Oh Petit Jean, home of Petit Jean State Park and Arkansas’ first state park. Petit Jean State Park is celebrating their 100th anniversary this year.…we won’t talk about how Petit Jean was once in Perry County and the county lines were redrawn just before it became a state park. No. We aren’t bitter over here.

Petit Jean was first settled by Native Americans and evidence of them dates back 10,000 years. Legend has it that Petit Jean was named after a young French lady who followed her beloved to the New World. Disguised as a cabin boy, she had said her name was Jean and because of her petite stature, the crew of the ship called her Petit Jean.

Apparently after her arrival, she had gotten sick either contracting swamp fever or some other illness and she was found out to be a woman. She eventually died and she was buried atop Petit Jean. Her gravesite is visited by thousands each year. I always thought she jumped off…learn something new every day!

Anywho, one of the first settlers of the area was Owen West. He and his family arrived in the 1850’s. The West family is still in the area today, all these years later.

If you’ve never visited Petit Jean, you’re really missing out! They have tons of hiking trails and most are fairly easy. You can have dinner at Mather Lodge, coffee at the Petit Jean Coffeehouse, take in the Museum of Automobiles, go on a trail ride and so much more!

On to the recipe! While flipping thru, “Petit Jean Mountain Tomato Cookbook, Compiled By Petit Jean Extension Homemakers Club”, I decided one thing really quick…I’m gonna have to make everything in this cookbook. So many good recipes…or maybe it’s because we have too many tomatoes and I don’t know what to do with them. At any rate, this book is going to get a workout.

The first one we tried was Tuna Stuffed Tomatoes. Such a good summertime recipe. Especially for times when you don’t want to heat up the oven.

Couple of things:

1. I know…apples in tuna salad. Believe it or not, when they are shredded up, you only get the sweetness.
2. I didn’t put any onion in. 1 Tbsp of onion? Might as well leave it out. Did they mean onion flakes? I just didn’t have enough brain power to deal with that.
3. It called for sweet relish, I used dill…because I don’t like sweet, that’s why.
4. I only assume they wanted those two eggs boiled before dicing. I mean I figured they weren’t scrambled, poached or fried.

This is really refreshing on a hot day. One that you could for sure make ahead and grab when you’re ready.

Enjoy!!!