Tuscan Beans with Tuna

Do you ever get all the ingredients assembled for a recipe THEN read the instructions.  I know.  We're not supposed to do that.  We're supposed to read the ENTIRE recipe first.  Then, assemble the ingredients in their mis en place.  Unfortunately, my life doesn't always work that way.  Particularly when a recipe is for lunch.  I receive the magazine and read some of the articles.  As I go, I scan the recipes and tear out the pages for those I want to try.  I used to save all of my cooking magazines and had a lovely notebook listing all the recipes I wanted to try.  Then, the magazines took over.  Try they filled a 4' long, six shelf high metal shelving unit.  UGH.  Tiime to start clipping.  I now have boxes of clipped recipes.  They're stored in envelopes with titles like Try Soon or Later.  Why I even keep the Later ones, I don't know.  I'll never get to them.  They're merely taking up room.  And, even if I implement the scanning system I'd like to use, they'll never get scanned in much less named and uploaded.  Good grief, my photos are lucky to be put in named folders.  Wasn't all of this technology supposed to help?  Yes, I guess it really does.  At the office we've got an imaging system.  I now have 62 directories where I can store info.  And, store it I do.  It's nice because in the Financial Planning directory I've got sub-directories and can now pull up articles for reference easily.  Before they languished in a file drawer never to be seen again.  Now, I actually use them.  And, I've set up a virtual recipe index that's very similar.  The problem is that I'm getting so many recipes to try in that that I can't keep up.  If I could talk Lizzy from That Skinny Chick can Bake and Christiane from Taking on Magazines one Recipe at a Time from posting so many good recipes, a good part of my problem would go away.  But, alas, both of them are wonderful cooks and tend to post things I really want to try.  Now, I've got to start organizing those files too.  Vegetables no longer works.  Individual names do.  Eggs.  Way too broad.  We're into omelets, frittatas, sandwiches, deviled, casseroles, etc.  LOL - did I ever get off on a rant there...  All because I didn't read the whole recipe!

It turns out that these beans are actually supposed to be heated with the kale.  Hmmm.  I can do a lot of cooking at the office but I don't have a burner.  Therefore, this became a cold salad - just as I'd originally envisioned it when I read the recipe.  What did we think?  On a scale of 1-5 it was a high 4.  And, on a 1-5 scale of having good for my eyes ingredients, it hit one out of the ballpark.  I should probably have this weekly.  (Molly, you can tell Don to attach this recipe to his list - lol.)  Kale is a nutritional powerhouse but it needs to be prepared properly.  In this case, I used the huge leaves from our plants in the garden.  They were carefully washed, spun dry then VERY finely sliced.  The original recipe called for sage which I neglected to bring from home.  And, since I had appointments right after lunch, I left the garlic out and just used some Italian dressing.

Tuscan Beans with Tuna

Ingredients:
1 15-ounce cans cannellini beans
3/4 pound kale, stems and ribs discarded, large leaves sliced very finely
Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper
1 cup grape tomatoes, halved
3 inner stalks celery, thinly sliced (with some leaves)1/2 cup chopped pitted kalamata olives

1 jar chopped roasted red peppers

1 can tuna packed in water, not drained
1 can tuna packed in olive oil, not drained
Italian dressing to taste

Directions:

Toss everything in a large bowl.  (nota bene:  much easier than the original instructions that involved sauteeing the beans in olive oil and adding in the kale...  If you'd like to go through all that hassle, please see the original recipe on foodtv.)


adapted from foodtv.com