Daring Sandwich I

I know I've mentioned the infamous peanut butter and mayo sandwich, which I must one day share, but today, I unveil one of my secret loves--tuna. Within the last few years, I discovered Albacore tuna which knocks conventional canned tuna out of the water. (A good tuna steak is not what you would think either. It actually doesn't taste at all like a giant slab of canned tuna. But I digress.)



Since discovering this whiter, tastier variety of tuna, I've taken to having my favorite version of tuna salad sandwich. If you usually put potato chips in your sandwiches and like the taste of all the ingredients below, then don't knock this weird combination until you've tried it.

Daring Sandwich I, Tuna Edition

1 can Albacore tuna (water drained onto a plate for the cats)
Real mayonnaise
Garlic salt & garlic pepper
1 stalk celery (finely diced)
Chow mein noodles
2 or 4 slices of bread

Toss the tuna, mayo, S&P, and celery in a bowl. Gently mix until evenly combined. Add S&P as needed to taste. Spread the tuna salad onto bread, then top with a goodish sprinkling of chow mein noodles. Enjoy!

One of the keys to great tuna salad is refrigerating the can of tuna ahead of time. Warm canned tuna is just... *shudders* Let's just not go there.

In-A-Pinch Breadcrumbs

Breadcrumbs are one of those things that are great to have on hand in the pantry because they don't really go bad very quickly. But sometimes you just don't have them or you need a little more than what you've got left in the bag.

Never fear! Breadcrumbs are easy to substitute and a lot of fun to experiment with. Here are some options for you:

1. Use stuffing mix. Yes, I'm talking Stove Top or even your average generic brand of stuffing mix. I actually prefer using these to "regular" breadcrumbs because they're already seasoned. Just pop the dry mix into the food processor* and whirl away until you have what you need.

2. Make them homemade! Yes, you can make homemade breadcrumbs in no time whatsoever. Take several slices of whatever sandwich bread you have on hand and process into crumbs. Toast them on a cookie sheet in the oven at 400 degrees or in a dry pan on the stove.

I've never tried toasting the bread first and THEN processing it, and I bet it would work, but I'm guessing it would take longer. My toaster oven can only handle three slices of bread at a maximum. But of course, if you had leftover toast for some reason or other leftover bread, those would work perfectly.

3. Mix and match your dry pantry goods. Crackers are a staple that should always be kept in your pantry for all your cooking, baking, and snacking needs. Dump a sleeve of them into the food processor and add some extra flavor with potato chips, sliced almonds (the flavored ones for salads are great for this), sunflower seeds, or whatever you have that's dry and sounds like a good flavor match for what you're using the breadcrumbs for.



I used Townhouse crackers and ranch-flavored sliced almonds for the breadcrumbs in Kate's Toasted Ravioli.

* No food processor? No problem! Get yourself a large baggie and crack away at it with a rolling pin, a rock, your fist, or I suppose you could use a sturdy coffee mug.

The Fooblog is back! (with Hot Dogs)

I have been doing Project 365 which is a challenge to take one picture a day for one year, and I've been chronicling my efforts on my Project 365 blog. I've noticed that I take a hefty number of images that feature food in some way or another.



So since I've got my camera out already, I'm going to go ahead and bring this blog back after it's lain dormant for nearly four years. After all, I love cooking (and eating), so I might as well share that with the world. Again.

One of my passions is experimenting with food. I'm not a picky eater, and ever since I had the peanut butter and mayo sandwich my friend Ed recommended, I rarely knock a strange concoction until I've tried it. I would ask you to do the same with some of the strange things I might post. ;o)

That said, I do believe I'll start us off with something truly interesting. Follows is a step-by-step recipe for a grilled cheese that just about any kid is going to love. My daughter is one of the pickiest eaters I know, and she ate the entire sandwich with zero reminders to focus on her plate.
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Dogged Grilled Cheese

Split one hot dog per sandwich into thirds vertically. Grill the slices on both sides.



Butter one side of each slice of bread, two per sandwich of course.



Add some slices of cheese to the unbuttered side of half the bread slices. Velveeta works excellently.




Place the grilled hot dog slices on the cheese.



Top the sandwiches with their other halves and grill as you normally would for grilled cheese. Careful when you flip!



Serve just slightly cooled down because that cheese can get hot and cooling helps the goo congeal. Doesn't it sound delicious already? Congealed goo...mmm...



We served ours with vegetable alphabet soup, and both my kids ate every last bit. I was truly amazed.

Trailhead Cookies

In order to get ready for the coming couple weeks, I did some prep-cooking yesterday. I like to make batches of cookie dough and put them in the freezer for later use - cookies anytime! Also, I needed to get some bread dough made for buns and pizza that are on the menu next week.

Here's a fun peanut butter cookie recipe that I modified in order to use up some Trail Mix we had. I'd imagine it would be great for taking with you on hikes as well because it has a lot of protein in it. The original recipe is from my old Betty Crocker cookbook.

1/2 c. granulated sugar
1/2 c. packed brown sugar
1/2 c. shortening
1/2 c. peanut butter (either crunchy or smooth - whatever you have)
1 egg
4 Tbsp. milk

Mix all these ingredients until smooth. Then add:

1-1/4 c. all-purpose white or wheat flour
3/4 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. salt

Mix again until thoroughly combined.

Next, take 1 to 2 cups of any kind of trail mix you have and drop it in a food processor. Add enough chocolate chips and/or yogurt chips to make it worth your time eating these cookies. (You know how much you like. ;o) Process on high until coarsely chopped. Add to your dough. Mix again until combined.

Scoop out balls of dough and flatten just slightly. If you're going to freeze these balls, be sure you do flatten them or they won't spread when you bake them later.

Oven info: 375 degrees for 10 minutes on a sprayed cookie sheet.

Remember, when it comes to cookies, take them out before they "look" done. When they look done in the oven, it's too late - they're gonna burn!