Not Tuna Salad made with Hearts of Palm and Garbanzo Beans

This is another re-post to keep some of the best recipes up on top where they belong.

If you are like me you have probably been hearing a lot lately about the benefits of eating seaweed.  Doesn't sound too appetizing, right?  As it just so happens that is a nice ingredient to turn chickpeas into a mock tuna salad.  Tuna was one of my favorite lunches before I read, "The China Study" and "Prevent and Reverse Heart Disease" and gave up meat within a couple of days.
Let me reiterate:  I ate meat for 47 years and then quit because the research impressed me so much regarding how much healthier I could be by not eating animal protein or added oils and fats.  There are going to be foods I miss and tuna has been high on the list of foods difficult to mimic.

Here is a way to get yourself back into the zen of a tuna lunch.

1 can hearts of palm, drained, cut into 1/2" slices, then shred with a fork
1 can garbanzo beans, drained and rinsed
1/2 cup diced celery
1/2 cup diced dill pickle
2 tablespoons Dried Seaweed, such as dulce flakes or minced nori sheet
2 tablespoons sunflower seeds
4 tablespoons vegan Mayo
2 tablespoons fresh minced parsley
1 teaspoon lemon juice
2 teaspoons mustard
1 teaspoon vinegar or pickle juice
1/2 teaspoon Bragg Sea Kelp Delight Seasoning (optional)
1/4 teaspoon dill
pinch black pepper
dash of dried or fresh chives

1. Crush garbanzo beans with a potato masher, set aside with shredded hearts of palm.
2. Chop celery and dill pickle, add to beans.
3. Crush seaweed together with sunflower seeds in a mortar and pestle, add to beans.
4. Add remaining ingredients to bean mixture and stir.  
5. Serve rolled inside Nori Sheets, in a traditional sandwich or with crackers.

Dried Seaweed and sunflower seeds after grinding

Not Tuna Salad 

Not Tuna Salad Sushi Rolls

Pesto change-oh, pesto made with kale and no oil

This is a bright, lemony sauce to use on whole grain pasta for those dinners where you want pasta, but not tomato sauce.  A pesto sauce made from a 'whole-lotta' kale and lemon but without the olive oil traditionally found in pesto sauce so it won't hurt your heart.  

Kale Pesto Sauce

Ingredients:

5 large curly kale leaves, rinsed and torn to make about 3 cups or enough to fill your food processor bowl
12 fresh basil leaves, or a handful, or about 1/3 of those fresh bunches they now sell in the produce section--sans roots
4 tablespoons walnuts
2 tablespoons pine nuts
zest and juice from one lemon (in that order to make it easy on yourself)
2 large cloves garlic
1/3 cup water
1 tsp. miso paste

Combine all ingredients in food processor and zip around for about 30 seconds.  Toss with hot pasta. This makes enough for one pound of pasta prepared according to package directions.

Whole grain penne pasta with kale pesto sauce, fresh diced tomato and vegan parmesan

Nachos, plant based style

Repost in time for the Super Bowl—Plant Based Nachos made with Kale Salad Recipe from Karen

Nacho appetizer

Recently I discovered a recipe for homemade refried beans at Pennies and Pancakes which sounded like a great idea, to save money and make something better than store-bought.  Thanks for providing such a neat website Pennies and Pancakes! (https://sites.google.com/site/penniesandpancakes/crockpot-refried-beans).
I made a batch without the onions yesterday and used it to build nachos for dinner.  I also used fresh garlic instead of minced from a jar.  Maybe it's just me, but I really can tell a difference.
I also wanted to try a recipe given to me by Karen in a recent comment, Kale Salad with avocado, lemon juice and salt.  It thought it would work well layered in a nacho stack and could turn what used to be a guilty pleasure into a healthy treat.
My favorite tortilla chips are made from low fat whole grain tortillas, cut into wedges and baked until golden brown and crispy.  Buy whole wheat or whole grain tortillas with the lowest fat content you can find.

Nachos without meat or dairy (the photo doesn't do it justice)

Ingredients for Nachos, plant based style:

Refried beans, 1/2 to 1 cup per person

Whole grain tortillas, 2 or 3 per person

4 cups kale

1 large lemon

1 avocado

1 small can mild green chili peppers

2 large tomatoes, or 1/4 cup diced tomato per person

Tofutti non-dairy sour cream—just a little spoonful to top it off

Non-dairy cheese shreds, about 2 tablespoons per person or skip altogether

black olives, sliced, 2 or 3 per person 

salt to taste

To make tortilla chips, cut tortillas into 8 wedges and toast in the oven at 300 degrees for 10-15 minutes or until golden brown, dry and crispy.

To make kale salad, rinse kale and remove tough center rib.  Tear into small pieces or cut into ribbons.  Dice the avocado and toss with the juice of one lemon, combine with the kale by using your hand to squeeze the ingredients together.  Salt to taste.

Dice the tomatoes and combine with the mild green chili peppers.

Layering suggestion:  Chips, beans, non-dairy cheese baked in a pie plate for about 8 minutes.  Remove from oven and slide onto a plate of kale salad.  Top with remaining ingredients and serve.

This was so filling I couldn't actually finish a plate of them!  

Rebecca's Bugs Bunny Dinner Salad

Bugs Bunny Salad

Best Served with Warm Hearty Bread

Grilled Garnish	First
Grilled Pineapple Grilled Carrots	Grill over high heat. Reserve, warm, separately.
Cold Garnish	Meanwhile…
Caramelized Limes Avocados	Juice limes over avocado slices, and salt generously.
Hot Element	Meanwhile…
Black Beans Pecans Garlic Taco Seasoning	Sweat minced garlic until translucent, adding black beans and taco seasoning and stirring until fragrant. Chop pecans roughly and add. Sautee until pecans are toasted and beans just start to fall apart. Reserve over low heat.
Cold Element	Meanwhile…
Carrot Greens Cilantro Fresh Mango, diced	Mince the herbs finely and coat fresh mango.
Body	Meanwhile…
Bitter greens Spinach Lettuce	Chop into bite-size pieces and toss together with salt and pepper. If serving guests with differing tolerances for bitterness, keep bitter greens separate.
Dressing	Last
Orange-Ginger Vinaigrette	At last minute, put all elements except for the carrot in a bowl, tossing until well mixed and evenly coated. Top with salt and pepper, and garnish with whole carrot. Rub the carrot with dressing for shine, if desired.

Rebecca made us such a good salad the other night we asked her to write down everything so we could keep the recipe! It was Bugs Bunny's birthday and how perfect to have a carrot on top.

Plant based Waldorf Salad

Plant based Waldorf Salad

Re-post for summer:

I have always like collecting recipes and one time I found myself alone with my mother-in-law's cookbooks. In a book that came with her Sharp microwave oven I found a fantastic recipe for a Chicken Waldorf Salad made with bacon and mayonnaise and a pound of chicken meat with enough garlic powder to send the whole flavor sensation over the top.  It was soooo good.
I have kept that recipe in my own collection for the past 25 years although of course I never made it often and now I don't make it at all.  Yesterday was another hot, and I mean really hot day so I was in the mood for a cold dinner.  Here is a lightened version of that Chicken Waldorf Salad Recipe for my future self and anyone else who would like to try it.

Recipe for Not-Chicken Waldorf Salad

Ingredients:

• 1 cup Butler Soy Curls (rehydrated in not-chicken broth) and diced to 1/2" or vegan chicken type meat product by Quorn
• 1 cup grapes, cut in half
• 6 large kale leaves, rinsed and sliced into thin ribbons and chopped to 1"
• 1 crisp fresh apples diced 1/2"
• 1 cup chopped celery 
• 1/4 cup chopped walnuts (original recipe called for 3/4 cup--yikes!)

Place everything into large bowl and toss with dressing.  Chill for an hour before serving.

Salad dressing:

• 1/8 cup Miracle Mayo or your favorite non-fat vegan mayo or cashews processed in magic bullet (mini food processor)
• 6 oz. vegan yogurt
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice
• 1 tsp apple cider vinegar
• Two cloves fresh minced garlic
• 1/2 teaspoon agave nectar
• dash black pepper

Alternative ingredients:  butter lettuce instead of steamed kale, cold peas, dried cranberries, forego the soy curls, add chia seeds.  Top salad with flaxseed meal.

Thai Peanut Noodle Recipe, low fat, vegan style with PB2 powder

Plant-based Pad Thai

Noodles!

A lot of the recipes I use are based on a tomato type of sauce and sometimes I want a little something different.  This recipe is a version I derived from "Julie's Peanut Sesame Noodles" at www.everydaydish.tv/index.php?page=recipe&recipe=119.   I am sure her version tastes wonderful but since I don't want so much fat and must avoid onions I made a few little changes…..:)

This recipe is one of the most popular that I have blogged. I hope you just love it!  It's one of our favorites.

Thai Peanut Noodles or "Vegan Pad Thai"


1 pound whole grain linguine such as brown rice type

Sauce:
1 cup dry peanut butter powder (PB2)
1/4 cup low sodium soy sauce
3/4 cup warm water
1 inch piece of fresh ginger, peeled and grated or diced fine
4 cloves garlic, diced fine
6 tablespoons rice vinegar
1 teaspoon toasted sesame oil (omit to decrease fat)
2 teaspoons sweetener such as agave nectar
1 1/2 teaspoons siracha sauce  (bump this up if you like food really spicy)
3 tablespoons flaxseed meal

Other ingredients to add at the end:
1 pre-packaged coleslaw mix, (without the dressing) or 4 cups shredded cabbage
2 cups fresh spinach, baby leaves or regular leaves cut into bite size pieces
1 cup fresh mung bean sprouts or 1 cup steamed asparagus, or broccoli, etc.
3/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro
1 cup diced grilled tofu, optional
2 teaspoons toasted sesame seeds (toast them in a medium hot non-stick skillet until golden)
   
Steps:
1.  In a large pot, boil the noodles until al dente. Drain but don't rinse.  Place in large bowl.
2.  While the noodles are boiling, put all the sauce ingredients into blender and blend away for a minute.  Let this sit for a few minutes while the flaxseed helps it to thicken up.
3.  Pour peanut sauce over noodles and other ingredients, toss well to coat.
4.  This works as a hot dish or later as a cold noodle salad.

Serves-8

Note:  The longer we are on a plant based diet, the less sweet and salty I seem to like in my recipes.  I have gone back twice now and decreased the amount of soy sauce and sweetener in this recipe to adjust it to my ever-changing tastes.

Fat-free Spinach Salad with Not-Bacon Bits and Honey-Mustard Vinaigrette Dressing

Re-Post:

Back in the early 1990's when we were just out of college and up to our eyeballs in student loan debt, our first jobs were located in downtown Spokane, WA.  It was a special treat to meet for lunch and one of our favorite places was called the Metro Cafe in the skywalk downtown.
They served many items but two worth mentioning are the Spinach Salad and the fresh Root Beer on tap.  Good memories!  The salad was made in a large stainless steal tray and consisted of Spinach, Honey-Mustard salad dressing, a choice of boiled egg or tomato and real bacon bits.  It was awesomely yummy.

So now to recreate that, we can't have the boiled egg or the real bacon or the oily salad dressing but we can have lots of spinach, an oil-free honey mustard vinaigrette dressing and TVP Bacon Bits.  To use something to replace the boiled egg I am going to toss in a few specially seasoned tofu crumbles.

Recipe for Fat-free Honey Mustard Vinaigrette

1/8 cup rice vinegar
1/8 cup water
1 teaspoon mustard
1 teaspoon honey
1 clove garlic, diced very fine
1 teaspoon flaxseed meal
salt and pepper to taste
Blend well and let sit for a few minutes to let the flavors meld. (Meld is a good word, isn't it?)

Tofu crumbles

1/2 cup extra firm tofu, pressed and crumbled
1 Tablespoon nutritional yeast
1 teaspoon custard powder
1 teaspoon italian seasoning
1/4 teaspoon dill
Using your bare hand, stir this all together and set aside to use as a topping to your salad.

Not Bacon Bits

1/2 cup TVP  Granules
1 /4 cup boiling water combined with the following:
1 teaspoon liquid smoke
1 teaspoon smoked paprika
1 teaspoon vegetable bouillon
Rehydrate TVP with the water mixture for 15 minutes and then toss into a very warm skillet to dry it back out.  Now you have flavored TVP Granules--just like store-bought only better and less expensive!

A large bowl of spinach that has been washed and trimmed but not too wet.
1 tomato, diced 1/2"
Add salad dressing, as much as you like, and lightly toss with bacon bits.  Plate it up and sprinkle the tofu crumbles on top.  Sprinkle with pepper if you dare.
Enjoy your lunch and think of Spokane and oh, to be young again.

Vegan Pasta Salad without added fats or oils

Vegan Pasta Salad Recipe oil-free, mayonnaise-free

Prep Time: 20 minutes

Note:  Although I posted this recipe before, I wanted to bring it back to the top of the pile for these hot summer days.  

I went looking for a pasta salad recipe over the weekend that didn't have any oil, mayonnaise or other extremely fat ingredients and couldn't find one.
So I used what I knew of making pasta salad before these vegan-type, fat-free days along with our new pantry ingredients and vegetables hanging out in the fridge and this is it!  While you work on this, listen to "It's a beautiful morning" by The Rascals and stuff like that--you know, Saturday music.

Pasta Salad, vegan and nearly fat-free or PBNAF (plant based no added fat)

Ingredients:
6 ounces of dried whole grain pasta, or a vegetable pasta like "Eddie's Vegetable Rotelli"
     cooked according to package directions or until tender but not soggy
1 10 ounce package organic frozen green peas, thawed at room temperature for 1 hour
2 fresh small zucchini, cut into 1/4" dice
2 fresh tomatoes, cut into 1/4" dice
2 stalks celery, cut into 1/4" dice
1 bunch radishes, discard greens, rinsed, trimmed and cut into 1/4" dice
1/4 cup non-dairy sour cream, such as Tofutti (optional as this adds some fat)
1/8 cup Vegan Fat-free Mayonnaise such as Walden Farms Miracle Mayo
1/8 cup Bragg organic sprinkle, a mix of 24 herbs
1/8 cup rice vinegar

Fold all ingredients together and refrigerate for 2-24 hours.  Keeps in fridge for two days.
Yum.

Egg Salad, only NOT--it's plant based with no added fat!!!

Guess what arrived in the mail today? India Kala Namak, or Black Salt. It is the secret ingredient to making tofu taste like eggs (gives it a sulfur flavor).
We had a nice "vegan egg salad" sandwich last week at a little cafe in Walla Walla, Washington where we learned about this. Being kind of new to the veganeske food options it was a fun new trick to experiment with. After I came home and looked it up on the internet, turns out it has been known for quite some time in the vegan recipe circles. Who knew?
"Three Little Birds" by Bob Marley makes this experience complete.

Vegan Egg Salad Recipe
Ingredients:
1 block West Soy extra firm tofu, or equivalent (drained and pressed)
1/2 cup celery, finely diced
1/4 cup pickles, finely diced (my favorite are the "Bread and Butter" kind)
1/4 cup nonfat vegan mayonnaisse
2 tablespoons nutritional yeast flakes
1 tablespoon mustard
1 tablespoon white vinegar
1/2 teaspoon black salt (important--it has to be "black" salt to get the sulfur taste)
1/2 teaspoon dill
1/4 teaspoon hot sauce
1/8 teaspoon black pepper
dash each onion powder and turmeric
Grate tofu with cheese grater. Stir together in bowl. This makes enough for four good sized sandwiches.

Layered Black Bean and Not Mozzarella Salad

There is a great local italian restaurant named "Casa Mia" that makes an unusual salad of iceberg lettuce, mozzarella and olives which is layered with your favorite dressing.  It is one of the restaurant dishes that I miss now that we are eating a nearly fat-free, plant-based diet so I set out to re-create it at my hubby's request.

To substitute for the black olives, I use black beans that have been drained and rinsed, then soaked in balsamic vinegar with a little salt.  It comes pretty close, or at least close enough.  Soak for at least two hours, then drain off the vinegar.
For the mozzarella cheese use non-diary rice mozzarella shreds.
We always ordered this salad with blue cheese dressing.  That has been the most difficult part to replicate.

Ingredients for salad dressing:

1/2 cup non-dairy sour cream (I recommend Tofutti.)
2 Tbsp. non-dairy milk (non-fat)
1 tsp. apple cider vinegar
1/4 tsp. dill
1/2 tsp. dried parsley
1/2 tsp. Bragg 24 herb seasoning mix

To make a plate of salad for one, take 1/4 head of iceberg lettuce and shred or chop fine, cover the plate.
Drizzle salad dressing over lettuce.  The next layer should be your non-dairy mozzarella cheese, just enough to cover the lettuce.  Finally place 1/2 cup of the black beans on top.

Rebecca's Winter fruit salad

1 pomegranate
2 tangerines
1 granny smith apple
1 pink lady or gala apple
1/2 cup green seedless grapes
1/2 cup red seedless grapes
1 cup raspberries
1/4 cup blueberries
1 cup blackberries
1 banana
1/2 cup pineapple
Juice of 1 lime, about 1/4 cup
1/2 cup pineapple juice
2 Tbsp chopped walnuts
Cut the top off the pomegranate and quarter the remaining, place quarters in bowl of cool water. Seeds will sink and white pith will float. Discard all but the seeds, drain.
Cut apples into bite size chunks and place in large serving bowl. Sprinkle lime juice
over, enough to cover. Prepare all the rest of fruit in bite sized pieces and layer in bowl. Sprinkle juice over the fruit as you work. Top with walnuts. Refrigerate until serving time.