Summer Food Recipes: Cool Mexican Tuna Salad

This is one of my very favorite warm weather recipes, brought to you from the kitchen of my loveliest Shauna Hill. She taught me a few tricks before she moved back to Mexico to marry her el profesor soulmate Davíd, and I still make them all the time.

What you'll need:

• tuna in water
• your favorite mayonaise
• large fresh jalapenos
• fresh cilantro
• limes
• avocado
• pears
• tortilla chips or flat tostada shells
  
• salt
• pepper

Gather your ingredients, I just mix them to taste since this is not an exact science. Make sure you have a cute helper to harvest cilantro from your overgrown winter garden from two years ago.

Squeeze all the water from the cans of tuna and serve as a salty cocktail to grateful kitties. Chop cilantro and pears, de-seed your jalapenos (DON'T rub your eyes!) and toss with tuna in a large mixing bowl. Add a hefty dollop of mayo, the juice of two limes and salt and pepper to taste.

Garnish with sliced ripe avocado, sprigs of cilantro and a dash of red chile salt. Serve slightly chilled as a fresh dip for tortilla chips or atop tostadas as the perfect lunch before your afternoon siesta in the hammock.

I think it is a crime to eat canned tuna hot, so chilling it and making it limey and spicy really takes it to another level of awesomeness. I believe I made up the part about the pears but feel free to add other fun things like sliced almonds, bananas or tabasco. Bonus: this recipe is super affordable, almost healthy and no cooking involved. The amount shown here can feel three hungry adults.

Maybe we should call it GREEN FISH. Nah.