Tuna Melt

This post is not about being natural, organic, or making things from scratch.  This post is about my childhood and cheese that puckers up when you cook it and white bread and comfort.

This post is also about celebrating National Seafood Month.  Do you know how healthy seafood is for you?  It is one of the true power foods!  I try to eat seafood 3-4 times a week (growing up on the ocean has left a mark on this girl).  Because my family seems to need more food variety than I do, I often fit in one of my servings at lunch with a little tuna.

When I was a kid I loved tuna fish.  There were weeks on end when I would have it for lunch every day.  Every once in a while though, my mom, who we all know does not love to cook, would do something really special for me and make me an open faced tuna melt.

There are many recipes that you have as a child that you cannot recreate, this recipe is not one of those.  This is easy and it is simple and it reminds me of being 7 years old and sitting on my scratchy couch and watching Murder She Wrote.

Thanks, Mom.


Open-Faced Tuna Melt

Ingredients:
1 can of chunk white tuna fish, drained and separated with a fork
1-2 Tablespoons of Helmans Mayonnaise (2 tastes more like childhood, 1 is more responsible as an adult)
1 teaspoon of relish
4 pieces of small white sandwich bread (I like Pepperidge Farm)
4 slices of American Cheese

Directions:
Preheat the broiler.

Place the bread on a sheet pan and place under the broiler until just brown.  Turn the bread over and repeat.

In a small bowl mix the tuna fish, mayonnaise, and relish until well combined.

Scoop an even amount of the tuna fish mixture onto each piece of bread and spread it out to the edges.  Place a slice of American cheese on top of the tuna and put the sheet pan back under the broiler.  You will know it is done when the cheese starts to pucker and bubble.  It may even get a few small brown spots, don't worry...they just add flavor.

Serve open faced.