Tuna Melt with Tomatoes

Combine my hankering for something cheesy and a produce drawer full of the neighbor’s homegrown tomatoes and you’ve got a tasty take on the tuna melt, one of my all-time favorite sandwiches.

The pepper jack and chipotle mayonnaise add some sass to this sandwich.

Tuna Melt with Tomatoes
5 ounce can chunk light tuna in water, drained
2 teaspoons mayonnaise
1/4 teaspoon hot sauce (I use Cholula Chipotle Hot Sauce)
Two slices whole grain bread
Two slices pepper jack cheese
One medium tomato, sliced thin

Place pepper jack on each slice of bread. Cook in frying pan at medium heat until cheese melts and bread is toasty. Mix tuna, mayonnaise and hot sauce together with a fork and place on one slice of bread, followed with tomato slices. Place second slice of bread, cheese down, on top of tomatoes and allow sandwich to cook for another minute or two more. Slice in half and serve.

Firing up the barbecue? Try these burgers

It was a beautiful early spring evening, and I was determined to do some grilling. Good thing I had ground turkey in the fridge and a produce drawer full of flavorful goodies. These burgers ended up quite flavorful, with a nice little kick from the spices and the chipotle cheddar.

Spicy Turkey Burgers
1 pound ground turkey
1 teaspoon smoked paprika
½ teaspoon cayenne pepper
Chipotle cheddar or pepper jack, one slice per burger
1 strip cooked turkey bacon per burger
¼ cup mayonnaise
2 teaspoons hot sauce
Red bell pepper, sliced
Avocado, sliced
¼ cup cilantro, chopped
4 Kaiser rolls, sliced open and toasted
Salt and pepper, a dash each

Whisk mayonnaise and hot sauce in small bowl and place in refrigerator.
Combine turkey, smoked paprika, cayenne pepper, salt and pepper in bowl. Form four patties and place on plate. Place patties on grill, cooking roughly five minutes on one side before flipping over. Add cheese to each patty and cook for another five minutes or so, until cooked through.
Place burger on half of bun. Spread mayonnaise on top half of bun. Garnish each burger with a slice or two of avocado and red pepper, a pinch of chopped cilantro and strip of turkey bacon (tear or cut it in half first).

Want to bring a little heat to the dinner table? Try Fast & Feisty Chili

I’ve been playing with this chili recipe for some time. I originally tried it because I wanted one of my first forays into making chili to be an easy one. Sure, it was easy, but working with chipotle chiles in adobo was a completely new experience, and it left everyone at the table in tears.

Since then I’ve worked with each batch, trying not to not go overboard with the chipotle, as these little guys pack a slow burn of a punch. The recipe I started with calls for a tablespoon of adobo sauce, and I like to split that up into three teaspoons — the first two go into the pot early, and the third is optional, depending on how things taste once everything’s had a few minutes to simmer.

Even if you take it slow, this recipe takes less than an hour from start to finish.

Fast & Feisty Chili
Adapted from the Food Network
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 large yellow onion, chopped
6 cloves garlic, minced
1 tablespoon salt
2 teaspoons chili powder
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1 tablespoon tomato paste
1 chipotle chile en adobo, seeds removed, chopped, with 3 teaspoons sauce, divided
1 bottle light-to-medium Mexican beer (I like Dos Equis Ambar)
1 28-ounce can whole peeled tomatoes with juice
1 15.5-ounce can kidney beans, drained and rinsed

Heat olive oil in skillet or other large frying pan over medium-high heat. I omit olive oil when using a non-stick pan. Add onion, garlic, salt, chili powder and oregano and cook, stirring often, for roughly 3 minutes. Stir in tomato paste and the chipotle chile and 1 teaspoon adobo sauce, cooking for a minute more. Add turkey, breaking it up with your spoon or spatula, and cook until meat is no longer pink. Stir in beer and simmer for about 10 minutes. Add tomatoes — crush them with your hands over the skillet — it’s just as messy as chopping the tomatoes beforehand, but at least you won’t have to wash a cutting board! Also add tomato juice, kidney beans and another teaspoon adobo sauce. Bring to a boil and cook until thick, about 10 minutes. Taste for heat, and, if you want more spice, stir in that third teaspoon of adobo. Serve in bowls and garnish with cilantro, grated cheddar and tortilla chips.

Skiing helps work up an appetite for some delicious dining

One of the things I like most about skiing is eating.

I’m no double-black-diamond daredevil by any means, but barreling down the mountain run after run (for me, that’s mostly blues, some blacks) still burns quite a few calories. A day on the slopes means a day of digging into whatever I want.

I started 2010 off in an awesome way, spending Saturday at Squaw Valley USA and Sunday at Sugar Bowl. Between the two days on two different mountains, I had plenty of time to sample each resort’s menu options.

The Arc, one of Squaw’s mid-mountain spots (we got there by riding up the Gold Coast Funitel), makes a mean chipotle steak burrito, which has just the right amount of smoky heat. This burrito is quite filling and is best enjoyed on the porch, where we devoured lunch on the gorgeous Saturday.

We headed down the hill for dinner at Twenty Two Bistro & Bar, one of the many dining options nestled into the Village at Squaw Valley. Perhaps I was craving comfort food, because I ordered the beer can chicken, which was served with macaroni and cheese, along with some nicely seasoned vegetables. It was heavenly.

Sunday, like Saturday, was a beautiful blue-sky day, perfect for testing out runs for the first time at Sugar Bowl. I split my day between the Mt. Lincoln Express and the Disney Express lifts, stopping for lunch on the Village Lodge patio.

One of my absolute favorite snow-day indulgences is a chicken finger basket, and Nob Hill Café’s grab-and-go tenders hit the spot. There’s nothing better than unsnapping your ski boots, taking off the helmet and goggles and digging into a basket packed with chicken strips and French fries. That is, except for when lunch is over and you know you’ve got the rest of the afternoon to burn off more calories having a blast on the mountain, of course.