How about an easy dinner, or lunch?

Gosh everynight fixing dinner, balancing a career, family, pets, well you know it all too well, the list goes on and on.  Take a night off, sort of, let's make Tuna Melt Sandwiches.  Here we go...

The Players:

It is okay to use Miracle Whip or a mayonaisse type product, just use whatever you like to use everyday.  Butter for this one, I use salted but again it is your call.

Break up the tuna with a fork especially if you are using solid white tuna in water.

Salt and pepper as desired.  Add Miracle Whip, start out with just a little, you can always add more if needed.  You want just enough to make it moist but do not over-do it, a mushy sandwich will result:

Mix ingredients well, but do not overmix, just enough is the goal.

Start preheating your grill or frying pan at this point.  Butter the slices of bread, I had white bread on hand so I used this but normally we opt for wheat bread:

Best to butter the bread to the edges as close as you can for even browning on the grill. 

Our daughter Jeniece's dog Belle was visiting us while the family vacationed in Texas.  Belle loves it when she is at our home because, well let's just say she does get treated like a "special"  dog, which of course she is.  Here she is watching me from the door of the kitchen and yes, I did make her a sandwich too.  :)

Now you can see how small my kitchen really is.  But we love this cozy home.  Not so much on the lack of counter space.

Assemble the sandwiches, butter side down:

Place sandwiches on lightly buttered pre-heated grill:

It does not take long for the sandwiches to become nice and golden. 

One more sandwich can fit on the grill and that one will be for Belle. 

A couple views of the finished sandwiches. 

Tuna Melt Sandwiches

Ingredients:

1-2 cans tuna, solid white in water preferred but use your favorite

1/2 stick of butter, divided, for buttering bread and grill or pan

salt and pepper to taste

1 slice cheddar cheese for each sandwich  (just about any cheese will do)

2-3 tabs. Miracle Whip (or mayonaisse)

Bread, your choice, white was used here, 2 slices per sandwich

Directions:

Butter one side of each slice of bread.  Get butter to corners for even browning of bread.

Open can(s) of tuna, drain water, or oil from can.  Place the tuna in a bowl for mixing. Salt and pepper the tuna, mix. 

Add Miracle Whip to tuna, salt and pepper mixture.  Start out with a small amount, you can always add more, hard to take out if too much is added.  You want the mixture to be moistened but not overly moist or a soggy sandwich will result.  Mix but do not overmix.

At this point, pre-heat grill to high.  Adjust heat as necessary but for my grill I keep it on high. 

Assemble the sandwiches, butter side to the outside.  Add tuna to one side of bread, top with cheese.  Add second piece of bread to close sandwich.  Try to keep things as even as possible within the sandwich, in other words you do not want the cheese to slide off on the grill.

Place sandwich onto pre-heated grill.  A guesstimate for browning is under 5 minutes.  Keep an eye on the sandwiches, if they brown up too quickly but you can see the cheese is not melting much, then lower heat and continue grilling.  This way sandwich will not get too brown and cheese will have time to melt.  Turn sandwiches when they are nice and golden.  Allow time for the second side of the sandwich to brown and the cheese to melt, or "set-up".

Remove from grill, serve with a side of potato chips and pickles, even some cole slaw or potato salad works well with these sandwiches. 

Optional idea: In place of the tuna you can use ham, these sandwiches are equally as good, in my opinon.  If you use the thinner sliced deli ham use two slices, folded next to each other.

Enjoy!

Evelyn