Tuna Cakes & Baby Greens Salad

This recipe, which is from Web MD of all places, calls these tasty morsels "tuna patties." But for some reason I have always hated the word patty, so these will be called tuna cakes. At least by me.

My only grievance with this original recipe is its estimated portion size. Serves two, two cakes each, with one can of tuna? Please. I doubled this for the two of us, and it was still a very satisfying but sensibly sized meal. For me it made 8 cakes, we each had 3, and there were 2 left for some lucky person's lunch tomorrow.

This is another "get your hands in there" recipe. Mix it with your hands before making the patties, and its an even faster, easier meal to put together. Also, it is no mistake that this is the first recipe under Web MD's "cheap and easy" section. It is certainly both of those things, but it is also delicious and nutritious. (The new label for low-cost dishes is "Cheap Thrills").

I used dry whole wheat breadcrumbs instead of Panko breadcrumbs, and I didn't have any plain Italian salad dressing so I just used olive oil, vinegar, salt, pepper and a pinch of garlic powder.

Just started cooking. That weird green thing on the bottom left is an oddly large piece of pickle, from the relish.

In a hurry? You can make these ahead of time, layer them in a plastic container with wax paper and cook them when you get home from work. Or class. Or wherever you were. I also recommend cooking more than you know you will need, and eating two or three for lunch the next day in a whole-wheat pita with a mixture of Sriracha and either light mayonnaise or tartar sauce. Tartar sauce is preferable, if you have it on hand. This is a highly portable meal and/or snack.

Tuna cakes with baby greens salad

I served these with some baby spinach greens drizzled with light Caesar dressing, and some chopped radishes.

Quote of the Day: "I brought you a tuna sandwich. They say it's brain food. I guess it's because there's so much dolphin in it, and you know how smart they are." ~ Marge Simpson

[Note: This recipe was made with dolphin-safe tuna!]