Welcome to Dishing it Out, ParentDish's weekly food column. Katie Workman lives in New York City with her husband and two boys, Jack and Charlie. By day she is the Editor-in Chief of the recipe website Cookstr.com. You can read all of the Dishing it Out posts here.

I don't know about you but I am kind of beside myself with excitement about the inauguration next week, amazed and delighted that we are about to welcome the Obamas to the White House; I have the feeling of being part of history in a hugely positive way for (maybe) the first time ever. So, naturally that makes me think of food and what to cook (because that's the tweaky way my mind works).

What would I make for the Obamas if they came for lunch, after Barack was sworn in? I can't possibly ask them over until I have a menu in mind. So, I did a little research, and this is the little I know. Barack prides himself on his tuna, and the girls love cheese. SO, naturally a tuna melt would be the thing to try. And I was thrilled (THRILLED) to see that Barack uses some of the same extra ingredients I do when I'm not making my basic lazy tuna (eg, tuna + mayo), but getting a little jiggy.

Barack, Michelle, Malia, Sasha: welcome to the White House! If you ever want a weekly supply of tuna, your style, call me. In the meantime, here's my recipe, so ParentDish readers can make tuna sandwiches with style.Tuna Melts, Obama-Style

Serves 4

This takes 5 more minutes than regular tuna, and makes all the difference in the world. The whole melt thing is optional, but wow. My other tip is that I like to mix the white tuna (for heft and texture) with some dark tuna (for flavor and softness). It is one of my things.

For the tuna:
2 cans (5 ounce) solid white tuna
1 can (5 ounce) dark tuna
2 tablespoons minced gherkins, and a teeny tiny splash of pickle juice from the jar
1 teaspoon dijon mustard
1 tablespoon finely minced red onion
3-4 tablespoons mayonnaise (Hellman's is the way to go)
coarse salt to taste
freshly ground pepper taste

For the melt:
8 slices bread (your choice: good thoughts are whole wheat, rye, sourdough)
4 thick slices cheddar (or munster, or Swiss or whatever you like)

Drain the tuna, and mix the drained tunas with the gherkins, onion, dijon, mayo, salt and pepper.

Lightly toast all the bread under the broiler or in a not-slotted toaster oven. Put slices of cheese on half of the bread and toast again, until melted. Meanwhile, divide the tuna among the remaining half of the slices of bread. When the cheesy slices are melted and bubbly, top each of the tuna-covered sliced with a melted cheese slice. Enjoy!

Variation: this really, really rocks on a panini machine.