I'm a big fan of tuna salad, but I pretty much always do the same thing with it: mayo, salt, pepper, maybe some relish or a chopped up pickle, and then I eat it on a salad of field greens or with som sweet potato chips. It's delicious every time, but it can get a little boring. So when I was asked to create a recipe with Bumble Bee's Spicy Thai Chili-seasoned tuna, I jumped at the opportunity. Here's what I came up with:

Ingredients:

• 3-6 ounces of Bumble Bee Sensations® Seasoned Tuna Medley, Spicy Thai Chili
• 1-2 large pieces of iceberg lettuce (big enough to use in place of a tortilla wrap)
• Half of an avocado, sliced
• One small carrot, julienned
• One small cucumber, cut into matchstick pieces
• Sesame seeds, lime wedges, and cilantro; for garnish

Instructions:

1. Gather and chop all your toppings: the avocado, carrot, and cucumber.
2. Wash lettuce and place on a plate. I like to use a piece that kind of resembles a little bowl. 
3. Open the tuna and spoon it onto the lettuce.
4. Place carrots, avocado, and cucumber on the tuna. Sprinkle with sesame seeds if desired.
5. Wrap up the lettuce and cut it in half. You can use a toothpick to hold the wraps together if you'd like.
6. Sprinkle with cilantro and a few more sesame seeds and serve with a wedge of lime. Enjoy!

I was selected for this opportunity as a member of Clever Girls and the content and opinions expressed here are all my own.

This post is sponsored by Hebrew National.

The fourth of July is coming up and I'm back with another Hebrew National post to help you plan for an Independence Day party! Obviously there's probably no other food that screams "America" more than a chili cheese dog, but I also came up with a few other combinations for your next celebration.

• BBQ sauce + Coleslaw
• Thinly-sliced radishes + dill relish
• Baked beans + chili
• Some combination of all six!
• Note: The combination of franks and these toppings may not be Kosher.

And here are some easy and straightforward party-throwing tips:

• Make it festive! Depending on whether you plan to entertain inside or outside, pick up some little flag toothpicks or streamers or even balloons. If you like to keep it simple (kind of my life mantra lately), just stick to red and white napkins, or maybe even a fun tablecloth to tie everything together.
• Have all your toppings and condiments set out and ready before your guests arrive, so when they show up all you have to do is throw the hot dogs on the grill and enjoy a beverage with them.
• Speaking of beverages, keep a nice variety--I like to have sodas or fun, flavored waters handy in case someone doesn't want to drink alcohol. You could even make a few interesting simple syrups so people can make their own Italian sodas. As far as adult beverages go, you really can't go wrong with beer and wine on a hot day.
• Make the food fun--I decided to include radishes because I love them and had never thought to put them on a hot dog. See who can come up with the most creative combination.
• Have gluten-free buns or big pieces of lettuce for anyone who doesn't eat bread--I always appreciate that so much whenever I go to someone's house for dinner. (Just make sure you keep them separate from the regular bread--in these pictures I plated everything together because I'm not so sensitive to gluten that I can't eat anything that's been cross-contaminated, but some people are.)
• Don't forget the music! I made a little playlist to get you started. These are all songs I'd love to listen to during a cookout--they all remind me of summers or college afternoons in some way:

1. This Must Be The Place by Talking Heads
2. The General by Dispatch
3. I'm Yours by Jason Mraz
4. Dust on the Bottle by David Lee Murphy
5. I Will Wait by Mumford & Sons
6. Home by Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeroes
7. Wagon Wheel by Old Crow Medicine Show

What makes a Hebrew National kosher hot dog premium? It's all about what makes the cut (and what doesn't). We're choosy about what goes into our franks--we use only premium cuts of 100% kosher beef from the front half of the cow and then choose the best from that. No artificial flavors, colors, fillers, or by-products. When your hot dog is Kosher, that's a hot dog you can trust! For more summer fun with Hebrew National, visit facebook.com/hebrewnational.

For as long as I can remember, "home" always meant comfort to me--it was a place where there was always plenty of food, lots of wine and great coffee, a sunny living room to relax in, and filled to the brim with family and friends more often than not. And it was always clean, too--my mom is super organized and does a great job keeping the space around her pretty near spotless. I always joke that our apartment never looks better than it does when she comes to visit, but it's true--she empties the dishwasher, cleans the counter, and puts away laundry so efficiently that I don't even notice what she's doing until she's done.

As I'm sure you can gather so far, tidyness doesn't come naturally to me, and it's actually always bothered me--I want to be neater; to make the time to fold and put away laundry as soon as it's dry or to never wake up to a dirty sink, but it takes constant effort on my part. It's irritating, but I guess it's just the way I am.

My brother came to Charlotte on Thursday night and then my dad joined us for the weekend and I realized how much I love having people visit us--entertaining and hosting family and friends always makes me feel so proud of the home that Rob and I share, even if the dishwasher needs to be emptied and I have empty picture frames hanging in the hallway. Creating a life somewhere doesn't happen all at once; like most things, it takes time and patience and work. But waking up and pouring fresh coffee into mugs and making a big breakfast for my family; that happens in the moment and it can be so great, even with wrinkled laundry waiting for me in the dryer.

Here are a few relatively simple things I've learned over the past few weeks about making a house (or apartment) feel like a home:

1. Get rid of stuff--lots of it. I promise you won't miss it. I'm pretty sure that clutter is the enemy of peace. I'm still working on this, but every time I drop a big bag off at Goodwill, I find that I like my home a lot more.
2. Put things in their place, every time, no matter what. It takes just as long to put something away as it does to ignore it, except it won't bother you anymore if you deal with it right then and there. Like I said, simple. But effective.
3. If you're on a budget (and who isn't?), just do your best with what you have. Pillow covers make a huge difference to a couch or bed. Move things around--I'm constantly rotating candles, picture frames, and other little knick-knacks from one coffee table to the other, or from the kitchen counter to our guest room dresser. It's a nice, easy, and cheap way to refresh your space.
4. Wipe down surfaces regularly--I love to just go over everything once at night before I go to bed. It ensures that I've put everything away, and I get to wake up to a clean living room and kitchen. I'm loving Pledge Multi Surface because it's great on my granite countertops, but it'll safely refresh all of my surfaces without clouding them up or leaving a residue. (It also smells like heaven, which helps.)
5. Always keep a bottle of wine and/or something delicious to eat in your fridge--what good is a clean and cozy home if you aren't ready to share it with others?

I was selected for this opportunity as a member of Clever Girls and the content and opinions expressed here are all my own.