From the Kitchen of Mama Harris: Healthy (and Gluten Free) Tuna & Avocado Bowls

When I think of eating healthy, vitamin rich foods one of the things that always tops my list is tuna. Tuna is rich in Omega 3 and protein, and it's mild taste compliments a variety of meals. Mixed with the right ingredients it can be just the right fuel your body needs when you are eating right and getting in shape. Unfortunately, tuna tends to get combined with a ton of bad ingredients, which completely ruins the health benefits by adding unnecessary fats, carbs, sugar and sodium.

Recently, during a trip to WalMart I was in the tuna aisle and spotted the prettiest package of canned tuna. Ocean Naturals Skipjack Tuna definitely stood out from the rest of the tuna on the shelf, the packaging alone was so innovative and fresh, so I looked a bit further and saw this was a company with a conscience. Ocean Naturals is a new tuna brand with a fresh perspective. Ocean Naturals uses fewer and better ingredients than other brands, and the clearly label which species of tuna you are purchasing. In addition to that, their standards for catching the tuna are admirable! Here's more from Ocean Naturals:

Responsibility:

We owe a debt of gratitude to the sea for all her beauty and bounty. The way we see it, our responsibility is to both educate and actively do our part to help sustain the resource for generations to come. It’s complicated, but nothing worth it is ever easy. Ocean Naturals starts by using only wild, responsibly caught fish. To us that means doing more than being dolphin safe. We strictly define what goes into each of our products by species so our light meat tuna isn’t a combination of mystery fish (some more endangered than others) but rather – 100% Skipjack. Plus we require that our Skipjack Tuna is 100% free–school caught without the use of FADs (Fish Aggregating Device) to help reduce the catch of non-targeted sea life.

With your Ocean Naturals tuna purchase, you can visit oceannaturals.com/my-tuna/ and enter the information from the can, it will tell you exactly where yours came from! Here's what I learned about mine (I think this is way too cool!):

Your Skipjack Tuna was caught by:

Captain:: Louis Machado
Vessel:: Cape Cod
Vessel Flag:: United States
FAO Area:: FAO Area 71 (Pacific, Western Central)
Catch Method:: Purse Seine Free School (FAD Free)

Brand:: Ocean Naturals
Species:: Guaranteed 100% Skipjack Tuna
Item:: Skipjack Chunk Light Tuna in Water
Package:: 6oz Can
UPC:: 856007003052; Skipjack tuna (Katsuwonus pelamis)
One of several species labeled 'light' in the U.S., is considered by fisheries scientists to have healthy and abundant populations worldwide. Oceans Naturals skipjack is harvested in the Western and Central Pacific Ocean, where the largest skipjack resources in the world are found. These fish are managed by the Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission (WCPFC), and in many areas, the Parties to the Nauru Agreement (PNA), which institute conservation measures to help prevent overfishing from occurring.

Catch Method
Ocean Naturals skipjack is caught by purse seine vessels fishing on free-schools. In other words, without the aid of fish aggregating devices, or FADs. The use of FADs, especially in an uncontrolled way, can result in ecosystem impacts due to catching larger numbers of sensitive, unwanted, or non-target species (often called bycatch) than other methods.

Since this is a brand with a fresh approach to their product, I didn't want to make the same old tuna sandwiches. I wanted something fresh and natural just like their tuna is. I decided to make little avocado bowls with fresh and healthy ingredients to compliment this tuna. No mayonnaise, cheese, or bread here! The end result is a low calorie and low carb dish with high nutritional content! Ocean Naturals gave tuna a facelift and this recipe is the result. Tasty, healthy, and beautiful!

Ingredients:

1 can Ocean Naturals Tuna, drained
3 tablespoons nonfat Greek yogurt
1/4 cup canned chickpeas, drained and rinsed
2 roma tomatoes, diced
1/3 medium onion, chopped
1/4 cup black olives, chopped
1 clove garlic, minced
salt and pepper, to taste
3-4 large avocados
1 lime
1-2 teaspoons cilantro, chopped

Directions:

Combine the tuna (fluff it a bit with your fork so it separates easily) with the Greek yogurt, chickpeas and tomatoes. Season with just a bit of salt and pepper.

Chop the onion and olives finely, either by hand or with a food processor.

Add olives and onion to bowl, also adding garlic.

Mix everything until well combined then cut avocados in half, removing the large seed. Scoop out a bit of avocado to make the "bowl" larger, mashing the excess avocado and add to the tuna filling.