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I Created My First and the BEST Mock Tuna Salad
I have tried mock tuna salad at two or three vegan locations. The last time I tried it was in the cafe at Kramer’s. It was on of the best I had, but it’s only made for sandwiches (and I didn’t want that). I convinced Rachel, the creator of this creation, to make me a small container to purchase. Rachel kindly agreed to my request, but she couldn’t promise me that this dish would be available weekly. She made her mock tuna with chick peas the first time I tried it. I visited the cafe again a week later, but she made the mock tuna this time with tofu. I liked the one made with chickpeas better. The flavor was great (it was the only one I tried that have fresh herbs and finely diced veggies), but the consistency was not as thick as I like it. I knew I this dish would be great for lunch or a light snack with crackers. I decided to search for a mock tuna recipe and I found quite a few. I didn’t find anyone recipe that seemed to describe exactly what my taste buds were yearning for. For this reason, I made a list of basic ingredients that appeared in most recipes: chickpeas, veganease (vegan mayo), dulce flakes (or nori) and scallions. I decided to add: jalapeno, diced red onions, diced celery, cilantro, nutritional yeast, HSS and fresh cracked black pepper. I do not care for finely diced veggies so my mock tuna is full of veggie that you can actually see and taste when you bite it!!!!
The top things, not only did I make my first mock tuna salad, I made my first mock tuna sandwich melt!!! I used low-sodium Ezekiel 4.9 bread and Cheddar Veggie Slices. I am extremely happy with the results. I love tons of veggies on my sandwich, as you will see from the photos below, so it didn’t need a lot of mock tuna salad to make a great sandwich. So, I also added cucumber, lettuce and tomato on my sandwich as well. I definitely plan to share this with one of my vegan friends 
Baked Vegan Mac & Cheez w/ Southern Collard Greens – woohoo!!
Today I made my first vegan soulfood meal and I must say that it is delicious!! I am so excited because I made one of my favorite dishes mac & cheez. In fact, I have a 13 year old daughter who I don’t force to join this lifestyle. However, I encourage her to try the dishes that I make. Surprisingly, she is asking for my dishes more and more. This way, I am not forcing her to make changes – it is a gradual decision that she is making on her own. Well, she loves mac & cheese! She asked for a serving after trying mine. I haven’t told her that it was vegan just yet. LOL.
We are also making some dining changes by eating on salad plates instead of dinner plates. We add fresh veggies to each dinner (well, me more than her). If we eat from a dinner plate the goal is for half of the plate to be fresh veggies or salad. Ok, here are some pics of my first VEGAL SOUL FOOD DINNER – YEAH!! I’m not the best at measuring ingredients for recipes (I’m kinda the R. Ray type – eye ball it, hand full, drizzle, etc) so I’ll give you the ingredients I think you should cook and season dishes to your personal taste. With that being stated, I shared the ingredients & cooking process best I could below.
MAC & CHEEZ
(makes about 5 servings)
- 2 cups brown rice penne pasta
- approx. 6 oz light coconut milk
- approx. 3-4 tbsp of soy margarine
- approx. 1/2 pack of daiya cheddar (save some to sprinkle on top)
- approx. 2-3 tbsp of nutritional yeast
- hawaiin sea salt (HSS), fresh cracked pepper & paprika (too taste)
COOKING TIP: melt the butter, than add coconut milk and once it thickens add daiya & seasoning, Slowly add in pasta & put in caserole pan. Add the cheeze you site aside to the top. I add additional paprika & pepper on top.
COLLARD GREENS
(makes abotu 4 servings)
- approx. 1lb of greens
- diced oninon & green peppers
- pack of vegetable soup
- HSS, freshed cracked pepper & paprkia
COOKING TIP: Sautee diced onions & peppers, add hot water, then fill pan with greens. Cook greens slowly and when they start to get tender add in the vegetable soup and more seasonsing of your choosing. Cook a few more minutes and then mix all together. (Cook according to the tenderness that you prefer, but do not overcook them).
This was absolutely delicious. There is hope for me!! I am so thankful to everyone that post recipes – I can mix and match various ingredients and then make it my own like I did today.
