White Bean and Tuna Salad

This salad is so yummy! It's also healthy and cheap, so if you're looking for something to make that's yummy, healthy, AND cheap, this recipe is great! It's another recipe from Mel's Kitchen Cafe. I love that site!


Ingredients:
1/2 cup chopped red onions
The zest and juice of 1 lemon
2 (5 or 6-ounce each) cans of tuna
2 (15-ounce each) cans of Great Northern beans, rinsed and drained
1/2 cup chopped fresh flat leaf parsley
A few splashes of Tabasco sauce or other hot sauce
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
Salt and olive oil to taste

Directions:
In a small bowl, sprinkle some of the lemon juice over the chopped onions while you prepare the other ingredients. This will take some of the oniony edge off the onions.

Drain the tuna and put it into a large bowl. Add the beans to the tuna and gently stir to combine. Add the onions, parsley, black pepper, lemon zest and lemon juice and mix to combine. Add Tabasco or hot sauce to taste. If the salad needs more acid, add a little more lemon juice. If the salad seems a little dry, add a little bit of olive oil. Add salt to taste.

Serve chilled or at room temperature. The salad develops great flavor if tightly covered and refrigerated for a couple hours, or up to a day, before serving. Serve with crackers, lightly toasted bread, lettuce cups/leaves, fresh vegetables, etc.


Here's the thing--I had to modify the recipe just a bit. We didn't have any Tabasco or hot sauce, so we didn't use any of that. I'm sure it would taste better with it though. We had all the other ingredients which is why I decided to try it, but of course some of the ingredients were of a different form. We used minced onion instead of fresh onion. It would probably taste a lot better with fresh onion! Also, 1/2 a cup of parsley seems like a lot! I just used 1/4 cup. We didn't have fresh parsley, just a little jar of freeze-dried parsley which says it's as close to fresh as you can get. :) So I used 1/4 cup of that and it still seemed like a lot. I also just used lemon juice from a bottle instead of the zest and juice of a lemon. It's all that we had. So that's how I made mine! It was still really good, and I agree that it does taste better after it sits for a while. :) It's delicious with bread, and I'm sure it would taste really good with lettuce!

And here is a commercial on tuna, for your entertainment:

Cucumber & Tomato Salad

We have been getting lots of cucumbers and tomatoes from our garden, so I found this recipe on allrecipes.com. I decided to try it since we had all the ingredients (just four ingredients plus salt and pepper). It's delicious and so refreshing!


Ingredients:
1 large cucumber, peeled and sliced
2 ripe fresh tomatoes, chopped
2 Tbsp. balsamic vinegar
2 Tbsp. olive oil
salt and pepper to taste

Directions:
Place cucumber and tomatoes in a bowl. Pour in olive oil and balsamic vinegar. Season with salt and pepper. Toss gently to coat. Refrigerate until ready to serve.

Low Fat Egg Salad

I have been searching for easy, low-fat recipes that I can make.  This one was simple, and it tasted good.  I really love egg salad, especially on sandwiches, so I was excited to try this recipe.  We ran out of sandwich bread, so I put the egg salad on a toasted hot dog bun. :-)

Ingredients:

4 hard boiled eggs, peeled

4 tsp light mayonnaise (or fat-free!)

1/2 tsp dijon mustard

2 Tbsp chopped green scallions or chives

salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

Boil four eggs.  {Check out these easy, step-by-step directions!}  Separate the yolks from the egg whites and discard three of the yolks.  Finely chop eggs.  In a small-medium bowl, mix mayonnaise, mustard, scallions, salt, and pepper.  Add eggs to the mayo mixture.  Serve on your favorite healthy bread.

Variations:

You can add a sliced tomato and/or lettuce to your sandwich.  I did not have scallions or chives, so I added a sprinkle of onion powder. 

I got the recipe from Gina's Skinny Recipes. 

Spinach Strawberry Salad with Dressing

I've been trying to eat more fruit and veggies in my diet, so when I saw this salad, I thought it would be good to make! I've always loved green salads like this that have fruit in them, whether it be strawberries, grapes, cranberries, or whatever! I've been wanting to make a veggie-fruit salad, so I had to try this recipe! I found the recipe here. I made this for a family get-together with my family and they all loved it! The whole bowl was pretty much all gone by the time we were finished with dinner. This salad is so good that everyone got seconds. :)


Ingredients:
Spinach (torn into bite sized pieces)
Strawberries (sliced)
Feta Cheese
Sugar Slivered (or Sliced) Almonds**
The perfect dressing**

** = recipes down below


Sugar Slivered/Sliced Almonds:
Heat a frying pan. Add about 3/4 cup almonds and toast them. You don't need to add any oil since almonds have their own oil. Stir every 10-15 seconds so they don't burn. Once they start to toast, they will toast very quickly, so keep watching them! Once toasted, add sugar mixture:

1/2 cup sugar
1/8 tsp. of nutmeg
1 tsp. cinnamon
pinch of salt

(Have the sugar mixture ready to go before you start toasting the almonds.)

Stir. And stir, and stir, and stir some more! (Go here to see pictures of what the almonds should look like.) Pour mixture on wax paper and spread it out. Let it cool. Break into little pieces and sprinkle on the salad.


Dressing:
1 Tbsp. poppy seeds
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup olive oil
1/4 cup Balsamic vinegar
1/4 tsp paprika
1/4 tsp. Worcestershire sauce
1 Tbsp. minced red onion

Add all ingredients into a blender and blend. The dressing will be thick, so it's best to use a spoon to drizzle it onto your salad rather than pouring it on.


I highly recommend this salad to anyone! It's a nice touch to any meal. :) Plus you add lots of fruit! Along with the strawberries, you can also add mandarin oranges (pictured above), dried cranberries, or any other fruit you like! I'm sure pineapple would taste good with it. :) ENJOY!!!