Here it is. The long awaited, much-built-up (yes, I'm making up a phrase) tuna dinners from late August that I've been meaning to write most for weeks. Normally I wouldn't revisit a meal this far out, but honestly I was so psyched most these ii dinners that I tin't help but share them.

As you lot call up, I fabricated a hateful edible bean salad equally function of my no cook calendar week back on August 24th. It was so adept, I made it twice. While I was making the bean salad, I couldn't help but think how practiced information technology would be with a dainty piece of fish. So on Tuesday, August 25th I whipped upward a quick and easy tuna dinner using the leftover bean salad and it was a consummate success.

This was also a super easy meal considering I did nearly of the prep beforehand: That morning, I threw two tuna steaks that Steph had picked up at Trader Joe's in the fridge to thaw, I boiled a cup of quinoa in 2 cups of h2o and threw it in the fridge to arctic, and I had the bean salad that I was using as a topping left over from my no cook weekend.

I withal haven't mastered the technique of a medium rare tuna, so to keep things easy I  put the two tuna steaks in the oven at 300 degrees to heat slowly all the manner through. Once the fatty had risen to the skin of the tuna and it was cooked all the style through I pulled it out, topped it with the cold bean salad and fabricated side salads out of the local grown green lettuce, yoga sprouts, slivered almonds, and quinoa with my signature healthy salad dressing of canola oil, table salt, and pepper.

Aug 25 - tuna and beans

It was a delicious easy meal and one more than win for the bean salad, which I plan to brand much more of side by side summer (and maybe a warm version this winter likewise).

The Trader Joe's tuna steaks had made more enough for 2 dinners and two lunches the next twenty-four hours, which inspired me to try a dish I'd never attempted before with the extra: Nicoise salad. I'm no French chef. And later seeing Julie & Julia this weekend (super beautiful, wish information technology was longer), I'm pretty sure I won't be anytime shortly. Merely Nicoise salad looked like something firmly within my skill set, so I decided to requite it a whirl – to slap-up results, if I don't say then myself ;). I had so much fun making this dinner.

My version wasn't *quite* an accurate Nicoise salad, but information technology got the job washed on my schedule and within my budget, and tasted fabulous all the aforementioned. I started by boiling 5 eggs the night before to get a leg up on the work for the next 24-hour interval. And then I picked up 10 pocket-size xanthous potatoes and a couple handfuls of fresh green beans from the Food Coop on my way domicile from work and threw each in pots of boiling water until they were overnice and soft – and so I set them aside to chill . From there I quartered 2 large organic beefsteak tomatoes and filled a large salad bar with Foxy Organics romaine lettuce to serve as the base of my salad. Once all of the parts had been prepared, I assembled the salad – starting with the chilled tuna in the centre followed by the quartered tomatoes and then half of the boiled eggs, potatoes, and dark-green beans on either side.

my first nicoise

For the dressing I whisked together Napa Valley Naturals organic olive oil, salt, pepper, basil, thyme, and mustard seed in a seperate bowl until well blended and drizzled over the entire salad for one delicious and easy dinner.

nicoise oil

nicoise served
The Breakdown (Tuna and Bean Salad)

Where I Got Information technology: Trader Joe's, Flatbush Food Coop

What it Toll:

  • Trader Joe's tuna Steaks about $vii.00 each ten 2 steaks = $xiv.00

The chiliad total: $14.00

What I Already Had:

  • Edible bean salad [prepared for my no melt weekend]
  • Trader Joe's quinoa
  • Trader Joe's slivered almonds
  • The Sproutman organic yoga salad (alfalfa, arugula, red lentil, French lentil, and pea sprouts) $1.99 [also used in my no cook weekend and spaghetti and salad]
  • Foxy Organic Romaine Hearts $3.99 [likewise used in my chicken burger dinner and spaghetti and salad]
  • Hain Canola Oil 32 oz $five.99

How Many it Served: Ii dinners + ii lunches coming out to roughly $3.50 a meal since the bulk of it was leftovers from previous dinners that week. Non a bad way to squeeze a tuna steak into the bill of fare at an affordable charge per unit.

What's Left Over: Trader Joe's tuna steaks are large enough to make iii meals each, leaving me plenty tuna to make the Nicoise salad the next night. This was the final of the bean salad, which had a good run leading upward to this. The quinoa and yoga sprouts also lasted the rest of the week in diverse combinations (see Detox Nutrition in Action for another glimpose of this quinoa batch). And the Foxy Organics romaine was besides the base of operations of my salad in my spaghetti dinners later that week. The canola oil is still sitting happily on the shelf.

Why it'southward Salubrious: This meal essentially speaks for itself, offering up a overnice dose of lean protein, omega 3 fatty acids in the tuna, complex carbs with the quinoa and of course a big serving of light-green leafy goodness, essential to your daily diet.

The Breakdown (Nicoise Salad)

Where I Got It: Trader Joe's, Flatbush Food Coop

What it Toll:

  • potatoes $one.79 lb coming out to  $ii.11
  • green beans $2.99 lb to $1.79
  • tomatoes $two.99 lb to $3.56
  • olive oil around $eleven.00

The yard total: $eighteen.46

What I Already Had:

  • Trader Joe's tuna steaks
  • Foxy Organic Romaine Hearts $3.99 [you're getting used to these by at present ;)]

How Many it Served: Two big dinner salads and one leftover luncheon salad coming out to $six.xv per salad (and that adding of form swallows the cost of the olive oil, making it a "free" ingredient for all my future meals).

What'due south Left Over: The Napa Valley Naturals olive oil has been used on every salad since this and still has plenty to go. I ended up just using 6 potatoes in the salad, which left me with four leftovers that I used for luncheon the next twenty-four hours. The balance of the ingredients were used up in the meal and were well worth it. 🙂

Why it's Healthy: The tuna in one case again offers up a nice serving of omega iii fat acids alongside the healty benefits of the tomato (hello lycopene), irish potato (vitamins C and B also every bit potassium and a prissy dose of fiber), the lean protien, amino acids, and and vitamin D of the boiled egg, and the wealth of vitamins and minerals found in dark-green vegetables such as green beans and romaine lettuce.

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Link of the Day: HealthyTuna.com. Go lost exploring this great website all about tuna, including a ton of info on how it's caught, why information technology'southward healthy, and delicious recipes that I'll be trying very soon.

Grateful for: Peaceful morning commutes, a brusk work week to recover from a long weekend, and delicious seafood at affordable prices!

xo,
kim