I liked tuna salad before vegan. I have my own veganized version using chickpeas. The difference is capers, a cashew based Mayo(Make Your Own recipe) and coconut amino. I had used avocados, seasoned salt(homemade).
Of course I had to try this one. It was the first thing I made. I forgot to take a picture, so I forced myself to make it again. 😂 That is why you saw other posts first.
This is good. Almost as good as mine. I could eat bowls of this and nothing else. 5 stars
I must confess. I don’t usually eat mayonnaise. Too oily in the mouth. But this mayo has no oil, so I’m giving it a try. For my mayonnaise replacement, I use avocado.
This one may become a staple. It was very easy to make. I specifically made it for the Chickpea No-Tuna salad sandwich. That is tomorrow’s endeavor.
As you can see, the Caesar Dressing jar looks like it took a hit. It did. My salad cried out for it after it’s first encounter. Both of these sauces were really tasty. However, they were a little sweet for my taste. I’m more of a salty, briny, spicy kind a person. Next time I will make them with half the amount of dates. I will add an extra jalapeno because I like it hot. Overall, these sauces are quick, easy and worth it. 4.75 🌟
Who loves granola? I have had many types. Some reporting to be vegan. All reporting to be healthy. Some were. I had not ever used dates as the fruit supplying the sweetness and the glue. The recipe called for Medjool dates and a variety of seeds and nuts.
Before Baking
It was gooey and delicous.
After Baking.
Now don’t make my mistake. I got sidetracked and baked a little longer than most people would like. I enjoyed the crispness. It was a quick blend of nuts, oats and seeds. You can use any nuts you want. I used walnuts.
A year or so ago, I made Javant’s sandwich loaf bread, Healthy Vegan Eating, YouTube channel. It was touted as a light, non-gluten bread. I was curious, so I tried it. It was my first time using psyllium husk. It was good.
Now i have his cookbook and it offers a high protein bread. So of course I tried it. I wanted to know how it compared the sandwich loaf.
High Protein Bread
I expected it to be really dense and hard. It was denser and heavier than the sandwich loaf. The outside was crusty and the inside was soft. I enjoyed it and it was filling.
So many people ask why do you want bacon if you are vegan. I can only answer for myself. I am a born and bred southern girl who grew up with bacon used in all kinds of dishes: Breakfast meals, sandwiches, vegetables and all by itself. The flavor it gives to the foods is something you miss so we , I search for that flavor and a vehicle that will satisfy the month feel and the purpose bacon once served.
I have tried using zucchini and other vegetables but I want to try mushrooms this time. The trumpet mushroom seemed to be a good a vehicle. I also wanted to try it with no oil. I think that is the biggest difference in this recipe and what I have done before.
The flavors in this date based marinade is very good but I miss the maple syrup flavor. I think I will try his recipe but use less date paste and add a little maple syrup. It is baked and not fried. I was quite satisfied.
I forgot to take a picture when I first removed the tray from the oven. This picture is a few days later as I was preparing breakfast. Notice how much they shrank. I wanted them crispy so I overcooked just a little. Their not burnt but close. Perfect for me and tasty.
Over the last few years I have mined and experimented vegan burger recipes to make a burger that has the mouth-feel I wanted. My other requirement was I did not want to use TVP, or seitan (vital wheat gluten).
I realized today that I can make a burger patty out of almost anything I have in the pantry and fridge. For me, I just need beans, mushrooms, veggies, tofu, a binder, and tasty seasonings. This is the list from which I choose. I don’t always use all those in the list at the same time. The patties pictured are made from black beans, shitake mushrooms, onions, garlic, yellow bell pepper, hot sauce, chia seed egg (binder), Panko bread crumbs, tamari and vegan liquid smoke. Normally I add avocado for the fat content but I forgot it. 😆. I baked them at 350 degrees until the smell and appearance looked cooked. I flipped them to cook on the other side for a few minutes. I also discovered if when I eat them the next day the mouth-feel is what i’m wanting. This realization has given me freedom. I can use leftover veggies so nothing goes to waste. I can make veggie patties with what I have in the kitchen as long as I remember the 🥑.
This is a lot like how my grandmothers, great-grandmother and grand-aunts cooked. They could make a feast out of whatever was in the kitchen. I guess that’s why I didn’t know we were technically poor. Always ate well.
For those who are not aware, I do not like to cook. Here is a quick recount of my entry into the lab. First thing was to change my attitude. I changed how I viewed my kitchen. It was no longer a place to cook food but a place to experiment with food. So it began.
The first thing that changed was my husband and I deciding to stop eating beef, pork, chicken, and dairy; but not all at the same time. We still ate turkey and seafood. I decided one day to stop buying ground turkey and sliced turkey for sandwiches. I thought why not break down the turkey and grind some, and cook the rest for different uses. I did and it was a fun, time consuming endeavor. Next experiment was bread. I did like to bake so I expected this to be a more enjoyable experience. I remembered when my children were young how much fun we had baking bread together. This is how they learned fractions. At the same time I began to grow peppers. I wanted to make my own hot sauce, mustard and ketchup. I was on a natural food kick. LOL.
When my husband was treated by Dr. Baxter Montgomery for heart issues, a raw vegan dietary plan was the main prescription. This was a new challenge. We had moved to Texas and anticipated eating Cajun and creole dishes. I know it was not New Orleans but the influences are alive and well in Houston. That dream died. We became not only vegan but raw vegan. The lab was revived. Enough of that. You get the point.
In these past three years I have fluctuated between vegan and pescatarian. I have gained all the weight I had lost during the years we were raw vegan/vegan. We ate no processed food. (Side Note. When the doctor told me I didn’t have to prepare everything from scratch, I tried the closest to clean processed vegan food. Big mistake.) I began gaining weight and got lazy because of the convenience. Not only have I gained weight but joint pains, brain fog and fatigue have returned.
Like many churches in this country, my church began this new year with a corporate Daniel Fast. The dietary portion of this fast is much like I eat anyway, so there was no sacrifice for me in that area. My fast had to take a different form. My fast was eliminating convenience. If I purchased prepared food, it had to be strictly clean and vegan. This could only be done once a week at most. This requires me to prepare all the other meals. I am vegan . I have to cook or make raw preparations. This requires discipline and planning. This is my fast.
So now, I am back in the lab. To get started I decided to make a salad dressing that I enjoy at a salad restaurant I go to. It is jalapeno avocado dressing. They told me no dairy was used to make it but I am not sure.(I just checked. It does include dairy products.) My experiment uses no dairy. Mine is avocado, non-dairy milk, seasonings, vinegar and habenaro. It tasted okay but I have to adjust the flavor profile. Too mild.
Avocado & Habenaro Dressing and Hot Sauce
On my way to the lab to try a new burger recipe with lentils and quinoa.
A few posts ago, actually, quite a while ago I made my own veggie burger blend. A few days ago I discovered Javant’s Healthy Vegan Eating on YouTube. I made it. It is pictured below. His mix is made with no oil and no soy, so I had to give it a try. It was very good. I guess the walnuts along with the mushrooms gave it the fatty moisture mouth feel, aka texture.
I had forgotten that I made a veggie burger mix posted in My Vegan Burger. There are differences that could make a big difference to some people. First of all,Javant’s recipe is to be cooked. It uses cauliflower, walnuts, mushrooms, carrots, red onions and seasonings. Javant’s ground is designed to be used for multiple purposes.Therefore, no specific seasoning was used. It was very general. Mine is raw; designed for raw vegan lifestyle. My mixture included mushrooms, carrots, green onions,ground flax seed, soaked sunflower, jalepeno, and liquid smoke. There were other seasonings used, but they were specific to burger flavors, or at least they might have conflicted with Italian or Mexican flavors. I thought I had resolved my search for a homemade vegan burger blend. I’m down to two. I’m going to take a little from his and and add to mine. I will then cook a batch and dehydrate another batch. I learned a lot from Javant. I will continue to checkout his videos.
I’ve been trying to get back to cooking vegan meals instead of buying them. Three days ago I decided to cook dry chickpeas on the stove top instead of the pressure cooker. I let them soak for almost 2 full days. I thought surely the beans would cook in about 4 hrs. Well it’s been about 7 or 8 hours and they are NOT tender. I’m going back to the pressure cooker. I would have been done by now if I had used it first. My tuna-less tuna said will have to wait another day.😒
"Black Soil" Living 