I'm back (Did you miss me? Didn't think so.) Cannellini bean & tuna salad

Sept 1, 2013 I can’t really say why I stopped blogging the recipes, but—mostly, I got tired & bored. It was no longer a challenge, but became more of a chore. I have enough of those. Since then, there have been a lot of changes in my life. In 2012, I started taking travel jobs and got rid of almost everything I own. After 3 jobs, I decided that travel jobs (13 week assignments) weren’t for me and I came home. I moved from Tempe to north Phoenix, settled into an apartment and have started replacing some of the things I got rid of. Mostly kitchen stuff and cookbooks -- I seem to have different food preferences now. Since I settled down, I’ve been buying new cookbooks on 5 basic categories: fish, salads/vegetables/raw food, slow cookers, hand pies/ small pies (especially savory pies) and vegan. I’m not vegan, but if you want good recipes for legumes, grains, vegs, fruit that are dairy-free, that’s the way to go. I don’t use the spread sheet any longer, I just go through the cookbooks every week and make a weekly lunch/dinner menu. I’m still trying not to repeat recipes, but there’s been a little more give and take since this started in 2009. Tonight I made fish tostadas, loosely based on a previous recipe and a new recipe, but mostly ad-libbed. I marinated the fish in lime juice, cilantro & red onion. (I used orange roughy, but any firm white fish will do. Red snapper is traditional. If you use tilapia, don’t marinate it too long or it turns to mush). (While it marinates, make the slaw and mango salsa.) Grill it in a hot grill pan brushed with olive oil. Cook until it flakes with a fork. Flake the fish and set aside. While the fish cooks, toast the tortillas. **There's a trick for the lime juice: take limes that have a smooth skin, cut off the ends and quarter the limes. Puree the limes (peel & all) in a blender or food processor and puree, then drain the pulpy mush through a cheese cloth. Super easy. If the lime skins are old and pitted, the juice with be sour. Hmmm, lime -- sour, go figure. For the slaw: use thinly sliced green cabbage, jicama, red onion, cilantro, jalapeño, and dressing made of mayo, chopped dill pickle, red onion, Dijon mustard, ground cumin, salt & pepper. For the mango salsa: diced mango & pineapple, red onion, cilantro, and jalapeno. You can add diced avocado to the salsa if you like, but I find that it gets mushy. Slice an avocado for garnish for the tostadas. I toasted a couple of corn tortillas for the tostadas. Then I assembled them: slaw, fish, salsa, sliced avocado. They were pretty good, and since there was no real recipe, I’ll be able to make fish tacos again. Friday, August 30, 2013 Cannellini bean & tuna salad: 1 can cannellini (white kidney) beans, drained & rinsed (great Northern beans would also work) 1 can tuna, drained & flaked 1 T capers, drained and coarsely chopped ¼ cup chopped Kalamata olives 1 plum tomato, seeded and chopped or about 10 grape tomatoes, quartered Chopped red onion, to taste Chopped parsley or cilantro for color, about 2 T. Dressing: ¼ c fresh lemon juice ¼ c olive oil 1 tsp Dijon mustard Sea salt to taste Blend the dressing ingredients in a blender or food processor or whip with a whisk until emulsified. Mix all ingredients and the dressing. Chill to blend flavors. Serve over mixed greens or toss with cold, cooked pasta. This was really good. You can make it without the tuna and it would still be delicious.