This will be a short entry, as I have a migraine and need to get my head/shaky hands taken care of before I can grade (hopefully soon!) But I wanted to type this up while my tuna melt eating experience was fresh.

I don’t particularly like tuna. I can’t really pinpoint my canned tuna eating experiences. I’ve wanted to like it for a long time, but it never seems to work out. Last year, a “tuna helper” fettuccini alfredo mix was so fishy and funky that it made me sick. But I had a coupon for a can of the Starkist Autentico series, and I decided that I would eat tuna this week. I picked out the “Chunk Light Tuna in Oil and Vegetables”, thinking it seemed pretty safe and neutral, then Emily posted this entry over at The Sexy Divorcee Cooks For One. It was magically perfect timing! I followed Emily’s cooking instructions exactly, so I won’t copy those again here.

Though it says the tuna can has three servings, I felt like I needed to use half the can to cover the sandwich. Because the tuna was already oily and vegetabley, I didn’t feel like I needed to add much mayo (Smart Balance) and mustard (Dijon). I went pretty light on both, actually. The mixture didn’t become overly white with mayonnaise overload (like my first salmon salad I made on Monday) and stayed pretty pink. I used Smart Balance butter to coat the pan. I used sharp cheddar cheese on honey wheat bread. It took about 20 minutes to make.

I thought that the tuna melt would be….well, meltier, but the cheese seems to lock everything together so the sandwich doesn’t explode while eating it. I kept a fork on hand to scoop up two bites which squirted out the side. The tuna flavor was much more mild than any of the other times I’ve tried eating it. I don’t know if this is because of the bread, cheese, vegetables or something about the Autentico sub-brand compared to regular StarKist I’ve tried.

This seems like a pretty cost-efficient meal, especially with the built in vegetables. Since I saved the other half in the fridge, I’ll get a second tuna melt out of it to eat for lunch tomorrow or Friday!