My Creamy Dill and Chickpea Half-Pasta Salad (low fat vegan).

My creamy chickpea half pasta salad.

I “invented” this great dish which I call “Half-Pasta Salad” a couple of years back, when I started being more aware of what I eat. I call this “Half-Pasta Salad” because it’s quite literally half pasta, and half salad. I used to serve this with a mayo-based dressing, but now that I’m more cautious about the amount of oil/fat I consume I invented this terrific chickpea based creamy dressing. The dressing is really easy to adapt to your own needs and tweaking the herbs etc is a great way to make this a more flexible, appealing dish. I also love this dressing as a sandwich spread, veggie dip etc.

Dressing:

• 1/2 cup cooked chick peas
• rice wine vinegar or lemon juice (enough to ensure the chickpeas blend nicely – adjust amounts for taste and texture)
• a splash of oil if you wish
• tamari to taste
• 1 tbsp grainy or dill Dijon
• 1 clove or more fresh garlic
• fresh or dried dill
• freshly ground pepper to taste (I like the blend of pink, white and black peppercorns)

1. Chop garlic into smallish pieces
2. Toss all ingredients into your blender and blend until it creates a sauce with a creamy sort of mayonnaise-like consistancy
3. Set aside.

Salad:

1. Chop 4 cups of your favourite veggies into small pieces. Place in a bowl with 1-2 cups chickpeas .
2. Mix dressing into the bowl with the veggies and set aside
3. Cook 4 cups of your favourite pasta , drain and cool completely under cold water.
4. Mix the cooked and drained cool pasta into the bowl with your veggies, chickpeas and dressing
5. Serve and enjoy.

Note: If you are not serving this salad immediately after making it, give it a good stir prior to serving to “re-activate” the creamy texture.

Crispy Baked Tofu

I love tofu and I try to eat it between one and three times per week. There is a fair amount of anti-soy hype, which much like the anti-gluten hype, I mainly just ignore. I believe in listening to how our individual bodies respond to what we feed them and following that “internal advice” first and foremost in all things. Of course, I do read assorted health and nutritional studies, and I am very careful to buy non-gmo and organic as much as possible.

I’ve been eating tofu since I was 16 and have found a ton of really satisfying ways to prepare it. This crispy baked version is one of my favourites. I used to use an egg bath prior to applying the coating, but eggs aren’t something I consume anymore, and I now use a chickpea batter in their place.

Marinaded tofu, chickpea bath, breading mixture.

Marinade:

• Vegan BBQ Sauce, teryaki or other sauce you enjoy
• Onion Powder
• Garlic Powder
• Agave Nectar
• Low Sodium Soy Sauce
• Liquid smoke (optional, but delicious)
• Water
• Any other flavours which appeal to you (be creative, it’s your mouth that’s going to be eating this)

How to Marinade:

1. Cut some pressed tofu (pressed under a heavy object for 20 minutes to remove extra water) into slices, cubes, triangles or whatever shape most appeals to you, then place in a container with a lid.
2. Mix the marinade ingredients together until they reach a flavour profile and texture which appeals to you.
3. Pour the marinade over your pressed tofu and leave marinade for a minimum of twenty  minutes (I usually marinade overnight)

Coating:

• Chickpea flour
• Breadcrumbs
• Wholewheat flour
• Cornmeal (optional)
• Brown rice flour (optional)
• Sea salt
• Seasonings/herbs
• Water

How to Make the Chickpea Bath:

1. Add chickpea flour to one cup of water  and whisk until it is the consistency of runny pancake batter or whisked egg. This usually takes about 1/8 of a cup of the chickpea flour, but it’s really an intuitive process and you should be able to tell by feel how you’re doing.
2. Add any seasonings you with to the bath (I used a touch of sea salt and a touch of Chinese Five Spice in mine).
3. Set aside.

How to Make the Breading Mixture:

1. Add equal parts of wholewheat flour, and bread crumbs to a bowl, mix in  your cornmeal and brown rice flour if you’re using them.
2. Add any seasonings you wish. I just added some fresh ground pepper and a touch of sea salt.
3. Pour well mixed ingredients onto a plate and set aside.

How to Put it all Together:

Pre-baking breaded tofu. I make the cubes for supper, and the slabs for making sandwiches during the upcoming week.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and line a cookie sheet with parchment.

1. Drain tofu of marinade.
2. Dip each tofu piece into the chickpea bath, shake off excess bath.
3. Dip and roll each piece in your breading mixture.
4. Place pieces one by one onto cookie sheet.
5. Spray each piece with a fine mist of cooking spray or oil (I have a refillable oil misting bottle).
6. Cook in oven 15 minutes, turn over, spray again then repeat cooking for an additional 15 minutes.

As you can see, my cooking process is usually quite intuitive, which makes recipes hard to share, but once you figure out the basic techniques, there is so much fun to be had with creating new meals.

I served this with brown rice steamed with both dried and fresh diced mushrooms, a vinegar marinaded cucumber salad (marinade is 1/8 c rice vinegar, a splash of agave, a touch of sea-salt, 1 cup water and a bunch of dill), and a pile of stir-fried carrots and zucchini. A very simple but very satisfying meal on a summer day. Tofu prepared this way is reminiscent of baked chicken, without the cruelty and cholesterol.

Tofu is rapidly becoming one of the things I cook which my mom looks forward to trying. A year ago she would run the other way if I told her I was serving tofu.

BBQ Chickpea Tenders (borrowed from partylikeavegan.com)

These BBQ Chickpea Tenders   <- (click the link for the original article and recipe)are what I’m making to accompany the oil and vinegar potato salad I posted earlier. I’ll serve this with some chunky cut fresh veggies and an assortment of condiment options, as I’m cooking for both my mother and myself this evening. It’s so cool that my mom has become so interested in plant-based eating! When I first adopted a vegan lifestyle she seemed to really resent it.

 

Chickpeas (Photo credit: Shlomi Fish)

 

 

 

I’ve made these (both with the BBQ sauce and also with thick teriyaki or no sauce at all instead) and have really gotten good results. I often make the Chickpea cutlets from the Veganomicon (because I FUCKING LOVE THEM), but on the days when those are just not QUITE what I’m craving these are a great option.

 

I’m amazed by how many cool recipes are out there to replace animal products in ones diet. Most of the people who dislike these sort of “fake meats” hate them because they expect them to be like the actual meat item, when in reality if you approach them as new foods you’re trying out instead of substitutions, you’re pretty likely to adore them. Since I’ve started explaining this to my mom before feeding her these veggie items, she’s really grown to love a ton of vegan foods, and her freezer is always stocked with Gardien and Yves items for nights when she’s too busy to cook something complicated.

 

Vegan Recipe: Falafel Sliders – YouTube

This recipe sounds amazing. Falafel is TOTALLY one of my favourite foods of all time. I’m constantly looking for a low fat/oil falafel recipe which has the right texture to totally fullfill my craving.

“Falafel Sliders with Avocado Hummus
Serves 4

Make-Ahead Tip:
Uncooked Falafel Sliders can be made in advance and kept refrigerated until ready to cook. Tahini Sauce can be made in advance and kept refrigerated.

FALAFEL SLIDERS
1 (15-ounce) can chickpeas, rinsed and drained, divided
½ red onion, finely chopped
2 cloves garlic, quartered
5 sun-dried tomatoes packed in oil, drained
½ cup packed fresh Italian parsley
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon ground coriander
1 teaspoon sea salt
½ cup garbanzo flour (or other flour of choice)
2 tablespoons olive oil

AVOCADO HUMMUS
¼ cup chickpeas, reserved from sliders
1 avocado, pitted and peeled
1/3 cup packed fresh Italian parsley
¼ cup olive oil
1 clove garlic
1 tablespoon lemon juice
½ teaspoon sea salt
¼ teaspoon cayenne

TAHINI SAUCE
½ cup tahini
½ cup water
1 clove garlic
1 tablespoon lemon juice
½ teaspoon salt

14 mini buns or dinner rolls sliced in half, toasted
2 small tomatoes, thinly sliced

To make the Falafel Sliders: Reserve ¼ cup chickpeas for the Avocado Hummus. Place remaining chickpeas, onions, garlic, tomatoes, parsley, cumin, coriander, salt, and flour in a food processor and pulse until combined, stopping frequently to scrape down sides. Using the palms of your hands, form mixture into 2-inch by ½-inch patties.

In a large nonstick skillet, heat oil over medium-high heat and pan-fry patties in batches, letting cook about 3 to 5 minutes on each side, until nicely browned. Do not crowd the pan. Remove from pan and drain on paper towels.

To make the Avocado Hummus: Combine ¼ cup chickpeas, avocado, parsley, oil, garlic, lemon juice, salt, and cayenne in food processor and puree. Adjust seasoning to taste.

To make the Tahini Sauce: Puree tahini, water, garlic, lemon juice, and salt until smooth.

To serve: Layer the Falafel Sliders, Avocado Hummus, Tahini Sauce, and sliced tomato on the buns.”

 

Source:

Vegan Recipe: Falafel Sliders – YouTube.

“Millet Moo-Free Burger” Review

As promised I gave the Millet Moo-free Burger recipe a try this evening and they turned out really well. I didn’t have fresh rosemary or spelt flour, so I used dried oregano in place of the herb and combined 1/2 chick pea and 1/2 whole wheat flour in place of the spelt. I REALLY appreciate the fact that these are baked burgers instead of fried as I do try to keep added oils out of our meals as much as possible.

My mother and my boyfriend are both very picky about veggie foods and both are usually suspicious of new things and both of them LOVED these. My boyfriend actually ate three of these which is basically a standing ovation.

I made a double batch of these and served them with a large green salad and a table-full of condiments. These will be making a frequent appearance on our dinner table.