When I was just a wee child in Mrs. Sommers's second grade class, the memories that flood my mind are her love of Dunkin' Donuts coffee, the color purple, and whales... which is probably why we focused so much on learning about sea life... and that just about sums up my second grade school year. I also vividly recall that the day our class got to paint a mural full of sea creatures, my mother included potato salad among my lunch box's contents. I remember the two boys Justin and Jason that I sat down to eat lunch with that day asking me (completely unable to hold back their giggles of course), "EWWWW! Is that tuna?! EW ERICA BROUGHT TUNA FISH FOR LUNCH!" and I yelled at them, "IT AIN'T TUNA!"... and more uncontrollable laughter ensued. I heard the catch phrase "It ain't tuna!" nonstop for a few months after that. English grammar wasn't my strong suit back then. Bringing something other than a lunchable or a good ol' PB&J to school was apparently.
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| I totally read this at least 100 times that school year. Just thought you should know about my amazing book choices, they were Oprah's Book Club worthy. |
I do have to admit, I love tuna salad and occasionally get cravings for it. Luckily, my version does not contain squirmy sea critters and my father told me it's "the best thing I've prepared so far". He's pretty blunt and honest so I trust his sincerity. He also ate the rest of what I left in the fridge without telling me, tsk tsk. I can't be mad at him though; it was rather delightful if I do say so myself!
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| I like my "tuna" served with celery and on romaine leaves with chopped up tomatoes, cucumbers, and avocados. |
Raw "It Ain't Tuna!" Pate:
2 cups raw Sunflower Seeds (soaked for 2+ hours)
2 Tbsp Dulse Seaweed Flakes (found mine @Whole Foods, soak the seaweed in a little bit of apple cider vinegar or lemon juice before throwing it into your food processor)
1 tsp Apple Cider Vinegar
2 Tbsp pickle juice
Juice of ½ lemon
½ tsp sea salt (or less if you're like me and are satisfied with less saltiness than most)
¼ tsp black pepper
-Combine all of the pate ingredients in your food processor. It does get kind of think and chunky so you might have to stop and use a spatula
-Mix the following ingredients in:
¼ cup red onion (medium diced)
1 kosher dill pickle (Brunoise cut/just chop it up into itty bitty pieces)
I have fresh chives available to me all summer long at my convenience, compliments of my backyard, so I added a small sliced up bunch of these.
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| Seriously the best pickles ever. Try them once and you'll end up craving them like you're preggers, even if you lack ovaries. |
