (I just juiced 1/3 of a large lemon)

salt & pepper, a few shakes each

1/2 tsp of dry ground mustard

1-2 cucumbers, sliced long way for rolling, or short way for "sandwiches"

Mix all of the ingredients (minus the cucumber) together in a bowl. I find that it helps to use a fork to break up the tuna. Then, either top your little cucumber circles with a spoonful of the tuna salad or roll up your cucumber strips. You can make open-faced "sandwiches" or top with another cucumber slice. This recipe is great for a hot summer day. 

Sardines - Still Trying New Things!

Howdy!  I'm still over here trying new foods like a boss.  In fact, this week I tried sardines for the first time in my life!  Why, did I do that?!  Because sardines have many health benefits including being rich in Omega 3 fatty acids.

I chose this brand...

  

...because:

1. It's BPA free 
2. They are wild caught
3. It's available at my local Kroger store (in the organic section)
4. The ingredient list looks clean: Sardines, Extra Virgin Olive Oil, Water, Sea Salt, Aqueous Natural Smoke (I'm not sure what "natural smoke" is, but I'm hoping it's nothing scary)

These were actually quite good!  I'll even eat them again.  I would rather eat a can of these (or split it with my husband) a few days a week than take fish oil supplements.  I'm not sure how many sardines I need to eat in a week to equal the benefits of supplements, but I'm willing to bet the nutrients in the sardines themselves are more bioavailable than in the supplements.

According to this chart, one can of these per week would give me enough Omega 3s. 

Chart found here: http://cessh.curtin.edu.au/local/docs/how_much_omega_3_web.pdf

food funk

I've been in a bit of "food funk" lately and haven't felt the inspiration or excitement for cooking that I've experienced during my Whole30 and after.  I feel like I need to do something to rev up my inspiration in the kitchen.  In the meantime, here's what I've been eating (maybe you'll find food inspiration here):

One night I grilled a skirt steak (for fajitas) and 2 chicken 

breasts (with adobo seasoning) and a pound of hamburger patties.  

I figured since I was turning the grill on, I might as well cook up

a bunch of meat!  

I stir fried extra fajita veggies (onions and peppers) and had

them with a chicken breast and some guacamole for lunch the

next day.  This was delicious!

I got the idea to sautee cabbage with bacon and eat it with
fried eggs.  GROSS!  Not doing that again. :(

Fried Eggplant with eggs.

Baked Cod (with butter, lemon, s&p), sweet potato fries,
sauteed asparagus (with garlic & lemon), mayo

Husband doesn't eat asparagus, so he got tomato slices!

Baked Salmon with Asparagus & Roasted Beets

This is another recipe from The Paleo Recipe Book (Page 140).  I'll just go ahead and say that these e-books are worth the price.  It's $27 for 5 e-books.  The main recipe book has over 370 recipes in it and when you add the recipes from the dessert book and quick & simple book, you have about 400 recipes!  It also includes the meal plan and the herbs & spices guide.  When I first purchased it, I was a little intimidated by some of the ingredients, but I've been spending a lot of time in my kitchen lately and have become more confident and comfortable in there.  

It's really simple and I would have never guessed that these flavors would work so well together!  

For each serving, lay out a piece of aluminum foil (be generous with the size).  Then lay 4 asparagus springs with the white part cut off on each piece of foil.  Top with one diced beet (I actually used 1-1/2 beets per serving because that's what I had).  Next place your 4-6oz salmon filet on top of the beets (be sure to purchase wild caught salmon).  Top the filet with a tablespoon of cooking fat (I used clarified butter) and a teaspoon of chopped dill (I used fresh).

Next, fold the foil to make a packet and put foil packets on a baking sheet.  Place them in your preheated oven on 500 degrees.  The recipe said to cook them 10 minutes for each inch of thickness of fish and to keep checking them so that you don't overcook the fish.  Mine took 30 minutes.

This recipe was delicious!!!!  Husband, who doesn't even like salmon, ate it!  He said the beets made it taste better!

Salmon on the grill!

I bought a one pound slab of fresh wild-caught salmon at the farmer's market on Friday.  It smelled so amazing, I couldn't wait to grill it up!  I found this recipe from The Food Lovers Kitchen.  It's simple and tasty.  I cheated a little and used lemon juice out of a bottle because I was out of lemons, but it turned out good and next time, I'll be sure to have lemons on hand!

Marinading...

Grilling...

I also made this simple, fresh salad to go along with it:

1 Cucumber, peeled and sliced
1 Tomato, diced
1 Bell Pepper, diced
Onion, diced (I use about 1/2 cup)

Mix it all together in a bowl with generous amounts of salt & pepper.  It will start to make it's own juice, so stir it all up before serving!