Keepin' it light without additives - Tuna Salad Sandwich with Avocado "Mayo" (5 WW points)

I love a good tuna salad sandwich.  And yes, I’ll admit it, “good” equals a nice dollop of Best Foods, Hellman’s or Dukes full fat mayonnaise.  Not exactly figure friendly.  So what’s a tuna-lovin’ girl to do?

Now that's a satisfying and
healthy lunch!

Simple, so many folks say -- Use low-fat or fat-free mayo.  In my world, that is so wrong on so many levels.  First, it does not taste the same.  And second, with a ton of additives (16 ingredients vs 8) including high fructose corn syrup, most commercially made low fat mayos are not always the best (i.e. closest to the original food source) way to go.  

So today, as I was pondering my lunch options, it dawned on me – at 50 calories, an ounce of avocado has about half the calories as regular may, close to half that of the “lite variety mayo, and about twice that of fat free.  Plus the fat in avocado has been proven to do some pretty cool things, like increase the absorption of  fat-soluble nutrients like carotenoids. And, the fat in an avocado is a monounsaturated fatty acid, which has also been shown to help lower our risk of heart disease. So why not give it a go as the binding agent for my tuna sammie....

Eureka! I found it!  

Moist, tasty and not green – a side effect I was a bit concerned about -- this is one heck of a sandwich.  And it weighs in at a healthy 5 WW points plus value.  You could make it even less with the use of a high fiber tortilla wrap (like the ones from Ole) or open face on a slice of whole wheat bread, rather than the sandwich thin.  

Here’s the recipe, I hope you give it a go.


Tuna Salad Sandwich with Avocado "Mayo"
Serves 2; 5 WW pts each

Ingredients

• 1 small can water packed tuna, drained
• ¼ avocado, mashed
• 1 Tbs Lemon Juice
• 1 rib celery, finely diced
• ½ carrot, shredded
• ½ red chili pepper, seeded and diced (optional)
• 1 green onion, finely chopped
• 1 tsp celery seed
• Pinch or two of kosher salt
• Pinch or two of black pepper
• 2 Sandwich thins, toasted (I like the whole wheat with flax seeds)
• Leafy mustard greens, lettuce or spinach

Method

• Mash the avocado with the lemon juice in a medium sized bowl
• Add the salt, pepper and celery seed.  Stir to combine.
• Next add the celery, carrot and onion. Stir to combine.
• Crumble in the tuna.  Mix well – a fork is fine, but frankly, combining it with a clean hand is the best. 
• Toast the sandwich thin.  This is really necessary – they are not that great untoasted.
• Pile half the mixture on the bottom half of the bread, top with a leafy green – I love mustard greens for this! – top with the other half of the bread and you are good to go.

Enjoy.

It's leftover time! (Grilled Tri-Tip Roast)

Well, those leftover biscuits came in handy today when lunchtime rolled around and we were fresh out of bread. 

Steve really wanted a sandwich made from the tri-tip we grilled Friday night. But fear not, the biscuits thawed out just fine and made a dandy samy.   A smear of Dukes mayo, some grainy mustard, pickle slices and crisp romaine.  Add a cold Heineken and his favorite spot on the deck, and he was a happy man.

 

Tri-tips are a staple in California, especially the Central Coast around Santa Maria.  I like to marinade ours for as long as possible in the concoction below and then Steve grills it up fast on a screamin’ hot grill.  The trick is to pull it off before it is too far gone and then let the meat  rest for at least 15 minutes during which it will continue to cook to pinky rare perfection.

I like mine sliced thin with crisp Caesar salad and a ear of steamed corn.  But between you and me, the leftovers are the best!

Tri-Tip Roast

Ingredients

• 1 2 ½ to 3 pound tri tip roast
• 1/3 cup balsamic vinegar
• 1/3 cup Worcestershire sauce
• 3 cloves garlic – chopped
• 2 Tablespoons olive oil
• 1 heaping Tablespoon chopped fresh rosemary
• Kosher salt and fresh cracked pepper 

Method

• Mix the vinegar, Worcestershire sauce, garlic, olive oil and rosemary in a large zip lock bag.  Add the roast and refrigerate 2 hours to over night.

• 30 minutes before you are ready to grill, pull the meat, blot it dry with a paper towel and liberally apply kosher salt and fresh cracked pepper.  This is a big piece of meat. Don’t skimp on the seasoning.  Let the roast come to room temp.

• Heat a gas grill to High/Medium/High

• Wipe the grill with a paper towel soaked with oil (we use grape seed oil, which as a very high smoking point)
•  Place the roast on the grill, close the lid. Set a timer for 9 minutes.
• At the 9 minute mark, flip the meat.  Close the lid. Grill for another 9 minutes.
• At the end of the second 9 minutes, check the temp.  You want to be at 115 to 125 degrees and the outside should have a nice charred crust.  
• If you are not quite there, flip the roast and cook 3 minutes per each side. Check the temp.  You should be there. Do not over cook.  The end slices will be a bit more well-done and the center will be rare, but not raw. 
• Remove the roast.  Tent LIGHTLY with foil and let the roast rest for 15 minutes.
• Now you can slice – against the grain. 

Enjoy.

It’s Tomato Time (Deconstructed BLT Salad)

Recipe and photo updated July 1, 2018

Updated photo - same great taste

Summer and tomatoes go hand and hand.  And when it comes to a summer lunch or even dinner, what can be better than a BLT? 

My mom made a mean BLT, and I still remember one that I had at a golf course in Mexico on a steamy summer day back in the 80s.  But the very best BLT I have ever had is right her in Chapel Hill, at a gas station turned lunch stop called Merrit’s Store & Grill.

Merrit’s roots go back to 1929 when original owners Ruby and Eben Merritt opened a gas station and store on Columbia St, a narrow winding road that eventually cuts right through the UNC campus and connects with Franklin Street at heart of Chapel Hill. 

Later in 1991, current owner Robert Britt bought the store and added the signature BLT to the menu.  The sandwich’s beauty is in its simplicity.  Lightly toasted bread, a thin smear of good quality mayo and a layer (or more, depending on the size sandwich you choose) each of farm stand tomatoes and crisp local bacon are topped with crisp iceberg lettuce.  The whole thing is wrapped in foil and handed to you in a brown paper bag.  Need I say more?

We had our first Merrit’s BLT the week we arrived in Chapel Hill a little under a year ago.  As we settled in to enjoy our lunch at a picnic table behind the store, there was a flash of lightning, a crash of thunder and the sky literally opened up. Just like in the movies!  We dashed to the car and had our picnic right in the gravel covered parking lot.  It was a great way to start our adventure, and a memory I will always cherish.

The other night we had a similar storm, and as luck would have it I also had some heirloom tomatoes, local bacon, and the other necessary BLT fixin’s on hand.  However, we weren’t in the mood for a sandwich, so I did a deconstructed version and called it dinner. 

Will took a great shot of the salad before we enjoyed it with a nice glass of crisp white wine. I hope you give it a try and enjoy it as much as we did. 

Enjoy!

Deconstructed BLT Salad

Serves 4

Celebrate the end of summer with a new twist on a BLT. You can also cut the bacon, lettuce and tomatoes into bite sized pieces and toss, if you don’t  feel like assembling the dish as shown.

Ingredients:

For the Dressing:

Leftovers will keep in a jar in the ‘fridge for up to one week.

• ½ cup Greek yogurt (I use 2% but fat free of 5% OK too)
• ¼ cup good mayonnaise
• 1/4 cup buttermilk (standard milk will work, too)
• 2 tsp finely diced parsley
• 2 tsp finely diced chives
• 1 Tablespoons apple cider vinegar
• 1/2 tsp kosher salt
• 1/8 tsp each garlic powder, onion powder and celery seed

For the salad:

• 4 thick slices of sourdough bread, like crusty farmers bread 
• 1 very large or two medium tomatoes cut into thick slices
• 2 cups of cherry tomatoes, assorted colors if you can find them, about half of them cut in half
• 8 slices thick cut apple smoked bacon
• 2 cups shredded (make nice, long shreds – not chopped) iceberg lettuce
• Olive Oil Kosher salt and black pepper for grilling the bread

Method:

Make the Dressing

• Whisk all of the ingredients together in a medium sized bowl. Adjust seasoning to taste as needed.
• Cover with plastic wrap or put in a glass jar and chill until you are ready to make the salad

Bake the bacon -- Yup, bake it. This method will keep the bacon perfectly flat and drains away the fat: Simply preheat your oven to 400 degrees, put a baking rack atop a baking sheet and lay the bacon on the rack. Then bake for 18-20 minutes and remove to drain on a paper towel.

Grill the bread -- Brush both sides of the bread with olive oil sprinkle with Kosher salt and a few grinds of black pepper before grilling on a grill pan or outside on the grill until you get nice grill marks.

Assemble the salad – I use a large dinner plate as this can get messy when you start cutting into the salad. Put a slice of bread on each person’s plate and layer sliced tomatoes, bacon, lettuce, cherry tomatoes and a drizzle of dressing.

Enjoy!

Welcome to a Southern Fork in the Road (Jetlag Turkey and Swiss)

A Southern Fork in the Road - From Southern California to North Carolina, one bite at a time

First off – full disclosure. The title of this blog is not 100% original. However it is appropriate. I spent the better part of last Saturday at the Orange County Fair. A post in and of itself; but that will wait for another day.

I love the Fair. Not the rides or the fried foods (although he zucchini weenie was pretty darn good this year). I love the displays. The collections (why don’t I ever enter my cast iron dog doorstops?), the baked good (who know you could win a blue ribbon with haystack cookies?), the garden and flower displays (where my friend won multiple ribbons this year), and of course the paintings, photography and quilts (some people have a lot more free time than me – I envy them and vow to rearrange my life).

As I wandered the photographs in the Visual Arts portion of the Fair I came across one that made me stop my tracks. A picture of a fork laying right smack down the middle of a road. I stood there and stared as the full meaning of what my husband and I are about to do hit me.

In two weeks time, my husband and I will embark on a true adventure. Both California natives, we have spent our entire lives in Southern California. Okay, Steve did a brief year in Michigan for a job and a ski-season in Aspen. He also lived in France and Germany and survived 13 months in Viet Nam as part of the US Army. And I spent the summer between high school and college working at a resort in the Sierra Nevada Mountains. Otherwise, we’ve lived in a 20-something mile triangle that includes Garden Grove and Whittier, where Steve and I grew up; Corona del Mar and Belmont Shore, where we spent our post college and pre-family years; Brea where we raised our son Will; and most recently Fullerton where we downsized after Will went off to Montana to attend college.

Next Stop: Chapel Hill, North Carolina.

So the photo at the Fair made me stop and think. About our lives and our recent decisions: to step out of our comfort zone; to leave friends and the places we know so well, for a different life, new opportunities and the chance to have fewer 7 a.m. conference calls and most important to be closer to my brother and his family who live in Chapel Hill.

But the photo of that fork was even more iconic for me.

Those who know me also know that the only place I truly escape is in my kitchen. Or the kitchens of friends. I love to cook. I love to create new dishes. I love to come home from a long day at the office, open the pantry, fridge and freezer and cook something from nothing that makes my husband smile.

Yup, it sounds corny but I love the satisfaction of knowing that what I create makes people happy. Plus chopping a pile of veg is a great way to relieve stress and work out the kinks that come from working at a keyboard and sitting on conference calls from dawn to dusk.

So, Okay – I liked the photo, why the Blog?

Many people have suggested that I blog about my passion for cooking and share my recipes online. I’ve also been asked if I will blog about what it’s like to go from being a Southern Californian to a Northern Carolinian. The two will come together on this little niche in the ether.

Welcome to my Southern Fork in the Road. In future posts I will share some of the highpoints of the road ahead. I will also provide a recipe chronicle of the days ahead. (Oh, and most posts will be shorter... this time I needed to set the stage a tad)

Today’s recipe is hardly a culinary breakthrough. Yet it is what I was munching on during a recent flight to Boston when I decided to start this blog. More exciting and creative dishes will follow. Promise. But for now, here’s one of my favorite ways to avoid Jet Blue Blues with the yummy sammy that packs well into a carry-on or handbag. It also pairs nicely with a house chardonnay or split of champagne, served from a plastic cup by your favorite airline.

Jet Lag Turkey and Swiss

2 slices hearty whole wheat bread.

3 – 4 slices turkey; smoked or otherwise – but get the best roast turkey from the deli

1 slice Jarlsberg or other good Swiss cheese. Provolone works, too.

A schmere of Best Foods Mayonnaise (or Hellman’s – I guess I’ll have to get used to that)

Equal amount of Dijon mustard

¼ cup arugula

(Optional – chutney)

You’ve made a sandwich before, so I shouldn’t have to provide instructions. But here’s how I put this one together:

• Spread the mayo on one slice of bread
• Spread the Dijon on the other.
• Place the turkey next to the Dijon (yes, it makes a difference)
• Top with the cheese, then the arugula.
• If you use the chutney spread it on top of the mayo and then top the sandwich with the bread.
• Slice half in two, as my Uncle Phil used to say
• Pack in a baggie and you are off to the airport. Of course this can be done the night before.

Enjoy.