(They Can Be Spicy) Tuna Enchiladas

It's time again for Secret Recipe Club reveal!  My secret blog assignment this month was A Taste of Madness.  Canadian math nerd Cathleen is a huge fan of dessert, recipes that take 30 minutes or less to make, and, judging from her breakfast recipe list, oatmeal.  I will definitely be checking out some of her oatmeal variations, because I love a warm comforting bowl of oatmeal on a cold winter morning.  She and her boyfriend are also lovers of all things spicy, so I know I would love a lot of Cathleen's recipes - if only my husband could handle a bit more heat in his food.  I may have to try some of these recipes just for me...

I am most definitely trying this Tabasco Popcorn!  Oh, yum.  Some of the other not quite so spicy recipes that caught my eye were:

• Ginger Molasses Cookies
• Chicken, Broccoli and Quinoa Casserole
• Chickpea Salad Wrap 

They all look incredible, but these tuna enchiladas just had to be made.

This is one of those super simple and quick meals Cathleen loves - and really, who doesn't love fast and easy?  And really tasty.  (Even though I didn't use as much jalapeno)

(They Can Be Spicy) Tuna Enchiladas
from A Taste of Madness

Ingredients:

• 2 cans tuna, drained
• 2 cups mozzarella cheese, divided
• 1 cup prepared salsa, divided
• 1/2 a jalapeno, diced (use the whole pepper if you like it spicy)
• 6 soft corn tortillas

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350°.  Lightly grease an 8x8 baking dish.
2. In a skillet, mix together the tuna, 1 cup mozzarella, 2/3 cups salsa, and the jalapeno. Heat on medium until cheese is melted and mixture is bubbly.
3. Spoon the tuna mixture into the tortillas, roll up and place in baking dish.
4. Top with the remaining salsa and cheese.  Bake 25-30 minutes, until cheese is melted.
5. Alternate Directions: Place under a broiler for around 2 minutes, or until the cheese is melted.

I put these together a bit before I wanted to serve dinner, so I had them ready to pop into the oven when my husband came home from work.  If you're just putting them together and popping them straight into the oven, you can heat them under the broiler for a few minutes like Cathleen does, and they'll be just fine.  I liked the additional time of baking to warm everything back up again and also crisp the sides a bit. I love slightly crunchy corn tortillas.  It just depends on your preference and time available.

I only used a portion of the jalapeno, and I put more in mine than in my husband's - I just added about half of the diced jalapeno to the tuna mixture, then after I rolled his up, I added the rest of the chopped jalapeno before rolling mine, reserving some to throw on top so we could tell the difference.  They really weren't spicy at all, but they had a really great flavor.  I will definitely be making these again.  It should make us all happy, including the cats.  They always come begging when I open a can of tuna, because they love to drink the water I drain off.

The only problem with this recipe was that I ate too much.  We cleaned that dish out.

An InLinkz Link-up

Mediterranean Tuna Noodle Skillet

I made this for dinner the other night. It's a tasty twist on a tuna noodle casserole.

Mediterranean Tuna Noodle Skillet
from Mueller's Pasta

Ingredients

• 1 T oil
• 1/2 cup chopped onion
• 8 ounces noodles, uncooked
• 1 can (14.5 oz) diced tomatoes, undrained
• 1-1/4 cups water 
• 1 tsp. Italian seasoning
• 1/4 tsp. garlic powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/8 teaspoon black pepper
• 1 can tuna (5 oz.) in water, drained
• 1 jar (7.5 oz) marinated artichoke hearts, drained, liquid reserved, chopped
• 1/3 cup crumbled feta cheese

Directions:

1. Heat oil in skillet over medium-high heat. Add onion; cook until onion starts to soften, stirring occasionally.
2. Stir in dry noodles, tomatoes, water, and seasonings. Bring to a boil. Cover, reduce heat and simmer 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.
3. Add tuna, artichokes and reserved liquid to noodles; toss together and heat until hot. Top with cheese and sprinkle with additional Italian seasoning.

I do not usually buy artichokes, but I bought a large jar a while back with the intent to try making some Spinach Artichoke Dip.  We always love it at Applebee's, and I figured it was worth trying at home.  So far I haven't tried the dip, but I decided to open the jar for this tuna skillet.  So... I'm not sure exactly on the measurements.  I measured out about a cup of artichokes, cut them up, and then added liquid to make 8 ounces.  That being said, artichokes may have to become a staple in my pantry because I really liked the flavor they added to this dish.

The leftovers heated up really well, too.  This is definitely something to make again.

Tuna & Broccoli Pie

I was looking for some kind of tuna rice casserole recipe when I ran across this Broccoli and Tuna Rice Pie, and it looked so good I just had to try it.  It wasn't exactly what I had in mind, but it reminded me of the eggs my dad always made when I was growing up.  His didn't include rice or broccoli, just eggs, tuna, and cheese baked in a cast iron skillet.  So good!  (Why don't I make that once in a while?)

Anyway, we had this the other night for dinner, and it was really good.  The leftovers tonight were even better!

Tuna & Broccoli Pie

Ingredients:

•  1 to 2 T butter
• 1/2 medium onion, diced
• 1 tsp. dried basil
• 1 T dried chives
• 1 cup cooked rice
• 1 can tuna, drained
• 8 oz. broccoli florets (if frozen, run under water to thaw)
• 1/2 cup grated Mozzarella
• 8 eggs
• 1/3 cup milk

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350° F
2. Melt 1 T butter over medium heat.  Add onion and saute with basil and chives until onion is translucent.  Add more butter if needed as onion is cooking.
3. Turn off heat and stir in rice, tuna, and broccoli; add cheese.  Spoon mixture into greased deep dish pie pan.
4. Whisk together eggs and milk; season with salt and pepper.  Pour over rice mixture. Shake dish to settle eggs and remove any air bubbles.
5. Bake for 1 hour and 10 minutes. If necessary, cover with foil if the top starts to brown too much.   Remove from oven and let stand for 5 minutes; Cut into wedges and serve.

Serves 4

I baked this in my cast iron skillet, because I used it to saute the onion and I figured it could go in the oven, so why dirty another dish.  And because my dad always baked his eggs in a skillet.  BUT, I won't be doing that again.  The cleanup was harder than I expected.  Maybe my skillet just isn't seasoned properly... but usually I can just scrub it out with a bit of salt and this time I had to do some soaking and a lot more scrubbing.  So, next time I'm using a pie pan.

Since there are only two of us, we ate half of this for dinner one night and then I heated it up again for dinner tonight.  For the leftovers, I heated it at 350° for 15 minutes covered and then I removed the cover and heated for an additional 15 minutes.  And then I added just a touch more cheese to the top and left it in the oven just long enough to melt it.  I'm not sure what the reheating did, but this was even better the second time.  The bottom and edges of the already cut wedges crisped up a bit, and the flavors had blended better.  We really enjoyed it.  Oh, and a little hot sauce on top is good, too.

Tuna Tip

Most of you have probably already thought of this, but I mentioned it to my brother-in-law a while back, and he hadn't.

When you use tuna, don't just pour the tuna water down the drain. If you have a cat, give her the water. She'll love it, and you! I usually only give our cat Tillie about half of it and save the other half for later - so she gets two treats from one can of tuna.

If you don't have a cat, well, just go ahead and pour the water down the drain...

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