Zero Cook Time Dinner

Lately I’ve been really excited about trying new foods and new recipes.  We sure love our steak and potatoes or some salmon and veggies, but it doesn’t hurt to throw in some less expensive meals in the mix too.  With our old easy choice of pasta dishes off limits, I’m always on the lookout for new, cheaper meals that are also filling.

I’m not always a huge fan of tuna, but we really liked this one from Taste of Home.  It was quick, easy, and… no cooking.  It’s perfect for summertime when you don’t feel like sitting down to a hot meal.  It was very filling and made for yummy leftovers too.

Mediterranean Tuna Salad

Tuna salad

Serves: 4
Preparation time: 25 minutes

Ingredients:
1 15- to 19-ounce can beans, chickpeas, black-eyed peas or kidney beans, rinsed
2 5- to 6-ounce cans water-packed chunk light tuna, drained and flaked
1 large red bell pepper, finely diced
1/2 cup finely chopped red onion
1/2 cup chopped fresh parsley, divided
4 teaspoons capers, rinsed
1-1/2 teaspoons finely chopped fresh rosemary
1/2 cup lemon juice, divided
4 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, divided
Freshly ground pepper, to taste
1/4 teaspoon salt
8 cups mixed salad greens

Preparation:
Combine beans, tuna, bell pepper, onion, parsley, capers, rosemary, 1/4 cup lemon juice and 2 tablespoons oil in a medium bowl. Season with pepper. Combine remaining 1/4 cup lemon juice, 2 tablespoons oil and salt in a large bowl. Add salad greens; toss to coat. Divide greens among 4 plates. Top each with tuna salad.

My changes:
I picked kidney beans, mostly because they were most colorful in contrast to the tuna.  I skipped the capers, I looked for them at the store but I didn’t know what they were or where to find them.  I also added celery, since I had it out for another recipe I was making and it’s fun to use the chopper.  Instead of using the tuna salad on top of salad, we used our new favorite idea of using lettuce wraps.  We rolled the tuna salad inside iceberg lettuce leaves and ate them like a sandwich wrap.

Celery

Try it out, I think you’ll like this one!

For the Love of Potatoes

I think that a baked potato is one of the best foods ever! I can’t believe my parents never made baked potatoes when I was a kid.

Just kidding.

They made them all the time. I was never a very big fan though. Until last week, I had never cooked myself my a baked potato… and I have no idea why not! I would always buy the packaged mashed potatoes because they were quick and easy. But what is easier than just sticking a potato in the oven?

Tonight Jesse grilled steaks for dinner. I was a little silly and heated the oven just for my potato. And it was so worth it. What a great and yummy food!

Lonely potato

I thoroughly enjoyed our dinner… that’s all I have to share tonight. 🙂

Steak and potato

Bean and Pineapple Soft Tacos

I made these tacos for dinner the other night.  The recipe was very tasty and easily adapted to into a non-allergy version.  Here is the Taste of Home recipe before my changes:

10 servingsTacos
Prep/Total time: 30 minutes

Ingredients:

1 can (15 ounces) black beans, rinsed and drained
1 large onion, chopped
1 medium sweet red pepper, chopped
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 can (20 ounces) unsweetened pineapple tidbits, drained
1 jar (16 ounces) salsa
1 can (4 ounces) chopped green chilies
1/4 cup minced fresh cilantro
10 whole wheat tortillas (8 inches), warmed
Sliced avocado, shredded lettuce, chopped tomatoes, shredded reduced-fat cheddar cheese and reduced-fat sour cream, optional

Directions:

Mash half of the beans; set aside. In a large skillet, saute onion and red pepper in oil until tender. Add the pineapple, salsa, chilies, mashed beans and remaining beans;
heat through. Stir in cilantro. Place 1/2 cup filling on one side of each tortilla. Add toppings of your choice; fold in half. Serve immediately.

My changes:

I used half red pepper and half green pepper and skipped the green chilies. I substituted plain tomatoes for the salsa. I also added about half a pound of ground beef to make the filling a little thicker. I added just a tad of salt, pepper, and chili powder to taste. And instead of tortillas, we wrapped the filling inside large romaine lettuce leaves. We topped them with a little shredded cheese and gobbled them up.

This made lots of good food for how cheap and easy it was to make. We will be enjoying the leftovers for lunch today, and I will definitely be making these again!