Today’s lunch was a low carb option that I was looking forward to so I could keep my energy up throughout the afternoon. I have always enjoyed tuna, sometimes I’ll even eat it dry, out of the can, on Wheat Thin crackers for lunch. Today, I wanted to try something different, however, so decided to mix my tuna with prepared pesto and a few other ingredients. As Kylie started college this week, I was telling her what I would buy every day for lunch in the cafeteria where I attended college. I would buy a stuffed tomato every day for my lunch.

I went to a two-year community college in Mequon, Wisconsin, called Milwaukee Area Technical College (MATC). I can still picture that cafeteria and the friends that I would eat lunch with. Two of my friends from school were in my wedding, one I still keep in touch with. Her name is Jean and here’s the funniest thing ever – her and her husband, Mike are good friends with my husband’s cousin, Greg and his wife, Laurel. Greg and Jean were both in our wedding (almost 30 years ago!) and didn’t know each other then. Jean was a bridesmaid and Greg was an usher. They actually didn’t “meet” and become friends until many years later – I love that they have met and become friends. I would be so happy if they’d all come to California for a visit, I can just imagine the fun we’d have! Another friend from college, Sandy, was also in my wedding. I think of her often and wonder how she is doing. There was also our friend, Patty, she was a tiny red-head, so sweet, and boy, did she love Prince! I also loved Prince and chose the bridesmaids dresses for my wedding based on his song “Raspberry Béret”.  I insisted on finding a dress for the girls to wear where the tag read “Raspberry” for the color … no lie. I also owned almost 100 sweaters, mostly all in purple. (I still own at least that many sweaters, some things never change … I guess you could say I’m a bit of a sweater collector – the only difference is now they are mostly black, navy or charcoal.) There came a point where my mom told me she wasn’t going to buy me another purple sweater. She’d buy me any other sweater, of course, just not purple. I even put dark eggplant carpet in our first home … imagine over 3,500 square feet of dark purple carpet – it was gorgeous!

For my tuna stuffed tomato today, I added a minced shallot, a minced clove of garlic, kosher salt, pepper, red pepper flakes, grated parmesan and prepared pesto (I buy Trader Joe’s jarred pesto … it’s the same section as their pasta sauces). I cut a large beefsteak tomato into wedges (without cutting all the way through the bottom) and poured the tuna pesto mixture right onto the tomato. I also added a few halved grape tomatoes and topped the tuna with a tablespoon of shredded parmesan.

Ingredients

• 1 large beefsteak tomato

• a few grape tomatoes, halved

• 1 can tuna

• 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

• 1/2 teaspoon pepper

• pinch red pepper flakes

• 1 tablespoon grated parmesan

• 3 tablespoons prepared pesto

Directions

1. Cut tomato into wedges, making sure not to cut all the way through.
2. Mix together tuna, salt, pepper, red pepper flakes, parmesan and pesto in bowl.
3. Place tuna into tomato, add halved grape tomatoes and sprinkle shredded parmesan over the top.

Enjoy!

Until next time, Kris