Food & Recipes — Page 22

It’s been a gloomy, rainy day, and I’m feeling under the weather. I decided to stay home today to get some rest, and what perfect timing since classes are suspended and the kiddo stayed in too. Days like today, most people look for a hot bowl of soup, arroz caldo or champorado. I, on the other hand, not being much of a soup lover myself, turned to my ever so reliable childhood comfort food to fill my belly on this chilly afternoon – an openface tuna melt sandwich. This has been my go-to quick snack fix ever since my mom introduced it to me when I was maybe 8 or 9 years old. It’s really quick and easy to make, especially in households like ours where homemade tuna spread is always available on hand in the refrigerator.

TUNA SPREAD

1 can tuna flakes in water

1/4 cup mayonnaise (you may adjust depending on how wet or dry you want your spread to be)

1 tbsp sweet pickle relish

salt and pepper to taste

chili flakes or hot sauce (optional)

TUNA MELT SANDWICH

1 slice bread

1 slice cheese

2 tbsp homemade tuna spread

1. Make the tuna spread. Drain all the water from the tuna, dump it in a bowl together with the rest of the ingredients and mix until everything is smooth and spreadable.

2. Spread some tuna onto the bread and layer cheese on top. Place in an oven toaster until the cheese is melted.

3. Enjoy!

I prefer to use Gardenia bread for this since the slices are large and thick. I also like to use white bread which may not be the most healthy option, but tastes best when toasted, in my opinion. You can use whatever cheese you’ve got in your fridge. Most of the time I just use quick melt, but today I found a nice slice of Dutch Edam left over from my trip to Santi’s last weekend, and that gave my snack the extra umph I needed today.

Simple joys. Happy tummy.

I discovered this banana bread recipe in a library book a few years ago, and I liked it so much that I even made a few loaves and gave them as presents one Christmas. I make mine without the walnuts coz my brother doesn’t like them. I made a batch again today after over a year of not baking, and I’m glad that they turned out just as good as they did before.

Thought I’d share the recipe with everyone, and digitally archive it as well in case I lose my precious recipe notebook. Do let me know how it turns out in case any of you try to make this yourselves.

BEST BANANA BREAD

2 1/2 cups all purpose flour

1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

3/4 cup salted butter, softened

1 1/2 cups light brown sugar, packed

2 large eggs

3 cups ripe bananas (about 7 medium), mashed

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

1 cup (4 ounces) chopped walnuts (optional)

Preheat oven to 325°F. Grease two 9×5″ loaf pans.
In a medium bowl, combine flour, soda and salt with a wire whisk; set aside.
In a large bowl, cream butter and sugar with an electric mixer. Add eggs, bananas and vanilla, and beat at medium speed until thick. Scrape down sides of bowl.
Add the flour mixture & walnuts, then blend at low speed until just combined. Do not overmix.
Pour batter into prepared pans. Bake on center rack of oven for 60-70 minutes. A toothpick inserted in center should come out clean, and the bread should pull away from the sides.
Cool in pan for 10 minutes. Turn pans on sides; cool to room temperature before removing and slicing.

Enjoy! Our household certainly did.

Recipe: Openface Tuna Melt Sandwich

Recipe: Best Banana Bread