I love tuna salad. I love egg salad. Rather than choose between them, put them together, and you've got a marriage made in tastebud heaven. The ingredient that holds it together is the sweet pickles. I first made it with sweet and spicy pickles, and have since used a combination of bread and butter pickles (sweet) and spicy dill pickles. I am not exacting with amounts, since different palates prefer didn't pungencies - I will say that I like strong flavors, which means lots of pickles and onions :) 

Tuna Egg Salad

1 can of albacore tuna, flaked
2 hard boiled eggs, chopped
chopped pickles (sweet & spicy), to taste (I use about 3-4 tablespoons)
onion, finely chopped, to taste (I use about 1-2 tablespoons)
mayonnaise, to taste (I use about 2-3 tablespoons)
dried dill weed (optional)
black pepper (optional)

Mix it all up, folding in the chopped eggs last.

Serve as is, in a sandwich, or my favorite way (as pictured) - on crackers...specifically Trader Joe's whole grain seed crackers and Ak-Maks (also whole grain, also sold at TJ's).

In an effort to cut back on carbs - especially refined grains - I am trying to find tasty, workable substitutes for crackers, chips, basically anything crunchy or doughy (just typing that gives me cravings).  Arriving home from homeschool park day around 3pm, my snack brain turned on and I started thinking out of the (bread) box as I contemplated my options, not wanting to repeat anything I had already eaten today, which meant no eggs, cheese, nuts, or fruit.  

When I went to the pantry to get a bottle of apple cider vinegar (for mixing with garlic olive oil to dip carrots), I noticed a can of skipjack tuna from Trader Joe's. I always buy the wild albacore tuna from Costco, but something about that name just made me want to try it, even though it's chunk light. I knew that I still wanted protein, and near the can of tuna was a jar of sliced dill pickles (also from TJ's) - the kind I usually chop and put in tuna salad. 

It occurred to me that the pickles were the right shape for rolling, and then I realized that other tuna salad mix-ins could also work, like pickled jalapeno peppers and pepperoncini. So I mixed the tuna with a little mayo (just enough to moisten it), and voila, inside out tuna rolls!  I did add a little chopped onion after the first taste, because you know, onions and pickles...

The only one not pictured is the artichoke heart. It was okay, but it needed something, so I dropped it in the leftover vinaigrette dip from my carrot snack and let it marinate for a few minutes. Then when I topped it with the tuna, it was delightful. My favorite, though, was the stuffed pepperoncini. 

I didn't use celery because I had already had that earlier in the day with cream cheese and lox - if you add capers, it's a grown-up version of ants on a log...or you could do dill for termites :)  

Another low-carb way I sometimes eat canned tuna is mixed with cottage cheese and salsa. Next time, I'm going to try it with Sriracha mayo on a cucumber slice...mmm...

Decided to make it easier on myself and give the children a self-serve lunch - cold cuts, cheeses, crackers, fruits, and nuts. They thought it was glorious. Not sure why it took me this long to come up with such a basic idea!

It was gratifying to see them consider one another, asking if they could take the last piece and graciously assenting to each other.

They tried more foods than usual - my 8 yr-old even said "salami tastes better than I thought it would" and my son took tangerine (not his favorite) because of the creativity that buffet style eating sparked.

They didn't have to keep asking for seconds, thirds, etc., yet they seemed to know when to stop eating.

The next step is getting them to assemble the buffet...judging from my track record, that will happen by the time they're teens ;)