Healthy eating: Open Face Wild Albacore Lemony Tuna Melt

Fitness eating, or perhaps better said "eating for fitness", is tough. At least for me, it's easy to stay reasonably active. But eating healthy? I've got years (make that decades) of habits to break when it comes to what I eat.

One of my fitness goals for 2010 was to begin to think of my diet as part of my overall fitness plan.  As we head into 2011, I'm looking for real foods that I can cook in a way that are satisfying meals.  My friend Steffi turned me on to a recipe for beans and sweet potato stew a few months back and it's a diet staple.  I'm on the hunt for more.

Over at San Jose Fitness Examiner, I did a review of Wild Planet tuna (New tests raise alerts about mercury in tuna; Wild Planet foods offer solutions).  The northern California company sells an albacore tuna with half the mercury, six times the Omega 3 and is  a Monterey Bay Aquarium Seafood Watch "Best Choice."  

I asked the team at Wild Planet for some ideas on dishes I could make with the tuna - and they suggested the following tuna melt served on whole grain bread.  Sounds pretty good to me, though I haven't tried it yet.  See what you think:


Makes 2 Sandwiches

Ingredients

1 can (5oz) Wild Planet Wild Albacore Tuna, undrained
2 Tbsp lemon juice
1-2 Tbsp mayonnaise
2 Tbsp finely chopped red onion
2 tsp chopped parsley
Pinch of red pepper flakes
Sea salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste
4 slices Monterey Jack or provolone cheese
4 slices vine ripened tomato
2 thick slices ciabatta or other hearty bread, lightly toasted

Instructions

Preheat broiler. Place Wild Planet Wild Albacore Tuna and juices from the can into a medium bowl. Flake with a fork. Add lemon juice, mayonnaise, red onion, parsley, red pepper flakes, sea salt and pepper to taste. Mix until well combined. Mound tuna mixture onto two slices of ciabatta bread, top each with two slices of cheese. Place on a sheet pan and broil about four inches from heat until cheese melts, taking care to prevent cheese from burning. Top with tomatoes and serve.