No Ho-Hum Tuna Salad

Husband-Tested Recipe from the kitchen of Alice Wootton

When it’s just too hot to cook, I like to make up a big batch of tuna salad that will last a couple of days and then serve it up with some lettuce or fresh sprouts and home grown local tomatoes in a bowl or wrapped in a lavash or tortilla with a big glass of iced tea. I used to just mix tuna with eggs, celery and mayo, but now I Iike to include other ingredients to the basic tuna salad to make it more interesting. Here are some of my suggestions that will turn plain ol' tuna salad into a “no ho-hum tuna salad.”

2 small cans tuna (or even salmon) drained and flaked
1 can cannelloni or garbanzo (chickpeas) beans, rinsed and drained
½ red onion, minced
2 or 3 celery stalks, chopped
2 carrots, finely chopped or shredded
1 small zucchini, diced (Don’t be afraid to try and add other veggies.)4 hard boiled eggs, chopped
Kosher salt and Freshly ground pepper, to taste

Add a small dollop of mayonnaise. (We really prefer that the tuna salad not be gloppy wet with mayo, so I usually begin with 1 heaping Tablespoon and go from there….You can always add more to it, but you can’t take it away once it’s in there :-) I usually mix in some nonfat plain yogurt with the mayonnaise to lesson the fat content.) Add the juice of ½ a lemon plus 1 teaspoon or so of Tabasco Sauce or other hot sauce.

Include one or more of the following ingredients, if you wish:
2 Tablespoons or so of your favorite salsa (optional, but one of my favorite ways to liven up tuna salad.)1 Tablespoon capers, rinsed and drained (optional)
2 Tablespoons fresh dill, minced (optional)

a few drops of Local Folks Hot Sauce (or other favorite hot sauce)

Other yummy add-ins:

cucumber, chopped

sugar snap peas, cut into small bits