Tuna and Avocado Salad with White Beans

If this recipe sounds eerily familiar, it is because it is a knock-off of Erins Avocado Salad. I got so addicted to her salmon salad that I began to ponder my role in the decline of the Pacific Northwest wild salmon population.  And also, wild salmon is expensive (so, so worth every penny, however, but sometimes you have to remind yourself there are other fish in the sea).

1 can albacore tuna
1 avocado, peeled and diced
1 can of white beans, rinsed and drained (I took a strong liking to Great Northern beans for this, but garbanzos are great also, as are other white beans)
10-12 kalamata olives, pitted and chopped
1/2 red onion, coarsely chopped
1/4 cup feta cheese (I also use Romano cheese often, either is delicious or go cheese-free if you prefer)
Lemon juice to taste
Salt and pepper to taste

Mix all ingredients and sprinkle with lemon juice and salt and pepper.

There are endless variations to this. Sometimes I chop some Bibb lettuce leaves and toss them in, or sliced fresh basil if I have it. Chopped pecans are yummy in it. My husband has requested cucumbers be added but  sadly he has been overruled every time as I don't like them! And of course, sub salmon for tuna for the Cadillac version.

Avocado Salad

Or as I like to think of it; the pregnant girl manna.

A few years ago I make this salad and bring it to the beach to share.

Jessica, quite pregnant at the time oohs and ahhs over it and tells me it meets all her crazy pregnancy needs.

I’m happy to have provided a good lunch and all is well.

Until the next summer, when I am in her former state and she returns the favor.

It is only then than I truly understand what she was trying to say.

This salad was like food to a starving Ethiopian kid. (I guess that dates me.... my father would have said Chinese kid.. I don't know what the starving kid de jour is but let me tell you send him some of this salad and everyone will be good.)

Bottom line, I cried in gratitude.

Seriously.

3 Avocados, chopped in 1 inch cubes

10 Cherry Tomatoes, halved or quartered depending on size

1 can of garbanzo beans

1/2 red onion diced

1/2 bunch cilantro, chopped

1 can of salmon

Mix it all together and serve over lettuce, in lettuce as a wrap, or with flax chips or flax crackers.