Grilled Tuna Melt Sandwich

I just got a bunch of tuna fish for free this week using my coupons and so tonight for dinner I made tuna melt sandwiches. I added some extra veggies that I had in my fridge and I think it turned out yummy and super quick. The cabbage especially made it delicious. Now if I could stop smelling tuna fish on my breath and hands...



Grilled Tuna Melt Sandwich
5 oz. tuna fish
1 Tbs. reduced fat mayo
1 medium pickle, diced
1 large carrot, shredded
2 Tbs. green onions
dash of Mrs. Dash garlic and herb
4 slices of bread buttered with 0 trans. fat tub butter
2% shredded cheddar or mozarella cheese
1/2 cup green cabbage, finely shredded

Mix first 6 ingredients together and spread on top of lightly buttered bread. Top each sandwich with 1 Tbs. cheese. Grill both sides in a frying pan until cheese melts and bread gets toasty. Take off one slice of bread, add cabbage and replace bread.

Bluebery Chocolate Cake

I haven't tried this yet, but perhaps someone would like to as it looks good and I found it in a reliable Better Homes and Garden this month.

1 cup whole wheat flour
1 cup sugar
6 T. cocoa powder
3/4 t. baking powder
1/2 t. baking soda
1/4 t. salt
3/4 cup water
1/2 c. fresh or frozen blueberries
1 egg

X
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In bowl combine flour sugar and cocoa powder, baking powder and soda and salt. In a blender combine the water, blueberries and egg. Cover and blend until smooth. Add to flour and whisk until combined. Pour into greased and floured 8 X 8 baking pan.

Bake about 30 minutes until toothpick comes out clean. Invert onto a serving dish and cool completely.

Microwave 1/2 c. semi sweet chocolate pieces about 1 minute and stir until smooth. Pour over the top of the cake. top with fresh or frozen blueberries and a dob of whipped topping.

Whole Wheat Pancakes with Oats

Stephen and I made these last Sunday before church and we LOVED them. I remember eating those oatmeal pancakes at home and not loving them because they were too thin; I don't love thin pancakes. But I thought these were awesome. My recipe adjustments: I didn't have flax meal (whatever that is) so I didn't add it. I did add about, I dunno, I didn't measure, but about 1/2 to 3/4 cup uncooked rolled oats. I really like how the oats make it chewy :) Also I didn't have enough buttermilk so I just used a cup buttermilk and 1/4 cup milk. Oh, and I didn't add cinnamon cuz I didn't feel like it. We topped the pancakes with fresh strawberries and a little whipped cream. They were so good! Stephen doesn't usually like pancakes but he loved these.

Here it is:

Whole Wheat Pancakes

1 egg (or 2 egg whites) lightly beaten
1/8 Cup canola oil
1 ¼ Cup low-fat buttermilk*
1 Cup whole wheat flour
1 Tbs flax meal (you can use flax seeds if more convenient)
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
Dash cinnamon (optional)

Combine flour, flax meal, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon (if using). In a separate bowl, mix eggs with oil and buttermilk. Turn on stove/griddle to medium heat. Now add wet ingredients to dry and mix until combined.

Using a measuring cup, pour 1/4 cup batter onto the pan and cook over medium to medium-high heat.** Brown lightly on both sides, turning once. The pancake will set, poof up a little, and start showing tiny bubbles when it's ready to be flipped. After some practice, you'll "just know" when it's ready.

*If you don't have buttermilk, here's a good substitute: add 1 Tbs vinegar to a liquid measuring cup. Add milk so that the final measurement comes out to 1 ¼ cup. OR, if you don't have vinegar, no worries; just use milk.

Norwegian Whole Wheat Bread

Candice and I went to a Relief Society bread-baking class when I was visiting her in Nashville and this recipe was given to us. This bread is the bomb - best wheat bread recipe I've found for sure. I did make one adjustment to the recipe to make it healthier: I used almost 4 cups whole wheat and only 1 to 2 cups of bread flour (btw, using bread flour instead of all-purpose flour REALLY makes a difference). Oh, and for some reason mine is done in barely 30 minutes, maybe less. Not sure if it's the elevation or my oven or what. But maybe just set the timer for 28 min or so just in case it cooks faster for you too.
Let me know what you think!

Norwegian Whole Wheat Bread

2 packages active dry yeast
2 cups warm water, 105-15 degrees F
1/4 cup light molasses
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup melted shortening or butter
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
2 cups whole wheat flour
3 to 4 cups bread flour or unbleached all-purpose flour
butter to brush hot loaves

In a large bowl, dissolve the yeast in the water. Let stand 5 minutes. Add molasses, sugar, shortening, and salt. Stir in the whole wheat flour. Add bread flour, 1 cup at a time, until dough is stiff. Let rest 15 min. Sprinkle breadboard with additional flour and turn dough out onto the flour. knead it lightly and add dough to the bowl. Turn over to grease top. Cover and let rise in a warm place until doubled. Punch down. Cover and let rise again until doubled. Punch down again and divide dough into 2 parts. Shape each into a round or onlong loaf. Lightly grease two round cake pans or two 9 x 5-inch loaf pans. Place loaves in the pans. Let rise until almost doubled. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Place loaves in the oven and bake 30 to 40 min or until loaves sound hollow when tapped or a wooden skewer inserted in the center comes out clean. Brush tops of loaves with melted butter.

Why the new blog

Candice and I have been regularly exchanging healthy recipes since I visited her about a month ago - we've loved getting new healthy ideas of things that the other has tried and loved, and trying them out ourselves! So we decided we wanted to start sharing and receiving them from all our sisters and family! Whenever you make a successful, healthy recipe, pass it on here on this blog. Hope to hear from you soon!

Oh...just a quick explanation of the blog title. Candice and I were trying to come up with a good title for the blog and Peter came up with Bred to Cook. He thinks all the Fielding girls were bred to cook. Not sure if that's a compliment or insult but I think it's a funny pun so there you have it!