Faux Tuna Salad

Ok, I'm going to share a kind of gross story, so skip to the recipe if you're not up for it. I used to love tuna. LOVE. Because if you didn't know, this vegetarian farmer's wife still eats fish. I don't eat it very often (and I NEVER eat tuna...not now), but every so often I dabble in sea life. Anyway...

Back when I was in TA in grad school I took one of those tuna/cracker packs for lunch (I shudder to think of it). When I opened it it was all oily (even though it was packed in water) and I was so grossed out I threw it in the trash. Ummmm. Let me explain that our "offices" in grad school were oh, ya know, closets. So dumping that tuna in the trash was a really, really, really bad idea. I went to a class at some point and closed the door. When I came back later to get my bag...no more tuna. EVER.

All that said, I still sometimes long for a tuna salad sandwich. Pickles, mustard, mayo, hardboiled egg. LOVE, but not willing to eat tuna. So last Friday I came up with an alternative and the faux tuna salad was born. There are dozens of variations out there, but this one is super basic and SO easy.

The Recipe: Faux Tuna Salad

What you need:
1 can or 2 cups of prepared garbanzo beans (chick peas)
1 tbsp mustard
1 tbsp mayo
1 medium dill pickle (chopped)
1 hardboiled egg (optional)
bread, chips or crackers to eat it with

Place all ingredients in a blender or mini food processor and chop until chunky, but not pureed. Add more mustard or mayo for a creamier consistency.

I didn't use egg this go round because I was hungry and didn't want to wait on the egg. It was great with chips and today I ate it on a sandwich for lunch. The Farmer doesn't even like mayo and he loved it as dip. I had to tell him yesterday to stop eating it so I could have it in a sandwich today (stingy much?).

The best part? It doesn't smell like tuna!!! But you'll be amazed how much it resembles the taste of tuna salad.

And a picture? Yep, don't have one of those, just take my word for it.