Tuna Pasta Salad

One night last week, we were at a loss.  No really money to go out, no desire to cook...  Neither of us could decide what we wanted to eat so we sat there, fridge & cupboard open, rattling off everything we saw...

At some point, i turned to the meat eater and said 'tuna pasta salad?' and he was all like, 'ok, whats in it?' and when i mentioned mayo, his response was, 'um, EW?'

and then i realized that tuna pasta salad - one of my favorite things - must be another one of those single behaviours that i didnt even know was strange...

to me, its perfectly logical...  tuna salad = good.  pasta salad = good.  tuna pasta salad = good!

he couldnt think of anything better, so tuna pasta salad it was.  ha!  forget food pictures, i should have taken a video of his expressions as i was putting it all together...  'wait, you're putting MUSTARD in it?'  'um, what else do we have in the house if this is gross?'  'maybe i should just order something now?'

That first night (oh, because, spoiler alert:  we made it twice last week) i made it two ways... His with tomatos and parmesan and mine with celery and feta.  I tried both and realized that the feta - not so much...  it was fine, but not particularly interesting...  kinda just tuna salad with feta and pasta - not so much anything that made it seem cohesive at all...

but the tomatoes & parmesan - now we were talking....

I'll have you all know, the reason we had it twice?  oh, cause the skeptical meat-eater? he requested it the second time...

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Tuna Pasta Salad
courtesy of me
Click here to import recipe directly into Pepperplate

5 oz pasta of your choice (we made campanelle once and orecchiette the second time.  Shells work too.)

2 5oz cans solid white albacore tuna in water, drained
1/4 c light mayo
1 - 2 tsp spicy brown mustard
salt
pepper
garlic powder
onion powder

1 14.5 oz can zesty diced tomatoes, drained

1/4 c grated parmesan

***

Prepare pasta according to directions on pacakge.  cool under cold water to stop cooking & cool pasta down.  Set aside

Prepare tuna salad - combine tuna, light mayo and spicy brown mustard first.  then add salt, pepper, garlic powder and onion powder to taste.  (I like a decent amount of each - a few shakes -  but i always start slow and build up because nothing ruins this faster than too much garlic or onion powder...)

Once tuna salad is to your liking (it will most likely be a bit dryer than you usually would eat it), add in the tomatoes & parmesan.

Once all is combined, check the taste again and adjust accordingly.  You may find that you still want a bit more mayo or maybe a bit more spice.  I generally add a bit more onion and pepper at this point but it all depends on how heavy handed i was to begin with...