An Extraordinary Ordinary Tuna Sandwich...

I grew up eating canned tuna fish. It was a staple in our diet. What's more...I like tuna fish. I also grew up eating Campbell's Cream of Mushroom Soup. I'm not so enamored with that anymore. Ughhh...I haven't eaten that in years and have no intention of eating it ever again. Sadly, I ate so many lame mushrooms in that soup that I can no longer eat mushrooms. It ruined me.
I'm not sure why I still enjoy tuna fish. But, I do! Hubs and I both like having a tuna sandwich about once a week. Interestingly (or not) my offspring don't share our love of tuna and I really never made it for them when they were youngsters. Regardless, at this point, I consider myself a tuna sandwich aficionado!
So, I'm willing to share all of my knowledge of how to make a decent tuna sandwich. I have it down to a science now and know how to make something pretty delicious out of ordinary canned tuna. Of course you could buy a really great piece of fresh tuna and make something pretty spectacular. That's not what this is. This is taking an ordinary old tuna sandwich from my childhood and "enhancing" it.
Back in the day a can of tuna was just a can of tuna. Now there are choices. You can purchase tuna packed in water or oil. You can choose from light tuna or solid white tuna or solid white Albacore tuna.
You can pick wild caught canned tuna and dolphin safe tuna. Wow...who knew there were so many options when buying a lowly can of tuna.
I have learned a lot by trial and error. Tuna used to be super cheap and some of it is still pretty inexpensive. I have found the ordinary super cheap tuna to be sort of nasty and not what I want. Now, I'm not plugging Whole Foods but I'm going to be honest here. They have decent canned tuna and it is very reasonably priced. I buy the wild caught, solid white Albacore tuna canned in water. It is usually 3 cans for $5.00. I can make me and Hubs a pretty decent meal for about two bucks with a can of this stuff. People often tell me they can't afford to eat healthy or buy decent food. I think it IS possible... although I will agree there is a learning curve.

I've got a handy little visual aid to show you what I mean about tuna. I purchased the "Bumble Bee" chunk white Albacore for about $1.89 a can. The other tuna is the Whole Foods 365 brand. I paid about $1.67 per can and it is "wild caught".

The "Bumble Bee" tuna is not near the quality of the "365" tuna as you can see. In fact, it looks pretty darn unappetizing and looks like it's already been chewed up! Yuck...
Obviously...I choose the "365" for my tuna sandwiches. I have also experimented with different breads for my sandwiches. Honestly, any bread is good, but I find that darker breads and seeded breads really enhance the tuna and make a spectacular difference.
I want our sandwiches to be packed with nutrition and healthy goodies. This is my "base" recipe:

1 can of good Albacore tuna
2 TBSP of good quality purchased or homemade mayonnaise (If your mayo has canola oil in the ingredients, please make sure it is a GMO free product)
2 tsp of sweet pickle relish (sadly, most store brands have HFCS in them. Again, the "365" brand from Whole Foods does NOT have HFCS and is very tasty.
A handful of chopped raw pecans or sunflower seeds or pumpkin seeds (or all of them!)
A handful of dried cranberries
salt and pepper to taste

Then I add whatever I have in season and on hand. i.e. cucumber, zucchini, shredded carrots, celery, green or red pepper, peas or grapes.

Please feel free to add or subtract mayo and sweet pickle relish according to your preference.

I like to keep an assortment of raw nuts and seeds and dried cranberries in my pantry stash. It doubles as add-ins for oatmeal as well!
Enjoy!