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The Little Kitchen

Quick and easy recipes you can make for your family and friends. Published by Julie Tran Deily

Tuna Pasta Salad with Celery and Egg

Julie Deily · 46 Comments

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When we think of comfort food, we sometimes think of buttery, beefy, potatoey, or cheesey dishes often slaved over on the stove or in the oven. But sometimes comfort food can be linked to a memory or memories. This dish reminds me of my siblings and what my older sister, Quyen, would make for us on the weekends or during the week after school. My Mom worked a lot and sometimes two or three jobs and our older sister, Quyen, was our second Mom. She made us plain crepes (how gourmet, right?) and sometimes this tuna pasta salad that I'm sharing with you today. When you have limited options and groceries, you make do. My sister didn't realize it at the time but what she was doing was bringing us comfort, feeding our bellies and creating lasting memories.

Having a connection and special bond with your siblings is very important. That connection lasts through tough times and I'm so thankful I have my sisters and my brother. Recently, I had a conversation with my sister, Quyen, and we decided that we would needed to have a sibling retreat. She lives in a different country and we're finding it hard to keep in touch with each other. We're going to try to reconnect at a different location every year and just spend time together. No spouses, no kids. Often, we get so busy and I'll go a few weeks without even talking to one of my sisters, who lives just an hour away from me. With life being so short, we realized we need to do this and create even more memories together. And I can't wait to cook with my sisters and brother.

This is my version of Quyen's tuna pasta salad, it's really easy and I love to make it and just have a bowl to snack on in front of the tv and will even take it for lunch. It's a great dish to serve at a little party.


You may even have all of the ingredients on hand. I recently threw a party for a couple of friends after Bosch Appliances contacted me and one of the first things I thought of was to make this dish.

I also made those wonderful peanut butter cup cupcakes to share with my friends, Kathy, Katie, Kelly and Nancie. It was fun to share my favorite Tassimo drink, the chai latte with them. That was almost everyone's favorite…Kathy loved the Starbucks espresso latte. After the party, they all got to take home a T20 brewer and some fun accessories, courtesy of Bosch!

I would love to hear about what foods bring you comfort, do you have any memories from your childhood that have to do with food? Or what is your favorite comfort food?

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Tuna Pasta Salad with Celery & Egg

Ingredients

  • 14-16 oz. box of macaroni or corkscrew pasta
  • 5 oz. can of solid white albacore tuna, in water (refrigerated), drained
  • 4 celery stalks, diced (I use Dandy Fresh brand)
  • 4 boiled eggs, refrigerated, peeled & then diced
  • 2/3 cup mayonnaise
  • 1 lemon
  • salt & pepper

Instructions

  • Cook pasta acording to the instructions on the box, allow to cool and then refrigerate.
  • Combine cold tuna, celery stalks and cold diced eggs together in a large mixing bowl and add salt and pepper to taste.
  • Add macaroni pasta and mix well. Add mayonnaise and mix well.
  • Add more salt and pepper to taste and squeeze as much lemon juice as you want into the pasta, to taste. Refrigerate and serve cold.

Tips:

  • You can prepare all of your ingredients the day before serving but I wouldn't add mayonnaise and lemon juice until you're almost ready to serve this dish.
  • I forgot to mention initially that I used whole wheat pasta and have used regular pasta in the past, it tastes great either way.
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Disclosure: Bosch Appliances provided the Tassimo brewers for my friends. I received no compensation for hosting the party or this post. Duda Farm Fresh Foods is a sponsor of mine. All opinions are always my own. Some links in this post are affiliate links.

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Julie of The Little Kitchen

Hi, I'm Julie!

Welcome to The Little Kitchen! I'm Julie and I love to cook, bake, eat and share (not necessarily in that order). I share easy recipes, stories about my family (which includes my pets) and my travels. And I actually do have a little kitchen.

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    2. Joy says

      I actually also add crushed drained pineapple to this salad…it really adds a great taste for summer.

      Reply

    3. Amber L. says

      This looks lovely, I’m making it right now for a cookout! I came across this because I wanted to recreate a similar recipe a friend’s Mom used to make for us as kids. The only difference is she never used lemon (which I am) and added sliced eggs rather than chopped. I also plan to add peas, should be tasty!

      Reply

    5. Bethany says

      Julie – I have a bowl of this in front of me now and it’s wonderful. As a pescetarian, I struggle sometimes with finding a dish to bring to summer grill parties. My standard is mixed bean salad, but this may replace that in my repertoire. I love the lemon juice in it.

      Reply

      • Julie Deily says

        Bethany,

        I’m so glad you enjoy it! I love that you came back and told me your story. I hope you continue to enjoy this dish this summer as I have for many, many years! All the best to you and thanks for visiting my blog.

        Reply

    8. Joanne says

      My brother and I are super close and I definitely couldn’t imagine going a week without talking to him!

      This salad sounds delicious and the fact that it’s rife with such good memories makes it that much better!

      Reply

    13. Megan Zweig says

      This pasta salad looks amazing! I love Dandy celery too. To me, the crispness and bright color of the celery adds the perfect crunch and pop!

      Have a great day and keep the wonderful recipes coming!

      Hungry in Dallas,

      Megan

      Reply

    33. Courtney says

      Julie, this dish reminds me of my favorite comfort food my mother made! Elbow Noodles, Celery, Green Pepper, Onion, and Mayo. I totally agree on comfort foods from past. Sounds like you had a lovely party 🙂

      Reply

    34. Aggie says

      I love this Julie. I love reading about your family too, makes me want to call mine today realizing we haven’t talked in a while. Isn’t it great how certain foods bring such wonderful memories.

      This is my kind of dish! I’m totally making it, would love to have it waiting for me in the fridge for a quick lunch! I loooove that bowl!!

      Reply

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