Tuna Salad And Pita Crisps: The Perfect After-School Snack

Tuna Salad with Pita Crisps is one of my favorite go-to snacks for after-school, after-practice, or as a quick weekend snack to tie my family over between meals. It’s also perfect for a summer party (as an appetizer or a heart-healthy first course). It’s easy to prepare, full of fresh and flavorful ingredients, and best of all, it takes just minutes to put together.

As I start thinking about getting my family back on schedule for fall and back to school, this is one of those recipes I’ll start to turn to more and more. One of the things I like most about it is that it uses ingredients that I typically have on hand in my pantry starting with white tuna (always a staple in my house), which is packed with 12 g of protein, 110 mg omega-3’s and is loaded with heart-healthy flavor.

Now, that’s new school!

I always keep tuna in my kitchen for flavorful sandwiches, tuna melts and wraps. But when it’s served alongside homemade pita crisps (crunch city!), it really becomes something special.

This recipe also uses fresh veggies, lemon juice, and chopped walnuts, but if you have family members with nut allergies, just leave out the nuts and continue on with the recipe as listed below. You won’t sacrifice taste or texture at all.

Another note: you can make the tuna salad in advance and store in the fridge for up to a day before serving. Because this recipe doesn’t use mayo, the salad doesn’t get too heavy if it’s made ahead. Also, be sure to double the recipe if you’re feeding a crowd because this dish has a way of disappearing!

If I’m making this recipe for a party (it’s a perfect appetizer), I serve it as a large chip/dip platter, just like you would with guacamole and chips. This gives it a festive, dig-right-in appeal to it. Otherwise, I put the tuna salad in a pretty glass bowl and the pitas right alongside the tuna on a large plate.

Once your family sees them together on the table, they’ll know exactly what to do. The pita crisps are so delicious - right out of the oven - that I promise both the tuna and the pitas will be gone in no time. Enjoy!

Tuna Salad and Pita Crisps Recipe

For the Tuna Salad:

• 1 5 oz. can white tuna
• ½ cup shredded carrots
• ½ cup chopped walnuts
• 1 tbsp. fresh chopped parsley
• ½ cup cannellini beans (rinsed and drained well)
• 1 tbsp. extra virgin olive oil
• 1 tbsp. Dijon mustard
• Juice from 1 lemon
• ½ tsp. Kosher salt
• ½ tsp. freshly ground black pepper

Directions:

1. Drain tuna and put into medium bowl. Flake lightly with a fork. Add carrots, walnuts and cannellini beans and mix gently.
2. In a small bowl, whisk together olive oil, mustard, and lemon juice. Add to tuna mixture and combine gently.
3. Add salt, pepper, and parsley. Set aside.

For the Pita Crisps:
• 2 pitas
• Olive oil
• Salt and pepper

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Cut pitas into triangles and place on baking sheet. Drizzle lightly with olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Bake for 10 minutes or until crisp (watch them so they don’t burn).
2. Serve alongside tuna salad.

Serves: 4

About Tuna Salad

Tuna salad is a great way to satisfy hunger with only a few ingredients. It is also quite simple to prepare. Here is some information about tuna salad, and what you should know when preparing it.

A popular picnic food and lunch-time meal, tuna salad is a filling and easy-to-make meal that is very popular with kids and adults. A staple of almost every household, tuna salad is especially easy for working, busy mothers to whip up for their families even as a light dinner.

A tuna salad usually includes eggs, tuna (most likely it's the canned kind) and mayonnaise. It can served as a tightly packed scoop on lettuce, as filling for roasted bell peppers, or go between two slices of bread to form a filling sandwich. See below under Additional Resources for a variety of different variations of tuna salad.

Types

Tuna salad comes in various forms. Sometimes the mayonnaise is omitted and a brown or gourmet-type of mustard is used. Also, sometimes the eggs are replaced with a thick relish. It's becoming more common to add bits of celery for texture and crunch. You can buy already prepared tuna salad in grocery stores, but be sure to ask what is in it exactly and when it was made, so it's fresh and not a leftover.

Benefits

Due to its fish and egg content, tuna salad is usually high in protein. Though it depends on how it is prepared, tuna salad is high in a whole different range of vitamins and minerals such as Iron, Vitamin E, Niacin, Vitamin B-6, Vitamin B-12, Phosphorus and contains over a day's worth of selenium.

In addition to being a great source of low-fat protein, tuna is a good source of omega-3 fatty acids, which are healthy fats. They are also common in other cold water fish, such as salmon, mackerel and sardines. Omega-3s can help protect against heart disease and help with brain development and eyesight.

Risks from Mercury in Tuna: People who very frequently eat seafood that is high in mercury have been know to suffer from neurological problems, such as sensory disturbances and imbalance. For the average person who eats a tuna sandwich once a week, this is unlikely to happen, but if you have bluefin tuna sushi every day for lunch, you may want to find another mid-day treat.

The warnings that were in the news a few years ago, stating that people should reduce their tuna consumption, were mainly meant for pregnant women and young children. This is because babies and young children have nervous systems that are still developing, so they are more sensitive to mercury.

Canned Tuna

When it comes to canned tuna, white tuna, such as bluefin and albacore, is higher in mercury than light tuna, such as yellowfin or skipjack. The good news is that light tuna is also less expensive. And all canned tuna has less mercury than fresh tuna fillets.

The bottom line? If you're pregnant or have young children, choose light canned tuna. Otherwise, enjoy whatever kind of tuna you like, knowing that you're getting a good source of protein with an added benefit of omega-3 fatty acids. In other words, you can have your tuna sandwich, and eat it, too.

Warning

The mayonnaise content in tuna salad makes the caloric and fat, especially saturated fat, content add up quickly. Try using a light mayonnaise. Also, to further reduce calories and fat, look for tuna packed in water rather than oil. If you do take tuna salad on a picnic, make sure to keep it in a cooler to prevent bacteria from forming and spreading.

Tuna Crunch Salad Recipe

An excellent source of omega 3 fatty acids, protein and other essential nutrients, tuna provides a strong foundation for a vast array of meals. It is already cooked, so preparing it is easy and quick. Stock up on tuna next time it’s on sale, and there will always be something substantial in the pantry.

Ingredients: