Tuna and White Bean Salad

This recipe is from Beachbody and is very versatile if you want to improvise from the original. It's a great source of protein and fiber, and incredibly tasty as well.

2 6-oz. cans water packed tuna
2 cups canned white cannellini beans, drained and rinsed
1 red onion, chopped
1 cucumber, chopped
2 plum tomatoes, diced
1/2 cup canned or jarred artichoke hearts, chopped (reduce olive oil used in dressing if artichokes are marinated in oil)
1 bunch parsley, stemmed and chopped
1 tsp. fresh rosemary, minced
1 clove garlic, minced
2 Tbsp. olive oil
3 Tbsp. lemon juice
Salt and pepper to taste

Mix first eight ingredients (tuna through rosemary) in a large bowl. Whisk together garlic, olive oil, lemon juice, and salt & pepper. Add dressing to large bowl and toss together. Serves 4. (For extra zip and fiber, serve on a bed of raw arugula or spinach leaves.)

I really had to improvise because I did not have on hand cucumbers, tomatoes, parsley, or rosemary. So I dug through the fridge for veggies that needed used up. In with my tuna and beans, I mixed chopped red pepper, snap peas, a few diced carrots and the called for onion and artichoke hearts. Unfortunately, I had no fresh herbs, but the recipe was still good. The dressing really makes it work with anything you have on hand.

As prepared from the original recipe, one serving has 372 calories, 12 grams of fat (though it's the heart healthy kind from the olive oil), 40 grams of carbs, 11 grams of fiber, and 33 grams of protein.

Red dye #40

Yesterday I had one of those moments that can make you feel like a total failure as a parent. My youngest daughter is involved in American Heritage Girls, which is sort of like Girl Scouts, and they had their valentines party yesterday after school. Guess who's little girl was the only one to show up with no valentines to pass out? Yep. Mine. It just completely slipped my mind. So, I left one down-hearted child there, took the older one, and high-tailed it over to CVS to find something she could share with her friends. Now I'm not sure if it was the guilt driving me or what, but I ended up with a bag of red heart shaped suckers. Here's the short ingredient list: artificial flavoring, artificial coloring, high fructose corn syrup, and red dye #40. That's it. Four items. Four items that I have successfully eliminated from my children's diets (well, minus what others give them, GRAMMA!). And now here I was handing them out to 24 little girls, including my own. Ignoring the first three ingredients for now, I know all too well the evils of red dye #40. That nasty stuff wreaked complete havoc on my oldest daughter for awhile until we finally nailed it as the culprit to her constant hives. Red dye #40 can cause all sorts of woes, especially in our children's little bodies. Allergies, headaches, mood swings, behaviorial problems, lack of concentration, hives, asthma, hyperactivity...it's even labeled a possible carcinogen. But the FDA approves it because in small doses, it can't hurt, right? Let's take a look at some of the products out there that contain red dye #40.

Icing and cake mixes (and I'm talking about you, Duncan Hines & Pillsbury)
Pillsbury crescent rolls
Pie crusts and pie fillings
Hard candy of all sorts: peppermints, suckers, cinnamon disks
Gummy worms
Caramels (why??)
Chocolate bridge mix (again why??)
Twizzlers
Altoids breath mints
Fruit chews
Jolly ranchers
Starburst
Jelly beans
M&Ms (unless you live in England because they've requested it be taken out of their chocolates. M&Ms complied. Bet the red ones taste the same over there still.)
Skittles
Life Savers
Certs
Too many types of gum to list
Smarties
Tootsie roll pops
Hot tamales
Dum Dum suckers
Cereal: Kix, Lucky Charms, Reese pb cereal, Fruit Loops, Fruity pebbles, Honey Bunches of Oats with strawberries, Capt Crunch
Dannon Light n Fit and Fruit Blends yogurt
Yoplait Trix yogurt
Strawberry Kiwi V-8 Splash, Hi C, Minute Maid orange soda, Sunkist, Gatorade, Hawaiian Punch, various koolaids and crystal lights
Lipton Brisk iced tea
Ruby Red grapefruit juice
Code Red Mt. Dew
Tropicana Twister
Canned fruit salads
Betty Crocker Hamburger Helper
BBQ sauces
Catalina salad dressing
Popsicles
Doritos
Fritos
Fruit gushers
Hersheys syrup
Twinkies
Nutrigrain cereal bars
Poptarts
Jello

I'm going to stop there, though this is only a partial list. And please note that you should always read labels since companies change their recipes sometimes, so some of this stuff may be red dye #40 free now while other stuff may have snuck it in to their product.

So, after taking out all this junk from her diet, my daughter was still in hives. Why? Well, because red dye #40 can also be found in laundry detergent, body wash, shampoo, cold medicines, toothpaste, lotions, hand soap, talcum powder, makeup, lip gloss, chapstick, cough drops, etc. For us, it was her pretty pink princess toothpaste. So, yes, now I get to pay extra dollars for the Tom's of Maine brand. Totally worth it to see my daughter's back clear of open sores, though.

It's easy to say "Oh, a little won't hurt." But how many products do you or your children consume/use that contains the FDA dyes over the course of a day? A little here and there adds up to a whole bunch rather quickly.

*sources include www.red40.com and my textbooks
**My sincerest apologies to the mommies of the 24 little girls to whom my daughter lovingly passed out valentine suckers yesterday. I promise it won't happen again. :)