Kind Bars: Won’t Save Your Life in a High Risk Situation; Sure Do Taste Good

I recently lamented to my friends at Sierra Rescue that my ski jacket had run dry of emergency bars. What is an emergency bar you ask? Well, it doesn’t have to be a bar, (a college friend was highly committed to the idea of emergen-cheese) but it is some type of calorie dense food that you keep in your ski jacket or life jacket or climbing pack that is packed with protein and sugar and calories, so if you are ever in a backcountry emergency you can count on a little, well, sustenance. It is best not to eat your emergency bar unless you are really in an emergency, stuck for several hours, far off in the back country, truly needing fuel to maintain life functions.

I ate my bar when my ski lift stopped…for five minutes…and I got bored. I was kind of hungry. But the kind folks over at KIND Healthy Snacks had just sent me some samples and they tasted really good and what if the lift was stopped for longer than five minutes? It seemed emergency enough. It was not.

According to Sierra Rescue, my greatest mistake was bar choice. “You can’t have an emergency bar that tastes good!” – I won’t tell you what flavor they suggest, but they’re on to something. Your emergency bar should not be something you desire, it should not be something you would ever consider eating if you were hungry or bored or looking for something yummy, it should taste awful, it should be something that will stay in your pack regardless of how hungry you get, it should be something you would only eat…in a real emergency.

So unfortunately, KIND bars don’t make the cut. Do not count on a KIND bar to save your life, because you will have already eaten it long ago. There are however, several reasons to keep them in your pack, with gluten free and high protein options they make a great climbing snack, and unlike a lot of other bars they don’t feel too dense or heavy. Some of their flavors are really unique, my favorite being the Cashew Ginger Spice and Dark Chocolate Chili Almond. I won’t say don’t put it in your ski jacket, I’ll just say don’t count on it being there when you need it!

Eat Like an Athlete Guest Post #2, Chris Miller

I met Chris Miller a little over a year ago at the Green Climbers Home in Laos (described in my Larb recipe post). He caught my attention a) by being an American East Coaster like myself,  and b)  by crushing, really hard. Lucky for me, I recently found out that I will likely have the opportunity to climb with him again next year in China. Since last I saw him the man has been busy, crushing routes all over the world (from Red River Gorge in Kentucky to Yangshuo, China), and picking up sponsorships with Goal Zero, Mad Rock, KAILAS and Discrete Headwear along the way. I don’t know if you want to take the guys’ nutrition advice, but then again, as I told you before, he’s crushing…hard.

“Jungle King” 5.12b – Thakhek, Laos. Photographer: Marcel Heemskerk

Hey what’s up everyone, Chris Miller here! As a rock climber traveling the world I’m exposed to a wide variety of foods so my diet is constantly changing. Before I delve into my nutrition/super delicious eating habits I have a confession…I know very little about nutrition. It’s terrible I know, but hey sometimes ignorance can be bliss! My standard “go-to” for determining if a food dish or meal is a keeper is based on how it tastes. If it tastes good, then hell- I can dig it! That being said I do have a few guidelines that I loosely follow with regards to my eating habits. Usually during a standard full day of climbing I eat a nice big breakfast, a small but energizing lunch and a massive delicious dinner. After a hard day climbing I try to make sure I get some proteins and carbs in during dinner, as well as a nice IPA or two. I love raw fruits and veggies, mainly because my culinary skills are lacking. I generally try to eat as little artificial sugar/sweetener as possible but let’s be honest, some of the tastiest treats are cranked with sugary sweetness! We only live once, and of course eating healthy is beneficial to a long life, but if you don’t spoil yourself every once in a while then I feel sorry for you. Just imagine a thin, lightly crisped pancake, filled with bananas and smothered in sweetened condensed milk. Yeah, that’s right. Go find one and enjoy it because they are f**king amazing! During my rest days from climbing my meals/diet differs. I don’t consciously focus on it but I tend to eat a lot on rest days; I’m talking six to seven hearty meals type rest days as if I’ve got permanent munchies. Sometimes I feel like a slug by the end of the day, but after several days of pushing myself mentally and physically while climbing, it’s well worth it. There are many athletes whose diets are very structured and specific and there’s nothing wrong with that. I just prefer to allow more freedom in my diet. If I stumble across a local Chinese or Thai dish that looks delicious I grab it and dig in, regardless of the nutritional value of it. If it’s super unhealthy I may not rush back to it anytime soon, but I was still able to experience and enjoy it.

 

“Over the Moon” 5.12c – Yangshuo, China

Photographer: Tom Skelhon

Fun Food Facts:

Favorite food: Lanzhou La Mian

Least favorite food: Anything containing congealed blood

Guilty pleasure food: Fried Dumplings

Fruits or Veggies: Fruits

What to do with the pulp from your juicer: Pulpy Chocolate Chip Bread!

All the cool kids are doing it. Yeah that’s right, it, and you know what it is, juicing. Everybody’s on the juicing bandwagon, and with benefits like increased nutrient absorption and mental clarity, why wouldn’t you be? Ok, I can think of a few reasons…I hate to say it, but juicing does have a dark side, not like a Dexter Morgan “I’m secretly a serial killer” kind of dark side, just a “I’m a pretty expensive way for you to consume more sugar than you really need” kind of dark side. That’s right, juicing is great, but it’s still juice – that thing you probably shouldn’t give to babies or they’ll end up obese, it’s not just about apple juice, it’s about juice, the sugary nectar from fruits and vegetables.

Juice, when done correctly, is also very expensive. For a long time, I would get frustrated by the prices when I walked in to New Moon, our local health food store in Truckee. But truth be told, the prices are fantastic. New Moon is getting their organic vegetables at a wholesale cost, and you will find quickly that purchasing the amount of organic vegetables that you need to squeeze and grind in to one juice is rather pricey, even if you do it on your own at home. You could likely take that same amount of vegetables and divide them about into your meals throughout a day or two, just as if not more healthy (you’re eating the skin and fibers), and far more economical.

Now that I’ve adequately played Devil’s Advocate (you’re welcome, Mama), I feel better about making the following statement: Juice makes me feel AWESOME. I don’t know what it is, but when I finish drinking a juice, I want to rebuild the scene from Almost Famous when the rock star, Russel, screams “I am A Golden GOD” and subsequently “I am on drugs!” and jumps into the pool.  Because that’s how I feel after drinking juice. But…I am not a wasteful lady. In fact, I hate food waste, it is my pet peeve, it is what makes me go into other people’s refrigerators and shamelessly judge them, I just won’t stand for it. So this week, I experimented with making bread (could easily be muffins as well) out of the extracted pulp from the vegetables in your juicer. These will be very fibrous muffins. I made mine with chocolate chips, because YES, the bread does have an “earthy” taste, but based on the three slices I ate in one day; it was pretty dang good. If you like this post and want to see others like it, feel free to fund it by checking out my campaign at Indiegogo. Now here’s the recipe:

Pulpy Chocolate Chip Bread

Bowl 1:

• 2 cups extracted pulp from your juicer (I had juiced carrots, an apple, beets, cucumbers, parsley and kale – be sure to sift through the pulp to get out any large pieces of skin or fiber out)
• 1/2 cup applesauce
• 1 very ripe banana
• 1 cup melted coconut oil
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 cup agave nectar or honey (it will be slightly sweeter with agave, which I liked 🙂 )

Bowl 2:

• 2 1/2 cups all purpose gluten free flour (or feel free to use whole wheat flour if you’re not GF)
• 1 tspn Xanthum Gum (only necessary for GF Flour)
• 1 tbs baking powder
• 2 tbs cinnamon
• 1 tspn nutmeg

Mix bowl 1 together with a hand mixer, then add Bowl 2 to Bowl 1, mix the bowls together until well incorporated. If the conglomeration seems too soupy, add flour. Once the bowls are well mixed, add 1 cup of dark chocolate chips, and walnuts if you please! Bake at 350 for about forty minutes.  Enjoy!

Mexican Lasagna / Layer Cake / Tamale Pie / Polenta Casserole?

Sometimes naming a dish gets really hard. I consider myself fairly good at creating new dishes, even better at eating them, but pathetically helpless when it comes time to name them. If I were to have kids I’m sure they’d either have some new age hippie name that makes people roll their eyes when they turn away, or just number them out to reduce the pressure.

This recipe is gluten free and can easily be vegan (replace cheese with nutritional yeast, skip the turkey).

1 cup polenta corn meal
2 cups vegetable broth
1 tbs minced garlic
1 tspn black pepper

1/2 onion, diced
5 white button mushrooms, diced
1 pound of ground turkey
1 bell pepper, diced
1 jalapeno, diced

1 tablespoon chilli powder
2 teaspoons cumin
1 tspn onion powder
1 tspn garlic powder
1/2 tspn salt
1 tspn pepper

1 can black beans
1/2 cup grated cheddar cheese
2 avocados, sliced
1 tomato diced (or I had cherried tomatos, whatever your pleasure)
1 bunch cilantro, diced
2 limes

Directions: Boil your polenta with the vegetable broth, adding in garlic and pepper until it is a thick but moist mixture. Because you are going to bake this again, you may want to add a little extra broth so your polenta is on the creamier side – coconut milk can help too. In a skillet with olive oil, cook the ground turkey, adding in the veggies to very lightly saute them. Then, add your spice mixture (essentially a taco seasoning, if you’re feeling lazy just add taco seasoning). Once the polenta is down, pour it down in an 8 x 8 baking dish, and then add the meat and veggie mixture on top. Then, drain your can of black beans and add that on top. Spread cheese on top of the beans, then adding the sliced avocado and tomatoes on top. Place the casserole into the oven to heat for 20 minutes on 350. When the baking is done, add cilantro and lime on top for flavor. Dig in!

 

If you like this post and want more like it, fund it ! http://igg.me/at/summitsustenance/x/6064333

Live to Eat: What River Guides are Really Made Of

This week I did a guest blog for none other than the greatest river trip company on the planet, check it out on ECHO River Trips’ blog! 

Larb: When good food gets a bad name

Between June of 2012 and August of 2013, I spent approximately 11 months living outside. No electricity, no flushing toilets, no wordpress blogging. It was at the beginning of this stint, in June of 2012 in the woods of Southern Oregon that I first hesitantly tasted larb.

Initial thoughts:

A) Sounds like lard.

2) Described as “meat salad”

&) words I don’t like together = meat + salad

D) Fish sauce sounds gnarly.

Fast forward 7 months and I am in Laos, the homeland of Larb. I know what you’re thinking, and no, I did not travel to Laos on a soul searching quest for the real deal Larb, it was just a bonus born from a quest for climbing limestone.

While I truly believe in engaging the traveling spirit and playing things by ear, I am by nature, a planner. After six weeks in Tonsai I was ready for a change of scene, and after hearing about the ever-popular Green Climbers Home I made reservations for a bamboo bungalow for the week after New Year’s. The Green Climbers Home is essentially what it sounds like,  a young German couple and many of their friends have set tons of incredible routes on limestone and have maintained a restaurant, dorm style rooms, bungalows and tent sites  for climbers to rent while they stay at the crag.

It was New Year’s day when I overheard a man in the Boathouse Restaurant in Tonsai, Thailand state “Oh my god, The Green Climbers Home burned down last night!”

I don’t do so well with changes in plans. Um, what? It was true. Quite tragically, a firework went off into one of the bungalows, quickly burning that bungalow and those surrounding it, the dormitories, the restaurant, all but three bungalows (as seen above). Many people in Tonsai had the Green Climbers Home on their list, but now everyone seemed unsure of what to do. Tanja, co-owner of GCH and total crusher assured us that while the climbing camp had burned down, the rocks had not. The mission continued.

The Green Climbers Home was indeed burned. As promised, the rocks were not. The one week “plan” quickly extended itself to ten days, We were amazed by the incredible limestone roof, home to truly world classic climbs like Saugeburt (which takes you into a cave, births you out of a tunnel, and then traverses you to a final committing crimp pull below the anchors, arguably the most dramatic crescendo of awesome I have ever experienced on a climb). We were equally amazed by the community that had formed after the tragic fire. People were still climbing, the owners, Tanja and Uli, were clearly distraught, but seemed as strong mentally as they appeared physically (which is very strong). Rebuilding was the only option, but in a “sabai sabai” environment like Laos (Sabai Sabai quite literally translates in English to “Obla-di, Obla-da”) construction can take quite some time.

Now, a year later, I have heard that the climbers home is ALMOST entirely rebuilt. If you like climbing, or larb, or maybe you’re nervous about larb because it sounds like lard but you think you might want to give it a shot, or maybe you’re nervous about climbing but you think you might want to give that a shot too, I would suggest the Green Climbers Home in Laos. My theory is that if you do two things that scare you at the same time, then you don’t have the bandwidth to fully fear both at the maximum fear potential. So maybe if you started rock climbing in conjunction with trying larb, neither would seem so scary. I can assure you that both larb (depending on how you make it) and rock climbing (depending on how you do it) are really, really good for your health.

In the event that you are not going to Laos this week, I will give you an extremely modified recipe for Larb. This recipe is paleo friendly, gluten free, and can easily be made vegan.

If you like this post or recipe and want to help fund it or others like it, check out the campaign at Indiegogo: http://igg.me/at/summitsustenance/x/2565171

Larb:

• 1 pound ground turkey (I fried this up in a pan with toasted sesame oil) – for vegetarian option you can sautee Tofu or mushrooms instead
• 1 chopped and sauteed baby bok choy
• 1/2 diced and sauteed red onion
• 1/4 cup minced lemongrass
• 1 tablespoon minced garlic
• 1/2 cup fresh mint roughly chopped
• 1/2 cup fresh cilantro roughly chopped
• 1/3 cup fresh lime juice
• 2 tablespoons fish sauce (or if you really can’t stand it or want vegan option, use Tamari)
• 1 tablespoon honey (or agave)
• *I added 1/2 cup chopped cashews for texture and flavor, not traditional at all, or necessary, but really good!

Directions: Add ground turkey (or diced tofu, or minced mushrooms) into a frying pan with toasted sesame oil, once mostly cooked add red onion and bok choy, continue to sautee. Add lemongrass, and then finally garlic, sautee for another minute and then remove from heat. Add chopped mint and cilantro and mix well. In a separate bowl, combine lime juice, fish sauce (or tamari) and honey. Dress the “meat salad” with the lime juice conglomeration, and then add cashews if you so please. Climb on!

Narrowly Escaping Death on the Middle Fork of the Salmon River…and Peanut Sesame Noodles

This was a crazy summer for river runners on the Middle Fork of the Salmon River, Idaho’s most wild and scenic river trip. The water was low, lower than many had seen it in several years, and on a few trips we found ourselves rowing past flames, watching trees dramatically crash down the river corridor, their roots smoking like chimneys. A flood of gastrointestinal illness wreaked havoc on river runners throughout the canyon for a few weeks, and people began reporting rabid bat sightings, my crew seeing one out at lunch. The Middle Fork of the Salmon River is always wild and scenic, but this year there was a strong emphasis on the wild aspect.

So I guess we shouldn’t have been so surprised when we pulled in to Boundary Creek to be greeted by Fox News and the FBI. Some of you may remember the story from this summer, a man murdered a mother and son in their home, and then kidnapped the teenage daughter of the family, bringing her to the greatest place on earth for a wilderness vacation – The Middle Fork of the Salmon River. (You can read more about the story here). The FBI agent who greeted us in his bulletproof vest was ridiculously good looking in a scary FBI agent kind of way, making me think that he was maybe just an actor hired by FOX. Nonetheless, creepily handsome FBI agent forewarned us that “there may be an armed man out on the loose, near where you may be camping tonight.” I was already nervous about deadheading at 1.7 (MF Salmon code for “little girl pushes big boat off of sharp rocks”), concerned about rabid bats, hoping to not get a stomach virus, and praying that no new fires would erupt bringing smoke or debris into the river, so hey, why not throw an armed murderer into the mix?

 (Ridiculously good looking guide crew doing Sexy Tiger pose with stuffed bear…I think the bear is fake. I hope the bear is fake…)

Our fearless leader, Zach, owner of Northwest Rafting Company, manager of ECHO River Trips and substitute Sweep Boat Driver headed down river like it ain’t no thang, and so we followed him. We boated until the sun went down that night, and sat at camp, perhaps all secretly wondering how close we were to crazy armed murderer man. I bet it’s right about now that you’re wondering how this has anything to do with food- well the thing is, that it really doesn’t, except for the fact that we did eat food that night (as we do, every night). Our “Deadhead Dinner” for the evening was Sri Racha Peanut Sesame Noodles, they are gluten free and easily vegan, unless we start that honey debate again… – here’s the recipe:

Sri Racha Peanut Sesame Noodles

• 1 package brown rice pad thai noodles

• 2 cups of an assortment of chopped vegetables (broccoli, carrots, mushrooms, onion, bell pepper or whatever you like)

• 1 package of extra firm organic tofu (or 1 pound boneless skinless chicken breast)

• 4 tablespoons toasted sesame oil (maybe 5…)

• ⅓ cup extra chunky peanut butter

• ⅓ cup honey

• 2 tablespoons tamari or gluten free soy sauce

• 2 tbs sri racha

• 2 tspns fish sauce (hold off if you’re vegan/vegetarian)

• 1 tspn fresh grated ginger

• 1 tablespoon crushed garlic

• ½ cup coconut milk

• chopped peanuts, cilantro and green onions – as garnish.

 

Directions: In a pot, boil pad thai noodles keeping a close eye (they cook quickly). In a pan, saute chopped vegetables and tofu in two tablespoons of toasted sesame oil. In a saucepan on low heat, heat up the rest of your toasted sesame oil and add your peanut butter, mixing constantly. Then add honey, making sure that everything stays smooth and well incorporated. Slowly add tamari and sri racha, again trying to keep everything smooth. Add in the garlic and ginger and fish sauce if applicable. Pour over drained noodles and mix well for an epic river style one pot meal. Add peanuts cilantro and green onions on top (because everything on the river is done with style).

Later that night, a fellow guide called out on their satellite phone to find out that the kidnapper had been shot only a few miles as the bird flies from our camp. Despite all of the craziness, we proceeded to have one of the greatest river trips of the season. I don’t know if it was all of the protein in the peanut sesame noodles, or the fact that we had one of the best looking guide crews of all time (see below) – but the trip was over the top fun, with great people, great water, and tons of music.

Eat Like An Athlete Guest Blog #1

You may know this guy, as his rendition of Gollum doing a Taylor Swift song went viral on Youtube Last year. If you haven’t seen it you should check it out, it’s hysterical.  But what you likely don’t know about Ian is that he is perhaps foremost a phenomenal writer, and a lifelong athlete and exceptional climber. And look at that face..

.

 

When I told people my plan to have a guest athlete/writer/foodie post on my blog pretty much everyone gave me one of three responses. “Oh, I’m not really an ‘athlete,'” or “I have been eating horribly lately” or “I really know nothing about food.” I wasn’t choosing people because I thought they were god’s gift to nutrition, cooking and athleticism, I was choosing them because I thought they had a story to tell, or a lesson to share. The secret is that athletes are real people, and real people are athletes, we have bad and good days, months, and years, and I couldn’t think of a better first story to represent that than this awesome story from Ian. Thanks Ian! 

My name is Ian. I wear glasses, I can’t multi-task. I am a climber. However after 14 years I stopped climbing in early spring of this year when I hurt my knee bouldering on the California coast. While my knee only hurts once in a while now and I could have continued climbing months ago, I chose to stay out of it, clear my head, and see where I had ended up.

I grew up in athletics and lived, for all intents and purposes, a sport-centered lifestyle throughout college. My sister taught me to rock climb at 10, but I began climbing in earnest to balance and strengthen my core after a pole-vaulting spinal injury at 15. Climbing was the only thing that allowed me to continue vaulting (my passion then) and the better I got at climbing, the better I got at vaulting and the safer I felt in my body. Climbing trips, competitions and pole-vault meets filled my weekends, and eventually I began to talk to different schools about vaulting in college. Though I didn’t much care at the time, as I burned up everything in my body seemingly instantaneously, I could always feel the effects of my diet on my performance in both sports, and at the end of high school I ate carefully. Unfortunately I re-injured my spine weeks before college and had to stop vaulting entirely, and began the slow slog through dorm-food, pasta and PBR to reach the other side of college. Looking back, climbing and the obsessively athletic, body-centric mindset it engendered was probably the only thing that kept me healthy as I sunk deeper and deeper into the various excitements of school.

I’m making another transition now, and perversely my spring knee injury has given me advantages over my former body-obsessed self. For 14 years climbing commanded a massive portion of my brain, coloring weekly experiences, friendships, relationships. I felt (and still feel) that where pole vaulting was my passion, rock climbing was and is my addiction, and I never truly felt comfortable with the lack of choice I perceived in that arrangement. I am transitioning now into a life of teaching. I fell into a job at a prestigious private school in the Bay Area and I am trying like hell to keep up. I am invigorated daily not by my own physical performance, but by the happiness and growth of my students and the inspiration I discover in my colleagues. I treat school like my sport now, and while my diet is by no means improved, I am certainly curious about the effects of store-bought sandwiches, jambalayas, breakfast burritos and liters of coffee on my energy level (spoiler: don’t do it). I still take my dinners very seriously, though, making sure to eat a small amount of varying proteins and vegetables with each meal. While I feel as though I have fallen into the necessary mental space to navigate a high-stakes professional environment, I laugh every time I realize I can reach down and pinch my very own mini-love-handles, or my “teacher tire” as a friend put it. I’ve never had a belly before! It’s so exciting.

I have forgotten my body for the time being, and have chosen to learn guitar and teach my ass off. Fortunately for my body, I am hopeful that I can climb again soon, when I am sure that it is something I have chosen to do.

Nut Buttery Goodness sold at Coffeebar

You’ve been to Coffeebar, remember? You said you wanted to get coffee but really it was just a front for bumping into that cute guy or girl you’d been wanting to talk to, or that person you really wanted to chat business with, or that friend that has been on your call list but it would be so much easier if you just ran into them- so you went to Coffeebar and it all happened. Because just like your desire for coffee was a front, Coffeebar is a front, they say they are a coffeeshop but really they are the epicenter of the Mountain Renaissance movement; a pillar of the community, a host for all things artful and interesting and forthcoming, a place where you want to go to just be. …oh, and it’s extremely convenient that they happen to serve really great diesel.  

A friend filed a formal complaint. “So, I looked at your blog and it’s great and all, but…I’m allergic to nuts.” Guess what friend, you’re just going to have to wait a week. 

Perhaps you’ve been curious about the food I make and what it tastes like, but the output of my personality within these blog posts has made you second guess whether you really want me to come into your home, understandable. Now you can safely try some of my food at a comfortable distance. 

Tis the season to be gifting, and now Elevated Cashew Butter and Alpine Almond and Coconut butter are for sale at Coffeebar – they make great stocking stuffers. 

And the timing could not be better, this week the New York Times published an article (see link) in regard to research investigating the use of nuts as a weight loss aid. Granted, the research has not been completed yet and the question not yet answered, however it is hypothesized that nuts aid in weight loss as they make people feel well satiated, they are high in protein, and as much as 1/5th of the fat in nuts is not even absorbed by the body. This all comes hand in hand with a new article being published by Kaiser Permanente encouraging doctors to recommend vegan diets to their patients. Big stuff.

…And in the midst of all of this cultural-artful-medical mumbo jumbo, I forgot to mention that i LOVE nuts, most specifically in butter form. As stated previously, anyone who knows me well or has gone on a multi day river trip with me knows that my diet consists of three food groups; vegetables, nut butters, and things that can go in, under, or around nut butters. Not to mention that turning nuts into nut butters means that I get to hang with my best gal pal, Xena the Warrior Food Processor. 

So go to Coffeebar – you can use checking out these new nut butters as an excuse to bump into that person you’ve been wanting to talk to 😉 and further elevating yourself as a member of the Mountain Renaissance movement.

 

Tuna Salad in a Creamy Avocado Sauce

So remember that time I told you about how I don’t like mayo? It was when I shared the recipe for Coconut Curry Egg Salad. And guess what – I still don’t like mayo. I was talking to the cashier at New Moon Natural Foods the other day, I had a 32 ounce (practically big gulp sized) juice filled with kale and broccoli and lime and all sorts of green things – but not celery. Why? Because I don’t like celery. Celery, Mayo, Black licorice (and with that, I suppose Jaegermeister). Upon unnecessarily explaining my aversion to celery to said cashier, I found out that he was my palette soulmate.  He too dislikes these three things, and likes all other things. (I go to the grocery store nearly every day, it is my favorite place, and for some reason I truly enjoy ranting about bizarre and unnecessary ramblings to other people in the grocery store). We both empathized with each other about the overall prominence of celery as a Thanksgiving sneak in, and shared a special moment upon realizing that we were true palette soul mates. I’ve been thinking a lot about the concept of soul mates lately, and whether or not they exist. I am yet to find any definitive evidence that soul mates exist (feel free to comment with said evidence) – however I took great comfort in knowing that palette soul mates do exist, and I have found mine. Yes, there is someone else in this world that exclusively despises celery, mayonnaise, and black licorice, and I found him, and this comforts me.

…long story short, my plan for the day was to experiment with Tuna salad. A tuna salad that did not involve mayonnaise or celery. Or black licorice. Or Jaegermeister. I invited my best friend Xena (the warrior food processor) along for my experimentation date.

Another gluten free, paleo creation.

Tuna Edamame Salad in a Creamy Avocado Sauce

• 1 cup wild albacore tuna (drained)
• 1/2 cup edamame beans (deshelled – I buy the frozen kind and let them defrost)
• 1 large granny smith apple (diced)
• 1/4 cup chopped almond
• sliced green onions, to taste

For the Sauce:

• 1 avocado
• 1 cucumber (skinned)
• 1 bunch of basil (I recognize that “bunch” is not a standard measurement and I trust your judgment).
• 1 tbs toasted sesame oil
• 1 tbs sri racha (if you’re awesome)
• 2 tspn wasabi paste

Directions: Add drained tuna, edamame, green onions, diced apple and almonds into a large bowl. Add all of the sauce ingredients into your food processor. If you don’t have a food processor, well, then, I’m going to write a post about why you should buy a food processor. You could also probably do this in a blender, but I promise if you bought a food processor you’d find out that you really liked her and would probably end up hanging out with her all the time. I’m getting off track. What you want to do is mix all of the sauce ingredients together really well (food processor status, ok I’ll stop). When the sauce is super saucy (just like you!) then you pour the sauce over the tuna mixture, and remix (but you knew that, right?)

When you’re done making it, eat it 🙂