A Trimmer Tuna Melt

Just looking at it, you know it can’t be easy to make a low-fat tuna melt. But it is possible.

Drain water-packed tuna well and add celery and pickles for crunch. Use nonfat mayonnaise rather than regular mayo and you will save about 11 grams of fat per tablespoon. Nonfat cheese gets melted on top.

Several of our tasters commented that normally they do not like the flavor of nonfat cheese slices, but when the cheese is grilled with the tuna salad, they had a hard time tasting the difference.

TUNA MELT

Serve the sandwiches with pickle chips.

1 (12-ounce) can tuna packed in water, drained

1/2 cup minced celery

1/2 cup diced dill pickles

1/4 cup minced green onions

1/2 cup nonfat mayonnaise

12 (3/4-ounce) slices nonfat Cheddar cheese

12 slices bread, 1/2-inch thick

Butter-flavored nonstick cooking spray

Combine tuna, celery, dill pickles, green onions and mayonnaise. Chill tuna mixture until ready to grill sandwiches.

For each sandwich, put 1 slice cheese on 1 slice bread, then spread about 1/4 cup tuna mixture over cheese. Top with additional slice cheese and slice of bread.

Spray 1 side of bread with nonstick cooking spray and grill on preheated stove-top grill pan until cheese is melted and filling is hot throughout, 5 to 8 minutes. Spray other piece of bread with nonstick cooking spray, place on sandwich and turn to brown other side. Cut sandwich in half diagonally to serve. Repeat with remaining ingredients.

Makes 6 sandwiches.

Each sandwich contains about:

408 calories; 1,064 mg sodium; 20 mg cholesterol; 9 grams fat; 42 grams carbohydrates; 35 grams protein; 0.32 gram fiber.