New Recipe - White Bean and Tuna Panzanella

I made this earlier in the week so I wanted to post a recipe. This is truly one of my favorites to make in the beginning of the week and just eat all week at work for lunch. It has a lot of protein so it really sticks with you through the afternoon.

This picture isn't that great... You can also check out the recipe and a better pic at Real Simple, which is where I got this recipe.

Ingredients
1/2 baguette or a couple Portuguese rolls
4 T Olive oil
1 19-oz can cannellini (white kidney) beans (Italian brands like Cento will have the 19 oz size, or sometimes I just get two 15 oz. cans and make it extra bean-y - more protein and fiber)
3-4 whole pickles or several slices (I like pickles so I always add more), chopped
1 small red onion, chopped (If you really want to cheat, get them off the salad bar).
2 T red wine vinegar
salt and pepper
2 6 oz. cans tuna

1. Break the baguette or rolls into pieces and toss with 1 T of the oil. Toast under the broiler 3-4 minutes. (If I am making this for my lunch during the week, I will do one serving in the morning before work each day. Otherwise, the bread gets kind of stale and chewy.)

2. Mix the beans, chopped pickles, onion, and tuna together in the bowl. Add the remaining 3 T of oil, and the vinegar and salt and pepper.

3. Serve the mixture over the toasted bread (that's what makes it a panzanella).

I have also just eaten this over lettuce and it was also delicious. Also, the longer this sits the better it tastes, I think.

Real Simple says to just serve the tuna on top of the rest of the mixture, but I think the tuna soaking in with the pickles and vinegar makes it amazing.

I thought this recipe looked a little weird when I first made it, but I highly highly recommend it!

New Cookbooks!

I am in The Good Cook book club and I just got two new books in the mail. (If you are looking to buy a bunch of new cookbooks, I recommend joining. They have great deals.)

The first I got is The Master Your Metabolism Cookbook by Jillian Michaels. It is great so far. She has all kinds of information about different foods that help and hurt different hormones. I think I will be posting a lot more information as I read this book more. And she has a recipe for ketchup which I am totally making soon, plus some other really delicious stuff. Plus she is my hero - I think she is gorgeous and I want her to kick my ass on Biggest Loser one day until I look like her.

The second I got is Back To Basic - Traditional Kitchen Wisdom.This book is very cool. It has every bit of information you need to create simple, sustainable food. It starts with tips for starting a garden, even if you don't really have a yard, and gets into how to store the food, how to compost, and then canning, preserving, drying, pickling, making jellies, etc. It even has a part on making flavored liquors, cheese, wine and beer, sodas, and how to raise your own chickens! It definitely looks pretty neat!

Also exciting - Dave's aunt is getting rid of her cookbooks, and apparently her collection includes some of his grandmother's cookbooks. I guess she can't find anyone who wants them, so she is boxing them up for me! Sounds like I might be doubling or tripling my collection soon!

Daily Food - 5/21

Breakfast: I promise tomorrow's breakfast will be more interesting! Steel cut oats with brown sugar and walnuts and apricots. I also decided to make an iced coffee drink since it was so warm today, so I took some ice, leftover coffee, almond syrup, chocolate syrup, milk, and a little stevia and mixed it all together. mmmm
Lunch: Yes, miracle of miracles, there is actually a picture. Leftover sausage, peppers, and onions from last night, with a banana and PB.


Snack: Had a hefty snack today because we were planning for a late dinner. Stopped at Tropical Smoothie and got a yummy Chicken Cordon Bleu and a Strawberry Lemonade smoothie.

Dinner: Burgers! mmm! Dave mixes up the best combination. We had a little Farmer's cheese and some bacon on these.

We also had potato wedges and mushrooms on the grill. Oh, and Dave cooked up some garlic on the grill and it makes a nice paste if you mash it up, and I spread it on my bun. I already had some may, but next time I think I could forgo the mayo and just have that as my condiment. Also, see all that ketchup on my plate? Evil red HFCS. I have plans to make my own, but I am going to get myself a food processor first.

The Good: This might be one of my BEST days since I started this. The meat and veg for dinner and lunch were great, breakfast was great.

The Bad: Besides a few little things, like the chocolate syrup in the coffee, the roll and ketchup at dinner, the PB at lunch, I pretty much went all natural.

Daily Food - 5/20

Breakfast: Steel cut oats and raisins, brown sugar, and nuts. Also some coffee. I told you I get on breakfast kicks. lol.

Lunch: My tuna panzanella stuff again but I had it over lettuce instead of over the bread today. Also a banana with PB.

Snack: Later I had a another piece of the whatever someone left in the planning room that is so good. I wish they would get rid of that stuff. I had some chips and salsa when I got home, and then a piece of foccaccia, and a yummy iced coffee drink that I made.


Dinner: So yummy Italian sausage with onion and peppers and garlic on the grill, and also some corn on the cob. It was actually pretty good - I wasn't sure how it would be since it is kind of early. But I enjoyed it. I ate three ears anyway.


Dessert: Sliced up some of my strawberries and mixed them with some melted white chocolate. This was sooo good.

The Good: My meals were great. Even replacing the bread with the tuna stuff and fruit for dessert made everything even better. And I am not a big fruit eater so that was a big deal for me to eat fruit instead of ice cream!

The Bad: My snacks. Keep in mind I eat lunch at 10, and we don't eat dinner until 6-7, so I definitely need some snacks when I get home, but I need to plan them out instead of just picking at junk. I am pretty sure I said that before.

Daily Food - 5/19

Breakfast: Steel cut oats with apricots and pecans and brown sugar. Also had a little raisin bread with the homemade butter from the farmer's market. Oh and then I got to work and had a piece of some pumpkin bread cake thing someone made. lol. I don't know what it was but it was good.

This is my breakfast buddy. He has his own chair. He likes to sit at the table with us when we eat.

Lunch: Had leftover foccaccia and pasta with turkey from last night. mmm.

Snack: Had another slice of the pumpkiny bread stuff at school, then had a piece of foccaccia when I got home.






Dinner: We went out to Prudhomme's Cajun in Columbia. Started with some rolls and a half bucket of crawdads. Then I had a yummy salad with Bayou Ranch Dressing, and Shrimp Sunny, which is a bed of crab meat with a piece of blackened cat fish on it, all covered in crayfish etoufee and topped with breaded shrimp. Yes, it is as awesome as it sounds.


Dessert: mmm Strawberry ice cream, along with a few actual strawberries from the farmer's market.

The Good: Breakfast, lunch, and dinner were not bad. It was all the extras in between.

The Bad: A lot of carbs for lunch. I felt the food coma later in the day. And I could have done without the raisin bread for breakfast. Should have skipped the rolls at dinner. Did not need two pieces of whatever my co-workers left in the planning room.

Daily Food - 5/18

Breakfast: Steel cut oats with nuts, raisins, and a little brown sugar. Also some coffee and a small cup of juice.

Lunch: Leftover Chinese from last night and a banana.

Snack: Fries at the farmer's market.


Dinner: This was delicious - Turkey breast cooked in tomatoes, mushrooms, and onions, in the crockpot, all shredded up and served over homemade pasta (not made by me - that was from the Farmer's market last week). We also had the foccaccia bread from the farmer's market and that was probably one of the best things I ever put in my mouth. Holy Cow. It was too good because I had three pieces. Also had a simple salad of fresh lettuce and radishes. I don't eat very many vegetables raw, so I don't do a ton of salad, but I do LOVE radishes and fresh leaf lettuce. Also had a glass of wine.

Dessert: Haven't actually eaten this yet, but I plan on splitting this with Dave. Pumpkin Whoopie Pie.

The Good: I think most of the day was pretty good! Love that we planned for dinner and made something in the crockpot. Even though the whoopie pie isn't great, I got one to split instead of two, or a whole box.

The Bad: Chinese food isn't great but I knew that yesterday. Also I could have done without the fries.

Tuesday - Farmer's Market Loot!

I am really excited about this week. Lots of good stuff. And I made a key for my picture. haha.

1. Chicken legs
2. Cauliflower
3. Yes, that is CORN ON THE COB!!!
4. Ground Beef
5. Frosted Raisin Bread (It's a small one!)
6. 2 types of lettuce - Leaf and Boston
7. Pork Chops and Italian Sausage under there.
8. A Pumpkin Whoopie Pie
9. Radishes
10. Strawberries - (side note - I know a lot of people love strawberries, but this is the only time of the year I will eat them. I think greenhouse strawberries picked to early and trucked across the country taste gross. These are what strawberries should taste like!)
11. Turkey and Farmer's Cheese
12. Focaccia. I will talk about this later OHHH MYYYYY
13. Mushrooms
14. Farm Fresh Brown Eggs
15. Green peppers
16. Zucchini
17. Broccoli
18. Asparagus
19. Bacon
20. Eggplant
21. Sirloin Steak

All that for less than $75. And I really don't think we need to go to the store this week.