Chopped Inspired Din Din

It is a rare thing for a Saturday night to see me at home before 8 pm doing nothing but watching tv. And on such a rare occasion, I would be equally lucky for there to be a Chopped marathon on! For those true Food Network lovers out there, a Chopped episode is never short of mystery, mishaps, near misses, drama, laughs and most importantly unique and unusual food combination/concoctions. Of all these elements, it is the unpredictability, of the mystery basket ingredients and the final 'dishes' that keeps me on the edge of my seat and tuned in. In fact seeing these chefs professional or otherwise struggle or soar, in as little as 20 minutes with an unknown set of items to create beautiful and tasty or sometimes ugly and horrid looking dishes, I got inspired to try it myself.

So with my timer set to 20 minutes, my own 'mystery basket' of ingredients, I proceeded to create my own chopped inspired Saturday night meal as quickly as possible.

Mystery ingredients were:
1 can chunk light tuna,
green beans & carrots
1 slice avocado
1 can sprite zero

Strategy:

Preheat oven to 350.

Wash and peel veggies, breaking off green bean tips and cutting carrots into thin strips. Toss veggies together with salt, pepper and mrs dash (or seasoning of choice). Place veggies on spray coated baking sheet and put in oven for 8-10 mins
Drain tuna dry and place in a cooking spray coated glass pie dish or plate seasoning with salt and pepper (or seasoning of choice). Place in oven with veggies for 5-6 mins
In a bowl, mash the avocado with 2tbsp sprite zero, 1/2 tsp apple cider vinegar, 1/2 tsp yellow mustard and a splash of lemon juice. Use less sprite for thicker mash.

Remove veggies and tuna at the same time from the oven. Layer veggies, then tuna, then avocado mash. Garnish with lettuce on top.

Pour remaining sprite zero with a 1 tsp lemon juice in wine glass to create a simple no calorie spritzer.  All done in 18 minutes!

Sit down and Dig in!