Sushi Bowl {Low-Residue}

A few months ago I shared my 'little secret' with you -- that I have Crohn's Disease.  I know I don't talk about it a lot, and there is a reason for that: I don't want it to be a part of the definition of me.  And most of the time, thanks to very good doctors and a husband who smacks my hand away when I reach for things like popcorn (and I personally believe, in answered prayers), I have been in remission for the past few years.  It has been AMAZING.

But sometimes little things pop up here and there and I have to back up a bit and remember that my colon and I don't always get along.  When that happens the very first thing that I change in my life is my diet.  Bananas, rice, applesauce, toast... the BRAT diet is kind of bland.  Yet it can be necessary sometimes.  Next step up?  A low-residue diet.  Basically, you cut out anything that causes lots of poop.

Yes, I just said that word.  In a food blog.

Here's the deal though: less poop = less pain.  And we all know that less pain = happy person, right?

Although a low residue diet does not cure or take away the issue itself, it does make the symptoms of Crohn's or ulcerative colitis more tolerable.  (Let me insert here I am not in any pain right now, so no need to feel sorry for me.  I am just doing what I can do to avoid that pain while I am in a small flare-up.  So far so good.)

Basically a low-residue diet is everything your doctor ever told you not to do: eat white breads instead of whole grains.  Stop eating leafy greens, or any greens really.  Fruit and veggies?  Yeah, be careful.  Stick to bananas and avocados, applesauce or other 'mushy' things.  And for me, cut out that dairy!  I know not everyone is sensitive to it, but I have definitely noticed that an increase in dairy (except yogurt) usually means an increase in discomfort.

As you can imagine, this diet can be very boring.  So what to do, what do do... ?

Time to get creative!  According to my list I can eat white rice.  Avocados are always good.  Tuna, fine.  And soy sauce?  No problem.

When I stopped to think about it, I realized those were the ingredients (or variations of them) of one of my favorite foods: sushi!  So I threw it all in a bowl, mixed it up (yes, you see some salt there, I had 'healthy' soy sauce and I wanted some saltiness in my life!), and enjoyed.  Much cheaper than hitting up Tokyo Tokyo and I can eat it in the comfort of my living room.  A low-residue meal that tastes pretty darn good!

Have you ever needed to eat a low-residue diet?  Any good 'recipes' to share?

"My Grandpa Makes the Tuna..." (Tuna Casserole with Spinach)

I am not a snob.  Ask those who know me and I am pretty sure *fingers crossed* they would say that "snobby" is not an adjective that describes me.  Basically, it is like this: I don't care if my clothes come from Target or some fancy-pants store, as long as they fit well and are cute.  I don't care if my friends are quote-unquote "popular" or the average Joe, as long as they are kind and not too annoying (because face it, we all have some annoying characteristics).  I don't care if I drive a BMW or a Toyota, as long as it is reliable and safe.  Shoot -- my first car was an '88 Dodge Colt Hatchback, ripped vinyl seating and rusty top included.  I drove it with pride.

Like I said, I am not a snob.

Unless it comes to peanut butter and jelly sandwiches or tuna casserole.  Then you better have the right stuff.  AKA Skippy Creamy and Strawberry Smuckers (for the PB&J) or this stuff:

Yes, that's right.  Campbell's all the way, Baby.  None of that store-brand junk they try to pass off as Cream of Mushroom Soup.  And don't even think about trying to sneak in some "low-fat" goo, I will tell the difference in a heartbeat. 

There are some things in life you are allowed to be snobby about.

Mayo is another one of those things.

Bring out the Best Foods, and you bring out the best, right?

And tuna, well... there is only one kind that sits on my shelf:

But for the tuna I have a really good excuse, other than just pure snobbiness.  See, my grandpa was an engineer for Starkist before he retired (and don't ask me what an engineer might do at a tuna company, I have yet to figure that out...)  As a kid I watched the movie Annie and it inspired many things in me.  For one, I knew that I had to work in an orphanage some day.  Actually, I knew I had to buy Daddy Warbuck's house and move all the orphans there so they could have a happy life.  This is still something I have on my life's to-do list.

Something else this movie inspired in me was the need to burst out in song to express myself.  Annie did it, why couldn't I?  This is why I would sing to my cats, my dogs, and my friends, until they ran away and hid.  But my poor mother, she couldn't run and hide, now could she?  (She could regret her idea of renting Annie, however.)  This would be how the Grandpa song came about.  I remember sitting there in the little seat in the shopping carts, cruising the aisles of the supermarket, singing at the top of my lungs --

My grandpa makes the tuna,

my grandpa makes the tuna,

so if you love tuna

YOU LOVE MY GRANDPA!

Ya know what?  I don't think I have ever purchased a different brand of tuna in my life, except when I was living overseas and Starkist was not an option.  The seed was planted early on, and nothing has uprooted it.  So, yes, I am a tuna snob.  I admit it.

I was making tuna casserole the other night, with my perfect ingredients, and I realized I didn't have peas.  But I did have spinach, and I thought, "Why not?"  Then, as it was cooking, I flipped through Everyday Food by Martha Stuart and I saw a recipe for, you guessed it, tuna casserole with spinach.  I'm one step ahead of you, Martha... Anyway, it turned out great.  I like peas, but I like spinach.  I think this will get another chance in the spotlight, as long as I have my Campbell's, Best Foods, and Starkist of course!

INGREDIENTS:

• 1 pack egg noodles
• 2 cans tuna
• 2 cans cream of mushroom soup
• 1 heaping Tablespoon of mayonnaise
• 1/4 cup milk
• 1/4 onion, chopped
• 2 large handfuls of spinach leaves
• Mrs. Dash or other seasoning
• salt and pepper, to taste
• bread crumbs

DIRECTIONS

1. Preheat oven to 425.  Bring water to boil in large pot and add egg noodles.  Cook for 7-8 min.
2. Meanwhile, in large mixing bowl add the rest of the ingredients except the bread crumbs.  Stir in egg noodles after they are cooked and drained.
3. In large casserole dish, dump contents in and sprinkle bread crumbs on top.  Cover with aluminum foil and bake for 40 minutes.  (Remove the tin foil for the last 5-7 minutes to give it a golden crispiness on the top.)

Cost: $6.70                   Cost Per Serving (6) $1.12

Plus bread w/ butter and salad = $1.60 per serving

An All American Classic: Tuna Casserole

My love of tuna came early on.  It might be attributed to the fact that my grandpa worked at the Starkist headquarters and therefore I had a lot of it when we were visiting him.  In fact, when I was a little girl with pigtails in my hair and small enough to still sit in the chair on the shopping carts, my mom would push me around the grocery store, checking off her list, while I would be singing, "My Grandma makes the tuna, my grandpa makes the tuna.  If you love tuna then YOU LOVE MY GRANDPA!"  (This was during my phase when I did not yet realize that the world was not a musical like "Annie".  This singing was not limited to just tuna.  My poor mother.)

Later, after years of tuna sandwiches for lunch (alternately switched with PB&J... no turkey and cheese for me, no sirree!), I hit a vegetarian streak in my life.  I gave up chicken and hamburgers without that much of a problem.  But I sure did miss those tuna sandwiches!  Luckily for me, there was Tuno.  Yes, Tun-O.  Looks kind of like tuna, smells kind of like tuna, comes in a can like tuna.  Except that can doesn't just say, "Dolphin friendly" on it.  Oh no, it says, "Tuna and dolphin friendly".  I don't think it was soybean friendly, though...  Apparently I liked it enough because I ate so much of it that for Christmas I got a shipping box full of cans of Tuno.

I kid you not.

I snapped out of this fake-meat mode when I moved for a bit to the beautiful islands of Micronesia to teach school.  You don't eat fake meat in Micronesia, you eat fresh-from-the-sea meat or chicken-snatched-from-the-bushes meat.  That, and canned meat.  Spam, people LOVE spam over there.  Me?  Spam?  Nah.  But the love of canned tuna came back along with the experience of eating fish straight off the bone.  Both were delicious, but only one made a killer sandwich.  Tuna sandwiches, tuna dip, grilled tuna Reuben's... I was the Bubba Gump of tuna.

(Enjoying some of that fresh fish in Ebeye)

This being said, I guess there should be no surprise that we eat a lot of tuna casserole in our home.  The great thing is that even though this is a simple food, the Brazilian half of our extended family thinks that it is a gourmet dish simply because it is not common in Brazil.  Imagine my relief when I have the pressure of making something fabulous to feed my mother/father/sister/aunts/uncles/cousins-in-law and they ask, "Ooohhh, do you think you can make tuna casserole?"  And then they turn and smile at each other, sending the same message back and forth: Tonight we are going to be eating GOOD!

The great thing about this dish is there is no-one-way to do it.  Basically, if you have the main ingredients of Cream of Something (mushroom or celery) Soup, Tuna, and noodles, you can change it up however you want.  Below is the Tiffany version of Tuna Casserole.  I make it without a recipe and sometimes add more or less, but this is what I did today and it was great.

INGREDIENTS:

• 1 pack egg noodles
• 2 cans tuna
• 2 cans cream of mushroom soup
• 1 heaping Tablespoon of mayonnaise
• 1/4 cup milk
• 1/4 onion, chopped
• 1 half bag of frozen peas
• Mrs. Dash or other seasoning
• salt and pepper, to taste
• bread crumbs

DIRECTIONS

1. Preheat oven to 425.  Bring water to boil in large pot and add egg noodles.  Cook for 7-8 min.
2. Meanwhile, in large mixing bowl add the rest of the ingredients except the bread crumbs.  Stir in egg noodles after they are cooked and drained.
3. In large casserole dish, dump contents in and sprinkle bread crumbs on top.  Cover with aluminum foil and bake for 40 minutes.  (Remove the tin foil for the last 5-7 minutes to give it a golden crispiness on the top.)

COST = $6.70        PER SERVING (4) = $1.68
Plus bread w/ butter and sliced tomatoes = $1.93 per serving

The future is looking bright...

My husband has been out of town for the past few days and won't be back for a few days more.  With him being gone it is certainly different around here.  Quiet, for one.  Not because he talks a lot -- more like I have no listening ear available for me which means I cannot do my usual amount of talking.  Except when I talk out loud to myself... 

Anyway, moving on... 

I think the time I realize his absence the most is around dinner time.  I have no one to cook for and no one to eat with.  (And no one to do the dishes... hahaha!)  I have been eating really simply.  No worries, I am getting my greens and my food groups are all represented, but it is definitely much simpler food.  Less of it, too, because I just do not enjoy eating as much when I am sitting by myself.  I need him to come back for many reasons, but one is so I can have good food to both cook and eat again!

When he does, this is what I want to make:

(All photos courtesy of rachaelray.com)

ONE: Salmon with Lemon-Dressed Vegetables

TWO: Crunch on Top Tuna Burger

THREE: Roast Chicken with Panzanella

FOUR: Spinach and Mushroom Pasta with Walnut Pesto

Can you tell I have been spending some time looking through a Rachael Ray mag?  Go ahead, click on a link above to be taken to a recipe and if you try it before me, let me know it goes.  Otherwise, look for an update hopefully soon!

(A wife that not only misses him, but misses feeding him, too.  Isn't my husband a lucky guy?)