Tuna Croquettes

I ended up recording the TLC show Extreme Cheapskates.  I then convinced my husband to sit and watch it with me.  Well, we wasted almost an hour of our lives doing so!  It was pretty bad.  The one thing that we took out of the show was the idea of a "fiscal fast."  If I remember correctly, the man in the show went on a no-spending fast for a week.  The only major spending we do during the week is our grocery shopping.  We decided to challenge ourselves and try to not go grocery shopping for a week.  This past Thursday was a week of using what we had in the house to make meals.  Surprisingly, it really wasn't that difficult and it helped use up some of our pantry and freezer stock, including some cans of tuna fish!

Instead of making tuna sandwiches or tuna melts I wanted to do something else with canned tuna.  While browsing the starkist.com webpage I found this recipe and wanted to give it a try.  My kids may have tried a bite of a tuna sandwich once in their lives if that, a very long time ago.  From that I think I assumed that they didn't like tuna fish.  I was prepared for my son not to even try a bite.  Boy was I surprised when my son ate all of his croquette and asked for more!  My daughter also ate all of hers!  These were a little messy to make and as much as the kids enjoyed these, I didn't love them enough to give them a 2 thumbs up rating.

 Tuna Croquettes
recipe adapted from starkist.com

Ingredients:
2 tablespoons butter
1/4 cup all purpose flour
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon pepper
3/4 cup milk
2 cans (5 ounces each) Starkist tuna in water, drained
2 tablespoons chopped onion
1/2 teaspoon lemon juice
1 cup bread crumbs
1 egg, lightly beaten
2 tablespoons water
oil for deep frying

Directions:
In medium saucepan, melt butter.

Add flour, salt and pepper, mix well.

Gradually add milk and cook until thick, stirring constantly.

Stir in tuna, onion, and lemon juice, mix well.

Shape mixture into 8 croquettes, roll in crumbs, dip into slightly beaten egg mixed with water and roll again in crumbs.

Fry in small batches in oil for about 3 minutes on each side. Croquettes should be golden brown.

Transfer tuna croquettes to paper towels to drain.

Family Rating:  1 1/2 thumbs up.