Tuna is Yummy

Guess what! Tonight is Mr. J.'s work Christmas party so we get to go out without the Little Goat! No, no, we're not leaving her home alone. She's going over to her babysitter's house to be greatly amused and entertained by three of her favourite girls and one of her favourite boys and hopefully (!) not be too cranky by the time we get back there to pick her up.

I've decided it's time to post some recipes because it seems like it's been a while. Since Christmas is coming and we've all got lots of other things to do, I thought I would pass along three pretty simple recipes that are fancy without being overly irksome. I'm going to put them in three separate posts for the sake of ease.

You may recall that on Mr. J.'s birthday we ate 'fancy' crab cakes from the 'fancy' seafood department at a local grocery store. They were decidedly LESS than stellar (no thanks to YOU, Hannaford Inspirations!). A little over a year ago, I was watching some Paula Dean 'holiday' special and she was showing how to make "crab" cakes on a budget. The secret ingredient? Canned tuna. Well the first time I made them for Mr. J., he said he really couldn't tell the difference.So, because the ingredients are cheap and they taste superb (and because the LG loves them) we make them at least every few weeks. We don't use Paula Dean's recipe anymore becuase I found one we like better that includes more veggies. Here's a link and I encourage you to try them. We sometimes add some finely diced celery; we use Albacore tuna because the Wal...mart brand is cheap; and we usually bake them (with a slight broil at the end for crispiness) instead of frying them, but you do what you like.

If you don't have any tartar sauce to eat with them, you can try making your own by mixing some Miracle Whip (we use 'light') with a couple tablespoons of dill relish (or chopped up dill pickles) and some dried dill. Just make sure you let it sit for as long as possible so the flavours meld.

These are great with salad or a fresh veggie tray on the side!