The Guiltless Tuna Sandwich

Sometimes when you completely change your diet, you need to overhaul old favorites.  This is tough when you crave comfort food and deep inside your head a little voice shouts " But I don't want to change!".  Take for instance a tuna fish sandwich on soft wheat bread oozing with mayo, ( my husband) or the same sandwich on white bread and lots of sweet pickle relish. ( Me) Everybody has a favorite.  In your mind, you know exactly how it is supposed to taste.


So you trick your brain into eating a  much healthier version by making some delicious changes.  First of all you add crunch.  You can use whatever fresh  veggies are on hand.  In this recipe, I used green bell pepper, celery, and carrots to this recipe.  Radish, raw turnips,  or any other crunchy raw vegetable will work, as long as it is tasty raw.


Then you have to give it extra flavor.  I added chopped onions. Red onions are preferred, however only white were on hand and they worked well.  Green onions are great too and give a pretty green splash to your tuna.  I also add pickles, but instead of corn syrup-laden sweet pickle relish, I now add diced crunchy baby dill pickles.


 Now about those pickles.  When I first went organic and non-processed, I started reading labels.  So many items that previously, I took for granted were healthy, had all types of strange ingredients, but pickles were pickled right?  Therefore they did not need a bunch of preservatives. People have pickled veggies of all types for hundreds of years and this pickling process is what preserved them.   Well at least that is what I thought until I started reading pickle jar labels.   Cucumbers are green, so why the heck is there green ( or yellow and blue) dye in modern day pickles.  I finally found pickles without dyes or preservatives at an international market, however these little green crunchies came in a can.  I had never seen canned pickles, and since it is impossible to see through the can to look before I bought, it took me quite a while until I became brave enough to try them.   These crispy little gems were so full of flavor, I went back and bought several more cans.




The next hurdle is the mayonnaise issue.  You will find as you read this blog that Best Foods Mayo is my wonderful husband's secret ingredient for all of his best dishes. ( Except spaghetti as far as I know.)  This is
one item we really struggle with, since he does not care for the taste of the Spectrum Mayo I use. I often end
up making mixing the tuna and then dividing the mixture into two bowls. Or sometimes instead of mayonnaise, I use a small amount of olive oil with a dash of balsamic vinegar.


Trey prefers his sandwich on sprouted grain bread such as Food For Life Ezekiel bread, but I enjoy slathering it on top of crispy sesame AkMak crackers which are made only with sesame, and stone ground wheat.


Put a few new twists on an old favorite comfort food, and soon you have a healthy meal , which not only tastes off dang hook, it also becomes comfort food for the next generation.


Until next time, remember, make sure your comfort food is Whole Tasty Food!




Here are a few of the products I mentioned.  Tuna recipe is below.
























Guiltless Tuna Sandwiches


4 small or 2 large cans of tuna
1 stalk celery,diced
1 carrot, peeled and diced
1/4-1/2 med onion diced fine
1/2 green bell pepper diced
4-6 baby dill pickles diced
1/2 cup Spectrum Olive Oil Mayo ( or to taste) ( may substitute Extra Virgin Olive oil)
Toss all ingredients in a bowl until well combined. Add salt and black pepper to taste.
Spread on AkMak Sesame Wheat crackers or Sprouted Grain Bread.  Top with sliced tomato if desired.  Enjoy. Serves 4