How Do You Handle a Hungry Man?

Manhandlers!

Anyone over 40 probably remembers that back in the '60s Campbell's introduced a line of Hungry Man soups with that jingle, implying that a hungry man was a force to be reckoned with...and I have to agree!

When I began losing weight and exercising last September, Steve got on board, too.

However, my usual lunch of spring mix, a few pieces of roasted chicken, fruit, and balsamic dressing just doesn't fill him up.

By default, he landed back into the world of a couple of hot dogs for lunch, and since after all, he IS from Chicago, that's a pretty normal lunch...and filling...but not healthy.

So, we've had several conversations lately about what he could eat that would be filling, healthier, and not the same old, same old.

We drew a blank.

Then, my mother, in an effort to keep the kitchen cool, made some tuna salad for her nightly meal. So that gave me an idea.

Now...I have never, ever in my life tasted tuna. This is because I was diagnosed with a seafood/fish allergy when I was around 4.

So I have never made tuna salad, but since Steve loves it I decided to give it a whirl.

I turned to one of my favorite recipe sources, Taste of Home Healthy Cooking, which features recipe makeovers. http://www.tasteofhome.com/Healthy-Cooking-Magazine

Sure enough, in the spring issue there was a tuna salad recipe.

Kroger had tuna on sale, so we snagged three cans and this morning we made tuna salad. I handled chopping the vegetables and adding the seasonings, and had Steve drain and flake the tuna and then mix it in so I would not have any sort of reaction.

He had two sandwiches at lunch, and loved it!

The recipe makes 5 sandwiches so that will hold him for another day.

Here's the recipe:

drain and flake 3 cans of water-packed tuna

chop 1/4 cups each of carrots and celery

add 1/2 tsp onion poweder and 1/2 tso garlic powder

add 1/4 tsp dill (I used some fresh dill I had bought at the Farmer's Market)

mix in 3/4 cup low-fat mayo (I used Hellman's low fat olive oil mayo http://www.hellmanns.us/products/mayo_olive.aspx)

My mother makes what I guess is a more traditional tuna salad; she told me she uses celery, chopped apple, hard boiled egg, and little green onions + low fat mayo.

I feel good about either recipe since they contain plenty of veggies and in my mother's case, the egg adds extra protein and B vitamins and lutein, while the apple adds extra fiber as well as taste. I think I will try that next time.

My mother eats hers with iceberg lettuce, but Steve put his tuna sandwich on whole wheat bread.

How do you handle a hungry, wannabe healthy man at your house?