Tuna Boats

This is a fun, light, crisp, easy recipe that is just perfect for summer.  The success of this depends on how fresh and nice your cucumbers are, though.  While this was good, the cucumbers I'd bought were a tad on the bitter/tart side, so I'd imagine with a sweeter one this would be ten times better.  I got the idea for this recipe off of Pinterest, but as so often happens, it didn't link back to a source.

This starts out with the tuna recipe I use faithfully - my grandmother's recipe.  I've had a lot of tuna made by a lot of different people, but nowhere else have I ever seen anyone put apples into it and that is a shame because it is just stellar.

Starting off, you'll need 3 cans of tuna in water or oil, your choice.  Drain it well and put it in a large mixing bowl or container.  I knew there'd be leftovers so I mixed it straight into a Tupperware bowl with a lid to save on dishes.

You'll also need 1/2 of an apple - red is best, but green works in a pinch - and half an onion of any color.  The cucumbers are for the little boats.  I made 4 boats and had plenty of tuna left over and could have made about 4-6 more.  My eyes were bigger than my stomach, I couldn't even finish one boat, but the Wookie came to the rescue and ate all the rest!

Other stuff you'll need includes mayonnaise (not Miracle Whip), spicy or brown mustard, salt, pepper, dill pickles or dill relish, and garlic powder, the last two of which seem to have been camera shy on this day.  -.-

Hard boil 3 eggs or one egg per can of tuna and let them cool completely.

Finely dice up the 1/2 onion and 1/2 apple and add them to the tuna along with 1tbsp of the mustard, 1 tsp garlic, salt and pepper to taste, and 2 tbsp of dill relish or finely chopped pickle.  The mayonnaise is up to you.  Some people like their tuna drier than others.  I add mayonnaise until it is to the consistency I like it at, then squeeze in a little more since I'll be adding the eggs in later.

Peel your cucumbers and remove the seeds so they are hollow.  I like to use a melon baller, it gets all the seeds out with one fell swoop.

Next, once they are completely cool, dice the eggs up and fold them into the tuna mixture.  I like to do this after everything else is all stirred up so that some of the chunks of boiled yolks stay intact.  If you mix them in as you mix everything else, they tend to break up and just sort of become one with everything.

Once your eggs are in, pop the whole thing into the fridge, covered, until it is nice and cold, then spoon the mixture into the cucumbers and sprinkle with some parsley.

That's all there is to it!

A close-up shot of the goodness.

Do you have a special tuna salad recipe that's been handed down?

<3
WW

Egg Salad

Here's a super quick and easy egg salad recipe I use with TONS of bacon which makes it so very yummy.  We don't use eggs much around here, so its a good way to use the extras up before they go bad.

First off, fry up 5 pieces of bacon.  Whether you want it crispy or soft is totally up to you.

Then, after it has drained, chop it up, (or tear, I find tearing it is easier and quicker), toss it in a bowl with 6 hard-boiled eggs which have also been chopped up.  I suppose you could tear those, too, but that would be pretty messy.

Next, add a teaspoon of garlic powder and two teaspoons of onion powder to the mix.  I like to use these in egg salad because I want the flavor of both, but don't necessarily want to bite into an onion or piece of garlic while noshing down on an egg salad sandwich.  For some reason chunks of onion are perfectly, entirely acceptable in tuna salad, but not in egg salad.  I'm weird that way.

Next, chop up a pickle slice.  This was a kosher dill, the stacker kind that are sliced length-wise.  If you use regular slices, I'd say use about 4, more if you like a very pickle-y flavor to your salad.

Add about 3 tablespoons of mayonnaise (I use the kind made with olive oil), half a tablespoon of spicy mustard, and stir it all up then salt and pepper it to taste and there you have it!

Pile it on a sandwich or a salad - either way it is delicious and super simple!

<3
The Wookie Wifey