chickpeas

Chickpea & Mushroom Burger or Not

by ladypbwiggins

Took a break from jackfruit to use my baby portabella mushrooms before they went bad. Trying to change the mushroom lose paradigm. I chopped the chickpeas and mushrooms together in the food processor. I added some leftover cooked oatmeal from breakfast to aid in binding. I used onion powder instead of fresh onions because I am trying to determine the source of a bitter taste in my veggie burgers. It was suggested by another vegan to soak the fresh onions before using but it didn’t help. I added my spices and herbs. It was a little too moist so I added some rolled oats. I set the mixture aside while I made jackfruit dinner. 😄. After dinner I decided to wait until the next day to cook the burgers. I put the mixture in a glass container. I noticed it looked like a meatloaf so I thought, why not? The next day I cooked the”meatloaf”. Dinner became black-eyed peas, mixed veggies and meatless meatloaf. Burgers will have to wait.

I am not adding a measured recipe because I didn’t measure. This was totally a “my senses determined how much and what” kind of dish. The flavors were correct but the texture was a little dry. It will definitely be tried again with a little more scientific precision 😄.

Is It Tuna Salad Or Not?

by ladypbwiggins

Many vegans wonder why whould you want to eat something that imitates meat. Well when you have spent your whole life experiencing meat based food, the desire for those flavors and textures don’t go away immediately if at all. We are vegans for a variety of reasons. I wanted to improve our health initially and then my husband had a heart attack. His cardiologist prescribed a raw vegan lifestyle change. However, I did not lose my desire for certain flavors and foods One of those was tuna salad sandwiches or tuna and crackers. Until now I had not tried to make a substitute. All of the substitutes were carrot based mixtures that tasted nothing like tuna or at least remind me of seafood. My motivation for trying to create something now is my new found relationship with young jack fruit.

I must digress for a moment. The first time I tried jack fruit it was in a prepared barbeque meat substitute from the grocery store. I hated it. It was too sweet and it turned me off. Recently I discovered Veegos Authentic Mexican vegan restaurant. One of the protein selections was jack fruit. I loved it.. A customer told me how to get the same product at home. First, you must buy young jack fruit canned in water or brine. I use the packed in water. This product has not ripened so it has no flavor. That makes it perfect for absorbing the flavors of the marinade or seasonings. Back to the not tuna.

I did my research to discover the best things to use to get that seafood flavor. I have used dulse and hijiki seaweed before but it didn’t give me what I was looking for although it did add that seawater taste.What brought it home was Old Bay seasoning. I made my not tuna salad with young jack fruit, cooked pureed chickpeas, celery, dulse, hijiki seaweed, onion powder, garlic powder, It was a success. I served it on a vegetable salad. It was a good dinner. I planned to try it again with rehydrated chickpeas or another fresh bean product to make it a raw meal.

Gluten-free Cornbread and Soup

by ladypbwiggins
I guess you’re asking, “What is this woman’s obsession with cornbread?” I’m a southern born and bred girl. There are just some things that have to be eaten with cornbread. My experiment was to answer the question about flour substitutions to teff or oat flour. Today I used Quinoa flour. I have eaten quinoa but I have never used the flour. I used my gluten-free cornbread recipe and substituted quinoa for soy flour. The taste was great but it didn’t rise as much as expected. I was very pleased with the browning. The other breads didn’t brown as pretty. This is not my last experiment  with cornbread.
My next experiment will be using aguafaba instead of Ener-G egg replacement. I’ve read that aguafaba can be whisked to form a meringue like product that can be used in baked goods in place of eggs. It’s suppose to make a lighter texture in baked items. Stay tuned.The soup also provided an opportunity for experimentation. I made vegetable soup with meatless Italian sausage. Pretty straight forward. The problem: to much basil. I used Young Living Essential Oil’s basil vitality. This oil is very concentrated and intense in flavor. I only intended to use 1 drop but a second one dropped before I could lift the bottle. So how do I neutralize this basil. I added chickpeas to the soup and let it simmer. Side note: I cooked a batch of chickpeas earlier. I avoid can goods when I can. The chickpeas mellowed the basil intensity and added more texture to the soup. This was a great lunch.