Sesame-Miso Tuna Salad by Ashley Anderson, CNP

I created this recipe because I was looking for a way to get tuna into my diet. I’m really not a fan of tuna at all. The flavour just doesn’t jive with me and the highery mercury count just tops things off. But tuna is a very lean fish and great source of protein that’s easier to absorb compared to other proteins. So I figured: let’s figure out a recipe that tastes good, isn’t loaded with fat, and has lots of veggies 🙂 .

The Health Benefits:

-Tuna is a great source of lean protein. I use a wild caught canned Tuna from Whole Foods. It’s important to buy a good quality product especially when Tuna is on the higher ‘contains mercury’ list of fish 🐠.

-The fresh lemon juice is great for our livers natural detoxifying systems and is an extra added bonus for those of us with Crohn’s or colitis or any other digestive illness because it helps boost our natural enzyme activity and enhances our entire digestion! I’m down for that 🙂 !

-Sesame seeds (especially if you use the black ones) are surprisingly a great source of calcium! We need calcium to contract our muscles 💪 and since the movement of our food through our GI tracts is all thanks to the peristaltic motion of the muscle layers in our gut, I’d say calcium is pretty important!  Plus, if we ve ever had an IBD flare and we’re given prednisone, we need to focus on rebuilding our bone density with bone minerals like calcium because prednisone eats at our bones! I speak from experience,  sadly 😦 .

-Miso is a fermented non-dairy probiotic. Get it in! Let’s focus on building up a beautiful gut microbiome,  all of my gutsy friends 🙂 💜.
-Use organic celery... It’s on the ‘dirty dozen’ list of high pesticide foods! Yikes!

Sesame-Miso Tuna Salad by Ashley Anderson, CNP

Ingredients:

• 4 whole green lettuce, red lettuce or Boston lettuce leaves
• 1-2 stalks of organic celery, diced
• 1/2 cucumber, diced
• 1/2 yellow bell pepper, diced (or any colour you wish!)
• 1/2 cup of curly parsley, triple-washed (it’s sandy sometimes!), freshly chopped, stems removed
• 1 can wild chunk light Tuna in water
• 1/4 cup white or black sesame seeds (soak/sprout in pure water for 4-6 hours for easier digestion)
• Celtic sea salt, to taste
• Freshly ground peppercorns, to taste
• 1 lemon, cut into 4 wedges
• 1 small pickle (to garnish!)

Ashley’s Miso Dressing:

• 2 tbsp Miso paste
• 1 big pinch each: dried oregano, thyme, basil, pepper and parsley
• 1/4 cup white wine vinegar
• 1 tsp gluten-free Tamari
• 2 tsp local honey

Directions:

1. In a medium-sized salad bowl, combine all ingredients for the salad except for the lettuce leaves.
2. Blend all dressing ingredients together, mixing well. Taste test to make sure it’s just the way you like it 😊.
3. Pour dressing on top of Tuna Salad mix and toss gently to coat evenly.
4. Scoop 2-3 tablespoons of the salad mix on top of one the lettuce leaves. Boston leaf lettuce makes for the nicest ‘cups’.
5. Garnish with a pickle and lemon wedge. Right before eating, squeeze the lemon juice over the salad and enjoy immediately.
6. Serve with fresh cucumber and celery sticks.

Makes 4 servings.

Bon appetito!

Leave me a comment or suggestion for this recipe. Or if you have another fav Tuna Salad Recipe, please share!

Thank you friends for following me and constant prayers to you all for the best in gut health 💜💜😘😘. We re in this together 💪💜.
#crohnsfriends #ibdcommunity #IBDawareness

About the Author:

Ashley Ann Anderson – Crohn’s Nutritionist, Personal Trainer and Yoga Instructor

Ashley Ann Anderson, BSc (Hons, IBD and Neuroimmunology), CNP, is a Crohn’s Disease nutritionist with a health science degree from a well-known top IBD research center in the world: McMaster University. She specifically did her undergraduate thesis in IBD and probiotics as it affects neuroimmunology and behaviour in IBD models with IBD doctor and researcher Dr. John Bienenstock (the ‘father’ of mucosal immunology) at the Brain and Body Institute.

She has been living with Crohn’s disease for 20 years, since she was 9 years old and is extremely passionate about being a Crohn’s advocate and raising awareness of Crohn’s disease.

She has gluten-free, dairy-free, grain-free recipes featured in Amazon.com’s #1 Cookbook for 2015: Get Naked In The Kitchen, alongside America’s biggest names in nutrition and health!

Right now she is growing her meal prep business focusing on making healing meals for those with Crohn’s disease, creating recipes, and counselling clients all over the world living with Crohn’s disease by helping them to address their nutritional deficiencies through nutrition, juicing and supplementation, and pin-pointing ‘trigger’ foods and lifestyle habits to ultimately obtain lasting Crohn’s disease remission.

Send her an email at trinutrition2@gmail.com if interested in learning more. Ashley lives in Toronto, Canada.