Dear Mom tuna salad is more than just a salad

Dear Mom tuna salad is more than just a salad

Claire recently discovered that petunia salad, ie “tuna salad” is more than just a salad. I have always tried to involve her in the kitchen and this has turned out to be one of her favorite things to make. It has all the elements that make a meal fun for a kid. You need to boil an egg, so there is actual cooking on a fire. Kids love that. Lots of stuff to add, kids love that. Stirring, a mainstay of any kid friendly meal. And once more it goes with just about anything.

Recipe is simple
Boiled eggs
Tuna
Mayo and/or miracle whip
Pickle relish, I prefer dill but sweet relish will work too

There you have it
If you want to get fancy you can add:
Chopped celery
Finely chopped onion or chives
Cilantro or any number of parsley like herbs available in your local grocery
Mustard, any kind will work, but you can really add a flare to it

“I want to turn the water on!” Claire had brought it down to a science exactly what she is allowed to do and what she is not. She cannot carry a pot of water to the stove, but that does not prevent her from turning on and off the water, adding the salt, adding the eggs or putting the lid on the pot.

“Can I turn the stove on now?” She asks this every time but she knows the answer.
“No, your legs are not quite long enough yet.”
“But they are very long and look I how far I can reach!” This is an old argument.
“But not long enough, I will tell you when your legs are long enough.” She, long ago, figured out that her ability to reach something had nothing to do with her being allowed to do it. I have supplanted her leg length as the deciding factor. She has not yet wrapped her head around exactly how I know her legs are long enough but she trusts me that this is a fair and ordinary method of determining ones aptitude for a task. Kind of the way she thinks I can tell the sex of a puppy by looking at the bottom of its feet. I am pleased that even in her eagerness to do all things adult she still asks permission to do things she has never been allowed to do. I fear the time when she just does them and waits to see what happens.

As the water starts to heat she gently puts in three eggs and some salt.

I bring down a mixing bowl and start to open a couple cans of tuna. She gets the mayo, relish and onions out of the frig.

With the tuna opened and drained she announces she will begin. She stands on her step stool in front of the counter. “I will start the petunia salad Dad.” She reaches over and grabs the tuna and using a fork manages to get almost all of the tuna into the bowl.

“Can you open this Dad?” There was a time when she tried to open every jar before she handed them to me. Currently she just hands them to me. A spoon full of mayo and Miracle Whip and a couple spoons of relish and she starts stirring while I finish chopping the onions. I like them finely chopped. I want the flavor but not large chunks of sharp onion flavor, just mild hints of onion. By this time the egg is done and I carry it over to the sink to run water over it. Now comes one of my favorite parts.

I hand her a lukewarm egg. She carefully taps it on the counter several times as she has seen me do so often and starts to peel the egg. If you boil the egg just right the shell comes off really easy. Too long and it sticks. Set the eggs in the water and measure 5 minutes till they are boiling. Then turn the heat off and let stand for 5 more minutes in the hot water. Flash cool them under running water. Voila! I mostly just guess at the time results may vary.

Claire carefully makes sure all egg parts are off the egg. We have a very fancy egg dicer. Put the egg in it and press down on top and you have chopped egg. Thanks to some crazy guy on the TV Claire is convinced it works best with a hard whack! It doesn’t, but how do you argue with a guy on TV?

Once mixed it can be eaten alone, very low carb, or with crackers and celery like a dip, or traditionally between two slices of bread. We like to mix it up, one day on wheat bread the next day on Pepperidge Farm cinnamon bread. Claire came up with this and I have to tell you it is really my favorite now.

We don’t eat till all the prep dishes are in the dishwasher.

“We sure made some great petunia salad Dad.” This is a statement but demands an answer as if it were a question.

“We sure did, you sure are a great tuna salad maker.”


Love Mike