We've been eating a heck of a lot of salad lately due to the hot weather, which means we have been getting a lot of raw food goodness into our bodies. With @zakludick in hospital, I have had to do all the shopping and I can't run from shop to shop like he does, so I'm basically stuck with the one next door.
They do, however, have some incredible specials on fresh fruit and veggies that we don't normally get to indulge in so often because of the price. Eating healthily is expensive.
Normally, we will buy frozen veg, which is ok because we can get a great assortment, but it's definitely not as good as the fresh stuff. I figured we all need a serious immune boost, especially Zak as he is still healing and keeping infection at bay.
It's a lucky time of year for us though, as we see a sharp drop in prices of fresh seasonal (and some all-year-round fruit and veg). It's end of season for most farmers and traders in the industry and after exporting everything they could and charging us an arm and a leg for a punnet of grapes, we can now buy everything a quarter of the price as they try to flog off all the surplus. I am happy to help, of course!
But why did I add turmeric to my salad? Aside from staining all my counters, my fingers, and anything it comes into contact with 🤣🤣🤣 it also has some fantastic health benefits.
Check out this excellent article for more information and ways to incorporate turmeric into your diet.
Harvard Health Publishing: Turmeric benefits: A look at the evidence
Last night, I decided to make a tuna pasta salad. I don't normally add turmeric but I have been adding more and more of it to our food as it just has so many health benefits including acting as an:
anti-inflammatory, anticancer, antidiabetic, antidiarrheal, antimicrobial, antiviral, and antioxidant properties as well as managing osteoarthritis pain.
Tuna Pasta Salad
It's so funny how perceptive our cats are. I knew I was going to have to buy an extra tin of tuna or two because there was no way they'd let me make anything with tuna without sharing. Lexi was all over my car when we got home and meowing like crazy and the tuna was still in the tins!! They understand far more than they let on. They just don't give a shit about communicating with us lesser beings 😜🐾
Right, on to the pasta salad itself:
Ingredients
Tuna: 3-4 170g tins (I'm not sure how much I gave the cats tbh, who were howling by the time we were opening the tins)
500g shell or spiral-shaped pasta
5 or 6 boiled eggs
A large green Pepper
4 or 5 large gherkins
a whole onion
5 large carrots
1 entire bulb of garlic
As much turmeric as you feel like - let your ancestors guide you 🤣
Mayonnaise 500g
Boil the pasta and the eggs first. Remember to only put the pasta into actively boiling water, and watch it closely to ensure it cooks but remains "al dente." I'm afraid I left mine in a little too long as I got distracted by the kids. This led to the pasta not retaining its shape as well as it should have, but it still all tasted delicious in the end.
The eggs must be hard-boiled for easy slicing. Place the eggs into a tub with cold water after boiling. It's a good trick for peeling shells (which I hate doing). But if the eggs are cool, the shells come off like a charm.
You can chop up your garlic and the green pepper while all this boiling is going on, and as soon as your pasta is cooked, drain it and add it to a large bowl. Add in your garlic, the green pepper and half the mayo, and as much turmeric as you desire. These ingredients will give the dish its most important flavours and they'll absorb into the pasta as it cools.
Mix (but don't overmix as you don't want your pasta to turn into porridge) and place into the fridge to cool. You don't want warm pasta salad! If you're in a rush, the freezer will also do.
I always choose plain dill gherkins. I never use sweet and sour gherkins. It's just a personal preference but I think they taste horrible. Akin to adding pineapple to pizza. They are also something that has become ridiculously expensive, so I was excited to find these on special too!
Chop and dice all your veggies and the eggs. By the time you are done, the pasta salad should have cooled off nicely and you can add it all to the bowl with the rest of the mayo.
Open and drain the tins of tuna of excess water and add to your bowl. You can now give it a final mix and serve!
Aside from the mayo and the pasta, this was an all-round delicious and nutritious meal that went down awesomely! I suppose you could substitute the mayo for olive oil and lemon juice, and substitute the pasta with some kind of grain, but this really was delicious as is.
