Tasty Tuesday!

I've got not one, not two, but three good giveaways right now. Check them out here, here, and here!

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I feel truly inspired today. Like really, truly inspired. I just saved myself a ton of money. A friend of mine frequently eats the preflavored tuna packs that those lovely companies have come out with lately. Granted, they're made it more ingredients than I usually like to ingest, but man are they good.

And on a hot day (yep, the a/c is officially on in our house after it got up to 82 degrees overnight *sigh*), I am not cooking. I'm not even grilling when it's 90 plus and such high humidity. Those tuna packages make for such a light and refreshing meal, and I'm all over it.

And then I think about the $2.49 I'm spending on each package that I could probably make for cheaper. And healthier. And potentially yummier.

So I got to work.

I think I did ok. Any guesses what I'm having for lunch tomorrow?

Pesto Tomato Tuna Salad

Ingredients:
1 can tuna (albacore in water for me) - I use Costco's 7oz can (only $1.50 per!)
1/4 c fresh basil
1 T olive oil
4 T Parmesan cheese
2 t pine nuts
1 t garlic, minced (don't use the icky bottled stuff please!)
1 T mayonaise (mmmm real mayonaise)
8 sun-dried tomatoes, drained

Directions:
Ok ok ok, so you can use your own premade pesto if you want, but it tastes so much better when you make your own. You'll need about a third of a cup if you're using premade basil.

Gently toast your pine nuts in a dry pan for a few minutes until they start to smell yummy. Don't let them burn though - you'll want to keep shaking the pan.

Place the basil in your blender (a mini one works great for this orrrrrr you could just up the recipe and save the remaining basil for something else fun!). Add about half the olive oil and give it a whirl until it's made a good paste.

Add half the pine nuts, all the garlic (add the garlic in the next step if you like it less garlicky, as fewer cells will break and it won't be quite as strong), and 1 T of the parmesan and while again until well blended. Add the remaining pine nuts and 1 T of the Parmesan and blend again.

With the blender still going, slowly drizzle in the remaining olive oil until it's smooth. Ta-da! Pesto is really that easy.

Now... drain your tuna. Add it to a bowl. Chop up your sun-dried tomatoes and add them. Toss in the pesto you just made, along with the remaining Parmesan (do I really need to say we aren't using the stuff in the green can here?). Include the mayo and gently fold it all together.

Enjoy on sandwiches (this makes enough for two meals for me, and sometimes three) over a salad, with crackers or however you want. Yum!

Yep, definitely cheaper than buying the single serve package for $2.49. And healthier, I think!

Enjoy this and more with Blessed with Grace and Tempt My Tummy Tuesday!