Mayo-free Tuna Salad (with avocado)

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Everyone in my house loves tuna. Tuna is cheap and easy. But, mayo is gross. Actually, I love the taste of "real" mayonnaise, but there is nothing real about the (yummy) gloopy white stuff that comes in the convenient little jars at the grocery store. I think doing away with store-bought mayo may have been one of the hardest real food conversions for me. Homemade mayo is delicious, but the eggs make me worry about sending it in Little Bear's lunch. My solution has been to make tuna salad with olive oil and a bit of vinegar (plus the typical tuna salad accoutrements). It's ok. But, not great. 

How to make it great... Let's try avocado! {spoiler alert, it was amazing!}

Scoop one avocado into a bowl.

Add a few tablespoons of unrefined olive oil, a good squeeze of lemon or lime, and whatever spices and mix-ins you like in your tuna (today I just did salt, pepper, garlic powder and dill).

Smoosh it all together, making the mixture as smooth as possible.

Add tuna and mix with the avocado mixture while flaking the tuna.

Eat.

Yum!

I measured, but tuna is so dependent on the brand, draining, and type that you'll probably have to play with the proportions to make it just perfect. As a starting point, 1 avocado + 2 tablespoons oil should be good for 2-ish cans of tuna or 4 of the single-serve packets.

Scalloped Potatoes

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As soon as I got my Xtrema skillet, I was inspired to recipe-ize a new stove-to-oven recipe.  I whipped up one of my very favorites:  Scalloped Potatoes!  I'm thinking that this one will make it onto my permanent Thanksgiving recipe list :)

Ingredients

• 5 slices of uncured (nitrite/nitrate free) bacon, chopped
• 2 cups chopped onions
• 2 pounds potatoes (organic really matters here!)
• 2 tablespoons butter
• 2 tablespoons unrefined olive oil
• 1/4 cup whole wheat pastry flour (or white flour)
• 1 cup white wine (anything that's not sweet)
• 2 cups whole milk
• 1 cup grated cheese
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon white pepper
• 1/2 teaspoon ground mustard

Directions

Slice the potatoes very thinly on a mandoline slicer.  Set aside.  I used a combination of Yukon Golds and Russets and thought the Russets ended up with a much nicer taste and texture!

Cook the bacon over medium heat in a large skillet (LOVE my Xtrema for this!) until slightly crispy.  Remove the pieces of bacon and save for later.

Add the onions and sautee over medium heat in the bacon fat until soft and slightly browned.  Add the onions to the bacon pieces.

Add the butter and olive oil to the remaining bacon fat.  Whisk in the flour and cook (while still whisking) for about 30 seconds.

Whisk in the wine and then the milk.  Add the salt, white pepper, and ground mustard.  Cook for a few minutes, until slightly thickened.  The mixture may look a little curdled, but it'll come back together - don't worry!

Lower the heat to medium-low, and add the grated cheese slowly.  Stir in the reserved bacon and onions.

Add the potatoes into the sauce, being careful to separate each slice as it's added.

Poke the potatoes down into the sauce to make sure that they're all covered.

Put your pan directly in the oven (make sure you're using an oven save pan).  Bake at 375 for about 20 or 30 minutes, until sides are bubbly and the top is browned.

Let the pan cool for about 10 minutes before digging in!

Real Cornbread

I grabbed this recipe from 100 Days of Real Food, but made a few changes.  Husband and my momma said it was amazing and couldn't believe that it was whole grain!

Ingredients

• 2/3 cup whole wheat flour
• 1/2 whole grain corn meal (organic, or it's almost guaranteed to be a GMO)
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon sea salt
• 4 tablespoons butter
• 1 tablespoon whole wheat flour
• 1 cup frozen corn (same GMO issue)
• 1 small onion, diced
• 1/2 cup half and half
• 2 tablespoons honey
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 cup sour cream
• 3/4 cup grated cheddar cheese (freshly grated, because the powder they put on the bagged stuff is terrible!)

Directions

1.  Combine flour, corn meal, baking powder and salt in a large bowl.
2.  In a small skillet over medium heat, melt the butter.  Whisk in 1 tablespoon flour, and keep whisking until the flour is browned and smells nutty. 
3.  Add the corn and onions.  Let the corn thaw for a few minutes.  Add half and half.  Whisk until the mixture thickens (just a couple of minutes).
4.  Mix in honey and remove from the heat.
5.  Add corn mixture, eggs, sour cream and cheese to the flour mixture.  Mix well, but just until combined (avoid over-mixing or your cornbread will be tough).
6.  Pour batter into a square or round glass dish. 

7.  Bake at 350 degrees for 20 - 25 minutes.  Test doneness with a toothpick.