Creamy Tuna Avocado Salad

Baseball season is underway for my two boys, and that means I need to be able to serve up fast and easy meals – or get used to eating hot dogs and concession stand popcorn every other day!

A video for this recipe caught my eye on Facebook, so I gave it a try (with a few little tweaks). The result? Super yummy and super quick to prepare.

Another bonus? By swapping out the mayo used in traditional tuna salad for avocado, you get a healthier dish.

Mangia! Mangia!
Andrea

Creamy Tuna Avocado Salad
Inspired by this recipe from Natasha's Kitchen.com

1 large can (12 ounces) and 1 small can (3 to 4 ounces) tuna in water, drained
1 English cucumber, halved lengthwise and thinly sliced
3 medium, ripe, avocados peeled, pitted and cut into chunks
1/2 to 1 small red onion, quartered and thinly sliced
1/4 to 1/3 cup fresh cilantro, chopped
Juice from 1 large lemon
2 to 3 tablespoons olive oil
Fresh ground pepper
1 teaspoon salt, more to taste

**Note on the salt: If you are making this ahead, or if you are planning on leftovers, do not mix in the salt. Instead, salt each serving separately. The salt will make the cucumbers release water, which will make the salad soggy after a few hours.

Combine first 5 ingredients in a large bowl. Pour lemon juice and olive oil over ingredients. Season with salt and pepper.

Mix to combine. Add more salt and pepper to taste.

Serve alone or on top of mixed greens.

SaveSave

Avocado-Crab Salad

This summer has been sweltering in Charlotte. After days and weeks on end of 90-plus degree days and what feels like 90-plus percent humidity, I have new found appreciation for meals that don't require the oven. Allow me to introduce you to my new favorite beat-the-heat, no-oven-required dinner: avocado-crab salad.

Even the hubby, who typically doesn't like avocado any other way than guacamole, likes this a lot. Here's what he said to me the second time I made this, "Amy, are you sitting down? I want you to know that I'm now open to eating avocado more ways." Success!

XOXO,
Amy

Avocado-Crab Salad
Serves 4 or serves 2 for dinner and 2 for lunch the next day

2-4 teaspoons red onion, finely chopped
Juice of 2 limes
2 tablespoons fresh cilantro, roughly chopped
4 grape or cherry tomatoes, dices
4-6 slices of red pepper, finely diced
1 teaspoon olive oil
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground pepper
8 ounces lump crab meat, drained and gently pulled apart (or you can take your kitchen scissor like I do and roughly cut up the meat)
2 medium Hass avocado (about 5 ounces each), cut in half and pitted
2 butter leaves or handful of spring mix salad (optional)

In medium bowl, mix together all ingredients, except crab, avocado and lettuce. Add crab and gently toss.

Fill each avocado with crab salad and serve atop lettuce, if desired.

Eat leftovers within two days.

Additionally, I think a little bit of finely chopped celery would go well in this salad. Also, if you don't have red onion on hand, I would sub with green onion if you have that.

• 
  

Corn, Avocado & Tomato Salad

When the farmer's markets and grocery stores are bursting with fresh summer produce, this salad is pure perfection. Sweet corn, juicy tomatoes, and creamy avocado...what could be better?

And here's a plan-ahead tip. Next time you're making corn on the cob, cook up a few extra ears and make this salad with the leftovers. You won't regret it.

Let's get cooking!
Erin

Corn, Avocado & Tomato Salad
Inspired by Therese's Corn & Tomato Salad
Serves: 4

4 ears corn (or substitute 2 cups frozen corn, thawed)
2 avocados, diced
1 large tomato, diced (or substitute 1 1/2 cups halved grape tomatoes)
2 tablespoons chopped fresh basil
2 teaspoons extra virgin olive oil
2 teaspoons apple cider vinegar
Salt and pepper

Bring a large skillet of water to a boil. Add corn and cook for about 4 minutes, until it's just tender. Allow corn to cool and cut kernels off the cob.

In a large bowl, combine corn kernels, avocado, tomato, and basil. Drizzle with olive oil and vinegar and season to taste with salt and pepper. Stir gently to combine. Serve immediately.

P.S. Sometimes I have help taking pictures for the blog.

Grilled ABC (Avocado Bacon Cheese) Sandwich

My husband and I do our best to instill important values in our children.

There's the Golden Rule: "Treat others as you would like to be treated."

And then there's Lucy's and Penny's Golden Rule: "Bacon makes everything better."

The grilled avocado bacon cheese sandwich is not an every day sandwich; it's a special treat, for sure. I make it whenever we have the good fortune of having ripe avocados and a little bit of bacon that needs to be used up.

XOXO,
Amy

Grilled Avocado Bacon Cheese Sandwich

Bacon
Butter spread or softened butter
Sliced bread
Avocado, sliced
Cheese slices

Cook bacon on a cookie sheet in the oven at 400 degrees. It will take about 15 minutes. No need to flip the bacon halfway. You will know when the bacon is done when it is sizzling all over. (BTW, I recently learned there is no other way to cook bacon. The mess is contained and the bacon stays flat versus curling up like it does in a frying pan.)

While bacon is in the oven, butter the outside of your slices of bread. Place buttered side down in a skilled sprayed with Pam. Turn heat under the skillet to medium to medium high. Place a piece of cheese on top of the bread and then layer with avocado. Next, layer with the cooked bacon, which you blotted with paper towels after removing from the oven. Layer another piece of cheese on top of the bacon. Add the top piece of bread. Cook as you would a grilled cheese. Be carefully flipping the sandwich so the insides don't spill out all over.

Eat up and enjoy just like this little girl!

Here's Penny giving thumbs up to her first grilled avocado bacon cheese sandwich. It was February 2, 2014, a date that called for a fun, festive, yummy dinner to honor Penny's fifth birthday and Super Bowl Sunday. The only thing that would have made the occasion better would have been if Penny's beloved Carolina Panthers had been playing in the big game.

Amy's Guacamole

When Andrea wrote of her family's love for tacos and her DIY Taco Seasoning, I got a craving for my guacamole. I make this guacamole a lot, especially in the summer. It is one thing that everyone in my family loves. I'd make it more, but none of us has any self control. We all basically stuff our faces. You have been warned.

XOXO,
Amy

PS: The garlic is what makes my guac different from others. Feel free to make this your own. Maybe add cilantro or raw onions. Maybe use homemade salsa if that's in your wheelhouse and you have the time.

Amy's Guacamole

Avocados
Garlic
Salsa (your favorite jarred variety)
Kosher salt
Lime (Lemon will do if you are out of limes)

NOTE: All quantities are approximate. How much you use of anything depends on your own taste and how many you are feeding.

Peel 3-4 avocados and place in bowl. Add 1-2 cloves of minced garlic. Add kosher salt and salsa to our liking. Add juice of one half or whole lime. Mash and  combine using a potato masher. Taste and adjust the seasonings -- namely salt and lime juice -- as needed.

When I made this guac last week, my older daughter Lucy was my helper. She insisted on taking what she called the "transition pictures," which show the various steps in the prep. Here they are.

Tomato-Avocado Quinoa Salad

When Erin introduced Andrea and me as the new "bringers of hot dinner," she mentioned that I like to experiment with vegan cuisine. True. One of my favorite new cookbooks is Angela Liddon's The Oh She Glows Cookbook.

But sometimes I don't like how much work goes into cooking vegan. That's why I like this easy, yummy tomato-avocado quinoa salad and why it is a weekly must-make, must-eat Chez George. My husband, younger daughter and I love to have this for lunch or dinner. (Let that sink in. My husband and six year-old eat quinoa!) It's an easy lunch to pack for work. And it's healthy and filling as quinoa is an ancient grain and complete protein. It's also gluten free.

You'll find other quinoa recipes here at Hot Dinner Happy Home. There's Greek Quinoa Salad. There's Warm Quinoa Salad with Spinach and Mushrooms. There's Quinoa with Corn and Black Beans. Check out our vegetarian section for more.

XOXO,
Amy

Tomato-Avocado Quinoa Salad
Quinoa
Cherry tomatoes
Avocado
Cracked pepper
Salt
Olive oil

Cook quinoa according to the package directions. We always cook a full bag at a time, because between Jeff, Penny and I it doesn't take long to eat it up.

Slice cherry tomatoes in half

Cut up avocado.

Depending on how hungry you are, put a cup or two of quinoa into a bowl. The quinoa can be warm, room temp or cold. Jeff prefers it cold. I like it all ways. Top with tomatoes, avocado, cracked pepper, salt and 1 tablespoon olive oil. Eat and feel awesome about the healthy choice you made to fuel your body.