Paleo Tuna Salad

I've been making tuna salad for ages. This is just a basic recipe that I came up with. I love the combination of flavors and colors along with the crunch from the veggies. We ate ours atop mixed greens and also added diced avocado (not shown in any of the pictures). The avocado really shined with the tuna. I've been making this version for a while, but never really documented the ingredients or measurements. Something else that's great about tuna salad is that it can easily be adjusted depending on how many people you're feeding. Just add extra cans of tuna, veggies and a tad more mayo and Dijon to coat it all. Hope you enjoy it as much as we do!

Paleo Tuna Salad 
Serves: 4-6

Ingredients:

• 3 - 5 oz. cans wild-caught tuna
• 3 stalks celery, diced
• 3 carrots, diced
• 1 red bell pepper, diced
• 1/2 cup mayonnaise (I used Lemonaise), but homemade would be awesome
• 1 - 1 1/2 T. Dijon mustard
• Sea salt and pepper, if desired

Directions:

1. Drain cans of tuna, pour into a bowl and flake with a fork. 
2. Chop your veggies and add to the tuna. 
3. Add mayonnaise and Dijon mustard. 
4. Stir everything together until combined. 
5. Taste for seasonings. Mine didn't need any as the Lemonaise and Dijon added plenty of flavor.
6. Serve on mixed greens, on Paleo bread, in a Pure Wrap or in a lettuce/Chard/Collard Green leaf. Top with avocado. 

My husband's coworker called the salad (topped with avocado) a masterpiece. My mom said the salad was so colorful. Here's the best compliment: my husband was originally going to eat pizza and salad for lunch that his work was providing. After eating dinner, he decided he wanted leftover tuna salad for lunch. He chose my tuna salad over free pizza! That was really sweet. 

This takes so little time, but is packed with flavor. Enjoy! 

Whole30 - Day 20

Day 20. This challenge/lifestyle will continue after the 30 days. I may not follow it every single day, but I will definitely follow it regularly and consistently (not sure the frequency yet, but will determine that shortly after the 30 days). I will write an evaluation and determine what the best course of action is moving forward.

Today is Martin Luther King Jr. Day. Many of you had the day off. My previous employer honored 9 holidays, including MLK Jr. Day. My current employer only honors 7 (no MLK Jr. Day or President's Day). Luckily though, my husband and I both slept until 6:30am. It felt wonderful to get extra sleep. My husband had a delayed start to his day, so no 5:30 alarm! I did make us breakfast before we both left for work.

It's another payroll week, so it was a busy day. I took a walking break midday to soak up some Vitamin D. The warmth of the sun felt amazing. I love warmth. I love the sun. Where could I live that's warm and sunny all year? During my walk, I stumbled upon this video: What If Money Was No Object? It was inspiring. It lit a little fire under me. What would you do with you life if money didn't matter? I would prepare Paleo meals for others, do cooking shows (which we're making a reality this year) and be a personal trainer. I want to help others be healthy and fit.

I downloaded the InstaCollage app on my iPhone. Love it. It also happened to be free. I highly recommend it.

Breakfast: Omelette with mushrooms, green bell peppers, Super Natural Turkey Hot Dogs and a smear of cashew "alfredo" sauce to hold it all together. Bowl of grapefruit.

Lunch: Mixed greens w/ leftover tuna salad and Paleo crackers. New employee onboarding had extra guacamole after their lunch, so I added some Chipotle guacamole to my tuna salad. Yum! 

Dinner: Mustard-marinated Pork Chops, roasted zucchini & yellow squash and apples w/ almond butter. The pork chops tasted amazing. I marinated them for 24 hours. The Dijon mustard and garlic really shined through. That marinade would also pair well with chicken. 

Today was a good food day. I actually thought I looked a bit thinner in the mirror tonight, even though my pants don't feel much looser. This challenge isn't about getting thin though. It's about resetting my taste buds and breaking my sugar addiction. I have broken my sugar addiction, which is pretty incredible. I used to think my day wasn't complete until I had a dessert. Growing up, we always had homemade goodies in the house. My mom was such an amazing cook and baker. She baked pies (with homemade crusts), cookies and cakes. At Christmas time, she would make chocolate candies - chocolate-dipped pretzels, chocolate-dipped peanut butter Ritz Crackers, chocolate-dipped nuts, pralines. OMG! It was sugar overload from Thanksgiving to Christmas every year. 

Tonight is "The Biggest Loser" night on TV. It's rather fitting that I'm talking about breaking my sugar addiction as I watch this show. It's actually pretty amazing the strides these contestants make and how quickly they do. They're changing by the day... getting stronger emotionally, physically and mentally. It's a little like a Whole30 challenge for those of us who don't need to lose weight, but need a little boost. I'm strengthening myself each day.

I still have to do my squats, sit-ups and push-ups. Then I'm off to sleep. Waking up early to ride bike on the trainer and do some Crossfit exercises.

Whole30 - Day 19

Oh, how I love weekends. I slept in again this morning until 8:30am. It's so amazing to sleep as late as my body needs. Upon getting out of bed, I prepared some breakfast. We watched TV while our food settled. I also did some pinning on Pinterest while waiting for my husband to get home from his haircut.

We had a 7-mile run on our training plan for That Dam Run Half Marathon. The weather wasn't quite as nice as yesterday, but we had to get it done. Temps were hovering in the mid-40s and it was a bit windy. I still wore shorts and a short-sleeved shirt. We have a 3.6-mile loop around our neighborhood, so we ran that twice. Between loops, we took a brief water break on the porch. I felt pretty good on the first loop. Second loop, I had some trouble with my breathing. When I push my pace too fast, I tend to struggle with breathing. In turn, my heart gets a weird feeling and sometimes my heart rate will spike to about 200bpm. I didn't have that problem today, because I eased back on my pace. I finished the 7.2 miles in 1:04:53. Last year, I was running that route in an hour flat. It'll take some time to condition my body back to that pace.

After running, I showered and ate a late lunch. I definitely needed a refueling. As I was sitting on the couch, I started to feel awfully sleepy. I could have fallen asleep at 4pm. I had some food prep to do, so I got myself off the couch. I made a double batch of Paleo Crackers to eat with our tuna salad tonight and with our Crock Pot Beef Stew later this week. I also chopped onions, carrots, parsnips and celery for our beef stew. I chopped some carrots, celery and red bell pepper for our tuna salad. I was a busy little bee in the kitchen. I still need to marinate some pork chops for dinner tomorrow.

Breakfast: Omelette with yellow squash, grass-fed all-beef hot dogs, spinach and cashew "alfredo" sauce to hold it all together. Sweet potato slices on the side.

Lunch: Spaghetti Squash with a handful of spinach, leftover meat sauce and cashew "alfredo" sauce. I couldn't finish my plate... my stomach just didn't feel right after running, even though I felt hungry. I did drink a glass of Berry Juice alongside my food. 

 Dinner: Homemade tuna salad atop mixed greens with diced avocado and cucumbers. Paleo crackers on the side. My tuna salad - canned tuna, diced carrots, diced celery, diced red bell pepper, Lemonaise, Dijon mustard, sea salt and pepper. I drank a few sips of Gingerberry Kombucha with dinner.

All that's left for today is marinating the pork chops. Then it's bedtime for this girl. Weekends go by way too quickly. Here's to a great week!